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Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2009  with  funding  from 

NCSU  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/dairyfarmingbeinOOshel 


ov       c-HOW. 


DAIEY     FAEMING: 


BEING 

4 


THE   THEORY,   PRACTICE,   AND   METHODS   OF  DA  TRYING. 


BY 

.1.    P.     SHELDON. 

ASSISTED    BY    LEADING    AUTHORITIES    IN    VARIOUS    COUNTRIES. 


^3ift)    ^rDejtti?=fit)e  @oCoxtx*e6   "5?Cafes. 


CASSELL,  PETTER,  GALPIN  &  CO. 

LONDON,     PARIS     &     NEW     YORK. 

[all     bights     llESEKVEll,] 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction' 


Chap.  I.- 
II.- 
IIL- 

IV.. 

V.- 

YL- 

VII.- 

VIII.- 

IX.- 

X. 

XI. 

XII. 

XIII. 

XIV. 

XV. 

XVI. 

XVII. 

XVIII. 

XIX. 

XX. 

XXI. 


-Bri:edin(:  an'd  Sei.ectiox  of  ])airv  Cattle    . 

-Breed.s  of  ( 'attle  :    HuoinnoaNS,   Avrshires  . 

-Breeds    of    Cattle    {ninti/nu'f/) :    .Jerseys,    Losghorns, 
Polled  Breeds,  Kerries,  Welsh 

-Feeding  and  Treatment  of  Dairy  Cattle     . 

-Milking,  Calving,  and  Calf-Eearixg 

-Parturition,  and  Disea.ses  or  Dangers  incidental  to 

-Dairy  Homesteads  and  Buildings 

-The  Origin  of  Soils       ....  ,         .      • 

-Soils  and  Cli.mates  Suitable  for  Dairying   . 

-Drainin<;  ........ 

-Manuring  and  Treatment  of  the  Soil  on  Dairy  Farm 

-Forage  Plants  and  Weeds     .... 

-Hay-making      ....... 

-Milk 


-Cheese-making  ....... 

-Cheddar  and  Cheshire  Cheese       .... 

-Derbyshire,  Gloucester,  Stilton,  and  other  British 
-Cheese-Factories  in  England  .... 

-Butter-making  ....... 

-^Artificial  Bi"tter  ....... 

-Condensed  Milk       ....... 


Herefokds,    Devon 


PiOK 

-xxii 


SUSSE,\, 


Calves  and  Dairy  Stock 


Cheeses 


1 
10 

25 

42 

55 

65 

78 

92 

108 

113 

128 

1.54 

177 

186 

196 

215 

233 

252 

284 

.S23 

328 


COXTEXTS. 


Thar   XXII.     Tin:  Mii.k  Thai.e      . 
XXIII.  —  Villa  DAiiivixr. 

XXIV. DaIKV    FAliMING    I\    IHKLAXD 

XX  v. — The  Daiuyinc;  or  Amkhida 
XXVI. — The  Daiuy  Caitli:  op  America 
XXVII. — American-  Dairy  Products 
XXVIII.-  American   .Milk  Trade  and  City  Supply 
XXIX. — American  Farm  Dairying — Methods  and  Processes 
XXX. — American  Dairy  Implements  and  Machinery 
XXXI. — The  American  Factory  System       .... 

XXXII. — Dairy  Work  in  American  Factories 
XXXIII. — Recent  Modifications  in  American  Ciieese-making 
XXXIV. — Canadian  Dairying  ...... 

XXXV. — Continental  Dairying      ...... 

XXXVI. — Pigs,  Goats,  and  Poultry 

XXXVII. — The  Commerce  of  the  Dairy  ..... 


PAGE 

340 
351 
356 
3G5 
392 
413 
4-2-t 
433 
446 
4C5 
475 
487 
497 
506 
546 
559 


INITIALS   AND   NAMES   OF   CONTJUBUTORS. 


J.  r.  S.— .T.   r.   Sheldon,  of  .sheen,  Aslibourne,  Professor  of  Agriculture  at  tlie  College  of  Agiiculturo,   Downton,   near 
>Sali8bury,  and  formerly  l"rofessor  of  Agriculture  at  the  Royal  Agricultural  College ;  who  is  also  responsible 
for  all  unsigned  articles. 
H.  E.  A.— Major  IIenkv  E.  Alvokd,  Easthainjitdu,  Mass.achu.setts,   U.S.  America. 

K.  I).  ]'.     KoDERT  Oliphant  Pbinole,   now   flcceased,    late  Editor   of    the   IrixU    Farmen'  Ou:cU.c,  Author  of    "The  Live 
Stock  of  the  Farm,"'  &c.  kz. 
W.  F.— William  Fream,  B.Sc.  L:nd.,  F.G.S.,  Professor  of  Natur.al  History  at  the  College  of  Agricultuic,  Downton, 
near  Sali.sbury,  and  formerly  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  CoUoge. 
II.  I.,  de  K. — Dr.  H.  L.  DE  Klenze,  Government  Professor  of  Agriculture,  Munich.  I'.avaria. 
.1.  O.— .John  Oliver,  West  Harptree,  near  Bristol. 
F.  D.— FiNI.AY  Dl'N,  Foimcrly  l.octurpr  on  Materia  Medica  and  Dietetics  at  the  E.liidiurgh  Veterinary  (  oUege. 


LIST     OF     ILLUSTPv  ATIONS 


COLOURED     PLATES. 


A  Dairy  Show 
Shorthorn  Cattle 
Ayrshire  Cattle 
Jersey  Cattle 
LoNGHORM  Cattle 
Hereford  Cattle 
Devon  and  Sussex  Cattle 
Polled  Aberdeen  Cattle 
Norfolk  and  Suffolk  Polled 
Kerry  Cattle 
Welsh  Cattle 

View  and  Ground  Plan  of  Dairy  Homeste 
(Two  Plates)     .... 


Frontispiece 

Tof 

„;■  ixt.je 

U 
10 
27 
29 
31 
.33 
35 

Gatt-le 

" 

37 
39 
41 

Geological  Hap  of  the  British  Isles 
Forage  Plants  -and  Weeds  : — 

1.  Leguminous  Plants 

2.  Leguminous  Plants  and  Weeds 

3.  Pasture  Grasses 

4.  Weed  Grasses  and  Parasites 
Longford  Cheese  Factory,  Derbyshire 
Map — Dairy-Farming  in  America 
Continental  Cattle— Plate  1    . 

Plate  2    . 
Alpine  Dairy  Station  in  Summer 
Swine         .... 
Poultry      .... 


I'o/acr  page 


153 
157 
163 
167 
259 
367 
523 
527 
535 
551 
559 


DIIAAVINGS     ON     AVOOD. 


The  Escutcheon  (Fig.  1) 

Heads  of  Shorthorns  (Figs.  2-5)      . 

Tether-Pegs  (Figs.  6,  7) 

Heads  of  Longhorn  Cattle  (Figs.  8,  9) 

Milk-Pails  (Figs.  10—12) 

Milk-Syphon  (Fig.  13) 

Cow-JIilker  (Figs.  14,  15)      . 

Ivory  Cone  in  Teat  (Fig.  llj) 

Tucker's  Feeding-Pail  (Fig.  17) 

Anti-Sucking  Devices  (Figs.  18     2U1 

Trochar  (Fig.  21)         . 

Ladders  (Fig.  221 

Tattenhall  Hall  Farm-Buildings  (Figs.  23,  24,1 

Lord  Tolleniache's  Farmstead  (Figs.  2.5,  26) 

American  Octagon  Barn  (Figs.  27 — 29) 

Formation  of  Stratified  Beds  (Fig.  30) 

Succession  of  British  Strata  (Fig.  31) 

Formation  of  Soils  (Fig.  32) . 

Drains  and  Draining  Tools  (Figs.  33—39) 

Plans  of  Drainage  Works  (Figs.  40,  41) 

Outlet  (Fig.  42)  .  .  . 

Effect  of  JNIanures  on  Plants  (Figs.  43,  4 ! 

American  Dairy  Barn  (Figs.  45  —  48) 

Fruit  of  the  Gillyflower  (Fig.  49)      . 

Leaf  of  Rose  (Fig.  50) 

The  Pea  (Figs.  51-54) 

Umbel  of  the  Chervil  (Fig.  oo) 

Chicory  (Fig.  56) 

T!ie  Common  Comfrey  (Figs.  57,  58j 

Dock  (Fig.  59) 

Buckwheat  (Figs.  CO,  61)       . 

Culms  of  Rye  (Fig.  62l 

Ligule  of  Millet  (Fig.  63) 

^^'heat  (Figs.  64,  65)  . 

Spikelct  of  Vernal  Grass  (Fig.  66)    . 

Sedge,  with  Undergi-ound  Stem  (Fig.  67) 

Smut  on  Maize  (Figs.  68,  69) 

Bunt  on  Wheat  (Figs.  70,  71) 

Mowing  Machine  (Fig.  72)    . 

Sharpening  Knife  (Fig.  73)    . 


11-18 

26 

30,  31 

57 

58 

58 

59 

61 

64 

71 

81 

82,  83 

86 

88-90 

94 

95 

100 

114-116 

120,  121 

123 

136,  137 


59,  151 

1.54 

155 

33,  156 

159 

160 

160 

161 

61,  162 

162 

163 
163 
163 

164 
,  173 

173   [ 

178 

179 


Hay-Milker  (Fig.  74). 

Horse-Rake  (Fig.  75). 

Hay-Loader  (Figs.  76,  77)      . 

Stack  and  Rick-Cloth  (Fig.  78) 

Iron  Hay-Barn  (Fig.  79) 

Horse-Forks  (Figs.  80-83)    . 

Aj-tificial  Hay-Drier  (Fig.  84) 

Jersey  and  AjTshire  Milk  (Figs.  85,  86) 

Udder  of  a  Cow  (Fig.  87)       . 

C'olustrum  (Fig.  88)  . 

Watering-Places  for  Cattle  (Figs.  89,  90) 

Floor- Wiper  (Fig.  91) 

Dairy  Thermometer  (Fig.  92) 

Curd-Mill  with  Knives  (Fig.  93)       . 

Portrait  of  Mr.  Joseph  Harding 

Cockey's  Cheese-lMb  (Fig.  94) 

Cheese-Press  (Fig.  95) 

Screw-opening  Cheese-Vat  (Fig.  96) 

Diagram  of  Curd-Grain  (Fig.  97) 

Cheddar  Curd  Cutters  and  Breakers  (Figs.  98- 

Cluett's  Improved  Milk- Vat  (Figs.  104,  105) 

Cheshire  Curd-Breakers  (Figs.  106,  107) 

Cheshire  Curd-Drainer  (Figs.  108,  109) 

Cheshire  Curd-Mill  (Fig.  110) 

Vat  ivith  Cheshire  Curd  in  it  (Fig.  Ill) 

Clieshire  Cheese-Press  (Fig.  112) 

Cheese-Stand  (Fig.  113) 

Plan  of  a  Cheshire  Dau-y  (Fig.  114) 

Old  Cheese-Presses  (Figs.  115 — 117) 

Curd-Mill  iFig.  118)  .... 

Compound  Lever-Press  (Fig.  119)     . 

Travis's  Cheese-making  Apparatus  (Fig.  120) 

Pugh's  App.aratus  (Fig.  121) 

Curd-Knife  (Fig.  122) 

Cheese-Room  Stove  (Fig.  123) 

Hoop  for  Stilton  Cheese  (Fig.  124)  . 

Curd-Mill  on  Tub  (Fig.  125) 

Revolving  Cheese-Rack  (Fig.  126)    . 

Interior  of  Longford  Factory  (Fig.  127 1 

Press-Vivt  (Fig.  128)  .... 


PAOE 

179 
180 

180,  181 
182 
182 
183 
184 
187 
188 
195 
200 
202 
203 
207 
217 
219 
219 
219 
221 

221,  222 

220,  227 
228 
228 
229 
229 
230 
230 
231 

234,  235 
235 
235 
236 
233 
237 
238 
241 
246 
246 
239 
260 


/  /.y  T    0  F    1 L  L  US  TRA  TfOXS. 


Cream  r.auges  and  Lactometers  (Figs.  129-13t> 

Factory  Milk-Can  (Fig.  132) 

AVeigliing-Can  (Fig.  133}        ... 

Factory  Millt-Vat  (Fig.  104) . 

Curd-Knives  (Figs.  135,  136) 

Stirring-Ralies  (Figs.  137,  138) 

Syphon  and  Strainer  (Fig.  139) 

Self-turning  Cheese-Shelves  (Fig.  140) 

Brailsford  Factory  (Figs.  141,  142)  . 

Network  of  Milk-Gland  (Fig.  143)   . 

Portion  of  Udder,  showing  Lobules  and  Ducts  (Fi| 

Lobule  of  JIUk-Gland  (Fig.  145)       . 

Milk-Pan  for  Setting  (Fig.  146) 

Revolving  Milk-Shelves  (Fig.  147)    . 

The  Swartz  System  of  Creaming  (Figs.  148 — 152) 

Centennial  Milk-Pan  and  Cooler  (Figs.  153—155) 

Orange  County  Milk-Pan  (Fig.  156) 

Cooley's  Creamer  and  Can  (Figs.  157,  158) . 

Bench  for  Running  oft  Milk  (Fig.  159) 

Section  of  Cooley's  Creamer  (Fig.  160) 

Hardin's  Milk-Cooler  (Fig.  161) 

AVeidon's  Creamer  (Fig.  162) 

The  Bureau  Creamer  (Fig.  163) 

Section  of  Ice-Hcuse  (Fig.  1G4) 

Centrifugal  Cream-Extractor  (Fig.  165) 

Laval's  Cream- Separator  (Figs.  166,  167)     . 

Cream  Dipper  (Fig.  168) 

Skimming-Dishes  (Figs.  169 — 171)    . 

Butter-Workers,  Hand  (Figs.  172—176)      . 

,,  Mechanical  (Figs.  177 -l.'^< 

Chums  (Figs.  181—189) 
Portable  Engine  and  Boiler  (Fig.  190) 
Churning  by  Horse-Power  (Fig.  191) 
Churning  by  Dog-Power  (Fig.  192)  . 
Butter-Scales  (Fig.  193) 

Butter  Packages  and  Moulds  (Figs.  194—199) 
Brewster  Condensed  Milk  Factory  (Fig.  200) 
Apparatus  for  Manufacture  of  Condensed  Milk  (Fig.  201) 
Lawrence's  Refrigerator  (Fig.  202)  . 
Railway  Milk-Cau  and  Lid  (Figs.  203,  204 
Improved  London  Cow-Shed  (Fig.  •20.-)) 
Holland  Park  Dairy  (Figs.  206,  207) 
Stall  for  Two  Cows  (Fig.  208) 
American  Pumping  Windmill  (Fig.  209) 
Kentucky  Blue-Grass  ( Fig.  210) 
Buffalo-Grass  (Fig.  211) 
Bermuda-Grass  (Fig.  21"2) 
Cross-bred  Buffaloes  (Fig.  213) 
Jamestown  Cattle  (Fig.  214) 
Jersey- Ayrshii  e  Heifer  (Fig.  21.1)     . 
The  "  Oakes  Cow  "  (Fig.  216) 
"01dCro.an;er"  (Fig.  217)    . 
"Jersey  Belle  "  of  Scituate  (Fig.  2181 
Sample  Case  for  Cheese  (Fig.  219)    . 
American  Milk-Cans  (Figs.  220—222"; 
Milk  in  Sealed  Jars  (Figs.  223—225) 
An  American  Dairy  (Figs.  226 — 229 
American  Milk  Cellar  (Fig.  230)      . 
Milk-Strainer  (Figs.  231,  '232) 
MUk-Cooler  (Fig.  233) 
Milk  Aerator  (Fig.  234) 
Milk-Can  H.andles  (Fig.  235) 
Creamery  Vat  (Figs.  236,  237) 
Fairlanib  Can  (Figs.  23?,  2  :!>) 
Baker's  Cream-Strainer  (Fig.  240)    . 
American  Churns  (Figs.  241—253)    . 
American  Butter- Workers  (Figs.  254  -260) 
Butter-Moulder  (Fig,  261)     . 
American  Butter  Packages  (Figs.  262—264) 


PAOK 

271,  272 
274 
274 
274 

275,  276 
276 
278 
279 

279,  280 
284 
285 
285 
291 
291 

293,  294 

295,  296 
296 

296,  297 
297 
298 
299 
301 
301 
302 
303 
305 
306 
306 

310,  311 
312,  313 
315—317 
318 
318 
318 
319 
319,  320 
335 
337 
.341 
342 
3-15 
347 
3.54 
374 
385 
387 
388 
397 
398 
399 
405 
407 
409 
416 
424,  425 
427,  428 
439 
440 
447 
447 
448 
448 
449 
450 
450 
151 — 455 
4.55—457 
457 
458,  459 


Improved  Weighing-Can  Gates  (Fig.  2*».'.) 

Factory  Scales  (Figs.  266,  267) 

Self-heating  Milk- Vat  (Fig.  26S)      . 

Curd-Drainer  (Fig.  269) 

American  Gang-Presses  (Figs.  270,  271) 

Cheese  Hoops  and  Bandages  (Figs.  272—27.5) 

American  Cheese-Box  Machine  (Fig.  276)    . 

Portrait  of  Mr.  Jesse  Williams 

Plans  and  Views  of  American  Factories  (Fig.  277 — 281) 

Milk-Vats  and  Heaters  (Figs.  282—28.5)      . 

Boiler  and  Engine  (Fig.  286) 

Self-fiUing  Boiler-Tank  (Fig.  287)     . 

Section  of  Curd-L\inip  (Fig.  288) 

Flat-side  Pail  (Fig.  2S9|         .  .  ; 

Cheese-Table  (Fig.  290) 

Cheese-Scales  (Fig.  291) 

G.  B.  Weeks'  Factory  (Fig.  292)       . 

Finck's  Basin  Creamery  (Fig.  293)    . 

Wliitman  and  Bui-rell's  Cooler  (Fig.  294)     . 

Gaddis,  McAdam,  &  C'o.'s  Creamery  (Fig.  295) 

McAdam  Cooler  (Fig. -296)     . 

Cunningham  Butter- Worker  (Figs.  297—299) 

Westcott  Butter-Pail  and  Pounder  (Figs.  300,  301 

Philadelph-a  Butter-Pail  (Fig.  302) 

View  of    Messrs.   Hettle  and  Inglis's  Creamery, 

(Fig.  303)  .... 

French  Milk  Jugs,  Cans,  and  Sieves  (Figs 
Cold  and  Hot  Water  Baths  for  Milk  (Figi 
Milk-Mixing  Can  (Fig.  311)  . 
French  Railway  MUk-Van  (Fig.  312) 
Ice-Funnel  (Fig.  313) 
Earthenware  Milk-Pots  (Figs.  314-316) 
A  Norman  Dairy  (Fig.  317)  . 
Nornjan  Barrel  Churn  (Fig.  31a)       . 
Lump  of  Butter  and  Butter-Basket  (Fij 
French  Cylindrical  Churn  (Fig.  321) 
Wooden  Butter-Dish  (Fig.  322) 
Moulds  for  New  Skim  Cheese  (Fig,  .323-325) 
Cheese-Table  (Fig.  32(i) 
Paris  White  Cheese  (Fig.  3'_'7) 
Mould  for  Cream  Cheese  (Fig.  328) 
Bondons  and  Similar  Cheese  (Figs.  329,  .330) 
Camembert  Cheese  (Figs.  331-334) 
Calvados  Milk-Setting  Dish  (Fig.  .335) 
Dairy  and  Apparatus  for  Fromaffe  de  Brie  (Figs.  336 
Mont  d'Or  and  Gerome  Cheese  (Figs.  341,  342 
Finishing  Roquefort  Cheese  (Fig.  343) 
Butter-making  in  Denmark  (Figs.  344 — 3461 
Danish  Butter  Packages  (Figs.  347-349)     . 
C^heese-making  in  Denmark  (Figs.  350 — .352) 
Austrian  Milk-Cooler  (Fig.  3.531 
Swiss  Curd-Breaker  (Fig.  354) 
Dutch  Milk  Pails  and  Vases  (Figs.  355,  ,356) 
AVell  for  Cooling  Milk  (Fig,  357) 
Jlilk-Dishes  in  the  Netherlands  (Figs.  358, 
Interior  of  a  Dutch  Dairy  (Fig.  3(j0) 
Novel  Method  of  Churning  (Fig.  361) 
Working  Butter  in  Holland  (Fig.  362) 
Dutch  Cheese  Presses  and  Fonns  (Figs.  363—365) 
Edam  Cheese  (Figs.  306-368) 
Large  White  Yorkshire  Pig  (Fig.  3''.:i) 
Small  Yorkshire  Pig  (Fig.  3701 
Berkshire  Pig  (F'ig.  371) 
Essex  Pig  (Fig.  372) 
Poland-China  Pig  (Fig.  3731 
Pig-Troughs  (Figs.  374-376) 
Iron  Piggeries  (Figs.  377,  378) 
Ringing  Pigs  (Figs.  379-381) 
Pig-Holder  (Fig.  382) 


.304-308) 
309,  310) 


319,  320) 


-340) 


PilOIl 

460 

460 
460 
461 

.  461,  462 
463 
464 
467 

475-477 
478 
479 
479 
483 
480 
480 
481 
483 
483 
483 
4»4 
484 
1*4,  485 
485 
485 

499 
,  507,  508 
508 
509 
509 
509 
509 
510 
510 
511 
511 
512 
512 
513 
513 
513 

51.3,  514 
.514 
514 

516,  517 
517 
519 

.522,  523 
523 

523,  524 
532 
533 
541 
541 


.553 
.554 
5.56 
5.5(i 


INTRODUCTION 


OR  generations  past,  Dairy-farming  in  these  islands  has  been  an  impor- 
tant branch  of  our  national  enterprise,  and  its  importance  has  been 
steadily  increasing,  but  it  has  not  hitherto  received  the  same  relative 
amount  of  notice  and  recognition  that  other  branches  of  agriculture 
have  enjoyed.  Not  being  the  first  to  feel  the  effects  of  foreign 
competition,  it  seems  to  have  gone  on  quietly  and  uneventfully, 
attracting  but  little  public  notice,  minding  its  own  business  in  its 
own  way,  and  making  no  special  and  comprehensive  attempt  at 
improvement  until  late  years,  as,  indeed,  none  seemed  to  be 
specially  needed.  A  very  few  years  ago  no  kind  of  foreign  dairy- 
produce  sent  to  us  was  admitted  to  be,  in  either  quality  or  quantity, 
sufficiently  marked  to  justify  much  uneasiness,  or  to  demand  any 
special  exertion,  on  om-  part.  Some  twenty  years  since,  our  importa- 
tions of  foreign  cheese  and  butter  were  but  a  tithe  of  what  they  now  are  in  quantity,  whilst 
their  quality,  generally  speaking,  was  inferior  to  our  home  productions ;  their  consumption,  too,  was 
limited  to  certain  classes  and  to  special  districts.  But  now  all  this  is  changed,  and  at  length 
British  dairying  seems  to  be  waking  up  to  the  demands  of  the  age ;  statistics  are  collected,  and 
reports  issued,  and  various  efforts  are  being  made  to  bring  it  into  system  and  order,  and  to 
develop  and  improve  its  resources.  About  the  year  1870  the  factory  system  of  cheese-making  was 
introduced  into  several  of  our  best  dairying  districts;  a  few  years  later  the  British  Dairy  Farmers' 
Association  was  formed;  and,  though  last  not  least,  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  has  now  taken 
the  subject  warmly  in  hand,  and  offers  prizes  for  a  variety  of  new  or  improved  imiilements, 
utensils,  and  machines,  which  the  modern  jihases  of  dairy-farming  have  made  a  necessity  of  the 
day.  All  these  are  hopeful  signs  that  at  length  dairy-farming  is  beginning  to  assume  that  com- 
parative importance  which  belongs  to  it  as  the  cliief  home  source,  in  one  way  or  another,  of  the 
nation's  food-sujjjjly. 

Breeds    of    Cattle. 

It  is  not  alone  on  account  of  cheese,  butter,  and  milk — in  themselves  articles  of  the  first 
moment — that  daiiy-farming  is  a  sujiremely  important  factor  in  the  sum  of  our  national  agriculture. 
It  is  also  the  indirect — in  many  cases  the  direct — source  from  which  our  home  supply  of  beef  is 
derived ;  and  the  raising  of  cattle  is,  consequently,  an  important  branch  of  it. 

A  comprehensive  and  painstaking  history  of  the  various  breeds  of  cattle  which  are 
found  in  the  British  Islands  yet  remains  to  be  written ;  and  it  may  well  be  doubted  if 
such  a  history  will  ever  be  written,  since  the  annals  from  which  the  earlier  jjortions  of  it 
would  have  to  be  derived  are  admitted  to  be  meagre  and  obscure.  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is 
not  our  purpose  in  this  work  to  attempt  any  such  account — first,  because  we  have  not  space  for 
it ;  and,  secondly,  we  have  nut  the  requisite  materials.  We  shall,  however,  endeavour  to  indicate 
1 


ii  DAIRY    FARMING. 

very  Lriofly  nonic  of  the  outlines,  i;'ivinj^  more  or  less  of  details  wlieu  dealing  with  speeial  breeds, 
which  such  an  account  would  jircsent. 

IIow  and  when  the  original  animals  from  which  our  present  hrecds  of  cattle  are  descended 
first  came  to  this  country,  it  is  now  impossible  to  determine.  That  they  have  inhabited  these 
islands  for  a  very  long  period  is  proved  by  those  fossiliferous  remains  of  them  which  have  from 
time  to  time  been  discovered  in  very  ancient  cave  and  drift  deposits,  which,  though  even  ajiproximate 
dates  can  hardly  be  given,  were  formed  many  thousands  of  years  ago.  More  than  once  during 
these  vast  prc-historic  periods  of  time,  the  bed  of  the  German  Ocean  has  been  elevated  so  that 
England  formed  part  of  the  Continent  of  Europe,  and  it  may  well  be  that  the  remote  ancestors 
of  our  herds  of  cattle,  migrating  westwards,  came  to  Britain  by  dry  land  all  the  way,  in  the 
period  preceding  the  last  time  when  the  sea  swei^t  between  this  country  and  the  Continent,  and 
England  again  became  an  island. 

It  is  probable — but  this,  we  susjiect,  is  a  point  which,  like  the  preceding  one,  can  never  be 
determined  with  certainty — that  the  various  types  of  dairy-cattle,  as  seen  in  the  distinct  breeds 
of  the  f)resent  day,  have  all  come  from  one  original  and  individual  stock  which,  before  the  land 
was  fenced  in  and  cultivated,  roamed  at  large  for  ages  over  the  face  of  the  countr3^  Even  to  this 
day  have  survived,  in  the  white  cattle  preserved  in  the  parks  at  Chillingham,  Chartlej'',  and  Lyme, 
the  lineal  descendants  of  the  ancient  roaming  herds,  still  retaining,  though  confined  within  a  limited 
area,  the  wild  characteristics  of  their  remote  ancestors,  and  but  little,  if  at  all,  changed  by  the 
skill  which  man  has  brought  to  bear  on  what  are  properly  called  the  "  improved  breeds." 

We  may  lay  it  down  as  a  first  proposition  that  Nature,  without  the  interference  of  man,  has 
from  one  original  stock  produced  various  races,  or  breeds,  or  families  of  animals ;  and  it  is  no  less 
true  that  she  does  not  require  man's  assistance  to  preserve  these  from  deterioration,  providing  only 
that  they  are  left  to  themselves.  Her  great  laws  of  natural  selection  are  the  means  by  which 
she  brings  about  these  results.  On  the  other  hand,  we  also  witness  around  us  everywhere  the  great 
power  which  man  possesses,  by  artificial  selection  and  classification,  and  by  rejection  of  unfit  specimens, 
of  moulding  and  improving  the  various  kinds  of  animals  which  he  has  reduced  to  domestication. 

The  striking  differences  which  are  seen  between  the  Longhorns  and  the  Shorthorns,  the 
Hcrefords  and  the  Devons,  the  West  Highlanders  and  the  Channel  Islanders,  the  Red  Polled  and 
the  Welsh  Cattle,  the  Galloways  and  the  Kerrys,  may  have  been  to  some  extent  produced  by  the 
peculiarities  of  soil  and  climate  to  which  these  breeds  have  been  respectively  subject,  in  the  districts 
in  which  they  settled  down,  and  of  which  they  became  a  special  feature;  and  the  physical 
development — or  deterioration,  as  the  case  may  be — which  has  taken  place  more  or  less  in  all 
of  them,  is,  perhaps,  primarily  due  to  those  influences  of  soil,  climate,  and  locality,  and  to  the 
law  of  natural  selection  working  through  these  means.  ISfore  recently  they  have  been  im2:)roved  by 
domestication,  and  by  artificial  selection — principles  which  IMan  has  formulated  into  a  science  during 
the  past  hundred  years  or  so. 

We  may  here  regret  that  Britain  did  not  share  in  the  genius  for  arts,  sciences,  and  literature 
which  several  thousand  yeai-s  ago  pervaded  some  of  the  countries  of  Southern  Europe.  Had  she 
done  so,  we  should  have  had  records  of  the  cattle,  and  of  the  agriculture  generally,  which  were  found 
in  the  country  at  that  period.  Such  records,  besides  being  interesting,  would  have  thrown  a  flood 
of  light  over  the  dark,  early  history  of  our  country;  and  many  points  in  the  history  of  our  native 
breeds  of  cattle,  which  rest  now,  and  must  ever  rest,  mainly  on  conjecture,  and  on  chains  of  evidence 
wdiich  are  more  or  less  imperfect,  would  have  been  tolerably  clear  and  trustworthy.  Even  in  later 
times,  when  iMiglund  began  to  have  a  written  history,  the  dignity  of  our  historians  was  more 
gi'atilied  in  writing  of  wars  and  Court  intrigues  than  of  the  arts  which  tend  to  peace — of  cattle, 
and  (if  jiastoral  husbandry.  Allusion  is  now  and  then  made  to  domestic  animals,  as  elements  of 
(rallic  and  of  food,  but  nuthing  is  said  of  the  different  breeds,  or  of  the  excellences  of  any 
one  breed. 

Fossil  remains,  discovered  in  beds  of  silt  and  in  cave-deposits,  demonstrate  the  fact  that 
the  JJus  jirimigcnins,  or  great  o.x — a  genus   which   has    been  extinct   for  ages — once   existed  in  this 


INTRODUCTION.  iil 

country;  and  tliough  it  is  not  aljsolutely  pnived  whether  or  not  this  genns  had  any  eonneetiou 
with  them,  it  is  on  collateral  evidence  supposed  that  the  far-away  progenitors  of  our  domesticated 
breeds  of  cattle  were  lai^er-framed  animals  than  those  of  the  present  era. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  however,  our  different  breeds  of  cattle  of  the  present  day  have,  in  the  coui-se 
of  ages,  and  by  the  influence  of  locality,  assumed  the  distinct  tyjies  and  forms  that  we  now  see ; 
and  in  some  of  them  these  specialities  of  form  and  colour  are  so  far  "  fixed  ■'•'  and  permanent  that 
they  do  not  appear  to  alter  much,  if  at  all,  wherever  the  animals  are  taken.  Whether  bred  in 
England,  America,  or  Australia,  Devons  and  Herefords  remain  Devons  and  Herefords  still.  This, 
however,  is  not  always  the  case  with  what,  for  distinction's  sake,  we  may  call  "  composite  breeds. '^ 
Of  these  the  Ayrshires  in  a  limited  sense,  and  the  ordinary  dairy-stock  of  the  midland  counties 
in  a  more  general  one,  may  be  taken  as  examples.  Within  comparatively  recent  times — say  in  the 
past  two  centuries — these  breeds  have  been  built  up,  or,  to  say  the  least,  very  greatly  improved,  by 
intercrossing  two  or  more  distinct  breeds ;  and  they  have  been  since,  and  are  still  being,  improved 
by  careful  selection  and  classification.  Even  the  modern  Shorthorns — the  noblest  breed  of  cattle, 
so  far  as  we  know,  that  the  world  has  yet  produced — cannot  well  be  called  a  pure  breed  in  the 
sense  that  the  Devons,  the  Herefords,  or  the  Channel  Islanders  can,  though  they  are  more  excellent 
than  these — just  in  the  same  sense  that  Englishmen  cannot  be  called  a  pure  race,  as  the  Chinese 
or  Japanese  can.  For  some  of  the  early  breeders  of  Shorthorns  sought  to  improve  their  cattle 
by  "stealth}/  crosses  with  other  breeds,"  and  even  the  celebrated  Charles  Colling,  of  Ketton,  is 
known  to  have  had  recourse  to  Kyloe  and  Galloway  crosses.  Whether  any  solid  improvement  was 
obtained  from  these  crosses  is  and  must  remain  a  disputed  point ;  but  the  fact  of  the  crosses,  not 
being  denied  by  the  best  authorities,  remains  on  recoixl.  When  some  kinds  of  cattle  are  taken  to 
other  districts  and  countries,  their  offspring  not  uncommonly  exhibit  tendencies  to  "  throw  back " 
more  or  less  to  their  remote  ancestral  elements.  In  order  to  maintain  the  excellent  quality  of 
the  Ayrshires  in  any  other  country  than  their  own — in  England,  even — it  is  found  necessary  to 
repeatedly  import  fresh  blood  from  the  fountain-head.  Shorthorns,  too,  in  other  climes,  while 
increasing  rather  than  diminishing  in  constitutional  vigour,  not  infrequently  show  signs  of  considerable 
"rawness,"  and  to  check  this  tendency  it  is  found  necessary  to  use  great  care  in  selection  and 
in  general  treatment.  Being  in  a  sense  artificial  breeds,  they  require  more  or  less  of  artificial 
treatment  to  maintain  them  in  the  high  position  of  purity  and  excellence  which  they  have  attained. 
In  course  of  time,  if  the  system  under  which  they  are  bred  be  persevered  in,  they  may  become 
permanent  in  those  features  which  at  present  are  more  or  less  fugitive.  Those  features,  however, 
will  be  the  longer  in  becoming  "fixed,"  because  many  of  the  best  animals  are  continually  being 
transported  and  re-transiiorted  from  one  district  or  country  to  another  ;  for  where  there  is  so  much 
migration  of  individuals  it  is  difficult  for  a  tribe  to  secure  and  to  maintain  fixed,  uniform,  and 
unvarying  characteristics — "  fixed,"  that  is,  in  the  same  sense  as  those  of  local  and  very  ancient 
breeds  appear  to  be. 

Far  moi-e  than  any  other  breed,  because  the  grandest  and  most  fashionable.  Shorthorns  have 
become  cosmopolitan.  They  ar'e  now  found  in  every  civilised  portion  of  the  world,  and  in  some 
portions  which  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  civilised.  The  Shorthorn  seems  to  be  the  Englishman's 
shadow — it  follows  him  everywhere.  In  all  countries,  if  properly  cared  for.  Shorthorns  are  found 
to  do  well.  Other  breeds,  notably  the  Herefords,  have  been  introduced  and  extensively  bred  in 
other  countries,  and  they  too  are  found  to  prosper,  without  such  minute  care,  imder  the  new 
conditions;  while  their  distinguishing  characteristics,  being  to  all  intents  and  purposes  stamped 
with  the  principle  of  permanence,  so  far  as  such  matters  can  become  permanent,  do  not  change  in 
any  marked  degree.  Yet  it  is  probable  that  foreign  soils  and  climates  will  modify  them  somewhat 
in  course  of  time.  Not  the  least  of  the  merits  which  English  breeds  of  cattle  carry  with  them 
to  foreign  countries  is  their  prepotency — their  ability  to  stamp  in  a  marked  manner  their  own 
qualities  on  the  offspring  of  any  of  the  native  breeds  with  which  they  are  intercrossed  in  such 
foreign  countries ;  and  in  this  way  they  are  modifying  the  cattle  of  the  rest  of  the  world 
in  a  degree  analogous   to   that  in   which    Englishmen    are    modifying    its    manners  and  institutions. 


iv  DAIRY    FARMING. 

Tliis  proiiorty  of  pivpoteiicy  belongs  in  ;i  niai-ked  degvce  to  tlie  Shortliorns,  the  Herefonls,  anil 
the  Devons;  and,  especially  for  breeding  purposes,  these  cattle  are  held  in  high  esteem  in  various 
countries  of  Europe,  in  America,  and  in  Australia.  To  the  Shorthorns  it  especially  belongs; 
and,  if  such  an  analogy  be  permitted,  we  may  assume  that  the  physical  vigour  of  Shorthorns,  like 
that  of  the  luiglish  nation,  is  owing  in  no  insignificant  measure  to  the  ancient  admixture  of  foreign 
blood.  In  order  to  maintain  unimpaired  the  size  and  reproductive  vigour  of  a  race.  Nature  occasionally 
requires,  as  it  would  seem,  either  fresh  soil  and  climate,  or  fresh  blood.  Confined  exclusively 
to  themselves  and  to  a  given  district,  animals  of  all  kinds,  including  man  himself,  appear  to 
deteriorate  in  size  and  \ngour,  if  not  in  purity  of  type.  It  must  always  be  borne  in  mind,  in 
respect  to  the  breeding  of  animals,  that  the  power  of  prepotency— of  impressing  his  characteristics 
on  his  offspring,  whatever  their  mothers  may  be— will  depend  mainly  on  a  bull's  physical  vigour 
and  soundness  of  constitution,  and  that  the  offspring  will  most  resemble  that  parent  which  possesses 
these  (jualities  in  the  highest  degree. 

There  are  very  few  of  the  breeds  or  tril)es  into  which  the  native  cattle  of  Britain  have 
resolved  themselves  that  have  not  1  e^n  more  or  less  improved  by  man's  judgment  and  skill  in  the 
art  of  breeding;  and  some  of  them,  by  careful  selection  only,  and  without  crossing  from  other 
breeds,  have  been  very  greatly  improved.  The  improvements  consist  mainly  in  a  nearer  approach 
to  symmetry  of  form — so  far,  at  all  events,  as  our  ideas  of  symmetry  go — in  earlier  maturity,  in 
aptitude  to  fatten  quickly  on  a  miuimum  quantity  of  food,  and  in  the  development  of  milking 
properties.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  the  improvement  in  each  of  these  points  is  real  and 
substantial,  though  they  are  seldom  found  combined  in  a  high  degree  in  one  animal  or  family. 
In  the  breeding  of  pedigree  Shorthorns,  milking  properties  have  only  too  commonly  been  sacrificed 
to  symmetry  of  form,  early  maturity,  and  rapidity  of  fattening — one  or  all  of  these.  And  yet 
it  is  admitted  to  be  possible  that  all  these  properties  should  be  secured  in  the  breeding  of  animals, 
and  we  actually  find  certain  families  of  Shorthorns  famous  alike  for  milk,  symmetry,  early  maturity, 
and  rapid  fattening.  Where  these  aro  all  attained — and  attained  they  undoubtedly  are  in  some 
instances — nothing  is  left  to  be  desired,  providing  only  that  physical  vigour  and  fertility  are 
maintained,  for  if  these  suffer,  the  rest  are  comparatively  valueless.  The  breeding  of  cattle  with 
a  view  to  symmetry  and  beauty  of  form,  early  maturity,  and  rapid  laying  on  of  flesh,  and  treating 
milk  as  a  matter  of  little  importance,  has  caused  many  people  to  entertain  the  belief  that  beef 
and  milk  in  the  same  breed  are  somehow  incompatible;  that  only  one  of  these  properties  can  be 
secured  in  a  high  degree  in  any  one  animal  or  family;  that  the  methods  employed  to  produce 
on  the  one  hand  a  race  of  cattle  excellently  adapted  for  beef-making,  and  on  the  other  for  the 
production  in  an  equally  high  degree  of  milk  and  butter,  usually  result  in  milk  being  sacrificed 
to  l)ccf,  or  beef  to  milk;  and  that  between  these  two  stools  either  the  breeder  will  fall  to  the 
ground,  or  will  have  to  be  content  with  sitting  on  one  of  them.  This  belief  rests  on  a  fallacy 
created  Ity  llie  one-sided  olijccts  aimed  at,  and  methods  cmi)l(iye(l,  by  certain  brecder.s  of 
show-cattle. 

AVc  have  hitherto  failed  to  be  convinced  of  the  soundness  of  this  method  of  breeding,  and 
wc  liuvc  equally  failed  to  see  that  the  results  of  it  are  by  any  means  deserving  of  having  a  hard 
and  fast  theory  in  the  art  of  breeding  based  upon  them.  AVe  are  well  aware  that  high  feeding 
for  show  purjjoses,  coupled  with  the  practice  of  not  allowing  the  cow  to  give  any  milk  during  the 
greater  part  of  the  year,  will  soon  result  in  dwarfing  the  lacteal  organs;  and  that  if  persevered 
in  lor  several  generations,  quick  feeding  and  deficient  milking  properties  will  become  marked 
features  in  Ilic  breed.  It  is  a  mere  question  of  imjjerfeet  exercise  of  milking  functions.  ^  ct 
we  know  also  lliat  a  diametrically  opposite  result  may  be  obtained  by  similar  methods;  that 
beef  may  be  sacrificed  to  milk  just  as  easily  as  milk  may  to  beef,  by  simply  breeding  in  that 
direction.  And  it  is  equally  true  that  a  more  excellent  course  than  either  of  these  may  without 
great  dilfictdty  be  followed,  and  cattle  may  be  bred  with  both  milk  and  beef  combined.  Tiicse 
qualities,  we  believe,  are  co-ordinate  and  correlative ;  they  may  and  do  exist  normally  in  the 
same    animal,    and    they    may   be  devcl(i]i('d    cither    separately    or   jointly    according    to    the    direction 


INTRODUCTION.  v 

in  wliicli  the  Lrocdiug  ami  treatment  of  tlic  animals  are  made  to  tend.  Ilig-li  milking'  as  well 
as  quick  fattening  properties  are  doubtless  to  some  considerable  extent  artiiieial  jiroductions. 
Wild  cattle  are  neither  good  milkers  nor  good  feeders;  and  we  see,  in  those  parts  of  England 
where  calves  are  commonly  allowed  to  run  with  their  mothers,  that  the  cattle  are  not  famous 
as  good  milkers.  Milk  much  sooner  leaves  the  cow  when  a  calf  sucks  from  her  than  when  she 
is  milked  by  hand.  The  Hereford  cattle  are  a  marked  instance  of  this;  and  yet  we  find  the 
Ilerefords  are  not  by  any  means  inferior  milkers  when  they  are  treated  as  other  dairy-cattle 
are — when  their  calves  are  taken  away  at  birth,  and  they  are  milked  by  hand  instead.  In  all 
breeds  the  milking  properties  of  cows  vary  more  or  less;  some  cows  are  good,  others  bad,  and 
others  again  indifferent  milkers;  but  with  care  and  judgment  in  selecting  animals  to  breed  from, 
not  only  may  nearly  all  the  animals  be  bred  good  milkers,  but  milking  and  feeding  capacities 
may  he  combined  in  them  in  a  highly  satisfactory  manner. 

Milk. 

Milk,  cheese,  and  butter  are  the  productions,  par  excellence,  with  which  is  associated  the 
salient  idea  conveyed  by  the  term  "  dairy-farming  " — they  are  its  specialities,  its  prominent  features. 
But  the  relative  prominence  of  those  features  is  changing  rapidly  in  these  later  days.  So  far  as 
English  dairy-farming  is  concerned,  milk — for  consumption  as  milk,  and  not  as  cheese  and  butter 
— is  taking  the  lead  as  a  special  commercial  element.  The  quantity  of  cheese,  if  not  of  butter, 
made  in  the  British  Islands  is  yearly  diminishing ;  and  it  is  not  improbable  that,  in  course  of  time, 
we  may  depend  almost  wholly  on  foreign  supplies  of  cheese,  and,  to  a  very  great  extent,  on  foreign 
supplies  of  butter;  our  own  dairy-farming  being  devoted  chiefly  to  the  milk-trade.  Yet  dairy- 
farming  will  not  become  any  the  less  important  on  that  account — rather  the  contrary ;  but  cheese 
and  butter  making  will  become  less  important,  esj)ecially  in  districts  where  railways  offer  facilities 
for  the  conveyance  of  milk  to  oin-  towns  and  cities.  At  present,  however,  cheese-making  is  still 
a  highly  important  branch  of  dairy-farming,  and  for  some  time  yet  will  continue  to  be  so ;  but 
it  has,  in  some  districts,  already  given  way  before  the  rush  of  the  milk-trade,  which  has  been 
greatly  stimulated  in  recent  years.  Two  principal  causes  have  contributed  to  this.  First,  the 
operation  of  the  Adulteration  Acts,  in  the  last  eight  or  ten  years,  has  so  greatly  increased  the 
consumption  of  milk  by  all  classes  of  our  urban  populations,  and  fast  trains  on  the  railways  afford 
such  facilities  for  rapid  conveyance  of  perishable  food,  that  a  new  and  altogether  extraordinary 
opening  has  been  made  for  country  milk  in  our  cities  and  towns.  Secondly,  the  cattle-plague  of 
ten  or  twelve  years  ago  destroyed  the  milch-cows  in  town  cow-houses — particularly  in  London — 
in  such  a  wholesale  manner  that,  in  the  great  bulk  of  cases,  they  have  not  been,  and  in  all 
probaljility  never  will  be,  replaced;  and  the  sources  of  our  towns'  and  cities'  milk-supply  are  now 
found  in  country  villages  scores  of  miles  away. 

This  is  a  new  departure  which  is  changing  the  whole  complexion  of  English  dairy-farming, 
either  directly  or  indirectly.  In  most  dairying  districts  through  which  railways  pass,  the  traveller 
by  the  morning  and  evening  trains  may  see,  as  he  passes  along,  a  number  of  milk-cans  standing 
on  the  station  jilatforms,  awaiting  despatch  to  their  destinations.  There  are  but  few  if  any  stations, 
however  small,  from  which  no  milk  is  sent,  while  from  some  of  the  larger  ones  very  considerable 
quantities  are  sent  away  night  and  morning.  The  aggregate  extent  of  this  milk  traffic,  as  will 
be  seen  from  the  statistics  and  other  information  relating  to  it,  which  will  be  found  in  their 
proper  place  in  the  body  of  this  work,  is  enormous,  and  is  yearly  increasing.  And  when  we  consider 
that  almost  the  whole  of  this  vast  trade  has  sprung  up  within  a  comparatively  few  years, 
the  modern  change  which  has  come  over  a  large  portion  of  English  dairy-farming  will  be  j)lainly 
seen,  and  it  is  no  less  plain  that  the  new  order  of  things  will  go  on  developing.  To  this  great 
featui-e  of  dairy-farming  we  shall  devote  the  amount  of  space  which  its  importance  demands,  and 
we  hope  to  give  to  our  readers  an  adequate  presentation  of  its  various  bearings.  We  think  it 
promises  to  become,  in  the  not  distant  future,  the  sheet-anchor  of  a  large  section  of  our  dairy- 
farmers,  while  it  is  also  a  question  of  first  moment  to  the  public  at  large. 


10,30 

13-8  per 

cent. 

85-85 

4-82 

4-06 

4-G2 

•65 

vi  DAIRY    FAR.MINC;. 

We  need  no  support  when  we  say  that  only  a  tithe  of  the  milk  is  consumed  l>y  our  people 
that  ought  to  be,  for  the  truth  of  the  statement  is  obvious  to  every  one.  Unadulterated,  undiluted, 
unskimmed,  and  properly-treated  milk,  taken  from  a  healthy  cow  in  good  condition,  and  produced  by 
the  consumption  of  healthy  and  nutritious  grasses  and  other  kinds  of  food,  contains  within  itself,  in 
proper  proportions,  all  the  elements  that  are  necessary  to  sustain  human  life  through  a  considerable 
period  of  time.  Scarcely  any  other  single  article  of  food  will  do  this.  When  we  eat  bread  and 
drink  milk,  we  eat  bread,  butter,  and  cheese,  and  drink  water — all  of  them  in  the  best  combination 
and  condition  to  nourish  the  human  system.  All  things  considered,  good  milk  is  the  cheapest 
kind  of  food  that  we  have,  for  3  pints  of  it,  weighing  3}  lbs.,  and  costing  4Jd.,  contain  as 
much  nutriment  as  1  lb.  of  beef,  which  costs  9d.  There  is  no  loss  in  cooking  the  milk  as  there 
is  in  cooking  the  beef,  and  there  is  no  bone  in  it  that  cannot  be  eaten ;  it  is  simple,  palatable, 
nutritious,  healthful,  cheap,  and  always  ready  for  use  with  or  without  preparation.  Few  kinds 
of  food  are  really  more  nutritious  and  healthful — none  so  complete.  The  National  Lire  Stock 
Journal  tells  us  that  the  average  analyses  of  thirty-four  samples  of  pure  milk  by  S.  P.  Sharpless, 
of  Boston,  gave  the  following  results : — ■ 

Specific  gravity  

Cream  volume 

AVater 

Sugar 
Casein     ... 

Fat  

Ash         

According  to  Dr.  Laukostcr,  the  composition  of  lean  beef  is : — 

"Water 500  per  cent. 

Fat         300        „ 

Fibrin  and  albumen 80        ,, 

Gelatine ...  79        ,, 

Mineral  ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  6'0        „ 

Wliile  Professor  Way  gives  for  a  particularly  lean  sample  53-81  per  cent,  of  water,  3-10  per  cent, 
of  fat,  21''0G  per  cent,   of  albuminous  matter,  and   19"3  per  cent,  of  other  substances. 

If  from  these  data  we  construct  a  table,  we  find  that  the  chemical  substances  of  1  lb.  of 
milk  and  beef  have  about  the  following  relations : — 

Water       

Flesh-forming  constituents  (nitrogenous) 
Heat-producing  constituents  (carbo-hydrates) 
Mineral  matter 


This  is  to  say  that,  chemically,  3" 7  lbs.  of  milk  is  the  equivalent  of  1  lb.  of  beef  in  flesli- 
forming  or  nitrogenous  constituents,  and  3"17  lbs.  of  milk  is  the  equivalent  of  1  lb.  of  beef  in 
heat-producing  elements,  or  carbo-hydrates. 

In  a  calculation,  by  Dr.  Frankland,  of  the  weight  of  various  articles  of  diet  required  to  be 
consume<l  to  furnish  the  force  requisite  to  raise  a  man  of  140  lbs.  weight  to  the  height  of 
10, 000  feet,  8  lbs.  of  milk  and  3'5  lbs.  of  lean  beef  are  given  for  the  figures.  In  another  table, 
furnislied  by  Letheby,  the  amount  of  food  necessary  to  be  consumed  to  furnish  the  necessary 
nitrogenous  constituents  for  a  day's  diet  is  given  as  72"4  ounces  for  milk  and  15'C  ounces  for 
lean  meat.  In  the  table  of  the  average  daily  diet  required  for  active  labour,  we  find  301  grains 
of  nitrogen  and  0,823  grains  of  carbon — an  amount  supplied  by  about  11.^  llis.  of  milk  (about 
\\\   lbs.  to  sujiply  the  carbon,  only  aliout  9   lbs.   to  sujijily  the  nitrogen),  or  about  3^   lbs.   of  beef 


1  lb.  of  Milk. 

1 11).  of  Beef. 

13-73  ozs. 

8-0  ozs. 

•65    ,, 

24    „ 

1-51     „ 

4-8    „ 

Carbon. 

Nitrogen 

f)99 

41 

18.3-t 

184 

INTRODUCTION.  vii 

(about  3*6  lbs.  to  supply  tlio  carbon,  and  ii'l   lbs.  to  supply  the  nitro-ren).      The  cailjon  and  nitrn<i;on 
in  average  milk  and  beef  are  calculated  by  Dr.  Lankester  as  below  : — 

Grains  per  lb. 

Ca 

Milk        

Beef         

We  must  therefore  assume  from  the  data  offered,  that  the  relative  values  of  beef  and  milk 
as  human  food  are  as  3^  are  to  IH,  or  as  (in  round  numbers)  1  to  3^.  If  milk  is  4d.  a  quart, 
then  it  is  the  equal  in  food  value  to  beef  at  Ojd.  a  pound;  and,  vice  rem/,  when  beef  is  Is.  O^d. 
a  pound,  then  milk  should  be  8d.  a  quart,  calculated  on  its  food  value.  We  thus  see  that,  at  any 
ruling  prices,  milk  is  certainly  one  of  the  cheapest,  if  not  the  cheapest,  food  that  can  be  furnished 
to  the  family,  while  all  experience  is  in  favour  of  its  healthy  qualities. 

The  production  of  milk  in  the  animal  economy  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  beautiful 
of  the  many  branches  of  study  which  natural  history  provides.  That  the  offspring  of  the  order 
IMammalia  should  receive  its  sustenance  for  a  time  direct  from  the  mother's  body  is  singularly 
interesting,  and  milk  is  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  of  Nature's  provisions  for  the  support  of  life. 
How  milk  is  made  is  a  subject  well  worth  a  few  minutes'  inquiry.  A  scientific  journal  describes 
the  process  as  follows  : — 

"  We  all  know  that  milk  comes  from  the  cow,  and  is  derived  primarily  from  the  food  that 
goes  in  at  the  mouth.  The  cow,  indeed,  is  the  machine  which  receives  the  raw  material,  the 
grass  or  hay  or  grain,  and  in  the  natural  laboratory  of  her  body  produces  the  sweet  aud  palatable 
milk,  so  essential  to  infancy,  so  agreeable  to  the  adult.  How  it  is  done  is  a  most  interesting 
inquiry.  It  is  not  simply  filtered  from  the  blood,  as  water  is  filtered  through  earth  or  paper. 
It  is  itself  an  organised  material,  containing  bodies  which  possess  form,  and  which  are  allied  to 
the  animal  which  produces  them. 

"If  we  pass  a  bristle  inward  through  the  orifice  of  the  teat,  it  traverses  a  duct  or  tube 
which  opens  into  a  reservoir  which  communicates  with  other  reservoirs  or  with  ducts ;  selecting 
one  of  these  ducts  and  continuing,  it  finally  arrives  at  a  small  saccular  cavity,  which  comprises 
the  extremity  of  the  system.  Within  this  cavity,  the  vesicle,  as  it  has  been  named,  the  fat  of 
milk  is  produced — but  how?  A  microscopic  examination  shows  these  little  cavities,  but  about  a 
thirtieth  of  an  inch,  more  or  less,  in  diameter,  are  lined  with  cells  of  a  uniform  size,  but  if 
anything  smaller  above  than  below.  These  cells  produce  the  milk  globules  by  forming  new  cells 
in  the  following  way: — A  cell  commences  to  bud  at  the  extremity,  and  grows  until  the  bud  is 
dropped  off  into  the  cavity;  and  there  the  water,  containing  casein  and  milk-sugar  in  solution, 
and  which  has  been  transuded  from  the  tissues,  takes  this  young  milk  globule,  but  just  now  a 
part  of  the  living  structure  of  the  cow,  and  washes  it  down  through  duct  after  duct,  till  it  reaches 
the  reservoirs  and  passes  out  through  the  teat.  Thus  the  fat  of  milk  is  formed  in  the  cow,  and 
the  process  is  strictly  an  epithelial  one,  or  a  sort  of  a  cell  growth,  as  the  nail  cells  elongate  to 
form  the  nail  of  the  hand  or  foot. 

"  Let  us  retrace  our  way  wdth  the  milk.  The  simple  cell,  which  but  just  now  was  part  of 
the  vesicle,  or  terminal  acini,  or  ultimate  follicle,  has  received  the  material  for  its  growth  from  the 
blood  which  has  been  brought  to  it  by  the  system  of  capillaries,  which  has  enveloped  it  with  an 
abundant  network.  This  material,  received  into  the  cell,  has  become  changed  into  fat  by  a  species 
of  change  aUied  to  degeneration,  or  the  breaking  up  of  previous  compounds.  This  ultimate  follicle 
is  grouped  with  other  vesicles  of  a  like  character,  to  form  a  lobule. 

"  This  lobule  is  arranged  with  other  lobules,  and  the  combined  secretions  of  all  the  lobules 
are  passed  onward  to  the  main  duct.  To  repeat,  the  vesicles  secrete  and  pass  their  product,  the 
milk  globule,  into  the  duct  of  the  lobule,  and  from  this  duct  the  globule  passes  into  others, 
continually  more  capacious,  until  it  reaches  the  reservoirs,  which  are  principally  arranged  about  the 
periphery  and  apex  of   the  udder-gland. 


viii  DAIRY    FAll.MING. 

"  AVc  thus  see  tliat  the  milk  "j^lolnile  is  at  one  time  a  portion  of  tlie  livint;-  oowj  tliat  it 
must  partake  in  some  measure  of  the  character  of  the  cow.  Ilenee,  as  cows  differ — we  know 
that  cows'  meat  differs,  formed  of  muscle  cells  as  it  is,  one  piece  of  beef  being  tender  and  juicy, 
another  being  dry  and  tough — so  must  there  be  differences  in  their  milk." 

Milk,  then,  is  a  liquid  emulsion  produced  from  the  elements  of  bloud  and  chyle  in  thj 
mammaiy-gland  of  the  female  animal  of  the  oi-der  Mammalia,  after  she  has  given  birth  to 
young.  Seen  under  a  microscope  it  ajipears  as  a  colourless  fluid,  in  which  float  innumerable 
little  globules,  which  contain  the  fats  of  which  butter  is  composed.  The  "  shells "  of  these 
microscopical  sacs  or  globules  consist  of  casein  or  albumen,  uliiih,  being  white,  give  to  milk 
its  peculiar  opacity. 

Some  people  do  not  relish  milk  now  as  they  did  once — when  their  tastes  were  uneducated 
and  unvitiated ;  it  is  too  simple  and  too  dilute  a  food  to  find  much  favour  in  the  eyes  of  those 
who  have  long  been  accustomed  to  strong  and  concentrated  meat  and  drink.  Then,  again,  it  is, 
or  has  been  in  the  past,  very  diflicult  for  townspeople  to  procure  wholesome  milk — milk  from 
healthy  cows  that  have  been  fed  on  healthy  food.  Too  frequently  milk  has  contained,  in  one  form 
or  another,  germs  of  disease,  which  have  caused  sickness  and  sometimes  death  among  the  people. 
We  say  "too  frequently,"  because  we  now  know  that  such  has  no  need  to  be  the  case  at  all. 
Assuming  that  the  country  is  free  from  the  diseases  which  have  been  repeatedly  imported  with 
Continental  cattle,  cows  will  give  sound  and  healthy  milk,  providing  they  are  fed  on  sound  and 
healthy  food,  and  are  kept  away  from  filthy  water  and  from  vitiated  air.  It  is  not  our  purpose 
here,  any  more  than  it  is  our  wish,  to  advocate  a  milk  diet  in  preference  to  any  other;  but  we 
may  j)oint  out  the  great  advantage  which  would  accrue,  to  producers  and  to  consumei-s  alike,  if 
our  citizens  drank  more  milk  than  they  do,  and  less  of  other  things ;  and  we  may  also  say  that 
if  the  people  who  use  milk  could  always  dej)end  on  getting  it  pure,  the  demand  for  it  would 
increase  much  more  rapidly  than  it  has  done.  True,  the  milk  now  supplied  to  townsfolk  is  much 
more  nearly  what  it  ought  to  be  than  that  of  ten  years  ago,  yet  we  still  hear  of  frequent  con- 
victions for  milk  adulteration.  Not  only  common  honesty,  but  the  health  of  the  people  demands 
that  the  law  as  to  adulteration  shall  be  very  strict  and  very  vigilant.  Dishonest  milk-salesmen 
must  be  made  honest  in  spite  of  themselves — be  they  farmers  or  retailers.  Farmers  who  adulterate 
the  milk  they  sell  are  exceedingly  stupid,  for  they  are  hindering  the  development  of  a  trade  which 
provides  by  far  the  most  profitable  outlet  they  will  ever  find  for  their  produce  j  and  retailers — 
well,  of  some  of  them  it  might  be  said  "  'tis  their  poverty,  not  their  will,  consents ; "  but  they, 
and  those  who  cannot  plead  poverty  but  still  are  dishonest,  and  the  farmers  too  who  water  or 
skim  their  milk,  must  be  under  the  surveillance  of  a  law  strictly  and  impartially  administered. 
If  we  speak  pointedly,  it  is  because  we  feel  strongly  on  this  subject  of  milk  adulteration.  AVe 
know  that  absolutely  pure  milk  can  always  be  obtained  from  several  sources  in  the  London  milk- 
supply;  but  we  also  know  that  much  milk  that  is  not  genuine  is  still  sold  in  the  metropolis,  as 
well  as  in  all  other  cities  and  towns.  Both  these  things  are  obvious  to  every  one  who  is 
acquainted,  however  slightly,  with  the  milk-trade  j  and  it  is  no  less  obvious  that  pure  milk  coukl 
be  sujiplicd  by  every  salesman  to  every  customer,  providing  only  that  all  men  were  honest,  or 
that  the  law  were  strict  enough.  It  is  blind  fatuity  on  the  jiart  of  every  one  who  sells  milk,  to  sell 
an  article  that  is  not  genuine;  it  is  killing  the  goose  that  lays  the  golden  eggs,  that  would 
never  leave  off  laying  them,  that  would  lay  more  of  them  each  following  year,  if  properly  treated. 
Fresh  and  genuine  milk  delivered  regularly  would  be  like  a  small  but  constant  supply  of  fi-esh 
country  air  to  the  denizens  of  our  crowded  cities,  who  need  it  sadly  ;  it  would  help  Nature  to 
light  against  the  influence  of  the  vitiated  atmosphere  which  they  constantly  breathe ;  it  would 
restore  vigour  and  health  to  those  who  are  robbed  of  them  by  the  anti-natural  conditions  under 
which  they  live.  One  of  the  obvious  duties  of  a  Government  is  to  see  that  the  people  are  supplied 
with  genuine  and  wholesome  food.  Next  to  the  jirotection  of  life  and  j^roperty,  this  ])rotection 
against  an  unwholesome  food-supply  is  the  most  important.  Hence  it  follows  that  the  law  against 
adulteration  must  be  strictly  enforced  whenever  and  wherever  necessary. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The   Milk   Trade. 


Tliu  2)oinls  in  the  milk-tnidc  to  wliich  we  shall  chietiy  direct  attention  are : — Its  control  in 
summer  and  its  develojnneut  in  winter;  the  best  methods  of  cooling  and  aerating,  so  that  milk  may 
carry  long  distances  in  the  hottest  weather,  taking  no  real  harm  by  the  way;  and  the  regulation 
of  its  conveyance  by  rail,  embodying  increased  facilities  as  to  times  and  rates  of  transit.  We 
shall  also  treat  upon  the  development  of  the  factory  system  in  connection  with  the  milk-trade; 
their  partnership,  so  to  speak,  so  that  the  one  may  be  subservient  to  the  other — cheese-making  to  the 
milk-trade — on  the  plan  already  in  some  measure  successfully  carried  out  by  several  of  the  Derbyshire 
factories  and  by  the  Aylesbury  Dairy  Company,  so  that  when  there  is  a  plethora  of  milk  in  summer, 
the  surplus  over  and  above  the  needs  of  the  trade  may,  in  the  manner  next  most  profitable,  be  made 
u])  into  cheese  or  butter,  as  the  case  may  be,  or  into  condensed  milk.  As  the  matter  now  stands, 
an  amazing  quantity  of  milk  is  handled  in  a  wasteful  and  unproKtable  manner,  owing  to  a 
2Jrevalent  lack  of  knowledge  as  to  the  best  manner  of  preparing  it  for  transit  by  railway,  and  as 
to  the  best  methods  of  cheese  and  butter  making.  The  annual  loss  under  these  heads  to  individuals 
or  companies,  and  through  them  to  the  nation,  is  immense.  This  loss  must,  as  far  as  possible, 
be  prevented. 

Milk   Production. 

It  is  obvious  that  no  estimate  can  pretend  to  do  more  than  approxiuiatc  t<j  the  quantity  of 
milk  produced  by  the  cows  of  the  British  Islands ;  and  this  is  all  that  can  be  done  with  regard 
not  only  to  the  quantities  of  cheese  and  butter  produced  in  this  country,  but  also  as  to  the 
quantity  of  milk,  of  cheese,  and  of  butter  that  our  people  consume.  Such  estimates  may,  and 
probably  do,  come  very  near  to  the  truth,  but  of  this  we  cannot  be  certain ;  they  will,  however, 
be  sufficient  for  our  purpose  here,  which  is  to  show  how  vast  is  the  importance  of  our  dairy- 
farming.  During  the  years  1876-8  the  number,  in  the  British  Islands,  of  "cows  and  heifers 
in  milk  or  in  calf "  has  seriously  diminished ;  the  figures  given  in  the  agricultural  returns  are 
as  follows  : — 

187G 3,775,203 

1877 3,744,647 

1878 3,708,706 

If  we  base  our  estimate  on  ;3,7UU,UUO  cows,  and  assume  that  each  of  these  animals  produces, 
on  the  average,  440  gallons  of  milk  per  annum,  we  have  an  aggregate  milk  production  of 
1,628,000,000  gallons.  Of  this  vast  quantity  it  is  probable  that  about  one-eighth  is  used  in  the 
rearing  and  fattening  of  calves,  leaving  a  balance  of  1,431,500,000  gallons  available  for  human 
consumption  in  the  forms  of  milk,  cheese,  and  butter,  including  what  is  used  in  cooking  and 
what  is  wasted.  If  this  balance  were  all  made  into  cheese,  it  woidd  produce  over  500,000  tons 
of  ripe  cheese,  which  would  be  a  trifle  under  10  oza.  per  week  per  head  of  our  population.  Made 
into  butter  it  would  produce  over  230,000  tons,  or  nearly  5  ozs.  per  week  per  head  of  the 
population.  When  we  come  to  reckon  up  the  excess  of  our  imports  over  our  exports  in  these 
articles,  and  add  to  such  excess  the  quantities  produced  in  these  islands,  we  find  that  in  reality 
we  consume  cheese  at  a  rate  very  little,  if  at  all,  exceeding  4  ozs.  per  weekjuey  capita,  and  butter 
at  a  rate  very  little,  if  at  all,  exceeding  3^  ozs.  per  week  per  capita. 

But  suppose  we  allow  that  each  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  British  Islands  swallows, 
on  an  average,  in  the  forms  of  milk  and  of  various  cookeries,  one-third  of  a  pint  per  day,  or 
15  gallons  per  year — and  this,  we  think,  is  under  rather  than  over  the  mark,  and  in  a  short  time 
will  be  considerably  under  it — these  items  of  cousimiption  dispose  of  some  525,000,000  gallons 
per  annum,  leaving  a  balance  of  about  900,000,000  gallons  to  be  converted  into  cheese  and  butter. 
Ikaring  in  mind  that  scarcely  any  cheese  at  all  is  made  in  Ireland,  and  in  the  smaller  islands  of 
the  British  group,  and  that  in  many  parts  of  England  chQcse-making  is  giving  way  to  butter- 
making,  we  are  perhaps  not  very  far  wrong  in  assuming  that  some  350,000,000  gallons  are  devoted 
2 


X  I)AII!V     l'AK.MI.\(;. 

to  uhccse,  aucl  550,000,000  to  Ijuttcr.  On  that  supiwsition,  the  quautity  of  cheese  made  per  annum 
will  amount  to  about  120,000  tons  ul'  I'ipc  cheese,  and  the  quautity  of  butter  to  about  89,285 
tons.  lu  these  calculations  we  have  assumed  that,  on  an  average,  a  little  more  than  1  g-allon  of 
milk  is  required  to  make  lib.  of  "green"  cheese,  and  that  cheese  loses  about  15  per  cent,  of 
its  weight  in  ripening  (on  the  Cheddar  system,  it  is  true,  the  shrinkage  would  be  less,  but  on 
other  systems  it  is  even  more  than  this)  ;  and  we  have  also  assumed  that  about  'Z'Z  pints  of  milk 
are  recpiired  to  produce  1  lb.  of  butter. 

Some  authorities  place  much  higlicr  the  quantity  of  milk  consumed  by  calves;  and  it 
is  true  that  in  some  counties,  as  Hereford,  Devon,  and  Sussex,  a  great  many  cows  do  little,  so 
far  as  milk  is  concerned,  beyond  rearing  their  own  calves,  and  that  in  other  counties  some  stirks 
and  heifers  may  be  similarly  spoken  of.  But  in  dairying  districts  generally — and  here  it  is  that 
cows  give  the  highest  averages  of  milk — the  great  bulk  of  the  calves  that  are  reared  do  not 
receive  as  much  as  50  gallons  of  new  milk,  which  is  considerably  less  than  one-eighth  of  their 
dams'  production,  as  but  few  farmers  rear  even  half  the  number  of  calves  that  fall  to  them ; 
and  as  the  great  bulk  of  those  that  are  sold  oif  receive  even  less  new  milk  than  those  that  are 
reared,  it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  our  estimate  is  not  much,  if  any,  too  low.  Ten  years 
ago  we  should  have  been  disposed  to  place  the  consumption  of  new  milk  by  calves  at  a  much 
higher  figure;  but  in  the  interval  the  demand  for  milk,  and  its  price,  have  so  far  increased  in 
many  districts,  that  calves  now-a-days  receive  a  minimum  quantity  of  new  milk ;  they  are  given, 
instead,  skim-milk  and  various  kinds  of  meal,  and  in  many  cases  the  skim-milk  is  administered 
very  early.  We  know  it  to  be  a  not  uncommon  thing  for  the  new  milk  to  bo,  at  all  events  in 
part^  cut  off  at  the  end  of  the  first  week  of  the  calf's  life. 

COKDENSED     MiLK. 

Condensed  milk  is  now  becoming  an  important  element  in  dairy-farming.  As  one  of  the 
auxiliary  products  of  milk  it  is  likely  to  increase  in  importance  as  time  rolls  on.  At  present  the 
manufacture  of  it  is  very  limited  in  this  country,  and  in  comjiarison  with  certain  foreign  countries 
will  probably  remain  so,  because  milk  cannot  in  England  be  bought  cheap  enough  to  enable 
any  one  to  compete  on  equal  terms  with  manufacturers  abroad.  Experiments  in  condensing 
milk  were  begun  more  than  thirty  years  ago  in  America,  and  earlier  than  that  in  Europe,  but  it 
is  only  a  little  over  twenty  years  since  the  art  of  making  it  successfully  was  perfected.  Preparations 
under  the  names  of  "desiccated  milk,"  "milk  powders,"  and  "milk  essence,"  had  been  on  the 
market  for  some  time  before,  but  they  were  all  more  or  less  unsatisfactory.  It  had  long  been 
felt  that  if  milk  could  be  deprived  of  its  water,  leaving  all  the  valuable  constituents  intact; 
if  it  could  be  made  to  keep  in  its  new  form  for  long  periods,  and  could  at  will  be  restored 
to  its  original  state  by  merely  adding  water  to  it;  then  the  conditions  necessary  to  its  general 
acceptance  by  those  for  whose  use  it  was  designed  would  be  successfully  met.  But  the  articles 
mentioned  were  preparations  only,  and  could  not  be  re-invested  with  the  characteristics  of  actual 
milk ;  hence  their  ultimate  uselessness. 

The  credit  of  being  the  first  to  jiroducc  a  thoroughly  successful  article  under  the  name  of 
"condensed  milk,"  which  was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  actual  milk  mums  the  bulk  of  its 
water,  is  ascribed  to  Mr.  Borden,  of  AVhite  Plains,  New  York,  America.  Under  his  process  the 
milk  is  not  reduced  to  a  solid  or  dry  state,  but  at  least  six-sevenths  of  its  normal  percentage  of 
water  is  removed,  while  its  valuable  elements  renuiin  uninjured,  and  it  assumes  a  consistency 
somewhat  resembling  that  of  treacle.  The  true  value  of  pure,  fresh  milk,  as  an  article  of  food, 
is  at  length  meeting  with  a  more  popular  and  general  recognition;  and  as  condensed  milk  of  the 
best  brands  is,  when  re-mixed  with  water,  very  closely  analogous  to,  nay,  identical  in  all  respects 
with  fresh  milk  itself,  the  result  naturally  follows  that  it  will  soon  come  to  be  considered,  especially 
where  it  is  difficult  to  olitain  milk  fresh  from  the  cow,  a  very  tolerable  and  excellent  substitute. 
For  the  use  of  sailors  and  soldiers,  and  in  parts  of  the  earth  where  no  cows  are  kept,  condensed 
milk  is  obviously  of    very  great   impurlance.      Its    condensiil    form    adds    greatly    to    its    portability, 


TNTRODITCTION.  xi 

and,  being  in  hevmctically-spalod  cans,  i(  vomains  sound  and  godd  I'or  an  indefinite  period.  One 
of  the  strongest  recommendations  in  favour  of  condensed  milk  is  iliis:  it  cannot  be  successfully 
produced  from  milk  that  is  not  perfectly  sweet  and  clean  and  of  uniformly  good  quality.  Any 
imperfection  in  the  original  material  is  more  apparent  in  condensed  milk  than  it  is  in  cheese, 
though,  perhaps,  not  more  so  than  in  Ijutter.  Hence  it  follows  that  manufacturers  of  condensed 
milk  are  extremely  particular  with  regard  to  the  quality,  cleanliness,  and  soundness  of  the  milk 
they  buy,  for  success  is  found  to  be  impossible  without  it.  Hitherto  it  has  been  customary  to 
add  a  given  quantity  of  sugar,  in  order  to  give  permanent  keeping  properties,  where  such  properties 
are  needed ;  but  there  is  also  a  good  deal  made  of  what  is  calle<l  "  plain  condensed  milk,"  to  which 
no  sugar  is  added ;  this  last  is  preferable  to  the  other,  on  account  of  the  absence  of  excessive 
sweetness,  but  it  is  made  for  consumption  within  a  reasonable  time.  It  can  hardly  be  expected 
that  condensed  milk  vnW  wholly  take  the  place  of  fresh  milk  where  the  latter  is  not  very 
difficult  to  procure,  but  it  will  in  part  supplant  fresh  milk  in  our  larger  cities  and  towns  j  not 
because  it  is  cheaper,  but  for  the  reasons  that  it  is  more  convenient  of  carriage  from  the  country, 
and  will  keep  good  a  much  longer  time.  The  conveyance  of  country  milk  by  road  and  rail  is 
costly  and  unceasing,  and  will  not  admit  of  delay  j  but  the  carriage  of  condensed  milk,  and  its 
manufacture,  will   balance  these  expenses  and  inconveniences. 

Dairy  Management  and  Appliances. 
Cheese  and  Initter  making  will  also  receive  the  amount  of  attention  which  they  merit,  and 
this  is  very  large.  Not  only  the  various  time-honoured  as  well  as  modern  systems  which  are 
found  in  various  parts  of  the  British  Islands  and  Colonies,  but  also  the  many  foi-eign  methods 
will  be  described  by  competent  writers.  Comijarisons  will  thus  be  suggested  rather  than  drawn. 
The  causes  of  success  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  failure  on  the  other,  will  be  pointed  out  as  far  as 
may  be.  As  among  the  latter,  it  may  be  said  that  sufficient  attention  is  not  paid  to  details  of 
management,  nor  importance  attached  to  care  and  cleanliness;  and  the  scientific  aspect  of  the 
case  is  too  commonly  scouted  as  pedantic  and  supei-fluous.  We  must  not  any  longer  disregard 
these  matters,  if  we  are  to  meet  foreign  competition  with  success.  In  most  other,  if  not  all 
industries,  whether  agricultural  or  commercial,  scientific  research  has  done  much  more  solid  good 
than  is  commonly  owned.  But  while  it  is  true  that  several  eminent  men  have  devoted  much  scientific 
investigation  to  cheese  and  butter  making,  the  teachings  of  science  in  these  industries  have  not  been  by 
any  means  generally  accepted,  and  the  great  bulk  of  cheese  and  butter  makers  are  working  still  in 
their  forefathers'  groove.  They  seem  as  if  they  thought  they  could  succeed  well  enough  by  sheer 
plivsieal  force,  wthout  paying  attention  to  the  delicacy  of  details;  they  look  upon  the  minute 
care,  the  unceasing  attention,  the  scrupulous  cleanliness,  the  almost  microscopical  attention  to  and 
arrangement  of  details — the  painstaking  work,  and  the  careful  study  of  principles — which  they 
are  told  the  French  butter-makers  and  the  American  cheese-makers  carry  into  their  business,  as 
being  in  a  sense  puerile,  and  on  the  whole  unnecessary.  The  almost  loving  devotion  which  the 
Frenchman  and  the  German  pay  to  the  making  of  their  unrivalled  butter,  and  of  their  many 
curious  kinds  of  cheese,  and  the  earnest,  long-sustained  enthusiasm  which  the  American  factory 
or  creameiy  manager  throws  into  his  profession,  are  regarded  by  the  average  English  dairy- 
farmer,  and  by  British  cheese  and  Initter  makers  generally,  as  belonging  to  the  list  of  amiable 
infatiuitions — useful  perhaps,  in  some  measure,  but  still  infatuations.  Herein  lies  at  once  the 
difference  and  the  difficulty.  So  long  as  we  content  ourselves  with  regarding  the  efforts  of 
others  as  unnecessary,  and,  worse  still,  if  we  regard  them  as  puerile,  we  are  veiy  little  likely 
either  to  copy  or  to  improve  upon  them.  But  when  we  are  being  palpably  left  behind  in  the 
race  ;  when  we  are  being  beaten  in  our  own  markets,  and  in  the  estimation  of  the  judges  at  our 
own  shows,  by  foreign  productions,  our  eyes  are  opened  somewhat,  and  we  begin  to  admit  that 
not  only  ai-e  our  own  methotls  not  quite  perfect,  but  that  there  must  be  some  merit  in  the  system.", 
carried  on  in  other  countries.  When  we  have  arrived  at  this  point,  there  is  a  good  prosiject  of 
improvement  setting  in.      In    the  year  1878,    at  the  great  Dairy  Shows  of    London,    Frome,    and 


xii  DAIRY    FARMING. 

Kilmarnofk,  imd  at  many  other  shows  of  lesser  importance,  the  comi)laint  of  the  jiul<^es  was  ahnost 
universal  that  there  was  a  greater,  proportion  of  inferior  cheese  than  they  had  ever  found  before ;  and 
wherever  American  or  Canadian  cheese  was  broug-ht  into  competition  with  our  o-mi,  the  vei-dict 
was  that  l-lnglish  cheese  suffered  by  the  comparison.  Some  such  univei-sal  and  startling  verdict 
as  this  was  needed,  to  enable  our  farmers  to  fully  realise  the  i)osition  in  which  they  stand  as 
cheese-makers,  and  to  finally  convince  them,  in  a  practical  sort  of  way,  that  they  must  take  more 
pains  and  use  more  thought  than  they  have  been  in  llu-  liabit  of  doing,  or  the  quick  result  will 
be  disaster  of  a  very  serious  and  lasting  kind. 

The  unsatisfactory  state  into  which  cheese-making  in  this  country  has  drifted,  is  attributable 
to  various  causes.  That  there  is  a  great  deal  of  inferior  cheese  in  the  country,  is  a  fact  that  he 
who  runs  may  read,  but  the  reason  or  reasons  why  it  suddenly  became  commoner  than  ever,  and 
worse,  are  not  so  easy  to  discover.  Anyway,  the  year  187S  was  a  disastrous  one  for  che^-se-makers, 
and  cheese  was  lower  in  price  than  it  had  ])een  for  at  least  twenty  years.  Some  say  it  was  the 
peculiar  season  that  caused  so  much  cheese  to  be  bad ;  that  the  large  rainfall  and  the  scarcity  of 
suu  changed  the  character  of  the  herbage;  and  that  cheese-makers,  not  knowing  this,  were  unable 
to  cope  with  it.  This  conjecture  is  ingenious,  and  no  doubt  true  in  part;  but  we  have  had 
many  equally  rainy  seasons  without  a  corresponding  result.  Others  attribute  it  to  the  use  of 
artificial  manures  and  feeding-stuffs  ;  while  others,  again,  say  it  is  owing  to  the  laud  not  being 
improved,  and  that  we  cannot  compete  with  Americans,  because  our  land  is  so  much  inferior  to 
theirs.  The  former  of  these  apologists  have,  at  all  events,  probability  in  support  of  their  opinion ; 
for  the  average  quality  of  English  cheese  is  declared,  by  those  who  have  every  means  of  knowing, 
to  be  worse  than  it  was  before  guanos  and  nitrates  and  phosphates  were  so  commonly  used  for  the 
imi)rovement  of  land.  But  the  latter,  we  think,  are  wholly  wrong  in  both  their  premisses.  In 
the  first  place,  it  is  not  true  that  the  dairy-lands  of  England  and  Scotland  have  not  been  improved, 
and  many  of  them  very  greatly  improved,  in  recent  years,  by  draining,  liming,  and  seeding  with 
fresh  grasses,  by  the  application  of  both  natural  and  artificial  manures,  and  by  the  consumption 
of  feeding-stulfs ;  and,  again,  whoever  has  travelled  through  the  dairy  regions  of  Amenca,  and 
who  knows  good  land  from  bad,  cannot  fail  to  have  been  struck  with  the  plentiful  evidences  which 
exist  of  American  land,  generally  speaking,  being  inferior  to  our  own  for  dairying  purposes.  One 
plain  proof  of  this  is  that  our  land  will  carry  more  stock,  and,  in  fact,  does  carry  much  more 
stock,  than  land  in  America  carries.  The  following  calculations  show  the  number  of  different  kinds 
of  stock  maintained  per  hundred  acres  of  land  under  grass,  in  the  two  countries  respectively,  in 
the  year  1875  : — 

Ameuica.  England. 

Horses  and  Mules  71!)  |  Horses        9-26 

Cattle         l'*-74  Cattle  33-75 

Shoop  241G  I  Sheep  111-23 

We  make  these  calculations  from  the  official  returns  of  botli  countries,  and  on  the  grass  land 
only  (including  both  natural  and  artificial— both  permanent  and  temporary— grasses) ,  excluding 
in  both  cases  the  arahle  land,  which,  in  America,  certainly  bears  a  larger  ju-oportion  to\\-ards  the 
grass  land  than  it  does  in  England. 

Ag-ain,  it  is  a  long-established  truism  amongst  dairy-farmers  that  "the  poorest  laud  produces 
the  best  cheese,  but  not  the  most  of  it."  Those  pastures  are  none  of  the  richest  from  which  are 
made  the  finest  qualities  of  Leicester  cheese,  which,  all  things  considered,  is  perhaps  the  best 
of  our  many  excellent  kinds  of  English  cheese.  Leaving  out  the  famous  Stiltou,  which,  being 
more  than  a  full-milk  cheese,  is  not  a  fair  competitor,  there  is  no  cheese  made  in  England  that 
fetches  so  high  a  price  as  the  finest  samples  of  Leicester,  yet  it  is  made  from  land  thai  is  admittedly 
inferior  in  quality  or  richness  to  other  land  from  which  a  less  excellent  cheese  is  made.  It  must 
be  borne  in  mind,  however,  that  somewhat  les-s  cheese  per  acre  is  made  in  Leicestershire  than  is 
made  in  most  other  parts  of  England  from  land  of  equal  richness. 


INTRODTTrTION.  xiii 

Other  people,  ayaiiij  attribute  the  jirevalent  Lachiess  of  cheese,  in  the  year  before  mentioned, 
to  the  growing  carelessness  and  ineomijetency  of  those  who  make  the  clieese ;  and  dairymaids  and 
faetory-nianag-ers  come  almost  equally  luuler  the  lash.  It  is  beginning  to  be  freely  said,  that  if 
you  tiud  really  good  cheese  in  a  farm-house,  it  has  been  made  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  by  the 
farmer's  wife  or  daughter;  and  it  is  freely  hinted  that  tlie  heedlessness  and  lack  of  skill  which 
dairymaids  have  betrayed  for  j'cars,  are  now  beginning  to  be  copied  by  some  factory-managers. 
It  is  said  that  labour-saving  appliances  in  both  farm-house;  and  factories  have  too  commonly 
caused  cheese-makers  to  become  less  careful ;  and  it  not  uncommonly  happens,  wo  are  told,  that 
the  best  cheese  of  a  given  district  is  found  where  tliese  laliour-s.aving  aiipliances  have  been  but 
sparingly  adopted. 

But  if  this  be  really  the  result  of  labour-saving  appliances,  it  certainly  is  not  they  that  are  to 
blame.  Though  in  some,  nay,  even  in  many  cases  a  disastrous  result  has,  after  a  time,  followed  the 
introduction  of  those  appliances,  they  are  not  by  any  means  necessarily  the  cause  of  that  result; 
and  though  they  are  made  by  some  persons  to  bear  the  blame  of  it,  it  can  only  be  so  for  want 
of  thought.  We  have  seen  instances  over  and  over  again,  both  in  England  and  America, 
where  the  finest  cheese  has  been  made  by  the  aid  of  such  appliances ;  and  in  the  latter  country, 
indeed,  the  wonderful  improvement  which  has,  in  the  past  fifteen  years  or  so,  been  brought  about 
in  the  average  quality  of  cheese,  is  on  all  hands  believed  to  be  due  in  a  great  measure  to  those 
very  labour-saving  appliances.  If  people  really  do  grow  careless  through  using  them,  it  is  the 
fault  of  the  people,  not  of  the  apjjlianees.  It  is  said  by  men  who  are  in  a  position  to  know, 
that  cheese-making  is  too  much  slurred  over  now-a-days — that  "there  is  not  enough  work  put 
into  it."  Admitting  the  correctness  of  this  statement,  still  the  mischief  does  not  lie  at  the  door 
of  the  appliances.  Labour-saving  appliances  iu  cheese-making  were  intended,  not  to  make  people 
careless,  thoughtless,  and  lazy,  but  to  enable  a  large  amount  of  work  to  be  done  by  fewer  persons, 
in  a  shorter  time,  and  with  less  discomfort  than  the  old  system  admitted  of;  and  it  is  mere 
begging  the  question  to  blame  them  for  any  misfortunes  that  may  occur. 

Yet  other  people  say  that  the  mischief  is  owing  to  a  lack  of  careful  and  thoughtful  study 
by  cheese-makers  of  the  principles  which  underlie  their  business,  and  which  have  lieen  expounded 
over  and  over  again  by  scientifie  men  who  have  investigated  them.  This  last  conjecture,  we  think, 
is  very  near  the  truth;  but,  be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  quite  true  that  our  cheese  and  butter 
makers  do  not  by  any  means  study  the  hidden  princi23les  of  their  business,  nor  do  they  attach 
.so  much  importance  to  art  in  work,  as  the  Americans  and  the  Germans  do;  and  hence,  whilst  it 
is  a  fact  that  cheese  is  becoming  worse  just  now,  and  butter  is  not  improving,  in  this  country, 
American  cheese  and  German  butter  have  been  for  some  years  and  are  still  improving.  We 
believe,  however,  that  English  cheese  wall  again  come  to  the  front  in  reputation,  and  that  we  are 
only  now  passing  through  one  of  those  repeated  periods  of  probation  which  seem  to  be  necessary 
in  most  industries  when  a  new  step  in  advance  of  the  old  is  required  to  be  taken,  and  when  there 
is  a  danger  of  falling  into  a  careless  state.  The  period  of  depression  in  the  cheese-trade,  which 
has  been  coming  on  for  several  years — slowly  it  came  at  first,  but  of  late  years  its  progress  has  been 
at  an  alarming  rat& — is  also  partly  the  result  of  over-i)roduction  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  general 
dulness  in  nearly  every  department  of  trade  and  commerce  on  the  other,  coupled  with  the  feverish 
and  unsettled  condition  of  the  political  world  throughout  Europe  and  part  of  Asia.  When  the  air  is 
filled  with  rumours  of  war,  the  arts  of  peace  at  once  become  timid,  and  they  languish  until  the 
air  is  clear  again.  After  a  time  the  clouds  will  have  passed  away,  and  trade  will  revive.  But 
meanwhile  we  should  put  our  house  in  order;  the  causes  of  the  many  failures  in  cheese-making 
should  be  looked  into,  and  care  must  be  taken  to  avoid  disaster  in  the  future. 

There  is  no  royal  road  to  success  in  these  matters ;  it  can  be  attained  only  by  patient  care, 
sustained  industry,  regularity,  cleanliness,  and  unremitting  attention  to  details.  And  this  scrupulous 
cleanliness,  this  painstaking  care,  are  no  less  necessary  in  cheese-making  than  in  butter-making. 
Success  in  cheese-making — which,  moreover,  is  a  more  complicated  process  than  butter-making — 
depends    less    on    technical   knowledge    than   on    practical    skill,    dexterity   in    the    work,    watchful 


xiv  DAIRY    FARMING. 

attuiitiim,  fk'jiuly  habits,  and  patient  industry.  And,  we  may  add,  even  these  excellent  qualities 
will  he  of  hut  small  avail  it'  due  care  is  not  taken  of  the  milk  from  the  onset — at  miIkino--time  and 
afterwards ;  and  the  kind  of  food  from  which  the  cows  produce  it  is  a  matter  of  importance,  involving 
as  it  does  the  question  of  its  manufacture  in  the  animal  economy — a  question  we  shall  hope  to  touch 
upon   in   till'  hoily   nf  this   worlv. 

CuKKSE. 

15y  writers  on  hyyione,  milk  is  regarded  as  tlie  truest  standard  of  human  fuciil;  l>ut  it  is  s\ich 
a  quickl3'-j)erishable  thing  that  it  is  necessary  to  place  it,  by  artificial  means,  in  some  form  in 
which  it  is  not  so  liable  to  early  decay.  Cheese  and  condensed  milk  are  the  only  artificial 
forms  in  which  all  the  valuable  elements  of  milk  are  retained  in  a  form  which  is  not  quickly 
perishable,  and,  of  these  two,  cheese  is  by  far  the  more  convenient  and  serviceable  as  a  common 
article  of  fo(xI.  The  whole  of  the  most  valuable  elements  of  milk  are  retained  in  full,  or  nearly 
so,  in  a  well-made  cheese.  It  is  in  the  first  place  deprived  of  some  .55  per  cent,  of  its  water, 
and  the  larger  jiortion  of  its  sugar  is  evolved  in  the  whey,  but  very  little  of  its  fats  and  less  of 
its  casein  pass  away  in  the  process.  The  following  is  ;iii  average  of  eight  analyses  of  milk  wliich 
were  made  by  Dr.  Voelcker : — 

Water         86-8-1 

Butter — pure  fat ;i-80 

Casein  (eontiiining  Nitroi^fn  •.')2)          ...         ...         ...         ...         ...         ...  3-9o 

Slilk-sugar ...         460 

Ulinpi-al  Jfatters,  Ash      -81 

•  innon 


And,  by  the  same  analyst,  a  cheese  from  the  Derby  Cheese  Factory,  made  in  l^i?!,  was  found 
to  be  comjiosed  of  the  following  constituents: — 

Watrr           31C8 

ButtfT          3.5-20 

Casein  (containing  Nitrogen  3-92)         24-50 

Milk-sugar,   Lactic  Acid,   &c 438 

Mineral  Matters,  Ash      4-24 

100-00 

Cheese,  then,  is  properly  described  as  a  concentrated  essence  of  milk,  iiiinns  the  greater  part  of 
the  sugar.  The  process  of  cheese-making  is  similar  to  the  digestion  of  milk  in  the  stomach 
of  an  animal.  Before  it  can  be  assimilated  by  the  animal  economy,  milk  undergoes  a  regular 
succession  of  changes  in  the  stomach.  The  process  of  coagulation  proceeds  in  the  same  manner  in 
both  cases,  and  is  brought  about  by  identical  agencies.  The  digestive  principle  is  used  by  art  to 
coagulate  milk  in  cheese-making,  and  by  Nature  to  coagulate  it  in  the  stomach ;  and  though 
coagulation  of  milk  in  the  former  ease  can  be  brought  about  by  various  other  means — by  acids, 
and  juices  of  plants,  or  by  the  pr(jcess  of  natural  decay — no  other  agent  has  been  discovered  that 
answers  the  purpose  nearly  so  well  as  rennet,  which  is  simply  a  solution  containing  the  digestive 
essence  of  a  calf's  stomach.  This  essence  is  a  ferment,  and  consists  of  minute  globular  bodies 
which  float  in  myriads  in  the  gastric  juice,  and  the)'  are  the  direct  cause  of  digestion  in  the 
stomach,  and  of  coagulation  out  of  it,  when  applied  to  warm  milk.  These  processes  of  digestion 
and  coagulation  up  to  a  given  point  are  identical — with  these  diiferences  only:  the  quantity  of 
digestive  essence  which  a  calf  applies  to  one  gallon  of  milk  in  the  stomach  we  apply  to  three  or 
four  hundred  gallons  in  the  cheese- tub;  and  in  the  former  case  the  milk  is  operated  on  by  the 
i>ssence  at  a  temperature  of  98"  to  100^,  -".vhereas  in  the  cheese-tub  it  is  operated  on  at  about 
SO",  consequently  the  one  coagulates  in  ten  minutes,  and  the  other  in  an  hour.  In  each  ease  the 
curd,  soft  at  first,  gradually  hardens  till  the  whey  is  nearly  all  separated  from  it,  and  it  becomes 
comjiaratively  firm  and  solid — slowly  in  the  one  case,  rapidly  in  the  other.  In  the  case  of  the 
curd  in  the  stomach  the  after-process  is  equally  rapid,  and  digestion   is   accelerated  and  completed 


INTRODUCTION.  xv 

]>y  the  greater  heat,  by  the  peristaltic  motions  of  the  animal's  stomach,  and  by  the  greater 
iiuautity  of  digestive  ferment  which  is  brought  to  bear.  In  the  case  of  the  curd  in  the  cheese 
the  after-process  is  correspondingly  slow ;  the  quantity  of  digestive  ferment  still  at  work  in  it,  in 
the  same  manner  as  in  the  calf's  stomach,  is  less  in  quantity;  and  the  temperature  of  the  room 
in  which  the  ripening  is  carried  on  is  some  30°  lower  than  that  of  the  stomach.  But  in  a  few  weeks 
or  months,  as  the  case  may  be,  instead  of  a  few  hours,  the  firm  and  tough  curd  in  the  cheese 
begins  to  yield  to  the  digestive  agency,  and  becomes  less  firm  and  tough,  assumes  the  same  salvy 
and  disintegrated  appearance,  and  the  same  cheesy  flavour,  but  not  the  same  animal  odour,  as  the 
curd  in  the  stomach  of  the  calf.  In  the  stomach  the  entire  process  of  digestion,  from  beginning 
to  end,  goes  on  rapidly,  until  the  mass  of  curd  again  assumes  a  liquid  form,  and  is  carried  away 
when  it  has  served  the  purposes  of  life;  in  the  cheese  the  process  of  ripening  goes  on  slowly, 
so  that  it  may  be  consumed  at  leisure.  The  coagulation  of  milk  in  the  eheese-tub  is  exactly 
like,  only  slower  than,  the  early  stages  of  digestion  in  the  stomach;  and  when  the  curd  is  formed 
into  cheese  the  ripening  is  much  slower  still  than  the  corresponding  stages  of  digestion.  It  will 
now  be  understood  that  a  ripe,  well-m;ide  cheese  not  only  represents  very  fairly  and  successfully 
the  milk  from  which  it  was  nuule,  but  that,  containing  as  it  does  such  myriads  of  those  globular 
bodies,  which  are  the  principle  and  element  of  the  digestive  ferment,  it  is  a  most  proper  and 
excellent  article  of  food  for  man. 

A  good,  ripe  cheese  is,  in  fact,  partly  digested  before  it  is  eaten;  but,  being  a  most  concen- 
trated food,  it  does  not  agree  with  many  people  who  lead  sedentary  lives,  if  it  is  partaken  of 
too  freely.  Cheese  alone  is  too  concentrated  a  food,  and  it  has  not  bulk  enough  to  sufficiently 
distend  the  stomach  aj:d  bowels,  if  no  more  of  it  is  eaten  than  is  necessary  for  the  needs  of  the 
body ;  but  its  defective  bulk  is  easily  balanced  by  eating  along  with  it  bulkier  and  less  nutritious 
kinds  of  food,  such  as  bread,  potatoes,  or  fruit.  And,  again,  the  two  classes  of  elements  into  which 
chemistry  divides  our  food  do  not  exist  in  it  in  the  proportion  wliich  Nature  dictates  in  such  a 
perfect  article  of  food  as  milk.  Of  albuminoids,  or  flesh-formers,  and  of  fat  and  heat  producers 
in  our  food,  we  require  the  proportion  of  two  and  a  quarter  of  the  latter  to  one  of  the  former. 
Any  deviation  from  this  proportion  is  so  far  detrimental  to  health,  and  so  far  a  waste.  In 
whatever  proportions  food  may  be  lulministered,  the  body  assimilates  it  according  to  its  needs,  and 
rejects  the  surplus;  the  injury  to  health,  resulting  from  improper  food  and  too  much  of  it,  is 
seen  in  indigestion ;  the  waste  of  food  is  not  so  jJ^tent  to  our  senses,  but  it  just  as  surely  takes 
place.  The  disjjroportion  of  the  two  classes  of  food-elements  in  cheese  is  owing  to  the  loss  of 
the  milk-sugar  which  has  been  carried  oft"  by  the  whey ;  it  is  deficient,  therefore,  in  heat-giving 
principle.  The  following  table  ^vill  show  at  a  glance  the  proportions  of  flesh  and  fat  formers 
which  res2)ectively  exist  in  various  kinds  of  food  : — 

Milk 


Flesh-formers. 

Kat-forincrs. 

3-8; 

per  cunt. 

8-2  per  ceut. 

24-0 

310      ,, 

14-4 

29-9      „ 

11-8 

74-1      „ 

13-0 

67-6      „ 

7-5 

76-0      „ 

2-0 

21-0      ,, 

22 -.5 

40-.3       ,, 

22-4 

52-3      „ 

Oo 

11-3       ,, 

Flesh  

Wheaten  Fkmv       

Ground  Wheat        ...         ...  ..         

Rice 

Potatoes 

Beans 

Peas  ... 

Fruit  

Taking  milk  as  the  standard,  it  will  be  seen  that  all  the  others,  except  peas  and  flesh,  deviate 
more  or  less  widely  from  what  is  considered  to  be  a  perfect  article  of  food.  Cheese  has  much 
too  large  a  proportion  of  flesh-formers,  or  albuminoids  ;  but  this  defect  is  easily  balanced  by  eating 
with  it  a  considerable  portion  of  wheaten  bread,  which  has  an  equally  large  profiortion  of  fat- 
formers,  or  heat-givers;  potatoes  and  rice,  from  their  connx>sition,  are  also  well  adapted  to  be  eaten 
along    with   cheese.       A  mixed  diet  is   generally   the  best,  and  for    those   who   lead   sedentary  li\csi, 


Flcsli-lormi.'1-s. 

Fiil-l"orUK-i 

,.       240 

310 

5-9 

37-0 

29-9 

080 

..       2S-8 

59-8 

xvi  DAIRY    FARMING. 

(ir  are  in  dclicato  healtli,  it  is  iiofe.ssary  to  eat  ssiinple  kinds  of  food,  not  as  a  rule  concentrated, 
Imt  ea-sy  of  digestion  and  assimilation.  Cheese  provides  the  cheai>est  and  best  food  for  those 
who  undergo  eonsideraljle  physical  exercise;  but  it  is  not  so  well  adapted  for  those  who  do  not, 
unless  a  properly-mado  and  thoroughly-ripe  one  could  always  be  secured.  The  chief  reason  why 
cheese  does  not  enter  more  largely  into  the  diet  of  our  people  is  found  in  the  fact  that  a  great 
deal  of  it  is  improperly  made  and  immature. 

Pound  for  jwund,  cheese  cont;iins  more  nutriment  than  bulchei-s'  meat,  and  it  may  with 
advantage  be  used  instead  of  it,  and  especially  so,  as  they  may  both  be  called  "  animal  f(X)d." 
Flesh  is,  of  course,  more  nearly  than  cheese  a  perfect  article  of  food,  though  less  so  than 
milk.  If  it  were  possible  that  there  should  bo  no  waste  of  food  in  the  animal  economy,  a  pound 
of  Hesh  would  produce  a  pound  of  flesh  in  him  who  ate  it.  More  than  this  it  could  not  do;  but 
a  pound  of  cheese,  being  stronger  and  more  concentrated,  would  produce,  by  simply  absorbing  Avater, 
more  than  a  pound  of  flesh.  It  is,  conse(|Ucntly,  even  if  they  are  the  same  price  in  the  market, 
the  cheaper  of  the  two;  for,  still  further  than  flesh,  it  lulds  to  tlio  value  of  less  nutritious  kinils 
of  food  with  which  it  may  be  consumeil.  Tlic  i'olluwing  slateinent  of  percentages  will  illustrate 
oui'   meaning   more  dearly  — 

1  llj.  of  Cheese      

ilb.  of  Bread       

2  lbs.  of  Flcsh-ineat        

It  will  be  seen  that  the  pound  of  cheese  and  tlie  half-pmuul  of  bread  are  actually  rielicr 
in  both  flesh  and  fat  formers  than  the  two  pounds  of  flesh-nicat  :nc,  whilst  the  proportions  of 
those  substances  are  in  better  combination  in  the  former  than  in  the  latter.  The  cheese  and 
bread  would  cost  not  more  than  9d.,  whilst  the  two  pounds  of  meat  would  cost  about 
Is.  6d.  Consiimed  with  bread  or  i)otatoes,  cheese  has  thus  an  economical  value  that  no  other 
animal  food  possesses.  Flesh-meat,  for  instance,  is  so  nearly  perfect  alone  as  an  article  of  food, 
that  it  does  not  impart,  as  cheese  does,  an  increased  value  to  the  commoner  and  cheaper  kinds 
of  food,  and  they  do  not  serve  to  restore  in  it,  as  they  do  in  cheese,  the  proper  balance  between 
the  two  classes  of  food-elements.  Unlike  cheese,  beef  has  no  surplus  richness  to  spare  for  the 
improvement  of  those  kinds  of  food  that  need  enriching  to  make  them  fit  for  the  sustenance  of 
our  bodies.  So,  when  bread  and  potatoes  are  eaten  with  flesh-meat,  their  surplus  elements  of  heat 
and  respiration — starch  and  sugar — are  wasted,  and  the  only  service  they  can  perform  in  this 
connection  is  to  sujiidy  the  deficient  bulk  in  the  meat.  (Icnerally  speaking,  and  especially  in  summer, 
we  live  too  much  on  food  which  contains  an  excess  of  the  elements  that  produce  fat  and  support 
respiration,  the  surplus  of  which  contributes  nothing  to  the  sujiport  of  life ;  and  an  article  of 
food  that  will  restore  to  such  other  food  the  missing  flesh-formers  ought  to  be  better  appreciatetl 
and  more  plentifully  consumed.  Cheese  A\ill  do  this  more  cheaply  and  effectually  than  anything 
else  that  is  equally  available,  and  we  therefore  advance  its  claims  with  confidence  to  the  notice 
of  our  readers. 

In  one  respect  cheese  is  uni(iue  among  our  many  kinds  of  food.  We  have  sjwkcn  before  of 
the  singular  agent  by  which  milk  is  coagulated,  both  in  digestion  and  in  cheese-making.  This 
agent  consists,  as  we  have  said,  of  infinitesimal  globules,  so  minute  that  a  single  drop  of  rennet 
lifpiid  contains  hundreds  of  thousands  of  them.  These  organisms  remain  in  tlie  coagulum  they  have 
produced  from  the  milk,  and  they  are  present  in  the  cheese  as  it  ripens,  and  until  it  is  consumed, 
retaining  their  vitality  till  the  last,  but  it  has  not  yet  been  determined  whether  or  not  they 
increase  in  n\imber  in  the  cheese.  When  cheese  is  undergoing  digestion  in  the  stomach,  the  globules 
are  set  at  liberty,  their  foi-mer  condition  of  warmth  being  restored  to  them  they  at  once  resume 
their  natural  activity,  and  become  valuable  in  assisting  to  digest  other  food  as  well  as  the  cheese 
that  contained  them.  That  ripe  cheese  does  really  contain  these  globules  or  organisms  is  proved 
by  dissolving  a  piece  of  it  iu   tepid  water  :  the    solution    will    coagulate    milk    just    in    the    same 


INTRODUCTION.  xvii 

way  that  the  original  rennet  did,  if  it  is  apjjlied  to  new  sweet  milk  at  the  usual  temperature  of 
SO"  Fahr. ;  and  that  it  will  really  assist  in  the  digestion  of  other  food  is  equally  true,  though  not 
so  easy  of  demonstration.  Scientific  truths  have  often  been  hit  upon  and  practised  for  centuries 
before  the  why  and  wherefore  of  them  have  been  made  plain.  In  many  cases  science  does  not 
so  much  invent  as  explain  what  has  been  invented  long  before  by  instinct  and  necessity.  Thus 
it  is  that  the  practice  of  eating  a  morsel  of  ripe  old  Stilton  after  a  heavy  dinner,  long  established 
and  almost  universal  in  society,  has  only  in  recent  years  been  proved  by  science  to  be  based  on 
sound  dietetic  principles — the  cheese  aids  the  digestion  of  the  other  food.  The  pungent  taste  which 
is  generally  found  in  over-ripe  cheese  is  owing  to  the  presence  of  ammouiacal  salts.  During  the 
ripening  of  the  cheese  a  portion  of  the  casein  undergoes  decomposition,  and  is  partially  changed 
into  ammonia ;  the  ammonia,  though  an  extremely  volatile  essence,  does  not  escape,  but  combines 
with  several  fatty  acids  which  are  formed  from  the  butter  in  the  cheese.  The  longer  the  cheese 
is  kept,  within  reasonable  limits,  the  riper  it  gets,  and  the  greater  is  the  accumulation  of  these 
peculiar  ammoniacal  salts.  In  a  thoroughly  ripe,  well-kept,  and  sound  old  cheese,  the  ammonia  is 
not  in  a  free  state,  but  exists  in  the  form  of  salts,  of  which  the  base  is  ammonia  in  combination  with 
butyric,  eaprinic,  caprylic,  and  other  acids  produced  from  the  fats  of  which  the  butter  is  composed. 

The  milk  of  sheep  and  goats  and  cows  has  been,  from  the  earliest  times  that  have  bequeathed 
a  history  to  us,  a  favourite  article  of  food  for  man,  and  the  oldest  extant  writings  make  not  infrequent 
mention  of  cheese,  though,  perhaps,  nothing  more  than  mention.  It  was  a  common  article  of 
food  among  the  ancient  Greeks,  Romans,  and  Jews.  The  oldest  poet-historian  of  the  world, 
Homer,  sings  of  the  virtues  of  milk  and  cheese,  in  connection  with  the  feasts  of  the  warriors 
of  Troy  :— 

"  There  tlu'ice  within  the  year  the  tiocks  produce, 

Nor  master  there  nor  shepherd  ever  feels 

A  dearth  of  cheese,  of  flesh,   or  of  street  milk 

Delicious  drawn  from  udders  never  dry." 

Odyssey  (Cowper's  Translation),  Book  4 

In  the  Bible  it  is  stated  that  Jesse  commanded  his  son  David  to  "  carry  these  ten  cheeses  imto 
the  captain  of  their  thousand,  and  look  how  thy  brethren  fare."  And,  again,  they  brouo-ht 
"  honey,  and  butter,  and  sheep,  and  cheese  of  Jcine  for  David,  and  for  the  people  that  were  with  him, 
to  eat."  In  the  extreme  north  of  the  world  the  Laj^landers  from  an  early  period  have  made  cheese 
of  the  milk  of  the  reindeer,  and  used  it  not  only  as  an  important  article  of  food,  but  a  medical 
remedy  applied  to  a  frozen  limb — the  cheese  is  melted  and  the  limb  anointed  with  it.  These 
primitive  people  coagulate  the  milk  with  the  sap  of  the  plant  butterwort  [Pinguicular  vulgaris).  In 
Stephens^  "  Book  of  the  Farm,"  pigs'  stomachs  are  recommended  for  the  purpose  of  coagulating 
milk  in  cheese-making,  and  it  is  said  that  some  persons  believe  they  will  make  stronger  rennet 
than  the  ordinary  kind.  Lambs'  stomachs,  and,  in  fact,  the  stomach  of  any  young  animal  of  the 
order  Mammalia,  will  also  coagulate  milk.  But  calves'  stomachs  are  the  only  ones  that  are  at  all 
generally  used  for  that  purpose ;  and  all  other  kinds,  if  used  at  all,  are  used  only  in  special  districts, 
or  for  the  purposes  o£  exjJeriment. 

Oleomaugamne    Cheese. 

Oleomargarine  cheese  is  one  of  the  many  singular  productions  of  modern  times.  The  high 
price  of  butter  in  late  years  has  led  to  its  introduction.  When  fresh-milk  butter  fetches  thrice 
as  much  per  pound  as  cheese  does  in  the  market,  there  is  great  inducement  for  cheese-makers  to 
take,  at  all  events,  a  portion  of  the  cream  off  the  evening's  milk ;  and  cheese  dejjrived  of  its  fats 
is  not  only  less  valuable  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of  them  that  has  been  removed,  but  it  will 
not  ripen  properly  unless  some  special  provision  is  made  to  help  it.  To  remedy  the  defective  ripening 
of  skim-milk  cheese,  Mr.  H.  O.  Freeman,  of  Sherburne,  N.Y.,  devised  the  plan  of  restoring,  by 
artificial  means,  the  fatty  element  of  which  the  cheese  had  been  deprived  by  skimming  the  cream 
off  the  milk.  His  plan  is  to  mix  with  the  skim-milk,  just  before  adding  the  rennet  to  it,  some 
clean  cheap  fat,  such  as  rancid  butter  that  has  been  purified,  or  oleomargarine  derived  from  beef 
3 


sviii  DAIRY    FARMING. 

suet.  We  are  not  a\v;iiv  tliat  oleomargarine  cheese  has  ever  Ijeen  made  in  Entyland ;  hut  in 
America  it  has  heen  niailc  in  eonsiderahle  quantities,  and  some  of  it  is  so  close  an  imitation  of 
full-milk  cheese  in  quality,  texture,  apjiearance,  and  even  in  flavour,  that  only  an  exj^ert  can  at 
once  tell  one  from  the  other.  There  has  heen  much  discussion  and  controversy  among  cheese 
authorities  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  as  to  the  merits  of  this  oleomargarine  cheese.  It 
has  its  friends  and  its  enemies.  It  has  heen  vigorously  attacked,  and  as  vigorously  defended ; 
and  now  awaits  the  decision  of  that  final  court  of  appeal  in  such  cases — public  opinion  1 
We  think  there  is  no  need  for  controversy  as  to  its  merits  or  demerits — discussion  ought  to 
suffice;  for,  after  all  has  been  said  and  done,  this  kind  of  cheese  is  a  perfectly  wholesome 
article  of  food,  and,  so  long  as  it  is  honestly  made  and  as  honestly  sold,  it  is  a  legitimate  addition 
to  our  food-supply  that  may  justly  claim  to  stand  or  fall  on-  its  merits.  But  if  it  comes  to  l)e 
palmed  off  on  the  public  as  pui-e-milk  cheese,  it  at  once  forfeits  its  claim  to  be  treated  Avith 
fair-plav;  and  we  are  afraid  that  some  injudicious  makers  of  it  will  endeavour  to  pass  it  off 
under  a  designation  which  is  not  correct. 

Butter. 

By  all  civilised  nations  butter  is  now  used  very  extensively  as  an  article  of  food,  and  wherever 
refined  taste  exists  it  is  held  in  high  estimation  as  one  of  the  chief  delicacies  of  the  age.  It  is 
always  found  on  the  tables  of  the  wealthy  and  refined,  the  peer  and  the  peasant  alike  are  familiar 
with  it,  and  if  we  were  deprived  of  it,  its  absence  would  create  a  void  that  could  not  be  filled. 
Used  in  a  great  variety  of  forms,  it  has  long  been  indispensable  in  the  art  of  cookery.  It  is 
employed  in  some  shape  or  form  in  almost  every  kind  of  prepared  food,  and  there  are  few  dietetic 
luxuries  that  are  not  more  or  less  indebted  to  it.  Every  one  knows  that  butter  is  obtained  from 
milk,  or  the  cream  of  milk,  by  means  of  violent  agitation  in  a  churn.  The  end  and  aim  of  this 
violent  agitation  are  to  break  the  casein-shells  of  the  minute  milk  or  cream  globules  which  contain 
the  mixture  of  fatty  matters  that  go  to  make  up  butter.  These  globules  are  a  trifle  lighter  than 
the  liquid  portion  of  the  milk,  and  they  consequently — the  larger  and  better  part  of  them,  that  is — 
rise  to  the  surface  if  the  milk  is  allowed  to  remain  at  rest  for  some  hours,  and  having  so  risen 
they  are  called  "cream.'"  The  cream  being  skimmed  off  the  milk,  leaves  the  latter  poorer  in 
quality  and  less  opaque  in  colour,  for  the  colour  of  milk  is  owing  in  part  to  the  cream  globules  it 
contains,  as  its  chief  richness  is  owing  to  the  fats  they  contain. 

We  are  told  l>y  Dr.  Yoclckcr  that  "butter  consists  mainly  of  a  mixture  of  several  fats, 
amongst  Avhich  palmatin,  a  solid  crystallisable  substance,  is  the  most  important.  Palmatin,  with  a 
little  stearine,  constitutes  about  08  per  cent,  of  pure  butter.  ]\Iixed  with  these  solid  fats  are  about 
30  per  cent,  of  olein,  a  liquid  fatty  matter,  and  about  2  per  cent,  of  odoriferous  oils.  The  peculiar 
flavour  and  odour  of  butter  are  owing  to  the  jiresence  of  this  small  proportion  of  these  peculiar  oils — 
viz.,  butjTin,  caproin,  and  caprylin.  In  butter,  as  it  comes  to  our  table,  we  find,  besides  these  fatty 
matters,  about  16  to  18  per  cent,  of  water,  1  to  2  per  cent,  of  salt,  and  variable  small  quantities  of 
fragments  of  casein-shells.  The  more  perfectly  the  latter  are  removed  by  kneading  under  water,  the 
better  butter  keeps;  for  casein,  on  exposure  to  air  in  a  moist  state,  especially  in  warm  weather, 
becomes  rapidly  changed  into  a  ferment,  which,  acting  on  the  last-named  volatile  fatty  mattere 
of  butter,  resolves  them  into  glycerine  and  butyric  acid,  CgllgO^ ;  caproic  acid,  C12II12O4;  and 
caprylic  acid,  CigIIjoOi.  The  occurrence  of  (hese  volatile,  uncombined  fatty  acids  in  rancid 
butter  not  only  spoils  the  flavour,  but  renders  it  more  or  less  unwholesome."* 

The  demand  for  butter  vill  always  be  great,  and  if  the  jiublic  could  always  procure  sweet- 
flavoured,  pure,  firm,  and  well-made  butter,  the  consumption  per  capita  would  be  much  larger 
than  it  is.     As  in  milk  and  cheese,  so  in  butter,  a  pure  and  genuine  article  always  secures  a  large 

•  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Sociiti/,  First  Series,  1863,  p.  291.  It  -nill  l)c  seen  that  tho  composition  of  these 
acids  is  identical,  though  tho  proportions  arc  different.  Tho  moaning  of  the  above  sjTnhols  is  that  hutyric  acid  consists  of 
8  atoms  or  parts  of  carbon  (C),  8  of  hydrogen  (H),  and  i  of  o.\ygen  (O).  Caproic  acid  is  formed  by  the  addition  of  4  atoms 
of  carbon  and  hydiogen  to  the  same  quantity  of  oxygen ;  and  caprylic  acid  absorbs  yet  an  additional  i  atoms  of  tho 
same  substances 


INTRODUCTION.  xix 

and   unflagging   demand.      And  butter   is   so   delicate   a   production  that  it  is  easily  sjioiled  in  the 
making,  it'  great  care,  method,  and  cleanliness  are  not  observed. 

Some  years  ago  we  knew  a  widow  lady  whose  butter,  especially  with  respect  to  flavour,  was 
always  of  a  very  superior  kind.  We  asked  her  what  her  secret  was,  for  we  had  never  tasted  such 
butter  in  a  farm-house.  "  I  have  no  secret,"  she  said,  "  beyond  this — I  am  always  very  particular 
about  keeping  thoroughly  clean  every  vessel  with  which  the  milk  and  cream  come  in  contact.  1 
frequently  have  them  well  scalded  with  boiling  Avater,  well  scrubbed  with  a  hard  brush,  and  well 
rinsed  in  clear,  cold  water;  and  I  am  also  careful  to  keep  the  milk-room  clean  and  dry,  and  well 
supplied  with  fresh  air.  I  am  not  aware  that  I  have  any  secret  beyond  this — in  fact,  there  is  no  secret 
in  the  matter.-"  True,  no  secret  this,  yet  it  is  the  whole  secret  of  the  matter !  "\Ve  may  add  that  this 
lady  had  only  for  a  short  time  been  used  to  such  matters;  she  was  only  for  the  time  beino-  takiuo- 
charge  of  the  household  of  her  bachelor  son,  who  had  taken  to  dairy-farming  as  a  pursuit  in  life. 

That  butter  was  known  to  the  ancients  is  proved  by  the  frequent  references  to  it  which  are 
found  in  the  oldest  wiiters,  but  how  the  production  of  it  was  first  discovered  is  a  j^roblem  that 
will  never  be  solved.  It  is,  however,  probable  that  the  discovery  was  accidentally  made — in  the 
carrying  of  milk  in  skins  slung  over  horses'  backs  or  otherwise.  By  the  Arabs  in  Barbary,  and  by 
the  natives  of  Caffraria,  butter  is  to  tliis  day  churned  in  goat-skins,  which  are  suspended  by  the 
legs  from  boughs  of  trees,  and  swung  backwards  and  forwards  until  the  butter  comes.  In  the 
Levant  it  is  produced  by  securing  the  cream  in  skins,  and  then  treading  on  them  with  the  feet; 
and  in  India  by  simply  turning  a  stick  round  in  the  milk. 

The  principal  use  of  butter  among  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans  was  as  an  ointment  and  a 
medicine.  The  latter  anointed  the  bodies  of  their  children  with  it  to  make  them  pliable,  and  it 
was  commonly  used  in  many  countries  in  those  early  times  as  hair-oil.  The  Greeks  are  said  to 
have  been  made  acquainted  with  it  by  the  Scythians,  Thracians,  and  Phrygians,  and  the  Romans 
by  the  Germans.  Noble  ladies  in  the  olden  times  used  it  as  a  dressing  for  the  hair,  for  Plutarch 
relates  that  a  Spartan  lady  paid  a  visit  to  Berenice,  the  wife  of  Dejotarus,  and  that  the  former 
smelled  so  much  of  sweet  ointment,  and  the  latter  of  butter,  that  neither  of  them  could  endure 
the  other.  It  was,  in  fact,  seldom  used  as  food  in  the  old  countries  of  Southern  Em'ojie,  olive- 
oil  being  used  in  place  of  it;  and  even  in  the  present  day  it  is  but  sparingly  used  as  food  in  Italy, 
Spain,  Portugal,  and  the  southern  parts  of  France. 

The  ancient  Christians  are  said  to  have  burnt  butter  in  their  lamps,  instead  of  oil ;  and  in 
later  times  it  was  used  for  the  same  purpose  in  the  Catholic  churches  of  France,  in  order 
to  lessen  the  consumption  of  olive-oil.  There  is  a  tower  on  the  Cathedral  of  Rouen  called  the 
"butter-tower,"  from  the  fact  that  the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  in  a.d.  1500,  finding  the  supply 
of  oil  to  fail  during  Lent,  permitted  the  use  of  butter  in  lamps,  on  condition  that  each  inhabitant 
should  pay  six  derniers,  with  which  money  the  tower  was  built.  There  are  other  "  butter-towers," 
at  Notre  Dame,  Bourges,  &c.* 

Oleojiaugahine    Butter. 

Oleomargarine  butter  is  now  extensively  made  in  America  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe. 
Not  cheese  only,  but  butter  is  now  produced  in  part  in  an  artificial  manner,  and  by  aid  of  a 
substance  which,  though  not  foreign,  is  still  an  adulteration.  Several  years  ago,  M.  Mege  Mouriez 
made  many  experiments  in  the  attempt  to  find '  a  substitute  for  butter,  which  might  be  used  in 
the  French  army  and  navy.  He  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  butter  in  milk  was  elaborated 
from  the  fat  of  the  animal  that  gave  the  milk,  and  that  by  melting  beef  fat  at  a  moderate 
temperature,  an  oil  almost  identical  with  the  fats  of  butter  would  be  produced.  Pursuing  his 
experiments,  his  expectations  were  so  far  realised  that  this  oil  of  fat,  when  churned  along  with 
some  mdk,  yielded  a  product  that  was  accepted  by  the  French  authorities  as  a  substitute  for 
butter.  Some  years  ago  the  manufacture  of  this  artificial  butter  had  made  considerable  progress 
both   in  France  and   Germany.     It  grew  into  general  use  on  Euroi>ean  coasting  steamers,    ai:d    was 

*  Scientific  American,  Oct.   25,   1873. 


XX  DAIRY    FAIIMIXO. 

exclusively  used  in  the  French  na\y,  notwithstanding  occasional  protests.  About  1874  the  United 
States  Dairy  Company  purchased  the  right  of  its  manufacture,  and  a  very  large  quantity  of  it 
is  being  made  in  factories  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey.  As  in  the  case  of  artificial  cheese,  it 
has  been  the  cause  of  a  great  deal  of  discussion,  some  of  which  has  not  been  of  a  A'ery  friendly 
kind,  but  its  merits  have  been  to  a  certain  extent  recognised,  and  its  consumption  has  increased. 
Mr.  L.  S.  Hardin,  who  is  an  authority  on  American  dairying,  says  of  it : — "  It  has  one  quality 
that  will  make  it  a  dangerous  rival  with  even  the  highest  grades  of  butter,  and  that  is  its 
keeping  quality.  Eeing  only  tallow  to  begin  with,  after  the  severest  test  it  remains  only  tallow, 
while  even  the  best  butter  rapidly  changes  its  chemical  nature  after  it  has  once  entered  the 
field  of  dissolution.  In  texture,  colour,  and  quality,  aside  from  its  excellent  keeping  quality,  this 
oleomargarine  butter  is  not  only  a  dangerous  rival  for  the  higher  grades  of  butter,  but  I  am 
most  seriously  alarmed  lest  it  should  supersede  our  farm-butter  altogether." 

There  is  a  greater  quantity  of  this  butter,  made  principally  on  the  Continent,  and  sold  in 
the  English  market,  than  people  generally  are  aware  of.  AVe  do  not  consider  this  in  itself  an  evil, 
because  it  becomes  each  j'ear  more  difficult  to  produce  real  butter  in  quantity  sufficient  to  meet  the 
public  demand ;  but  we  must  record  a  strong  protest  against  the  gross  commercial  immorality 
which  is  involved,  not  in  the  manufacture  of  this  artificial  butter,  but  in  palming  it  off  on  the 
public  as  genuine  milh  butter.  Tlie  manufacture  of  this  butter,  and  the  sale  of  it,  under  existing 
conditions  of  demand,  are  equally  justifiable;  what  is  not  justifiable  is  the  sale  of  it  under  a  false 
and  deceptive  designation.  Artificial  butter  as  such,  and  when  sold  as  such,  is  a  perfectly  legitimate 
element  of  commerce,  and  when  made  by  a  sound  and  careful  process  may  be  credited  with  being 
an  honest  supplement  to  the  list  of  our  pre-existing  foods ;  but  there  is  much  of  it  now  in  the 
market  that  is  not  so  manufactured,  and  that  is  quite  unfit  to  be  considered  a  fair  article  of  food. 

Artificial  butter,  made  from  good  beef  or  mutton  fat,  and  by  a  careful  and  correct  method, 
whether  sold  to  be  eaten  as  it  is,  or  to  be  used  by  pastry-cooks,  is  a  product  for  which  there 
is  an  opening  that  is  likely  to  become  larger  each  year;  but  it  will  be  incumbent  on  those 
who  are  on  the  look-out  for  adulterations  to  narrowly  watch  the  artificial  butter  market.  The 
method  of  its  production  is  one  that  admits  of,  and  induces,  the  employment  of  improper  and 
dangerous  material;  and  if  watered  milk  brings  the  lash  of  the  laW|jon  those  who  water  it,  we 
may  reasonably  expect  that  they  shall  not  escape  who  make  or  sell  artificial  butter  that  is  not 
what  it  ought  to  be.  At  the  same  time,  the  production  of  a  genuine  article — an  article,  that  is, 
made  from  sound  materials — may  very  properly  be  encouraged,  providing  always  that  it  is  not  sold 
under  false  pretences.  Such  an  article  as  this  may  fill  most  of  the  purposes  to  which  inferior 
milk-butter  has  been  applied;  and  in  that  event,  which  we  think  is  most  likely  to  happen — which 
has  already  hajipened  to  some  not  inconsiderable  extent  —  it  will  be  necessary  that  those  who 
make  milk-butter  should  in  all  eases  take  the  pains  that  are  necessary  to  the  production  of 
a  first-class  article.  Longer  marches  than  ever  are  now-a-days  being  stolen  on  those  who,  from 
good  raw  materials,  produce  inferior  manufactured  goods.  What  were  formerly  waste,  or  next 
to  waste,  materials  are  now  utilised  and  made  to  serve  important  ends.  This  is  the  case  now 
in  oleomargarine  cheese  and  butter;  in  metallurgy,  and  in  the  manufacturing  arts  generally,  it 
has  been  the  case  for  a  long  iime. 

l.MPORTATIOXS     OF     DaIISY    PrODICE. 

A  good  many  years  have  passed  since  cheese  was  first  imported  into  this  country  from 
America,  the  first  shipment  coming  to  us  in  the  year  1830.  In  less  than  twenty  years  the 
quantity  imported  per  annum  had  risen  to  about  15,000,000  lbs. ;  in  ten  years  more  it  had  fallen 
back  to  some  5,000,000  lbs. — this  was  in  1858.  Since  that  period  the  factory  system  of  cheese- 
making  has  grown  up  in  America ;  the  quantity  of  cheese  made  has  greatly  increased,  while  its 
quality  has  no  less  greatly  improved;  and  we  are  now  importing  American  cheese  to  the  extent 
of  115,000,000  to  120,000,000  lbs.,  or  about  ffty-three  thousand  Ions,  per  annum.  There  can 
be  no   doubt   that  to  the   factory  system  is    wholly  due    the  marked    improvement  in    quality,   and 


INTRODUCTION. 


in  ii  o-rcat  measure  llie  increase  in  quantity,  wliieli  have  taken  place  in  both  American  and 
Canadian  cheese  in  hvte  years.  It  was  in  the  year  1851  that  Jesse  Williams  built  the 
tirst  cheese-factory  in  the  United  States,  near  Rome,  Oneida  County,  N.Y. ;  and  in  less  than 
ten  years  afterwards  factories  had  begun  to  multiply  rapidly  in  the  States.  Seven  or  eight 
years  later  the  first  Canadian  factory  was  built,  at  Ingersoll,  Ontario.  These  times  mark 
the  period  from  which  dates  the  rapid  increase  in  the  exports  of  cheese  from  the  two 
countries  respectively.  The  importation  of  cheese  from  Canada  is  hence  much  more  recent  than 
from  the  States;  in  180-1  it  had  barely  commenced,  even  if  it  had  commenced  at  all,  and  five 
years  later  it  had  only  risen  to  some  4,000,000  lbs. ;  but  since  that  date  Canada  has  been 
coming  rapidly  to  the  front  in  many  ways  with  respect  to  the  amount  of  her  exports,  and  we 
are  now  receiving  from  her  more  than  30,000,000  lbs.  of  cheese,  or  over  sixteen  thousand  tons, 
per  annum.  From  European  countries  we  are  imjDorting  about  0'1',000,000  lbs.,  making  a  grand 
total,  from  all  sources,  of  nearly  220,000,000  lbs.,  or  niiietii-eight  tkoiisaiul  three  hundred  tons,  per 
annum.  Our  annual  home  production  of  cheese  we  have  estimated  at  one  hundred  and  twenty-six 
thousand  tons,  which  is  about  one  and  a  quarter  times  the  amount  of  our  importations.  The  total 
quantities  of  cheese,  and  their  value,  imported  annually  into  this  country,  for  a  period  of  sixteen 
years,  and  from  all  sources,  are  given  in  the  following  table : — 


Quantity. 

Value. 

Quantity 

Viilue. 

1863 

756,285  cwts. 

£1,886,887 

1871 

...       1,216,400  cwta. 

£3,341,496 

1864 

834,844     „ 

2,176,248 

1872 

1,057,883     „ 

3,031,977 

1865 

853,277     „ 

2,463,299 

1873 

...       :,356,728     „ 

4,061,456 

1866 

872,342     „ 

2,801,579 

1874 

...       1,485,265     „ 

4,483,927 

1867 

905,476     „ 

2,555,265 

1875 

...      1,627,748     „ 

4,709,508 

1868 

873,377     „ 

2,565,213 

1876 

...       1,531,204     „ 

4,237,763 

1869 

979,189     „ 

3,083,850 

1877 

...      1,651,088     ,, 

4,763,053 

1870 

...       1,041,281     „ 

3,274,331 

1878 

...      1,965,949     „ 

4,939,009 

And  the  quantities   and  values  of  butter  importations  through  a   corresponding  period   are  similarly 
given  in  the  subjoined  statement : — 

Quantity.  Value. 

986,708  cwts.  £4,537,157 

...       1,054,617     „  5,652,704 

1,083,717     „  5,945,884 

1,165,081     „  5,962,455 

...       1,142,262     „  5,854,271 

...       1,097,539     „  3,640,718 

...       1,259,089     „  6,923,210 

...      1,159,210     „  6,793,877 


1803 
1864 
1865 
1866 
1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 


1871 


1873 


1875 
1876 

1877 
1878 


Quantity 
1,334,783  cwts. 
1,138,081  ,. 
1,279,566  „ 
1,619,808  „ 
1,467,870  „ 
1,659,492  „ 
1,637,939  ,, 
1,795,413     „ 


Value. 

,939,040 

,028,474 

,955,264 

,050,025 

,502,084 

,718,226 

,538,305 

,940,412 


It  will  be  seen  in  the  foregoing  tables  that  our  importations  of  butter  approach  those  of  cheese  ia 
actual  weight,  while  their  value  is  nearly  twice  that  of  the  cheese.  Our  exports  of  cheese  and 
butter  are  comparatively  insignificant.  For  the  year  1878  our  exports  of  cheese  were  10,522  cwts., 
valued  at  £06,001;   and  of  butter  36,520  c\vts.,  valued  at  £243,032. 

In  1802  our  importations  of  bacon  and  hams  amounted  to  1,345,694  cwts.,  the  value  of 
which  was  £2,477,005;  in  1878  they  had  risen  to  4,263,901  cwts.,  the  value  of  which  was 
£8,611,590.  In  1862  our  importations  of  pork  were  227,758  cwts.,  the  value  of  which  was 
£409,018;  in  1878  they  had  risen  to  369,500  cwts.,  the  value  of  which  was  £011,624.  In  1862 
our  importations  of  lard  were  530,090  cwts.,  of  the  value  of  £1,121,059;  in  1878  they  had  risen 
to  908,187  cwts.,  of  the  value  of  £1,786,925.  In  1862  our  importations  of  eggs  amounted  in 
number  to  232,321,200,  and  in  value  to  £593,813;  in  1878  they  had  risen  to  783,484,320,  the 
value  of  which  was  declared  to  be  £2,511,922;  and  the  value  of  poultry  has  increased  so  rapidly 
even  of  late  years,  as  to  have  risen  from  £72,426  in  1870  to  £125,521  in  1878. 

A  short  inquiry  into  the  origin  of  soils  cannot  fail  to  be  both  instructive  •  and  interesting, 
and  our  work  will  therefore  treat  of   their  formation  and    distribution,  explaining   their   properties 


xxii  DAIRY    FARMING. 

and  peculiarities.  We  shall  si)eak  of  the  soils  and  climates  that  are  best  adapted  to  dairying,  and 
of  the  methods  of  increasing  the  adaptation  of  those  to  which  Nature  has  not  pjiven  the  best 
properties  for  the  purpose;  the  exhaustion  and  improvement  of  soils  will  also  engage  our  attention, 
along  with  the  best  methods  of  cultivation  and  treatment  employed  on  dairy-farms,  and  including 
the  application  and  treatment  of  manures  both  natural  and  artificial ;  and,  lying  at  the  foundation 
of  all  good  husbandry  on  wet  soils,  we  shall  devote  considerable  space  to  the  subject  of  draining, 
describing  its  methods  and  explaining  its  principles.  So  far  the  soil.  The  various  cultivated  crops 
found  in  the  best  dairying  districts,  including  roots,  artificial  grasses,  leguminous  plants,  cereals, 
&e.,  and  also  weeds  and  worthless  grasses,  will  receive  due  attention ;  while  the  botanical  aspects 
of  this  section,  so  far  as  they  are  useful  to  the  agriculturist,  will  be  handled  in  a  manner  at  once 
scientific  and  popular.  Dairy-homesteads,  farm-buildings,  fences,  shelter,  the  supply  of  water,  &c., 
will  be  illustrated  and  described.  The  various  races,  breeding,  and  selection  of  cows  for  dairy 
pui-poses,  with  their  feeding  and  treatment  through  the  different  parts  of  the  year,  will  be  fully 
explained  in  the  letterpress,  and  by  the  aid  of  illustrations  supplementary  to  the  text.  Milking, 
the  reai'ing  and  fealing  of  calves,  and  the  general  treatment  of  stock  both  young  and  old,  will 
receive  the  amount  of  attention  they  merit.  The  various  purposes  to  which  dairy  products  are 
devoted,  the  ways  in  which  they  are  disposed  of,  and  the  commercial  aspects  of  dairy-farming  in 
its  different  branches,  will  be  fully  explained ;  and,  lastly,  the  supplementaiy  stock  appertaining 
more  or  less  specially  to  dairy-farming  will  be  dealt  with  in  as  liberal  a  manner  as  our  space 
may  be  found  to  admit  of.  We  trust  on  these  bases  to  present  to  our  readers  a  comprehensive 
and  painstaking  work  descriptive  not  only  of  the  duties  and  conditions,  the  benefits  and  the 
drawbacks,  but  also  of  the  elements  of  success,  as  well  as  the  causes  of  failure  that,  separately 
and  jointly,  fill  in  and  rule  the  life  of  a  dairy-farmer.  AVe  are  assisted  in  these  matters  by 
eminent  authorities  in  various  countries,  each  of  whom  writes  on  the  subject  with  which  he  is 
specially  acquainted ;  and,  for  ourselves,  our  part  has  lain  in  arranging  the  matter  we  have  had 
contributed  by  others,  and  in  writing  on  the  several  topics  with  which  we  happen  to  be  familiar. 
The  object  we  have  in  view  is  to  promote  the  lively  interest  which,  in  places,  has  begun  to 
attach  to  dairy-farming;  to  keep  alive  the  spirit  of  improvement  which  is  manifesting  itself  in 
various  ways;  to  place  before  the  public  an  account  of  the  various  methods  of  making  cheese 
and  butter  in  different  countries,  as  well  as  in  different  parts  of  our  own  country,  describing 
all  the  modem  features  and  improvements,  and  illustrating  the  best  of  the  various  improved  and 
newly-invented  machines,  implements,  and  utensils  which  find  favour  with  the  more  advanced  dairy- 
farmers  of  the  present  day;  to  trace  out  the  "new  departures^'  into  which  dairy-farming  has 
developed,  or  is  developing;  and  to  give  a  general  presentation  of  the  whole  subject  in  such  a 
manner  that  those  interested  may  derive  from  our  work  instruction  and  assistance. 

J.  P.  S. 


DAIEY     FAEMING 


CHAPTER     I. 

Breeding    and    Selection    of    Daiky    Cattle. 

The  Practical   Difference  between   Good   and   Bad   Stock— Illustrated   by  Cases— Importance   of   Breeding   for  Milk  in  Pedigree 

Stock— Examples— Pedigree  Breeding  an  Art— Main  Principles  of  Breeding— All  Animals  tend  to  Produce  their  Like— Breeding 

Consists  of  Accumulating  the  Tendencies  of  Successive   Generations  in  One  Direction— In-Breeding  and   Crossing— Evils  of 

Both— Means  of    Avoiding    them,    by   Crossing  Families— Effects   of    a  "Raw"  Cross— These    Principles 

<^         „^        ^^      Applicable  to  the  Breeding  of  Dairy  Stock— Directions  for  the  First  Selection— Practical  Remarks. 


"^EW  things  coutribute  more  to 
a  dairy-farmer's  success  thaii 
skill  in  selecting  and  breed- 
ing his  dairy-stock.  Some 
men  possess  this  skill  in  a 
high  degree  intuitively ;  others 
_^  acquire   it    by   careful    obser- 

^"■•'  vation  and  long-continued  experience; 
otherSj  again,  never  can  or  do  attain  it ; 
but,  however  it  may  come  into  a  man's  pos- 
session, it  is  no  mean  element  in  his  success, 
may  lay  it  down  as  a  first  principle  that  a 
farmer  may  just  as  well  have  a  good  class  of  stock 
as  a  poor  one.  The  land  that  will  maintain 
twenty  common-bred  cows  will  maintain  twenty 
well-bred  ones,  and  the  annual  profit  from  the 
latter  will  be  considerably  more  than  from  the 
former.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  dead  loss  to  keep 
common,  weedy  animals  in  the  place  of  good  ones  ; 
and  the  sum  of  that  loss  is  just  the  difference  in 
the  net  profit  which  the  two  kinds  respectively 
give  to  their  owners.  As  this  difference  is  a 
serious  one,  let  us  see  in  what  it  consists. 

It  is  a  fact,  so  well  ascertained  as  to  be  no  longer 
disputed,  that  some  cows  will  yield  more  milk 
than  others  will  on  a  given  quantity  and  quality 
of  food ;  and  it  is  no  less  true  that  they  will  yield 
more  heef  under  like  conditions.  This  superiority 
consists  in  the  greater  ability  of  the  one  than  the 
other  to  convert  the  food  she  eats  into  milk  or 


meat,  or  both  these,  for  some  animals  possess  a 
high  order  of  merit  in  both  departments.  It  docs 
not  matter  what  kind  and  quantity  of  food  you 
give  to  some  cows,  they  will  neither  milk  nor 
fatten  satisfactorily  on  it ;  while  others  will  do  both 
in  a  high  degree.  It  is  the  same  with  an  animal 
as  with  a  steam-boiler — the  more  complete  the 
combustion  of  the  food  or  fuel  it  gets,  the  more 
satisfactory  will  be  the  result,  because  there  is 
less  waste.  And  animals  can  be  bred  up  to  this 
just  as  surely  as  steam-boilers  can  be  constructed 
up  to  it :  it  is  a  mere  question  of  skill  in  breeding 
on  the  one  part,  and  of  construction  on  the  other. 

Again :  dairy-cows  are  essentially  food-con- 
sumers and  food-producers,  and  the  more  food 
an  animal  can  consume  in  a  given  time,  providing 
she  produces  a  relatively  large  proportion  of  milk 
or  beef  in  return  for  it,  the  more  profitable  will 
she  be  to  her  owner.  This  is  mainly  a  question 
of  soundness  of  constitution  and  strength  of 
digestion.  And,  further  than  this,  it  is  an  easy 
matter  to  reach  the  limit  of  production  that  an 
inferior  animal  is  capable  of.  She  can  only  take 
a  given  quantity  of  food,  making  an  inferior  use 
even  of  that;  while  a  really  good  animal  will 
not  only  eat  more  food,  but  will  put  what  she 
eats  to  a  more  profitable  purpose.  An  ill-bred 
one  will  not  take  much  more  food  than  is  required 
to  make  good  the  wear  and  tear  of  her  body,  and 
it  is  only  from  the  food  over  and  above  this  that 


2 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


the  farmer  derives  his  profit.  All  cows  have  to 
live,  first  of  all,  from  the  food  they  eat ;  and, 
when  the  requirements  of  life  are  met,  the  rest 
of  the  food  consumed  goes,  or  should  go,  to 
the  production  of  milk  or  of  beef.  The  object 
is  to  secure  such  animals  as  will  not  be  content 
with  merely  living,  but  will  put  in  plenty  of 
overtime  for  the  benefit  of  their  owners ;  in 
other  words,  cows  that  vdW  consume  food  enough 
to  make  a  profit,  turning  that  food  to  the  best 
possible  use,  and  not  make  a  beggarly  return  for 
the  advantages  placed  before  them. 

To  illustrate  the  difference  between  a  good 
dairy-cow  and  a  poor  one,  we  will  state  two  cases 
in  which  both  animals  are  fed  up  to  their  capacitj-, 
showinsj  the  difference  in  result : — 


Cow  No.  1. 

Dr. — To   ordinary   keep,    ad.   HI).,   for 
one  year 
To  extra  food,  com,  &r. 

Cr. — By  one  calf  

By  400  gallons  of  milk,  at  8d.    ... 


s.    d.      £      s.    d. 


11 

0 

0 

3 

0 

0 

14 

0     0 

1 

0 

0 

13 

6 

8 

14 

G     8 

Cow  No.  2. 

Dr. — To    ordinary   keep,   ad.   lib.,   for 

one  year      

To  extra  food,  corn,  &c. 

£ 

11 

6 

s. 

0 
0 

d. 

0 
0 

£     s. 
17     0 

d. 
0 

Cr. — By  one  calf            ...         

By  700  gallons  of  milk,  at  8d.    ... 

2 
23 

0 
6 

0 
8 

25     6 

Profit 

£8     6 

8 

These  are  not  by  any  means  extreme  eases, 
though  imaginary  ones ;  for  many  cows  give  less 
than  400  gallons  of  milk,  whilst  others  give  more 
than  700  gallons  in  a  season.  Instances  are  on 
record  where  cows  have  produced  each  500  lbs. 
of  butter  in  one  year ;  and  as  a  pound  of  butter 
requires  from  two  to  three  gallons  of  milk  on  the 
average,  it  is  evident  that  these  cows  must  either 
have  given  much  more  than  700  gallons  of  milk,  or 
that  the  milk  was  of  unusual  quality. 

In  tlie  breeding  of  pedigree  cattle  of  any  kind, 
particularly  Shorthorns,  the  milking  property  has 
been  too  much  sacrificed  to  beauty  and  symmetry 
of  form.  The  fabulous  prices  which  animals  of 
certain    tribes   commonly   fetch    have   made    the 


question  of  milk  appear  one  of  small  importance, 
and  the  consequence  is  that  not  only  are  these 
animals  not  bred  to  milk,  but  their  properties  as 
milkers  are  seldom  if  ever  inquired  into  by  those 
who  buy  them.  This  neglect  of  breeding  for  milk, 
and  the  breeding  instead  for  heavy  flesh,  light 
bone,  symmetry  of  form,  beauty  of  expression  and 
skin,  and  early  maturity,  has  been  carried  to  such 
a  length  that  many  of  our  pedigree  Shorthorns 
have  not  milk  enough  to  rear  their  own  offspring, 
and  foster-mothers  have  to  be  provided  for  the 
calves.  It  is  a  question  worthy  of  investigation  how 
far  the  milk  of  a  foster-mother,  especially  if  she  is 
a  common-bred  cow,  influences  the  purity  of  breed 
in  the  calf  that  is  reared  upon  it,  and  we  are  not 
aware  that  it  has  as  yet  had  much  attention,  if 
any,  devoted  to  it.  Be  this  as  it  ma}',  however, 
it  is  none  the  less  a  pity  that  the  question  of  milk 
has  been  so  far  ignored  in  the  breeding  of  pedigree 
stock ;  not  alone  because  certain  families  of 
pedigree  Shorthorns  are  still  remarkable  for  the 
quantity  of  milk  which  some  of  the  cows  give,  but 
also  because  pedigree  blood  is  now  being  largely 
introduced  into  the  general  dairy-herds  of  the 
country,  which  it  cannot  fail  to  injure  in  the  milk 
department  whenever  it  comes  from  a  poor  milk- 
ing family.  Three-quarters  of  a  century  ago  the 
Durham  cows,  from  which  all  our  Shorthorns  have 
descended,  were  celebrated  as  much  for  the  quan- 
tity of  milk  they  gave  as  for  their  capacity  to 
fatten  quickly ;  and  as  some  of  their  descendants 
still  possess  both  these  properties,  in  addition  to 
beauty  and  symmetry  of  form,  there  would  seem  to 
be  no  reason  to  doubt  the  possibility  of  breeding 
for  milk,  in  addition  to  the  other  excellences  for 
which  Shorthorns  are  so  deservedly  famous. 

There  are,  however,  among  our  most  famous 
breeds  of  dairy-cows,  two  conspicuous  exceptions 
to  this  rule  of  not  breeding  for  milk  in  pedigree 
stock.  The  Ayrshires  and  Channel  Islanders  have 
many  pedigree  families  among  them,  and  great 
attention  has  been  paid  for  a  long  period  to 
purity  of  blood.  But  in  all  cases  milk  has  been 
placed  first  in  the  list  of  the  merits  for  which 
these  cattle  are  distinguished,  and  the  result  is 
that  we  have  in  the  two  breeds,  though  they 
differ  widely  from  each  other,  the  highest  em- 
bodiment of  what  dairy-cows  ought  to  be  accord- 
ing to  British  and  American  notions.  Nor  has 
symmetry  of  form  been  lost  sight  of  in  the 
breeding   of   these    cattle,    yet   the    standard   of 


THE    BREEDING    0¥    STOCK. 


63'mnietiy  differs  very  widely  from  that  of  the 
Shorthorns.  Milk  is  the  chief  object,  form  next; 
but  the  form  is  specially  adapted  to  milk,  dif- 
fering in  this  from  the  Shorthorns,  whose  form 
is  specially  adapted  to  beef.  In  each  ease  the 
object  to  aim  at  is  well  understood,  and  in  each 
case  perfection  has  been  attained — so  far,  at  all 
events,  as  the  model  is  concerned. 

The  breeding  of  pedigree  stock  is  an  art,  and  a 
high  form  of  art  too;  it  is  the  guiding,  controlling, 
and  develoj)ing  of  some  of  the  hidden  principles  of 
nature,  so  as  to  produce  animal  forms  that  are  as 
nearly  as  possible  perfect ;  it  is  an  art,  to  succeed  in 
which  in  a  high  degree  needs  much  thought  and 
experience.  Nothing  short  of  a  careful  study 
of  pedigree,  and  of  the  laws  which  govern  the 
economy  of  animal  reproduction,  will  enable  a  man 
to  tell,  with  anything  approaching  to  accuracy, 
what  will  be  the  result  of  a  cross  between  two 
animals  of  different  families  which  are  distantly  or 
not  at  all  related.  Sometimes  the  most  promising 
and  likely  mating  of  two  animals  will  turn  out  in 
the  offspring  to  have  been  a  misfit,  while  in  other 
instances  the  results  will  be  more  satisfactory  than 
could  have  been  expected.  We  cannot  pretend 
here  to  give  more  than  an  outline  of  the  leading 
principles  involved  in  the  breeding  of  pedigree 
cattle,  and  we  should  not  have  done  even  this  were 
it  not  the  fact  that  many  dairy-farmers  now-a- 
days  breed  their  stock  on  recognised  principles  and 
with  almost  as  much  care  as  pedigree  Shorthorns ; 
in  fact,  there  are  many  carefully-bred  herds  of 
dairj'-cows  with  long  and  respectable  pedigrees  in 
their  owners'  herd-books,  though  perhaps  they 
have  no  place  in  the  official  herd-book  of  the 
breed. 

From  a  letter  addressed  by  Sir  John  Saunders 
Sebright  to  the  Right  Hon.  Sir  Joseph  Banks, 
nnder  date  August  1st,  1809,  we  take  the  following 
extracts : — "  Were  I  to  define  what  is  called  the 
'  Art  of  Breeding,'  I  should  say  that  it  consisted 
in  the  selection  of  males  and  females  intended  to 
breed  together,  in  reference  to  each  other's  merits 
and  defects.  It  is  not  always  by  putting  the  best 
male  to  the  best  female  that  the  best  produce  will 
be  obtained,  for  should  they  both  have  a  tendency 
to  the  same  defect,  although  in  ever  so  slight  a 
degree,  it  will  generally  preponderate  so  much  in 
the  produce  as  to  render  it  of  little  value. 

"A  breed  of  animals  may  be  said  to  be  im- 
proved when  any  desired  quality  has  been  increased 
4 


by  art  beyond  what  that  quality  was  in  the  same 
breed  in  a  state  of  nature.  What  has  been  pro- 
duced by  art  must  be  continued  by  the  same 
means,  for  the  most  improved  breeds  will  soon 
return  to  a  state  of  nature,  or  perhaps  defects  will 
arise  which  did  not  exist  when  the  breed  was  in 
its  natural  state,  unless  the  greatest  attention  is 
paid  to  the  selection  of  the  individuals  who  are  to 
breed  together. 

"  We  must  observe  the  smallest  tendency  to 
imperfection  in  our  stock  the  moment  it  appears, 
so  as  to  be  able  to  counteract  it  before  it  becomes 
a  defect ;  as  a  rope-dancer,  to  preserve  his  equi- 
librium, must  correct  the  balance  before  it  is  gone 
too  far,  and  then  not  by  such  a  motion  as  will 
incline  it  too  much  to  the  ojjposite  side.  The 
breeder's  success  will  depend  entirely  upon  the 
degree  in  which  he  may  happen  to  possess  this 
particular  talent. 

"  Regard  should  not  only  be  paid  to  the  quali- 
ties apparent  in  animals  selected  for  breeding,  but 
to  those  which  have  prevailed  in  the  race  from 
which  they  are  descended,  as  they  will  always 
show  themselves  sooner  or  later  in  the  progeny. 
It  is  for  tliis  reason  that  we  should  not  breed  from 
an  animal,  however  excellent,  unless  w'e  can  ascer- 
tain it  to  be  what  is  called  'well-bred,'  that  is, 
descended  from  a  race  of  ancestors  who  have 
through  several  generations  possessed  in  a  high 
degree  the  properties  which  it  is  our  object  to 
attain. 

"  The  offspring  of  some  animals  is  very  unlike 
themselves;  it  is,  therefore,  a  good  precaution  to 
try  the  young  males  with  a  few  females  the 
quality  of  whose  produce  has  been  already  ascer- 
tained ;  by  this  means  we  shall  know  the  sort  of 
stock  they  get  and  the  description  of  females  to 
which  they  are  best  adapted." 

The   Theouy  of   Beeedixg. 

It  must  always  be  borne  in  mind  that  "  like 
produces  like  " — that  is,  some  influence  is  always 
exerted  by  the  parents  on  the  offspring.  But  this 
is  much  stronger  in  some  cases  than  in  others. 
In  some  instances  the  influence  of  the  parents  is  so 
strong  that  they  produce  an  almost  exact  likeness 
of  themselves,  or  of  one  of  them.  In  other  cases 
the  immediate  influence  of  the  parents  in  stamping 
their  own  individual  peculiarities  on  their  off- 
spring is  smaller  than  some  dormant  influences 
which,  though   unperceived   in   themselves,   they 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


have  inlicritetl  from  tlieir  ancestors.  Thus  the 
offspriiio-  are  liable  to  inherit  not  only  the  evident 
peculiarities  of  their  parents,  but  also  the  dormant 
properties  which  come  from  ancestors  ten  or 
twenty  generations  back.  Still,  however,  it  is  not 
often,  except  in  the  case  of  parents  whoso  owti 
influence  is  not  vigorous,  that  these  ancestral  traits 
ai5pear  in  any  marked  degree  through  more  than 
four  generations. 

The  capability  of  a  bull  to  Iransmit  to  his 
offsj)ring  his  own  peculiar  properties,  or  mould, 
or  excellences  of  any  kind,  depends  on  his  having 
inherited  them  from  a  succession  of  ancestors 
endowed  with  similar  characteristics.  Thus  it 
follows  that  the  older  the  pedigree  of  any  tril)0 
or  family  of  animals  which  have  been  carefully 
bred  with  a  view  to  the  development  of  certain 
superiorities  and  to  the  eradication  of  certain  in- 
feriorities, the  less  likely  will  any  of  the  offspring 
of  that  tribe  or  family  be  to  go  back  to  remote 
ancestors  for  certain  peculiarities  which  are  rightly 
supposed  to  be  dormant  or  dead.  And  thus  "  care- 
ful breeding "  consists  in  not  breeding  from  any 
animals  which  exhibit  tendencies  to  "  throw  back,'" 
as  it  is  termed,  to  original  imperfections — to 
breed  from  those  only  in  whom  the  various  excel- 
lences wo  are  trying  to  establish  and  secure  are 
most  strongly  marked,  and  in  whom  the  deficien- 
cies we  are  aiming  to  eradicate  do  not  reajjpear. 
By  this  system  only  can  "  pure  blood"  be  attained; 
and  by  "  pure  blood  "  is  meant  a  sure  succession  of 
a  combination  of  excellences,  accompanied  by  no 
deficiencies  of  imjjortance. 

The  task  of  the  breeder  would  be  a  simple  one 
if  he  wished  to  secure  only  one  point  of  excellence 
in  his  cattle;  but  as  no  beast  is  perfect  by  the 
possession  of  one  excellent  point  only,  so  it  is 
necessary  in  breeding  to  aim  to  secure  the  many 
and  various  points,  each  and  all  of  which  are  in- 
dispensable to  the  jierfect  animal.  So  in  mating  a 
male  and  a  female  animal  together,  it  is  necessary 
that  the  ancestry  of  each  should  be  thoroughly 
known  for  at  least  four  generations.  It  is  not 
enough  to  know  that  the  two  animals  themselves 
possess  certain  combinations  of  characteristics 
which  would  seem  to  fit  them  to  produce  superior 
offspring;  it  is  not  enough  that  one  of  them  is 
especially  excellent  in  certain  points  in  which  the 
other  is  deficient,  and  vice  versa  ;  but  it  is  also 
necessary  to  ascertain  how  far,  by  jircvious  care- 
ful breeding,  the  various  excellences  they  possess 


deserve  to  be  regarded  as  flxed.  It  is  also  ex- 
pedient 1o  know  for  how  many  generations  the 
deficiencies  which  were  common  to  the  remote 
ancestry  of  the  tribe  have  been  practically  ob- 
literated, have  been  dormant — dead. 

"  Distinctness  of  type  "  is  secured  by  the  same 
means  as  "  pure  blood,^'  but  it  cannot  be  regarded 
as  fixed  until  several  generations  have  shown  no 
tendency  to  depart  from  it.  Both  these  mean  a 
concentration  of  excellences  and  an  exclusion  of 
imperfections,  made  permanent,  or  fixed,  by  careful 
and  exclusive  breeding  up  to  a  given  idenl. 

In  any  case,  it  is  a  mistake  to  breed  from 
weakly  or  delicate  animals,  for  diseases  and 
deficiencies  lurk  in  them.  Strong  and  vigorous 
animals,  on  the  other  hand,  if  well  bred,  are 
capable  of  very  strongly  impressing  on  their  off- 
spring those  characteristics  and  qualities  toward 
which  their  own  breeding  has  been  made  to  tend. 
This  is  very  striking  at  times  when  a  strong  and 
well-bred  bull  has  been  mated  with  a  common-bred 
and  not  too  vigorous  cow ;  the  offspring  often  has 
all,  or  nearly  all,  the  characteristics  of  the  well- 
bred  sire.  But  these  characteristics  in  the  offsjjring 
cannot  be  regarded  as  fxed  in  the  sense  they  are 
in  the  sire,  for  it  is  only  the  flrst  cross  ;  and  to 
obtain  fixity  of  type  in  this  new  cross  would 
require  several  more  crosses  through  as  many 
generations  ^\^th  pure-bred  bulls.  One  of  the 
chief  disadvantages  of  close-breeding  is  that  the 
animals  lose  more  or  less  of  vigour,  and  it  is 
commonly  found  that  the  offspring  of  a  cross 
between  two  animals  not  at  all  related  to  each 
other  is  more  vigorous  than  either  of  the  parents. 

"  In-breeding,"  as  it  is  termed — that  is,  the 
breeding  for  a  time  amongst  near  relations — 
generally  i-esults  mischievously  on  the  systems  and 
on  the  fertility  of  stock.  Consanguinity  of  blood, 
though  valuable  in  the  formation  of  pure-bred 
types,  and  up  to  a  given  point,  is  a  great  evil  if 
carried  too  far.  The  effects  of  too  close  in-breeding 
are  most  commonly  tuherculosis,  infertility,  and 
general  debility;  and  what  is  only  a  slight  and 
transient  form  of  disease  in  the  first  parents  of 
thai  /amilj  may,  and  often  does,  become  a  fixed 
and  severe  form  in  succeeding  generations — indeed, 
the  same  result  may  be  developed  from  what  at 
first  is  not  a  disease  but  only  a  weakened  function. 
If  the  family  is  kept  exclusively  to  itself  in  the 
breeding,  this  evil  intensifies  ;  if  it  is  bred  into 
other  families,  the  evil  tends  to  decrease. 


PRINCIPLES    OF    BREEDING. 


It  is  an  established  fact  that  the  breeding 
together  of  parent  and  progeny  is  ahnost  always 
less  injurious  than  that  of  Ijrotlier  and  sister.  This 
is  easy  to  understand,  for  the  evil  results  of  in- 
breeding have  not  advanced  so  far  in  that  ease  as 
in  this — at  all  events,  on  one  side.  The  evil  effects 
of  too  close  in-breeding  are  with  difficulty  post- 
j]0)ieii  by  killing  off  all  the  animals  which  exhibit 
any  of  them ;  they  are  only  postponed,  not  eradi- 
cated— and  you  may  go  on  weeding  out  till  none 
are  left. 

The  only  method  of  obtaining  pure  blood,  and 
at  the  same  time  of  avoiding  the  evils  of  in- 
breeding, is  to  establish  several  families  of  the 
same  tribe,  or  several  branches  of  the  same  family, 
breeding  them  all  carefully  to  one  ideal  or  model, 
weeding  out  all  animals  which  are  delicate  or 
which  show  a  tendency  to  revert  to  original 
imperfections,  and  breeding  only  from  the  true 
and  vigorous  ones.  These  different  branches  of 
the  same  family  having  been  kept  apart,  though 
bred  to  the  same  models,  do  well  for  crossing — or 
rather,  for  getting  a  little  fresh  blood  from  time  to 
time  of  the  same  kind.  But  one  great  hindrance 
to  this  lies  in  the  different  ideals  which  different 
men  set  up,  and  the  different  methods  by  which 
they  seek  to  attain  them.  If  there  were  uniformity 
of  taste,  judgment,  and  method  among  breeders, 
there  would  soon  be  uniformity  of  result. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  families  j)roceeding 
from  the  same  original  stock — descending  in  parallel 
lines  from  common  ancestors — being  practically, 
and  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  of  the  same  blood 
and  breed,  are  most  valuable  for  subsequent  inter- 
mixing, with  the  view  of  maintaining  the  vigour 
without  impairing  the  purity  of  the  breed.  This 
system,  of  course,  confined  as  it  is  to  the  members 
of  one  family  or  of  one  tribe  which  are  more  or 
less  closely  related  to  each  other,  cannot  strictly 
be  called  "  crossing ;"  and  yet  by  means  of  this 
system  most  of  the  benefits  of  crossing  are  secured, 
whilst  its  evils  are  avoided.  By  "  evils  "  is  here 
meant  impurity  of  blood  or  breed. 

In  all  breeding  it  is  necessary  to  introduce 
fresh  blood  at  times ;  and  the  skill  of  the  breeder 
lies  in  his  ability  to  select  and  introduce  this  fresh 
blood  in  such  a  manner  that  the  vigour  of  the 
animals  is  increased,  whilst  their  symmetry,  if 
interfered  with  at  all,  is  improved.  And  to  this 
end  animals  are  selected  from  other  branches  of 
the    same    family,     or    from    a    distinct    though 


similar  family,  distantly  or  not  at  all  related. 
These  different  branches  of  a  family  are  sometimes 
produced  for  a  deliberate  purpose,  with  the  view 
of  subsequent  re-intermingling  of  the  blood. 

One  of  the  effects  of  introducing  wholly  fresh 
blood  into  a  family  is  very  curious,  and  it  demands 
to  be  taken  notice  of  by  the  breeder.  In  most 
cases,  certain  ancient  characteristics  of  the  breed 
are  lying  latent;  they  have  been  laid  to  rest  by 
careful  breeding  against  them.  Mr.  Darwin  has 
established  the  important  fact  that  crossing  itself 
does  undoubtedly  give  a  more  or  less  definite 
imj)ulse  towards  characters  long  lost,  but  which 
were  present  in  far  back  ancestry.  Thus  the  ten- 
dency of  introducing  fresh  blood,  especially  if  it 
be  a  distinct  cross  and  entirely  unrelated,  is  to 
cause  the  offspring  to  "  throw  back,"  as  practical 
breeders  term  it,  to  an  earlier  and  unimproved 
type ;  and  the  consequence  usually  is  that  the  first 
cross  exhibits  considerable  "  rawness,"  though  it 
is  as  commonly  greatly  increased  in  vigour. 

Thus,  continual  and  rigorous  in-breeding,  on  the 
one  hand,  produces,  or  rather  develops,  the  inevitable 
"  weak  spot ;"  and,  on  the  other  hand,  "  raw  cross- 
ing" causes  the  stock  to  revert  back  to  the  original 
condition  of  the  breed.  The  breeder  has  to  use 
all  the  acumen  of  which  he  is  possessed  in  order 
to  steer  as  clear  as  possible  of  both  these  evils,  and 
he  therefore  avoids  in-breeding  too  closely  on  the 
one  hand,  and  too  distinct  crossing  on  the  othei\ 
Tliis  is  not  difficult  to  accomplish  in  Shorthorn 
breeding,  for  as  all  the  families  are  more  or  less 
related  to  each  other,  or  are  at  all  events  bred  up 
to  one  common  model  of  perfection,  crosses  can  be 
obtained,  or  rather  fresh  blood,  without  interfering 
in  the  least  with  the  jiurity  of  the  blood  and  breed. 

The  "  principles  of  breeding,"  as  here  laid 
down,  refer  more  particularly  to  pedigree  stock, 
which  must  needs  be  bred  with  the  greatest  care 
and  judgment  to  avoid  disaster ;  but  they  are  also 
generally  applicable  to  the  breeding  of  dairy-cows. 
It  is  the  aim — not  impossible  of  attainment — of 
our  dairy-farmers,  to  produce  dairy-cows  that  will 
possess  both  milking  and  fattening  properties  in 
a  high  degree — the  highest  attainable.  Whilst  a 
cow  is  kept  in  the  dairy  herd  it  is  important  that 
she  should  be  a  "  deeja  milker ;"  and  it  is  a  matter 
only  second  in  importance  that  she  should  be  a 
good  fattener  when  she  goes  barren,  or  when  she 
is  past  the  best  as  a  dairy-cow.  •  A  dairy-cow  is 
now  no  longer  valuable  on  account  of  milk  alone, 


6 


DAIRY    FAHMIXG. 


but  also  on  account  of  beef;  hence  it  follows 
that  practical  dairy-farmers  must  develop  in  the 
animals  they  hrecKl  not  only  gocxl  milking  hut 
gocxl  fattening  properties.  And  it  is  not  by  any 
means  impossible  or  even  verj'  diflicuH  to  do  this; 
but  it  requires  skill,  judgment,  and  care,  almost  to 
the  extent  they  are  necessary  in  Shorthorn  breed- 
ing. Pedigree  breeding  is  a  ])ursuit  in  which  only 
the  wealthy  can  engage;  but  there  is  room  for  the 
exercise  tif  great  skill  in  the  breeding  of  ordinary 
dairy-stock. 

Selection   of   Daiuy   Cows. 

The  first  thing  a  young  beginner  must  do  is 
to  select  a  number  of  good  young  dairy-cows,  full 
of  quality  but  not  too  full  of  condition.  Good  store 
condition  is  better  than  more — it  enables  the  buyer 
to  see  what  the  animal  really  is.  "  Fat  hides  a 
many  faults,"  and  it  is  no  good  to  pay  dearly  for 
superiluous  condition  in  animals  that  are  wanted 
for  breeding  purposes,  especially  when  that  surplus 
condition  is  detrimental  to  the  object  in  view — 
viz.,  breeding.  But  the  animals  should  come  of  a 
good  stock,  and  should  have  plenty  of  quality. 
lie  should  be  careful  to  ascertain,  if  he  does  not 
already  know,  the  "  lines  "  on  which,  and  the  kind 
of  stock  from  which,  they  have  been  bred,  and  he 
will  then  have  a  correct  notion  as  to  how  far  their 
(pialities  may  be  regarded  as  fixed  and  trans- 
niissilile.  The  next  thing  to  do  is  to  select  a  bull 
from  a  still  better  family  than  the  cows,  for  in 
this  way  the  herd  may  be  improved  by  the  intro- 
ducli(jn  of  suj)erior  blood  through  the  agency  of 
(inc  animal  only.  The  first  male  will  have  a  most 
important  infiuencc  on  the  herd,  and  it  is  "penny 
wise  and  pound  foolish'^  not  to  get  a  really  good 
and  suitable  one,  even  though  he  costs  fifty  or 
sixty  guineas ;  for  if  there  are  twenty-five  or  thirty 
cows  to  put  liim  to,  it  will  be  only  two  guineas 
per  cow,  and  will  g<'nerally  be  i'i']iaiil  in  the  lirst 
crop  of  calves. 

The  cows  selected  should  have  well-roniuleil, 
robust -looking  frames,  indicating  a  strong  and 
vigorous  constitution;  the  back  and  loins  should  be 
level  and  wide ;  the  legs  moderately  short,  with 
a  fair  amount  of  bone ;  the  fore-quarters  should 
be  deep,  wide,  and  finely  moulded ;  the  hind- 
quarters mas.sive,  well  filled  in  with  flesh,  wide, 
and  deep ;  the  tail  set  on  squarely,  and  the  flanks 
well  let  down;  the  neck  should  be  fine,  fairly  long, 
and  elegant ;  and  the  face  should  have  a  distinctly 


feminine  appearance,  for  a  masculine-looking  cow, 
with  a  heavy  muscular  neck  and  a  massive 
clumpish  head,  is  never  a  good  milker,  however 
well  she  may  lay  on  flesh.  And  last,  though  not 
least,  the  udder  should  be  well  formed  and  the 
teats  squarely  set  on. 

The  bull  selected  should  be  symmetrical, 
vigorous,  fleshy,  of  good  girth,  strong  in  his  loins, 
of  good  constitution,  well  developed  in  his  quarters, 
and  stout  and  strong  on  his  legs;  his  head  and 
neck  should  be  massive  and  masculine-looking, 
and  he  should  come  of  a  good  milking  family. 
In  cows  and  bulls  alike  a  good  constitution  is 
indicated  by  a  well-rounded  form,  the  lustre  and 
oiliness  of  the  hair,  and  the  prominence  and  bril- 
liancy of  the  eyes ;  and  quality  is  ascertained  by  the 
general  appearance  of  the  animal,  and  the  softness 
and  mellowness  of  the  skin  under  the  hand. 

A  great  deal  of  discussion  has  been  raised  iu 
recent  years,  particularly  in  America  and  France, 
on  the  "  milk  mirror,"  or  "  escutcheon  "  theory  of 
M.  Guenon,  as  indicating  the  milking  capacity 
of  a  cow.  It  relates  to  the  various  appearances  of 
the  hair  on  the  thighs  and  udder.  In  Fig.  1 
(taken  from  Arnold's  "  American  Dairying ") 
it  will  be  seen  that  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  hair  on  the  udder  and  thighs  lies 
differently  from  what  might  be  expected ;  the 
slope  of  it,  instead  of  downward,  is  upward  and 
outward.  This  reversed  hair  is  the  so-called 
"escutcheon."  If  the  sj)ace  covered  by  the  re- 
versed hair,  especially  in  the  portion  above  the 
udder,  be  large  and  broad,  so  that  it  extends  far 
outward  on  the  thighs,  the  cow  is  said  to  be  a 
good  milker;  and  if  the  upper  part  is  broad 
and  smooth,  she  will  give  a  good  flow  of  milk 
prolonged  late  on  in  the  season.  If,  on  the 
contrary,  the  reversed  hair  occupies  but  a  small 
sj)aee  below,  and  is  narrow  and  irregular  above, 
it  is  said  the  cow  will  not  give  a  large  flow  of  milk, 
cither  for  a  short  or  a  prolonged  period.  Professor 
L.  B.  Arnold  says  : — "  The  connection  of  the 
'  escutcheon '  with  the  flow  of  milk  is  accounted 
for  by  Magne,  who  says  that  the  hair  turns  in 
the  direction  in  which  the  arteries  ramify,  and 
that  the  reversed  hair  on  the  udder  and  adjacent 
jiarts  indicates  the  termination  of  the  arteries 
which  supjjly  the  udder  with  blood.  When  these 
arteries  are  large  they  are  not  confined  to  the 
udder,  but  extend  down  through  it  and  iqiward 
and  outwai-d,  ramifying  on  the  skin  beyond  the 


MILK    ESCUTCHEON. 


udder,  g'iving  the  hair  the  peculiar  appearance 
which  distinguishes  it  from  the  rest  of  the  surface. 
If  the  arteries  supplying  the  udder  with  blood  are 
very  small,  they  are  not  likely  to  extend  much 
be}ond  the  udilei-,  and  hence  form  a  small  es- 
cutcheon. Hence  a  small  escutcheon  indicates  a 
feeble  supply  of  blood  to  the  udder,  and  conse- 
quently but  little  material  to  make  milk  of,  and 
hence  a  small  How  of  miliv.  Guenon  studied  and 
explained  these  marks  only  as  they  appear  on  the 
hind  part  of  the  bag,  and  the  marks  noticed  by 
him  were  supposed  to  ajiply 
to  the  whole  udder.  This 
could  not  well  be  true. 
Each  quarter  of  the  udder 
is  supplied  with  blood  by 
a  distinct  and  separate 
arterial  branch,  and  they 
may,  and  often  do,  vary 
considerably  in  size  in  the 
respective  quarters  of  the 
bag.  Those  supplying  the 
two  hind  quarters  of  the  bag- 
are  usually  larger  than  those 
which  supply  the  front  part; 
but  sometimes  the  reverse 
is  true,  in  whibh  case  the 
marks  on  the  back  part  of 
the  bag  would  not  be  a 
correct  indication  of  the 
front  part,  and  so  with  other 
inequalities.  Each  qnarter 
of  the  bag  has  an  escut- 
cheon for  itself,  made  by 
the  ramification  of  the 
arterial  branch  sup^ilying 
it  with  blood,    and    which 

serves  as  an  index  onlj^  to  that  division  of 
the  udder.  These  '  mirrors  '  bleud  in  the  middle 
and  appear  as  one,  but  the  outside  of  the  reversed 
hair  varies  for  each  quarter  according  to  the  size 
of  the  arterial  branch  by  which  it  is  supported. 
If  there  is  more  escutcheon  on  one  side  or  one 
qnarter  of  the  bag,  it  indicates  a  flow  from  that 
side  or  quarter  corresjjonding  to  the  excess  of  the 
development. 

"  The  size  of  the  escutcheon  is  regarded  as  the 
measure  of  the  quantity  of  blood  supplied  to  the 
milk-producing  vessels,  and  is  evidence  of  their 
capability  of  elaborating  milk.  In  the  same  way, 
the  veins  take  up  the  blood  and  carry  it  back  in 


the  milk-veins,  which  pass  through  the  bag  and 
along  the  belly,  and  enter  the  body  through  one  or 
more  holes  on  their  way  to  the  heart.  The  size  of 
these  milk-veins  and  the  holes  where  they  enter 
the  body  vary  with  the  escutcheon,  and,  like  it, 
give  evidence  of  the  quantity  of  venous  blood 
passing  away  from  and  through  the  udder;  and 
they  have  the  same  significance  with  reference  to 
quantity  as  the  supply  of  arterial  blood  and  the 
size  of  the  escutcheon. 

"  But  none  of  these  indications,  taken  singly, 
is  an  infallible  evidence 
of  a  large  yield  of  milk. 
They  must  be  considered 
together.  A  large  escut- 
cheon and  milk  -  veins, 
coupled  with  a  small  sto- 
mach, would  be  marked 
down  at  least  one-half  of 
what  they  might  otherwise 
signify ;  and  a  large  di- 
gestive apparatus,  coupled 
with  small  milk-veins  and  es- 
cutcheon, should  be  marked 
down  in  the  same  way. 
Keeping  the  leading  indi- 
cations in  view,  observation 
will  soon  enable  one  to  make 
close  estimates.^' 

This  milk  escutcheon,  or 
shield,  then,  is  one  of  those 
theories  of  which  all  that 
can  be  said  is  that  they 
have  more  or  less  of  truth 
in  them.  Their  correct- 
ness is  sometimes  startling 
• — like  fortune-telling  ;  but 
they  arc  so  frequently  incorrect — also  like  for- 
tune-telling— that  none  but  dreamers  attach  more 
than  an  occasional  and  passing  importance  to 
them.  The  escutcheon  theory,  therefore,  is  one 
which  we  must  neither  unreservedly  accept  nor 
lightly  throw  aside.  A  wide-spreading  escutcheon 
may  be  looked  for  as  one  of  the  points  which  go 
to  make  up  a  first-class  dairy-cow ;  but  it  is  only 
one  point,  and  it  cannot  be  regarded  as  being 
so  important  as  some  of  the  others  that  we  have 
mentioned,  simply  because  it  is  not  so  reliable  as 
they  are. 

A  smooth  skin,  with  soft  fine  hair,  is  commonly 
thought  to  be  an  indication   of  richness  of  milk ; 


The  Escutcheon. 


8 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


but  this  is  not  a  sure  and  unvarying  guide,  for 
some  cows,  wliose  hair  is  neither  soft  nor  fine,  and 
whose  skin  is  not  smooth,  give  very  rich  milk ; 
whilst  some  of  the  smooth  and  fine-skinned  ones 
give  millv  which  contains  a  low  percentage  of 
cream.  But  it  is  the  rule  that  smooth-skinned 
and  soft-haired  cows  should  give  rich  milk,  and 
it  is  therefore  one  of  the  points  to  be  attended 
to  in  the  selection  of  dairy-cows.  If  a  cow  is 
delicate-looking,  and  has  a  pale,  dry,  sickly  sort 
of  skin,  she  will  always  give  milk  of  a  poor 
quality,  and  generally  small  in  quantity ;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  a  cow  whose  skin  is  a  rich 
yellow  colour,  showing  a  tendency  to  accumulation 
of  fat  in  the  cellular  tissue  beneath — whose  hair 
has  a  lustre  and  glossiness,  as  if  it  had  been 
cleaned  with  an  oily  brush,  and  whose  general 
appearance  shows  healthiness  and  vigour — will 
commonly  give  rich  milk,  and  plenty  of  it.  On 
animals  that  are  well  adapted  for  both  milk  and 
beef  there  will  always  be  a  soft,  velvety  skin, 
which  will  feel  mellow  to  the  touch,  as  if  it  rested 
on  a  second  under-skin  like  a  cushion.  This 
"  under-skin  "  consists  of  a  network  of  cells,  called 
"  cellular  tissue,"  and  when  a  cow  is  not  in  milk, 
fat  soon  accumulates  in  it,  and  forms  the  "quality^' 
or  "handling"  which  indicates  the  extent  to 
which  she  may  be  considered  fit  for  the  butcher. 
If  the  cow  is  in  milk  this  fatty  accumulation  in 
the  cellular  tissue  goes  instead  to  form  cream  in 
the  milk.  An  abundance  of  cellular  tissue  not 
only  indicates  quality  and  strength  of  constitution, 
but  is  always  associated  with  a  tendency  and 
ability  to  form  fat  to  fill  it  with.  A  poor  supjily 
of  cellular  tissue  is  indicated  by  a  thin  skin,  which 
seems  to  fit  very  tightly  on  the  bones.  A  cow 
of  this  description  will  generally  give  milk  of  poor 
quality,  though  she  may  for  a  time  give  a  fair 
quantity  of  it ;  and  she  will  be  a  poor  fattoner. 

The  breed  of  cows  to  be  selected  will  depend 
very  much  on  taste,  kind  of  land,  locality,  and 
climate.  The  Ayrshire  breed  is  becoming  very 
popular  and  general  in  dairying  districts,  not  in 
Scotland  only,  but  in  England  and  Ireland,  not  to 
mention  the  United  States  and  Canada.  They  are 
deep  milkers — wonderfully  deep  for  such  small 
cows;  they  will  do  fairly  well  on  land  which  is 
unfit  to  carry  large  cattle,  and  on  good  land  Ihcy 
are  said  to  milk  as  well  as  any  other  kind;  but 
they  are  not  so  well  adapted  for  fattening.  As  a 
rule,  the  better  breed  of  the  general  dairy-cows  of 


the  country,  which  are  mostly  Shorthorn  crosses 
on  old  Longhorn  stock,  showing  much  more  of  the 
former  than  of  the  latter,  will  be  found  to  be  as 
profitable  as  most  other  kinds,  especially  on  strong 
sappy  land.  Where  grass  is  abundant,  and  cows 
have  not  to  travel  far  to  satisfy  their  appetites, 
heavy  massive  cattle  may  be  kept  ^vith  advantage, 
especially  if  the  land  is  sound  and  firm.  To  be 
milked  for  a  few  years,  and  then  turned  into  beef, 
is  a  double  ])urpose  which  commends  itself  to  the 
rent-])aying  dairy-farmer  of  the  present  day;  and 
for  this  end  Shorthorns  and  Shorthorn  crosses  are 
well  adapted.  It  is,  however,  doubtful  if,  in  the 
country  of  the  Herefords,  the  Devons,  the  Sussex, 
the  Norfolk  and  Suffold  Polled,  the  Channel 
Islanders,  and  Ayrshires,  a  dairy-farmer  can  do 
better,  generally  speaking,  than  to  select  a  herd 
composed  of  good  specimens  of  the  breed  which 
is  peculiar  to  the  district.  There  are,  no  doubt, 
exceptions  to  this  rule,  and  Shorthorus  have 
proved  themselves  to  be  possessed  in  a  high 
degree  of  the  power  of  adapting  themselves  to 
almost  any  soil  and  climate;  but,  generally 
sjaeaking,  it  will  be  found  that  the  breed  peculiar 
to  the  district  has  become  endowed  with  pro- 
perties which  fit  it  pre-eminently  for  that  district. 
On  this  basis  improvements  may  be  made  by 
careful  classing  and  selection;  or,  if  purity  of 
breed  is  not  desired,  crossing  with  other  breeds 
may  in  some  cases  be  tried  with  success.  In 
some  districts,  the  dairy-stock  of  which  have 
been  built  up  from  Longhorn  and  Shorthorn 
foundations,  it  is  the  practice  to  get  a  little  pure 
Longhorn  blood  among  them  occasionally,  when 
it  is  thought  they  have  become  too  closely  allied  to 
the  Shorthorn  side  of  the  cross.  Giving  these 
grade  Shorthorns  a  dash  of  original  Longhorn  blood 
now  and  then,  is  supposed  to  result  in  au  increase 
of  milk  and  of  physical  vigour.  Shorthorn  crosses 
on  native  breeds  of  cattle  have  commonly  jn-oduced 
a  great  improvement;  on  Ayrshires,  for  iustauce, 
the  cross  results  in  a  considerable  increase  of  size, 
coupled  with  earlier  maturity  and  an  increased 
aptitude  to  fatten,  but  generally  with  a  decrease 
in  milk ;  this  last,  however,  is,  we  thiuk,  hardly 
an  unavoiilable  result,  and  it  ought  to  be  possible 
to  improve  the  Ayrshires  in  other  respects  without 
sacrificing  their  milking  properties.  Many  native 
breeds  of  cattle  have  been  imjiroved  in  all  respects, 
including  milk,  by  Shorthorn  crosses;  but  the 
Ayrshires  are,  for  the  size  of  them,  such  extra- 


BREEDING    FOR    MILK. 


9 


ordinary  milkers,  that  all  we  can  expect  to  attain 
in  that  respect  by  crossing  tliem  is  to  maintain, 
and  not  sacrifice,  their  milkinf?  properties. 

\^'ith  dairy-farmers,  milk  must  always  be  a 
matter  of  the  first  importance.  Where  cheese  and 
butter  making  are  carried  on,  both  quantity  and 
quality  of  milk  are  required ;  but  where  the  milk 
trade  is  the  opening  toward  which  farmers  devote 
their  energies,  quantity  is  of  more  moment  than 
quality.  Cows  may  be  bred  up  to  either  of  these 
objectSj  and  the  method  of  feeding  influences  them 
also.  The  breeding  for  milk  seems  to  be  opposed 
to  the  breeding  for  fattening  and  for  early  ma- 
turity, and  these  two  latter  qualities  are  more 
artificial  than  the  first.  A  large  and  long-sus- 
tained flow  of  milk  is  the  result  of  domestication, 
and  of  selection  of  animals  to  breed  from  whose 
milking  powers  have  become  hereditary ;  and  the 
conditions  under  which  our  dairy-cows  exist  have 
given  permanence  of  character  to  what  was  at  flrst 
only  an  unusual  development  of  a  natural  func- 
tion. In  crossing  two  breeds  of  animals  together, 
one  of  which  is  celebrated  for  meat  and  the  other 
for  milk,  the  properties  of  both  are  commonly 
found  in  a  high  degree  in  the  offspring ;  but  a  real 
difticulty  is  generally  found  when  we  try  to  maintain 
this  double  character  in  the  next  generation — the 
second  generation  of  the  cross  is  commonly  found 
to  throw  back  sijeoially  toward  one  or  other  of  the 
two  properties  which  were  combined  in  the  first. 
But  as  highly  developed  milking  properties,  early 
maturity,  and  ajititude  to  fatten  are  all  more  or 


less  the  result  of  artificial  treatment  and  breeding, 
it  will  folh)w  that  they  ought,  without  very  great 
difliculty,  to  be  successfully  combined  in  the  same 
animal ;  and  the  way  to  attain  this  desired  end 
is  to  make  an  intelligent  use  of  the  principles  of 
breeding,  by  repeatedly  crossing  animals  together, 
both  male  and  female  of  which  come  of  families  in 
whom  all  these  desired  properties  are  known  to  be 
present  in  a  satisfactory  degree.  A  farmer  will,  of 
course,  breed  from  all  his  cows,  but  he  will  keep  for 
his  own  use  in  the  herd  the  offspring  only  of  those 
whose  superior  qualities  he  desires  to  perpetuate 
— the  rest  sh(juld  go  early  to  the  shambles,  and 
not  to  the  milk-pail. 

If  cows  are  kept  constantly  in-doors,  not 
only  their  own  milking  properties,  but  also  those 
of  their  offspring  will  be  likely  to  suffer;  a 
sluggish  life  tends  to  fatness  rather  than  to 
milk,  and  the  properties  which  are  promoted  by 
habit  at  the  outset  soon  become  prominent  and 
hereditary.  Instead  of  keeping  dairy-cows  under 
constant  restraint  and  confinement,  they  should 
have  a  reasonable  amount  of  exercise,  if  they  are 
to  transmit  unimpaired  to  their  offspring  the 
milking  properties  and  the  vigour  which  are  so 
desirable  in  dairy-stock.  Treatment  not  too  far 
removed  from  nature,  and  a  liberal  supply  of 
succulent  and  nutritious  food,  will  tend  best  of 
all  to  the  highest  development  of  the  milking 
properties ;  and  careful  selection  of  animals  to 
breed  from  will  soon  give  those  or  any  other  pro- 
perties a  fixed  and  permanent  character. 


CHAPTER      II. 

Breeds    of    Cattle  :     Siiortiiorxs,    Ayrsiiikes. 

Origin  and  Early  History  of  Shorthorns— The  Early  Breeders— BakewcU  Inaujjurates  a  New  Era  in  Breeding— The  Colling:s  and  their 

Work— Ucniarkablc    Sales   of   Shorthorns— Points  of   the    Shorthorn— Origin  and  History  of  the  "Alloy"— Has  not  AIRitici 

the  Hacc— Impressive  Power  of  Shorthorns— Neglect  in  many  instances  of  Milking  Qualities— The  Shorthorn  a  Good  Milker 

Naturally— Summary  of  Shorthorn  Qualities— Ayrshire  Cattle— Their  Probable  Origin— Establishment  of  a  Herd-book— Keeent 

Improvements  in  the  Breed- Its  Rapid  Extension— The  Ayrshire  not  necessarily  a  Bad  Feeder— Produces 

Good  Cross-breeds— Points  of  a  Good  Ayrshire  Cow— Some  Practical  Remarks— and  Statistics— Summary. 


1KI<]  the  rest  of  our  native  ami 
distinct  breeds  of  cattle,  Sliort- 
liorns  owe,  in  no  small  measure, 
their  special  features  and  elia- 
racteristics  to  the  influence  of 
soil  and  climate  in  that  part 
of  the  country  which  may  be 
rpfjarded  as  their  original  home.  Now-a- 
days  their  home  is  everywhere;  but  tlie 
counties  of  Durham,  York,  "Westmore- 
land, and  Northumberland  claim  the  proud 
distinction  of  having  produced  them  as  a 
breetl,  and  for  a  long  time  they  bore  the  name  of 
"  Durham  cattle."  By  the  climatic  and  geological 
influences,  whatever  they  may  be,  of  the  district 
covered  by  those  counties  they  were  originally 
moulded  ;  yet,  more  than  most  of  our  other  breeds, 
they  are  sup]iosed  to  be  indebted  to  long  bygone 
crosses  with  foreign  cattle.  "  Saxon,  and  Norman, 
and  Dane  are  we,"  and  in  a  limited  sense  the  same 
may  almo.st  be  said  of  Shorthorn  cattle;  for  the  old 
Scandinavian  conquerors  of  Britain,  coming  from 
the  west  and  north  of  Europe,  not  only  mingled 
their  own  blood  with  ours,  but,  it  is  supposed, 
l)rought  some  of  their  large,  raw-boned,  coarse- 
fleshed,  short-horned,  heavy-milking,  strong  and 
hardy  cattle,  and  grafted  them  on  the  native 
cattle  of  the  north-eastern  counties  of  England, 
where  they  landed  on  our  shores.  But  still  we 
have  no  definite  reason  to  believe,  but  only  to 
conjecture,  that  these  foreign  cattle  actually  did 
come  with  the  invaders  to  whom  they  belonged  ; 
nor,  while  admitting  the  probability  that  they 
did  so  come,    have  we   any  better   reason   either 


to  believe  or  conjecture  that  they  were  lirotight 
with  a  view  of  improving  the  native  breeds  of 
cattle  in  this  country.  We  have  no  evidence  that 
the  art  of  breeding  was  either  understood  or  valuetl 
in  those  days;  but  in  the  early  part  of  the  last 
centuiy  there  was  a  tradition  floating  among  the 
Shorthorn  breeders  of  the  Teeswater  district  that 
a  breed  of  cattle,  much  resembling  in  size,  shajie, 
and  colour  the  cattle  of  North-western  Europe — 
of  Holland,  Holstein,  and  Denmark — had  existed 
many  centuries  before  in  Yorkshire,  chiefly  in  the 
district  of  Holderness.  Yet  nothing  was  certaiidy 
knowia  as  to  the  people  by  whom,  or  the  jieriod 
when,  they  were  introduced  into  Britain.  They 
were,  however,  popularly  sujiposed  to  have  been 
brought  by  the  warlike  and  adventurous  natives 
of  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Norway,  who  repeatedly 
invaded  this  country,  settling  in  portions  of  it, 
many  centuries  before  the  Norman  Conquest. 
We  are  equally  in  the  dark  as  to  whether  the 
Sa.Kons  and  Normans  contributed  anything  to  the 
improvement  of  cattle  iu  this  country. 

Whatever  amount  of  influence  we  may  accord 
to  the  soil  and  climate  of  Northumbria,  it  is  not 
to  be  supposed — though  we  have  no  records  bearing 
on  the  subject — that  no  one,  during  those  long 
dreary  centuries  preceding  and  following  the  Nor- 
man (Conquest,  had  consciously  or  unconsciously 
tried  to  improve  the  qiuility  and  build  of  these 
cattle.  The  .spirit  of  agricultural  progress  existed 
in  the  northern  counties  long  enough  before  it 
was  either  publicly  recognised  or  reduced  to  any- 
thing like  order  or  system ;  and  we  are  therefore 
justified,  by  the  ancient  excellence  of  Shorthorns, 


SHORTHORN    CATTLE. 


11 


in  pi-osumin;^:  tliat  many  Ijroedors,  whose  names 
unfortuuuk'ly  have  not  been  handed  down  to  us, 
greatly  assisted  nature  in  the  improvemcut  and 
development  of  this  noble  race  of  cattle.  Be  this 
as  it  may,  however,  we  have  no  clear  records  of  any 
systematic  attempts  at  improvement  having-  been 
made  earlier  than  the  eighteenth  century.  Yet 
the  country  was  not  wholly  asleep  in  those  days 
that  seem  now  to  us  so  torpid  ;  progress,  or  the 
foundation  for  it,  was  being  surely  though  slowly 
and  obscurely  made. 

Whether  by  art  or  nature,  or  both  these 
combinetl,  the  Teeswater  cattle  were  celebrated 
many  centuries  ago  as 
yielding,  under  generous 
treatment,  larger  quan- 
tities of  milk  than  any 
other  breed  of  cattle  yet 
known  in  these  islands. 
Though  late  to  mature, 
they  afterwards  laid  on 
flesh  rapidly,  and  fattened 
into  heavy  weights  of 
coarse  -  grained,  dark  - 
coloured  flesh,  whose 
flavour  was  inferior  to 
that  of  the  smaller  breeds 
of  cattle.  They  had  coarse 
heads,  with  short  stubby 
horns,  heavy  masculine 
necks,  high  coarse  shoul- 
ders, flat  sides,  wide  hips, 
long  rumps,  and  thick 
thighs  loaded  with  flesh. 

They  were,  as  now,  of  various  colours — deep  red, 
pure  white,  red  and  white,  roan,  and  not  uncom- 
monly light  dun  and  j'ellow-red. 

An  ancient  record,  which  is  said  to  be  still 
preserved  in  Durham,  states  that  cattle  of  great 
excellence  existed  in  that  county  so  long  ago  as 
the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century.  And  a  tra- 
dition was  current  a  hundred  years  ago  among 
the  breeders  of  Durham  and  Yorkshire  that  a 
superior  race  of  Shorthorns  had  existed  on  the 
estates  of  the  earls  and  dukes  of  Northumberland 
since  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It 
is  very  much  to  be  regretted  that  the  early  history 
of  Shorthorns  rests  on  nothing  more  solid  than 
tradition.  Sir  Hugh  Smithson,  who  had  married 
the  heiress  of  that  great  family,  and  was  raised  to 
the  dukedom  of  Northumberland  in   17(30,  was  a 


great  breeder  of  Shorthorns.  He  was  in  the  habit 
of  weighing  his  cattle  and  the  food  they  ate,  so  as 
to  ascertain  the  improvement  they  made  for  the 
food  consumed  ;  and  so  fond  was  he  of  his  Short- 
horns that  his  peers  jokingly  dubbed  him  "  the 
Yorkshire  grazier."  A  century  earlier  than  the 
time  of  Sir  Hugh,  the  Aislabies  of  Studley  Park, 
and  the  Blacketts  of  Newby  Hall,  had  very  fine 
Shorthorn  cattle,  and  had  paid  great  attention  to 
their  breeding.  Even  at  that  early  day  portraits 
of  these  cattle  adorned  the  entrance  halls  of  their 
owners'  residences. 

There  had  existed  time  out  of  mind  on  Ijotli 
sides  of  the  river  Tees, 
from  Barnard  Castle 
downwards  to  Yarm,  a 
peculiar  breed  of  cattle — 
the  Teeswater,  or  old- 
fashioned  Durham  Short- 
horns. And  long  before 
the  names  of  the  jMessrs. 
Colling  had  been  heard, 
those  of  the  following 
breeders  and  improvers  of 
them  had  obtained  cele- 
brity— namely,  Milbank, 
St.  Quintin,  Pennyman, 
Brown,  Hill,  Wright, 
Charge,  Maynard,  Jolly, 
Hutchinson,  Sharter,  and 
others.  Long  also  before 
Ketton  or  Barmpton  were 
known  as  Shorthorn 
localities,  the  following 
places  were  in  repute — namely,  Barningham,  Aid- 
borough,  Barton,  Cleasby,  Manfield,  Stapleton, 
Dalton,  Ne^vton,  Morrell,  Blackwell,  Oxenfield, 
Hurworth,  Eryholme,  Woi-sell,  Sockburn,  &c., 
so  that  even  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
centuiy  Shorthorns  had  already  attained  notoriety, 
and  landowners  as  well  as  farmers  were  alive  to 
the  expediency  of  improving  their  cattle. 

The  year  1780  is  usually  considered  to  mark 
the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of 
Shorthorns.  At  this  period,  as  it  would  seem,  a 
fresh  impetus  was  given,  and  a  new  interest  added, 
to  the  pursuit  of  breeding  these  already  famous 
cattle.  Many  causes,  no  doubt,  contributed  to 
this,  some  of  which  are  more  or  less  obscure.  The 
coixntry  was  advancing  in  prosperity,  and  popula- 
tion was  increasing;  Shorthorn  interests,  previously 


Fig.  2.— Shorthobn  Bull,  "Fifth  Duke  or  Wetherbt.' 


12 


DAIRY    FAinriXG. 


more  or  less  scattered,  were  becoming  nuinerous 
and  important  enough  to  command  a  sort  of 
systematic  unity  and  recognition.  The  celebrated 
llobert  Bakowell  of  Dishley,  in  his  management 
of  Leicester  sheep,  had  reduced  the  art  of  breeding 
to  a  system  in  which  the  results  could  be  predicted 
with  moderate  certainty,  and  his  genius  was 
attracting  many  followers  and  admirers.  His 
principles,  so  far  as  he  allowed  them  to  be  known, 
were  applied  not  to  sheep  only,  but  to  horses  and 
cattle,  and  in  each  case  with  marked  success.  It 
was  evident  that  man  had  secured  the  secret  of 
moulding  and  improving  domestic  animals  almost 
at  will,  as  a  potter  moulds  his  clay.  They  im- 
proved visibly  in  each  successive  generation,  until, 
in  a  comj)aratively  short  space  of  time,  animal 
forms  were  built  up  possessing  such  beauty, 
symmetry,  and  general  excellence,  that  they  have 
not  easily  been  surj)assed  in  more  modern  times. 
Bakewell's  system  was  the  creation  of  his  own 
geniua,  and  differed  widely  from  the  usual  jJrac- 
tice  of  English  stock-breeders  of  his  day.  He 
dissected  some  of  the  carcases  of  his  cattle  and 
sheep,  minutely  examined  the  flesh,  bones,  and 
sinews,  and  so  oljtained  a  sound  and  practical 
knowledge  of  animal  physiology.  He  put  his 
anatomical  specimens  in  pickle,  and  afterwards 
hung  them  up  in  his  hall  for  subsequent  reference. 
From  this  scientific  investigation  he  deduced  a 
system  of  the  laws  of  animal  nutrition  and 
economy  at  once  sound,  accurate,  and  practical. 
His  method  in  breetling  was  to  select  animals, 
wherever  he  could  find  them,  of  the  best  blood, 
and  possessing  as  nearly  as  possible  the  form  he 
needed  for  the  objects  he  had  in  view;  he  then 
bred  them  strictly  in  their  own  family  alone,  only 
going  out  of  it  when  he  found  specimens  elsewhere 
which  he  considered  would  still  further  improve 
his  stock.  His  judgment  was  sound,  clear,  ac- 
curate, and  penetrating;  and  he  was  at  once 
a  profound  scholar  and  master  of  the  j^rinciples 
which,  far  more  than  any  other  man,  he  had 
studied  and  formulated  into  a  system.  In  the 
strictest  sense  of  the  word  he  was  a  man  of 
"  genius ; "  and,  more  than  to  any  other  man, 
England  owes  to  him  the  marvellous  improvements 
in  her  cattle  and  sheep  which  have  been  made  in 
the  past  hundred  years.  He  was  eminently  a 
public  man,  much  given  to  hospitality,  and  though 
he  made  a  great  deal  of  money — for  a  farmer — he 
is  saiil  not  to  have  been  rich  when  he  died.      Tlie 


old  farm  at  Dishley,  which  his  commanding  genius 
consecrated  into  a  shrine,  has  passed  into  the  hands 
of  a  stranger,  but,  like  that  of  its  old  tenant,  its 
name  is  immortal.  "  Bakewell  of  Dishley "  is 
known  wherever  the  science  of  agriculture  is 
studied,  and  his  name  is,  and  ever  will  be,  revered 
by  those  who  take  a  delight  in  the  improvement 
of  cattle,  sheep,  and  horses.  He  died  in  179JJ,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-nine. 

Some  little  time — about  the  year  1780 — after 
Bakewell's  fame  had  reached  a  high  position,  two 
young  men,  Robert  and  Charles  Colling,  the  sons 
of  a  substantial  Teeswater  farmer,  were  about 
starting  business  on  their  own  account.  These 
young  men  had  heai-d  of  Bakewell's  extraordinary 
genius  as  a  breeder ;  they  paid  him  repeated  visits, 
carefully  examined  his  stock — the  Leicester  sheep 
and  the  Longhorn  cattle — noted  the  improvements 
he  had  effected  in  them,  gathered  all  the  knowledge 
they  could  of  his  system,  bought  some  of  his 
improved  sheep,  and  continued  breeding  them  to 
his  model,  and  applied  his  principles  of  breetling 
to  Shorthorn  cattle.  Their  success  was  complete  ; 
their  names  are  known  in  Shorthorn  circles  all 
over  the  world,  and  the  farms  at  Barm])ton  and 
Kettou,  on  which  they  subsequently  settletl,  are 
almost  as  celebrated  as  Bakewell's  old  farm  at 
Dishley.  Though  Bakewell  never  took  in  hand 
the  breeding  of  Shorthorns,  the  principles  he  had 
previously  applied  to  the  Leicester  sheep  and  the 
Longhorn  cattle  were  found  to  be  equally  success- 
ful with  other  breeds  and  kinds  of  animals,  and  it 
was  reserved  to  the  brothers  Colling  to  apply  them 
to  the  breed  of  cattle  which  has  since  become  the 
most  famous  the  world  has  yet  known.  And  to 
Bakewell's  transcendent  genius  this  is  the  strongest 
testimony — the  universal  success  ^\hich  has  fol- 
lowed the  application  of  his  principles.  Under 
the  management  of  Charles  and  Robert  Colling, 
Shorthorn  cattle  soon  attained  a  popularity  they 
had  not  previously  enjoyed,  and  that  popularity 
has  gone  on  increasing  till  the  firesent  day.  The 
system  still  pursued  is  identical  with  that  which 
the  Collings  established  on  Bakewell's  principles — ■ 
viz.,  breeding  "  in-and-in,"  so  long  as  constitution, 
size,  vigour,  quality,  health,  and  fecundity  are 
not  injured  by  it.  This  appears  to  be  the  surest 
way  of  raising  superior  stock — the  breeding  to- 
gether of  aninuils  of  the  same  strain  of  blood. 
Attention  to  pedigree  is  found  to  be  more  effective 
than   attention  to    form    without   pedigree.     And 


SHORTHORN    CATTLE. 


13 


this  fact,  coupled  with  fashion  and  liigh  prices, 
has  a  strong  tendency  to  perpetuate  "  pure  blood," 
and  to  prevent  the  ill-eft'eets  which  follow  "  raw 
crossing ;  "  while  on  the  other  hand  it  has,  no 
doubt,  the  effect  of  causing  far  too  little  weeding 
out  to  be  done  of  unfit  specimens. 

The  practice  of  close  in-and-in  breeding  has  in 
some  eases  produced  extraordinary  results,  and  it 
is,  no  doubt,  strictly  true  that  uniformity  of  type 
and  quality  may  be  sooner  and  more  certainly 
attained  by  this  system  than  any  other;  but 
experience  has  proved  that  the  number  of  families 
on  which  the  system  can  be  long  practised  with 
safety  and  success  is  very  limited,  and  that  in  the 
majority  of  cases  it  has  resulted  in  more  or  less 
of  disaster  and  disappointment.  The  effects  of  it 
are  seen  in  weakened  constitutions,  in  liability  to 
disease,  and  in  frequent  barrenness.  The  practice 
of  systematically  using  sires  of  the  same  line  of 
descent — of  the  same  famUy,  though  not  of  the 
same  honscholcl — preserving  the  purity  of  blood 
and  a  sufficiently  close  relationship,  appears  to  be 
most  in  favour;  it  is  called  "line  breeding,"  and 
by  means  of  it,  though  perhaps  more  slowly,  most 
of  the  desirable  effects  of  in-and-in  breeding  are 
attained,  whilst  its  evils  are  to  a  great  extent 
avoided.  It  is,  however,  only  by  the  establishment 
of  several  parallel  lines  of  the  same  strain  of  blood, 
keeping  them  for  a  time  apart,  and  breeding  them 
all  to  the  same  model,  that  this  system  can  be 
thoroughly  earned  out;  but  it  is  not  very  diffi- 
cult now-a-days,  for  these  parallel  lines  in  many 
families  have  been  long  established.  The  practice 
of  "  cross  breeding,"  by  mating  a  female  of  one 
strain  of  blood  with  a  male  of  another,  the  fami- 
lies of  both  being  of  the  first  respectability,  is 
productive  of  more  flesh,  fecundity,  health,  and 
vigour  of  constitution ;  but  sires  so  bred  rarely 
fetch  prices  equal  to  those  commanded  by  sires 
who  have  been  carefully  bred  from  one  direct  line 
of  ancestry,  either  by  "  in-and-in "  or  by  "  line 
breeding." 

Remaekable   Shorthorn    Sales. 

Scientific  and  elaborate  principles  of  breeding 
have  been  more  extensively  emplojed  on  Shorthorn 
cattle  than  on  any  other  kind  or  breed  of  animals, 
and  the  money  value  attached  to  the  best  specimens 
of  the  most  fashionable  families  has  of  late  years 
become  fabulous.  At  Mr.  Charles  Colling's  sale, 
on   the    11th   of    October,    1810,  seventeen  cows 


fetched  2,GG9  guineas,  or  an  average  of  157 
guineas;  eleven  bulls  fetched  2,24'9  guineas,  or 
an  average  of  201.i  guineas  nearly;  seven  heifers 
fetched  808  guineas,  or  an  average  of  115^ 
guineas  nearly ;  twelve  heifer  and  bull  calves, 
under  one  year  old,  fetched  961  guineas,  or  an 
average  of  80  guineas.  Among  these  animals 
the  highest-priced  ones  were  the  bull  Comet, 
1,000  guineas ;  the  bull  Petrarch,  365  guineas ;  the 
cow  Lily,  410  guineas;  the  cow  Countess,  400 
guineas;  the  heifer  Young  Countess,  206  guineas; 
and  the  bull-calf  Young  Favourite,  140  guineas. 
In  all,  forty-seven  animals  fetched  £7,115  17s., 
or  an  average  of  £151  8s.  These  prices  were  in 
those  days  considered  to  be  enormous,  and  they 
were  not  sustained  at  Mr.  Robert  Colling's  sale, 
on  the  29th  of  September,  1818,  where  sixty-one 
animals  fetched  7,484  guineas,  or  an  average  of 
£128  16s.  6d.  nearly.  Since  those  early  days  of 
Shorthorn  popularity  prices  have  been  continuously 
advancing,  and  for  a  long  time  past  it  has  been  no 
uncommon  occurrence  for  j)ure  specimen  bulls  and 
heifers  of  the  best  strains  of  blood  to  fetch  from 
1,000  to  1,500  guinea.s,  and  later  on  the  prices 
have  risen  into  several  thousands  for  a  single 
animal. 

In  September,  1873,  the  bucolic  world  was 
startled  by  the  results  of  a  sale  of  Mr.  Campbell's 
Shorthorns,  at  New  York  Mills,  near  Utica,  New 
York,  America.  At  this  sale  six  females  of  the 
"Oxford"  tribe  averaged  £1,087  10s.,  and  the 
bull-calves  £396  16s.  8d.  Eleven  females  of  the 
"  Duchess "  tribe  made  the  prodigious  average 
of  £4,522  14s.  2d.,  one  cow  fetching  the  un- 
paralleled sum  of  40,600  dollars,  or,  in  our  money, 
£8,458  6s.  8d. 

On  the  4th  of  September,  1877,  Mr.  Thornton 
sold,  at  Bowness,  forty-five  Shorthorns  which  Mr. 
Cochrane,  of  Canada,  had  sent  over  to  this  country 
for  sale.  The  sum-total  of  the  sale  amounted  to 
£17,150,  or  an  average  of  £381  2s.  2d.  per  animal. 
The  average  price  of  thirty-seven  cows,  heifers, 
and  calves  was  over  £420,  and  of  eight  bulls  over 
£300.  The  "Third  Duchess  of  Hillhurst,"  red, 
calved  December  25th,  1875,  and  consequently 
only  twenty  months  old,  was  sold  to  Mr.  Loder, 
of  Towcester,  for  4,100  guineas;  and  the  "Fifth 
Duchess  of  Hillhurst,"  red,  calved  May  1st,  1876, 
and  consequently  only  sixteen  months  old,  was 
bought  by  Lord  Bective  for  the  still  larger  sum  of 
4,300  guineas  I 


14 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


On  the  19th  of  September,  1S78,  the  Duke 
of  Devonsliire's  periodical  sale  of  draft  Short- 
lioriis  was  held  at  Ilolker  Hall,  Lancashire.  Mr. 
StrafEoi-d  was  the  auctioneer.  In  all  there  were 
thirty  animals  sold;  and  the  sum-total  realised  was 
A,l!t,l};J;J  lis.,  or  an  average  of  £U01  Is.  9d.  per 
head.  Eighteen  cows  made  £14,302  Is.,  or  an 
average  of  £794  lis.  2d.;  and  twelve  bulls  made 
£5,020,  or  an  average  of  £468  6s.  8d.  Though 
trade  in  the  country  was  then  in  a  depressed 
condition,  and  Shorthorn  sales  during  the  year 
had  sliown  a  marked  decline  in  prices,  the  sale 
at  Holker  was  a  great  success,  proving  that  un- 
limited capital  and  sound 
judgment  applied  to  the 
art  of  Shorthorn  breed- 
ing still  reap  a  rich 
rewaid.  Mr.  DrewTy, 
agent  to  the  duke,  had 
managed  His  Grace's 
hei-d  of   Shorthorns  for  \^S£        f 

many  years. 

Points  of  Shorthorns. 

Mr.  John  Thornton, 
thecelebrated  auctioneer, 
describes  Shorthorn  cat- 
tle as  follows  : — "  The 
breed  is  distinguished 
by  its  symmetrical  pro- 
portions, and  by  its  great 
bulk  on  a  comparatively 
small  structure,  the  offal 
being  very  light,  and  the 

limbs  small  and  fine.  The  head  is  expressive,  being 
rather  broad  across  the  forehead,  tapering  gracefully 
below  the  eyes  to  the  open  nostrils  and  fine  flesh- 
coloured  muzzle.  The  eyes  are  bright,  prominent, 
and  of  a  ])articularly  placid,  sweet  expression,  the 
whole  countenance  being  remarkably  gentle.  The 
horns  (whence  comes  the  name)  are  usually  short, 
springing  well  from  the  head,  with  a  graceful 
downward  curl,  and  of  a  ci'eamy  white  or  yellowish 
colour,  the  ears  being  fine,  erect,  and  hairy.  The 
neck  moderately  thick  (muscular  in  the  male), 
and  set  straight  and  well  int(j  the  shoulders,  which 
when  viewed  in  front  are  wide,  showing  thic'kncss 
through  the  heart,  the  breast  coming  well  forward, 
and  the  fore-legs  standing  short  and  wide  apart. 
The  back,  among  the  higher-bred  animals,  is  re- 
markably broad  and  flat,  the  ribs  springing  well 


out  of  it  barrel-like,  and  with  little  space  between 
thiem  and  the  hip-bones,  which  are  soft  and  well 
covered.  Tiie  hind-quarters  are  long  and  well 
filled  in,  the  tail  being  set  square  on  to  them  ;  the 
thighs  meet  low  down,  forming  the  full  and  deep 
twist ;  the  udder  not  too  large,  but  jdaced  forward, 
the  teats  lieing  well  formed  and  of  a  medium  size; 
and  the  hind-legs  standing  short  and  straight  to 
the  ground.  The  general  appearance  should  show 
even  outlines.  The  whole  body  is  covered  with 
long  soft  hair,  there  frequently  being  a  fine  under- 
coat, and  this  hair  is  of  the  most  pleasing  variety 
of  colour,  from  tlie  soft  white  to  the  full  deep  red. 
Occasionally  the  animal 
is  red  and  white,  the 
white  being  found  prin- 
cipally on  the  forehead, 
underneath  the  belly, 
and  a  few  spots  on  the 
hind  quarter  and  legs ; 
often  the  whole  body  is 
wliite,  with  the  neck  and 
head  partially  covered 
with  roan,  while  again 
the  entire  body  is  most 
beautifully  variegated, 
of  a  rich  deep  puqile  or 
plum-colouretl  liue.  On 
touching  the  points,  the 
skin  is  foimd  to  be  soft 
and  mellow,  as  if  lying 
on  a  soft  cushion.  In 
animals  thin  in  condi- 
tion a  kind  of  inner  skin 
is  felt,  whiih  is  the  'quality'  or  'handling,' 
indicative  of  those  great  fattening  propensities 
for  wliich  the  breed  is  so  famous." 

The   Alloy. 

We  stated  in  the  Introduction  that  Charles 
Colling  had  recourse  to  Kyloe  and  Galloway 
ci'osses  in  the  breeding  of  his  Shorthorns.  These 
crosses,  having  introduced  a  new  Idood  element, 
were  called  "  the  alloy,"  and  this  alloy  has  been 
the  cause  of  interminal)le  discussion  and  contro- 
versy; for  which,  if  for  no  other  reai<on,  it  is  a 
matter  of  regret  that  it  was  ever  introduced. 
S])eaking  of  the  Galloway  cross,  the  late  Mr. 
A\'ill()Uglil)y  AVood  saj's : — "  I  proceed  now  to 
address  myself  to  the  subject  of  '  the  alloy.'  It 
originated    from   what  has  been   unceremoniously 


Shorthorn  Cow,  "Duchess  Gwtnne  2nd, 


SIIORTIIORN    CATTLE. 


15 


called  O'Callao-han's  polled  Galloway.  Now  tliis 
same  0'Calla<i;lian  was  Colonel  James  0'Calla<>han, 
of  the  noble  house  of  Lismore,  and  a  j^reat  friend 
of  the  late  Duke  of  Cleveland,  one  of  whose 
boroughs  he  represented  for  many  years  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  The  duke,  as  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant, also  made  him  Colonel  of  the  Durham 
militia.  Having  pitchal  his  tent,  in  the  decline 
of  life,  at  Heighington,  in  that  county,  he  there 
ended  his  days  as  he  had  lived,  a  very  popular 
character.  Having  bought  a  couple  of  jiolled 
Galloway  cows,  he  had  no  difficulty  in  getting 
Mr.  C.  Colling,  his  near  neighbour,  to  allow  him  to 
send  one  of  them  to  his 
bull  Bolingbroke.  She 
produced  a  bull-calf.  It 
w-as  a  roan,  in  due  time 
liad  Jioriis,  and  showed 
all  the  other  indicia  of 
a  true-bred  Shorthorn. 
Such  was'  Son  of  Boling- 
broke.' Mr.  C.  Colling 
bought  liim  and  his  dam 
of  Colonel  O'Callaghan, 
and  put  his  cow,  old 
Johanna,  to  this  son  of 
Bolingbroke.  She  pro- 
duced a  red  and  white 
bull-calf,  who,  like  his 
father,  took  in  all  re- 
spects after  the  Short- 
horns. He  was  yclept 
'  Grandson  of  Boling- 
broke'  (208).  To  him 
Mr.  C.  Colling  put  Phoenix,  daughter,  as  we 
have  seen,  of  '  Old  Favourite,'  and  she  pro- 
duced '  Lady,'  as  she  had  before  done,  by  Boling- 
broke, the  bull  '  Favourite,'  the  father  of  Comet ; 
and  also  (by  her  own  son.  Favourite)  Young 
Phtenix,  the  mother  of  Comet.  Lady  was  the 
dam  of  Washington  (674),  Major  (397),  George 
(276),  and  Mr.  Wright's  Sir  Charles  (592),  and 
also  of  Countess  and  Laura.  At  Mr.  C.  Colling's 
sale,  in  1810,  this  alloy  stock  sold  at  very  high 
prices — Major  for  200  guineas;  George  for  130 
guineas;  Lady  herself,  at  14  years  old,  for  206 
guineas;  Laura,  her  daughter,  for  210  guineas; 
Laura's  daughter.  Young  Laura,  at  2  years  old, 
for  101  guineas;  and  Countess,  the  other  daughter 
of  Lady,  was  hought  of  Major  Unrld,  of  Marlon, 
for  400  guineas.     When  we  meet,  therefore,  with 


descendants  of  '  Grandson  of  Bolingbroke,'  or  of 
Major,  George,  or  Sir  Cliarles,  such  as  '  Western 
Comet'  (689),  Frederick  (267),  Keswick  (453 
and  1266),  or  of  Countess  or  Laura,  we  encounter 
the  alloy.  But  what  do  we  therein  encounter 
that  is  base  or  injurious?  What  is  the  meaning 
of  alloy  ?  Here  we  have  a  cross  with  a  breed  of 
cattle  of  first-rate  character  and  quality,  and 
pt)lled  Galloway  breeders  might  equally  say  they 
had  been  alloyed  by  the  Shorthorn  cross.  We 
are  satisfied,  however,  that  in  fact  '  the  alloy ' 
never  took — that  it  was  utterly  and  speedily 
thrown  out — and  that,  as  did  the  son  of  the  polled 
Galloway  by  Boling- 
broke, so  did  all  his 
descendants  adhere  to 
the  Shorthorn  side  of 
the  house.  I  have  never 
heard  that  any  of  them 
were  without  horns,  or 
exhibited  the  least  trait 
of  the  polled  Galloway, 
except,  it  may  be,  in 
the  analogous  good 
qualities  of  that  breed. 
I  incline  to  think  there 
is  truth  in  the  theory 
that  in  crossing  distinct 
breeds  the  offspring  does 
take  exclusively  at  once, 
or  very  shortly,  to  one  or 
other  side  of  the  house. 
"  We  appear  then  to 
have,  in  the  instance  of 
the  alloy,  an  illustration  of  M.  Malingie  Nouel's 
ingenious  theory  of  the  difficulty  of  changing  the 
type  or  characteristics  of  a  long-established  breed, 
and  that  this  difficulty  is  in  proportion  to  its 
purity  of  blood,  or,  in  other  words,  to  its  antiquity.* 
"  If  this  be  true,  the  non-infection  of  Short- 
horns by  the  alloy  affords  an  additional  argument 
in  favour  of  the  ancient  and  indigenous  character 
of  the  breed.  But  had  the  first  offspring  of  this 
cross  partaken  equally  of  the  bloods  of  its  different 
parents,  in  what  proportion  would  the  Galloway 
lalood  exist  in  any  modern  Shorthorn?  Seeing 
how  early  capability  of  procreation  exists  and  is 
called  into  operation  in  that  breed,  and  also  how 
rapidly  generations  of  cattle  pass  away,  I  do  not 

*  See  vol.  xiv.,  p.  214,  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society's 
Journal,  First  Series,  1853. 


4.— Shorthorn  Cow,  "Darlington  15ih 


16 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


believe  there  is  an  extant  Slioithorn  wliieh  has  an 
appreciable  particle  of  the  Galloway  blood  in  its 
veins.  I  must  say  I  think  this  kind  of  crossing, 
or  perhapsj  rather,  attempted  crossing,  a  mistake — 
a  mere  waste  of  time. 

"  Take  the  case,  well  known  to  greyhound 
coursers,  of  Mr.  Goodlake's  bull-dog  cross.  Con- 
sidering the  position  the  dogs  thus  '  alloyed ' 
hold  as  to  their  '  public  performance,'  does  any 
one  think  this  cross  has  been  injurious,  or  can 
any  one  from  their  appearance  discern  it?  Yet 
I  think  it  was  a  mistake. 

"  Being  of  opinion,  then,  that  the  alloy  has 
done  neither  good  nor  harm  dlrecllj/,  I  am  not  so 
sure  that  indirectly  it  may  not  have  done  good. 
Those  who  had  it  in  their  stock  became  less 
scrupulous  on  the  score  of  pedigree,  and,  unlike 
pedigree  martinets,  looked  less  to  that  than  to  the 
good  qualities  of  a  bull.  It  may  be  thus,  per- 
haps, explained  how  it  has  come  to  pass  that  many 
animals  having  in  them  this  once  dreaded  bugbear, 
the  alloy,  have  taken  the  highest  places  in  the 
showyard.  I  do  not  allude  more  particularly  to 
these  animals,  lest  I  should  revive  against  them 
this  stupid  prejudice  of  '  the  alloy ; '  and  a  more 
stupid  prejudice,  a  more  complete  phantom,  cannot 
exist.  Breeders,  however,  will  understand  my 
allusion.  We  maintain  it  then  to  have  been 
established  by  this  narration  that  the  Collingi  itt 
general,  notwithstanding  tohat  Mr.  Charles  Colling 
did  in  a  particular  instance,  formed  the  inqiroved 
Shorthorns  ly  careful  selection  from  the  local 
breed,  which  had  already  attained  considerable 
perfection ;  that  such  is  the  antiquity  and  indi- 
genous character  of  the  old-fashioned  Shorthorns, 
such  its  native  purity,  that  even  should  any  com- 
mixture of  ingredients  of  another  kind  have  taken 
place,  yet,  like  an  infusion  of  the  same  sort  with 
the  waters  of  father  Tees,  it  has  been  speedily 
thrown  off  without  affecting  its  perennial  purity. 

"  The  owners  of  our  native  Shorthorns,  there- 
fore, may  snap  their  fingers  at  the  ancient  myths 
as  to  'wild  cattle  from  Chillingham  Park,'  and 
'  Dutch  or  Holstein  cattle  from  across  the  German 
Ocean.'  Those  who  have  seen  the  wild  cattle  at 
Chillingham  will  bear  me  out  in  saying  there  is 
not  a  single  characteristic  or  point  of  resemblance 
exhibited  by  them  which  is  j^ossessed  by  the 
Shorthorns,  except  that  Shorthorns  are  occa.sion:illy 
while;  but  they  are  also  sometimes  red,  yet  no  one 
has  ever  ventured  on  that  score  to  point  to  the 


Devon  or  Sussex  breeds  as  their  original.  As  to 
the  Dutch  or  Holstein  im])ortation,  of  which  one 
used  to  hear  so  much,  the  writer  happened  some 
years  ago  to  stumble  on  a  fact  tending  to  turn  the 
tables  on  the  Holsteincrs.  It  seems,  according 
to  Anderson  (in  his  treatise  on  Commerce),  who 
quotes  from  Rymer's  Fedcra,  that  Edwaitl  IV. 
allowed  a  favourite  sister,  Marg-aret,  Duchess 
Dowager  of  Holstein,  to  export  from  this  country 
annually,  and  for  many  years,  into  Holstein  and 
the  Low  Countries,  great  numbers  of  cattle  and 
sheep,  for  the  purpose  of  improving  the  breeds  of 
them  in  those  countries.  Whence  is  it  so  likely 
they  were  exported  as  from  the  ports  of  Hull  an<l 
Newcastle  across  the  German  Ocean  ?  And  if  it 
be  true,  as  has  been  said,  that  some  centuries  after 
a  herd  of  cattle  was  found  there  greatly  resembling 
our  native  Shorthorns,  whence  may  it  not  fairly 
be  assumed  the  originals  came  ?  And  when,  as 
it  is  said — for  it  rests  only  on  tradition — some  of 
these  were  brought  into  this  country,  what  was 
this  but  a  re-importation  ?  what  was  it  but  that 
England  had  her  own  again  ?  " 

The  foregoing  is  a  clever  argument  in  favour 
of  the  j)urity  of  Shorthorn  blood,  and  however  we 
may  reserve  our  opinion  as  to  its  absolute,  we  may 
freely  admit  its  practical,  coiTectness.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  visible  or  invisible  effect  of 
the  foreign  blood  at  the  period  of  its  introduction, 
it  is  now  substantially  correct  to  say  that  the 
effect  of  it  will,  under  ordinary  conditions,  never 
again  be  seen  in  pure-bred  Shorthorns,  though  it  is 
still  possible  that  it  may  now'  and  again  crop  out 
in  raw  crosses  of  Shorthorns  with  other  breeds. 
It  has  not  yet  been  determined  how  long  a  period 
of  pure  breeding  is  required  to  so  thoroughly 
eradicate  the  alien  blood  of  a  previous  cross  that 
it  will  not,  under  any  conditions  whatever,  betray 
itself  in  the  future. 

Qualities   of   SiioiixiiORNs. 

One  of  the  chief  merits  of  Shorthorns — perhaps 
the  most  striking  and  i)ractieal  merit — is  their 
power  of  improving  in  a  marvellous  manner,  and 
in  a  very  short  time,  most  other  breeds  of  cattle 
with  which  they  are  allowed  to  mingle  their  blood. 
But  qualities  recently  aeqtiired  are  soon  lost  if 
there  is  a  lack  of  physical  vigour  in  the  breeding 
Miiimals.  The  qualities  of  the  more  vigorous  male 
— or  female,  as  the  case  may  be — will  be  found  in 
the  offsj)ring,  for  when  health  and  vital  force  are 


SHORTHORN    CATTLE. 


17 


full  to  overflowiiio-,  injivichuil  chavactevistics  of 
whatever  kind  are  most  surely  transmitted  ;  but  if 
the  vital  force  diminishes,  and  the  animal  beeonies 
weak  and  delicate,  the  qualities  last  aecjuired 
will  be  the  first  to  disappear — so  important  are 
strength  and  soundness  of  constitution.  Leaving 
out  the  Devous,  Herefords,  Channel  Islanders,  and 
one  or  two  other  breeds  which  still  remain  distinct, 
Shorthorns  have  o-reatly  improved,  and  are  still 
greatly  improving,  the  whole  of  the  cattle  of  these 
islands.  In  Ireland  and  Wales  and  Scotland 
their  influence  is  seen  almost  everywhere.  In  the 
Isle  of  Man  and  in  the  Orkneys  and  Shetlands 
they  are  found.  In  America  and  Canada  their 
influence  has  been  very  marked  on  the  old  breeds 
of  the  country,  and  there  are  many  pure-bred 
herds  existing  from  which  young  bulls  are  drafted 
for  use  in  continuing  the  improvement  of  the 
"  grade  cattle  "  of  the  country.  In  Australia  and 
New  Zealand  they  have  been  long  established,  and 
are  doing  remarkably  well.  Even  in  Russia  and 
Japan  they  have  made  their  home;  and  indeed 
they  are  strangers  in  no  country  which  can  lay  the 
smallest  claim  to  civilisation. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  in  the  breeding  of 
some  families  of  pedigree  Shorthorns,  milking 
properties  have  been  sacrificed  to  early  maturity 
and  aptitude  to  fatten,  for  the  reputation  of  the 
breed  as  milk-producers  has  suffered  somewhat  in 
consequence.  To  such  a  length  has  this  tendency 
been  carried  that  it  is  well  known  to  be  a  fact,  in 
many  cases,  that  "  wet  nurses  ■"  have  had  to  be 
emj>loyed  to  help  the  pedigree  mothers  to  rear 
their  offspring,  and  in  some  cases  to  rear  it  wholly 
without  that  help  from  the  mother  which  she 
ought  to  have  been  able  to  give,  but  could  not. 
Now  a  cow  that  cannot  su^jport  her  own  calf 
forfeits,  in  the  economy  of  nature,  her  claim  to 
existence,  though  her  form  and  symmetry  may  be 
perfect,  and  her  pedigree  as  long  as  one's  arm.  In 
order  to  restore  to  the  Shorthorn  breed  the  lost 
])ortion  of  their  reputation  as  deep  milkers,  it  is 
only  necessary  that  breeders  should  retrace  their 
steps  with  regard  to  milk,  and  make  this  chief 
use  of  a  cow  one  of  their  chief  considerations  in 
breeding ;  for  a  cow  that  is  a  poor  milker  fails  to 
give  to  her  owner  that  larger  portion  of  profit 
which,  under  proper  conditions,  she  is  specially 
designed  to  yield.  There  is  no  reason  why  the 
Shorthorn  breed  should  not  acquire  that  superior 
reputation    for  both   beef   and  milk   of  \vhich  we 


know  the  breed  is  capable.  There  are  instances  on 
record  of  Shorthorn  cows  giving  thirty  or  more 
quarts  of  milk  per  day  for  a  length  of  time,  and 
being  at  the  same  time  possessed  of  superior 
fattening  properties.  And  it  is  no  disjjaragement 
to  any  other  breed  that  Shorthorns  should  take 
high  rank  in  both  these  departments  of  usefulness 
and  profit,  for  they  have  a  place  to  fill  which  no 
other  breed  could  fill  so  well,  and  the  other  breeds, 
on  their  part,  are  well  suited  to  many  districts,  and 
purposes  for  which  Shorthorns  could  not  be  kept 
with  profit. 

One  of  the  chief  sources  of  profit  to  a  Short- 
horn breeder  lies  in  the  sale  of  his  young  bulls 
at  good  round  prices,  and  the  exjwrience  of  the 
past  few  years  amply  proves  that  he  depends  each 
year  more  than  before  on  finding  among  bond  fide 
dairy-fanners  the  great  bulk  of  his  customers 
for  such  young  bulls.  It  also  proves  that  as  the 
market  is  now  well  filled  with  good  pedigree  stock, 
the  supply  having  so  far  overtaken  the  demand 
that  the  price  of  well-desceuded  bulls  is  now 
within  the  reach  of  even  small  dairy-farmers,  it  is 
more  than  ever  necessary  that  breeders  should  make 
their  stock  popular  with  practical,  rent-paying 
dairy-farmers.  This  can  only  be  done  by  culti- 
vating the  too  much  neglected  milking  projjerties, 
so  that  Shorthorns  may  everyvfhere  be  regarded  as 
thorough-going  dairy  as  well  as  grazing  stock; 
and  it  will  only  be  done  when  breeders  cleai'ly 
discern  in  the  signs  of  the  times  the  fact  that  the 
most  profitable  market  will  be  that,  in  which  the 
demand  is  for  animals  descended  from  herds  which 
are  noted  as  being  not  only  good  grazers  but  deep 
milkers.  Many  families  of  pure-bred  Shorthorns 
are  known  to  be  deep  milkers,  and  though  their 
milk  is  less  rich  than  that  of  the  Alderneys, 
both  in  colour  and  quality,  the  milk  globules 
are  of  a  good  size,  so  that  the  cream  rises 
quickly. 

The  main  objections  urged  against  Shorthorns 
are,  that  many  of  them  tend  to  convert  the  food 
they  eat  into  fat  and  flesh  rather  than  into  milk, 
and  that  they  are  not  so  well  adapted  as  the 
smaller  breeds — the  Ayrshires,  for  example — for 
hilly  districts,  for  cold  climates,  and  for  poor  land. 
Their  size,  delicate  constitution,  and  generally 
tender  nature  unfit  them  for  withstanding  the 
hardships  incidental  to  low  temperatures  and  ex- 
posed situations  ;  and  their  most  suitable  habitat 
is   in   warm,    low-lying    districts,   where    level    or 


18 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


slightly    iiiululatin^^    land    of   exceptionally    good 
quality  prevails. 

The  animals  i^iven  in  the  forco-round  of  the 
coloiiretl  plate  are  Mr.  B.  St.  John  Ackers'  "  Sir 
Roland,"  Lord  Fitzhardiuge's  "  Rugia  Niblctt," 
Mr.  Richard  Stratton's  "  Fairy  Queen,"  and 
Mr.  W.  T.  Carrington's  "  Charmer."  The  first- 
mentioned  cow  is  red,  with  white  on  thigh ;  the 
second  roan ;  and  the  third  red,  with  little  white. 
The  last  one,  though  not  entered  in  the  herd-book, 
is  one  o£  the  three  capital  dairy-cows  to  which 
was  awarded  the  100-guinea  prize  at  the  first 
Dairy  Show  in  London,  in  1876.  Other  tyiics 
arc  shown  in  the  en- 
gravings, ■i^^-^'-j 

Ayrshires. 

Mr.  James  Buehan- 
nan  writes  as  follows 
concerning  this  breed  of 
cattle : — 

"  This  hea\'y-milking 
and  hardy  breed  of  dairy- 
cattle  is  well  suital  to 
the  soil  and  climate  of 
Scotland,  where  it  has 
been  long  established 
and  is  highly  valued. 
Small  in  size,  short  in 
the  legs,  and  with  fine 
clean  bones,  Ayrshires 
thrive  and  give  a  fair 
share  of  milk  where 
large  and  less  hardy 
cows  would  scarcely  live, 
of  Scotland,  where  large  cheese-dairies  are  kept, 
it  is  a  rare  thing  to  find  any  other  breed  of 
cows  used,  and  the  knowledge  of  this  fact  enables 
us  to  appreciate  the  justice  of  Mr.  Scott  Burn's 
remark,  in  one  of  his  books  on  the  Dairy,  &c.,* 
where  he  says :  *  For  dairy  purposes,  in  cheese 
districts,  the  Ayrshires  are  justly  celebrated ; 
indeed,  they  seem  to  possess  the  power  of  con- 
verting the  elements  of  food  more  completely 
than  any  other  breed  into  cheese  and  bixtter.' 

"  Little  is  known  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
this  favourite  breed  was  first  brought  into  or  bred 
in  Scotland,  but  it  is  generally  believed  that  the 
cows  from  which  both  they  and   Shorthorns  are 


.^^ 


In  the  south  and  west 


*  "  Outlines  of  JloJurn  Farming." 
Lockwood  &  Co.,  1875. 


By  Mr.  Scott  Burn. 


descended  were  the  country  cows  belonging  to  the 
district  lying  between  the  Wear  and  the  Tees ; 
and  it  is  probable  that  some  of  these  cows — which 
were  famous  for  being  good  milkers  more  than  a 
hundred  years  ago — were  bought  l>y  Scotch  dealers, 
or  drovers,  when  returning  to  their  own  country, 
after  disposing  of  their  '  drives '  of  black  cattle 
in  England.  The  mothers  of  the  milky  heixl 
being  thus  introduced  into  Scotland,  there  is 
gocKl  reason  to  believe  that  bulls  of  the  AVest 
Highland  breed  were  used  for  crossing;  for 
West  Highland  cows  are  to  the  present  day 
good  milkers,  and  we  often  see  a  brindled  Ijull 
or  cow  of  the  Ayrshire 
*^=*^.<-.i^^  breed ;    but,   above   all, 

~     ^  ~"    "  ''"  in    the   size   and    shape 

of  the  horns  of  a  true 
Ayrshire  there  is  clear 
evidence  of  West  High- 
laud  blood.  Another — 
not  very  pleasant — trait 
of  character  might  also 
be  mentioned,  which  still 
further  confinns  this 
supposition  :  both  breeds 
are  of  spiteful  and  pug- 
nacious dispositions,  and 
always  ready  to  gore  or 
rip  up  each  other  when 
a  fair  chance  offers.  Ayr- 
shires, although  bred 
together,  will  do  this, 
and  it  is  safest  to  screw 
wooden  or  iron  knobs  on 
their  sharp  horns,  which  prevent  their  injuring 
each  other. 

"  Great  attention  and  care  have  been  bestowed 
on  the  improvement  and  development  of  this 
valuable  breed  of  dairy-cattle,  during  the  last 
thirty  years,  in  Scotland.  An  Ayrshire  Herd- 
book  has  been  established,  milking  competitions, 
and  of  late  years  an  annual  exhibition  of  cows, 
calletl  the  'Ayrshire  Derby.'  This  has  brought 
large  numbers  to  the  county  from  which  these 
cattle  take  their  name;  and  the  competition  for 
the  thirty-five  prizes  offered  in  the  '  Derby '  is 
very  keen  indeed. 

"  Large  numbers  of  Ayrshire  cows  are  annually 
bought,  and  sent  to  England,  Ireland,  and  the 
United  States  of  America,  and  the  breed  is  rapidly 
rising  in  favour  in  all  those  countries,  fur  allliough 


-Shorthorn  Cow,  "April  Rose, 


AYRSHIRE    CATTLi:. 


19 


tliov  are  profitable  on  poor  anil  inferior  pastures, 
they  are  much  more  profitable  where  grass  is  rich 
and  plentiful.  The  returns  from  individual  cows, 
and  from  whole  dairies  of  this  breed,  have  fre- 
quently been  published  in  the  ao^ricultural  jsapers, 
and  from  these  statistics  it  is  easy  to  understand 
why  many  tenant-farmers  and  dairymen  are 
anxious  to  obtain  cows  of  so  profitable  a  kind. 
The  first  cost  being  much  less  than  what  is  paid 
for  large  cows,  and  the  fact  that  a  considerably 
larger  number  of  the  small  cattle  can  be  kept  on 
a  given  acreage,  induce  many  men  to  give  the 
northern  breed  a  trial,  especially  where  milk  is  the 
chief  desideratum. 

"  Any  one  who  remembers  seeing  Ayrshire 
cows  exhibited  at  a  Scotch  show,  thirty  years  ago, 
Avill  notice  the  difference  between  the  appearance 
of  the  prize-takers  now  and  then.  At  that  time 
judges  of  Ayrshires  looked  chiefly  to  very  fine 
bones,  thin  soft  skins,  small  deer-like  heads  and 
necks,  narrow  muzzles,  and  prominent  eyes ;  and 
these  points,  with  large  well-shaped  udders  (about 
which  the  same  ojiinions  still  hold),  were,  and  are, 
sure  indications  of  great  milking  powers.  But  it 
began  to  be  felt  that  more  stamina  and  stronger 
constitution  were  desirable,  and  therefore,  at  the 
present  time,  a  cow  is  thought  more  of  for  having 
a  thicker  skin,  if  soft  and  flexible,  stronger  bones, 
and  the  horns  need  not  now  be  so  thin  and  fine ; 
and  if  a  cow  has  a  light  fore-end,  with  a  clean 
"well-veined  neck,  judges  like  to  see  her  with  a 
good  covering  of  flesh,  believing  that  although 
such  a  one  will  probably  give  no  more — if  as 
much — milk  as  her  prototype  of  thirty  years  ago, 
yet  the  thicker  and  stronger  cow  is  to  be  pre- 
ferred, because  her  appearance  indicates  strength 
and  hardiness,  with  a  proportionate  capacity  for 
resisting  sickness,  and  an  improved  aptitude  to 
fatten. 

"  In  Cork  and  Kerry,  the  Agricultural  Societies 
have  endeavoured  to  promote  the  importation  and 
breeding  of  Ayrshire  cattle  by  offering  special 
prizes  for  them.  In  Kerry,  particularly,  the 
Agricultural  Society  there  (which  is  one  of  the 
most  flourishing  of  the  kind  in  Ireland)  fully 
recognises  the  imj)ortanee  of  the  breed.  One  of 
its  members,  an  extensive  land  agent,  has  lately 
imported  a  number  of  Ayrshire  bulls  for  the  use 
of  the  tenantry  on  a  number  of  the  estates  for 
which  he  is  agent.  Lord  ^^entry  has  also  imported 
and  bred  some  excellent  sjjecimens  of  the  breed  ; 
6 


>\hile  an  extensive  farmer  has  informed  me  that 
ho  intends  keeping  no  other  breed  of  dairy-cows 
on  the  two  farms  he  occupies  in  that  county : 
on  the  one  farm  he  is  to  breed  Ayrshires,  on  the 
other  he  keeps  a  Shorthorned  bull,  and  rears 
crosses  for  fattening. 

"  When  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of 
Ireland  visited  Tralee,  in  1870,  there  was  a  fine 
show  of  Ayrshire  cattle,  and  although  the  com- 
petition in  the  cow  class  was  very  strong,  the  cow 
which  was  awarded  the  first  prize  had  been  bred 
and  reared  iu  the  county. 

"  The  numbers  of  good  milch  cows  brought 
to  a  large  show  are  seldom  very  great,  and  they 
mostly  belong  to  gentlemen  who  wish  to  sell 
them  or  their  produce.  There  are  few  dairymen, 
or  others,  who  keep  cows  for  the  milk  alone,  who 
will  send  away  a  number  of  their  best  cows  in 
the  middle  of  the  milking  season  to  a  showyard, 
where  they  will  be  kept  for  nearly  a  week  in  an 
unnatural — or,  at  any  rate,  unusual — way  for  them, 
and  all  for  the  chance  of  a  small  money  prize. 
Cows  so  exhibited,  when  they  return  to  their  own 
stalls,  are  seen  to  have  fallen  off  a  good  deal  in 
the  yield  of  milk,  and  are  otherwise  no  better  for 
their  trip.  It  is  quite  different  with  large  cows, 
which  are  valued  chiefly  for  the  calf  they  are  to 
produce,  and  which  are  seldom  overburdened  with 
milk  at  any  time;  hence  we  see  many  of  the 
latter  exhibited,  but  comparatively  few  of  the 
former,  and  no  doubt  for  the  reasons  I  have 
stated." 

Ayrshires  as   Butchers'    Beasts. 

"  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  in  Scotland,  at 
the  time  to  which  I  have  referred,  for  breeders  of 
Ayrshires  to  systematically  under-feed  their  young 
heifer-calves  and  yearlings,  in  order  to  get  the 
points  developed  which  w'ere  then  in  most  request, 
and  this  could  not  be  continued  without  weakening 
and  injuring  the  constitutions  of  the  animals  to 
some  extent.  IMany  peojjle,  seeing  the  stunted 
appearance  of  these  half-starved  Ayrshires,  natu- 
rally concluded  that,  whatever  their  value  might  be 
for  milk,  they  would  never  do  for  butchers'  beasts. 
But  this  foolish  and  hurtful  fashion  has  happily 
passed  away,  and  with  it  the  prejudice  against 
Ayrshires  as  fattening  beasts  is  fast  disappearing 
also,  as  feeders  have  opportunities  of  testing  the 
breed  alongside  of  others. 

"Mr.    WilUam    M'Laren,    Hcrrington    Hill, 


20 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Sumlerland,  who  has  for  a  number  of  years 
fattened  cattle  extensively,  says  in  a  letter  dated 
26th  April,  1878: — 'I  bouo-ht  four  Ayrshire 
calves  in  June  and  July,  1S7C,  from  Mr.  J. 
M'Laren,  Red  House,  Sunderland.  They  were 
very  small  and  poor-looking,  and,  indeed,  haixlly 
seemed  worth  rearing  at  all,  but  we  let  them 
run  about  with  the  others,  and  gave  them  very 
little  milk  or  attention  ;  however,  they  seemed  to 
freshen  up  wonderfully  last  summer,  except  one, 
which  was  lame  nearly  all  summer — caused  by 
"  foul  "  in  the  foot.  They  were  put  into  boxes  at 
Martinmas,  and  got  good  feeding,  and  I  sold  three 
of  them  last  month  (March)  at  10s.  3d.  per 
stone  of  l-h  lbs. ;  they  weighed  47,  47,  and  4:3 
stones  respectively.  The  one  which  was  lame  I  have 
still,  and  he  is  now  about  as  good  as  the  others 
were  when  they  were  sold.  They  were  very  little 
to  look  at,  and  probably  would  not  have  sold  for 
more  than  40  stones  in  a  market  (they  were  all 
bullocks,  and  as  nice  as  heifers),  but  I  sold  them 
to  weigh,  as  I  knew  they  generally  weighed  much 
more  than  any  one  would  call  them.'  Mr. 
M'Laren  gives  a  number  of  other  instances  of 
Ayi'shires  which  he  has  fed,  and  for  which  he 
realised  very  satisfactory  prices,  and  he  concludes 
by  saying,  '  I  wish  I  could  buy  more  of  them  to 
feed ;  if  I  have  an  opportunity  I  shall  not  miss 
it.' 

"  Now  those  four  calves  were  out  of  cows  I 
had  sold  to  Mr.  J.  M'Laren  in  the  beginning  of 
March,  1876 — cows  which  were  all  in  calf  to  an 
Ayrshire  bull,  so  that  the  calves  were  certainly 
pure  Ayrshires.  Mr.  J.  M'Laren  sends  his  new 
milk  into  Sunderland,  and  probably  those  four 
bullock-calves  got  very  little  of  it  during  the 
two  months  or  so  he  kept  them  before  selling — 
hence  their  small  size ;  but  when  sold  fat  they 
could  not  have  been  above  two  years  old,  and  yet 
the  two  best  ones  realised  over  ££4  each,  and 
the  other,  sold  at  the  same  time,  over  £32. 

"  From  these  statistics  in  fattening  Ayrshires 
we  may  conclude  that  there  is  not  nearly  so  great 
a  diiference  in  the  fattening  qualities  of  the  dif- 
ferent breeds  of  cattle  as  is  generally  supposed  ; 
and  when  we  speak  of  the  lean,  lanky,  ill-shaped 
bullocks  of  sixty  years  ago,  and  contrast  them 
with  the  handsome  Shorthorn  or  Hereford  which 
is  prime  fat  at  two  years  of  age,  we  ought  to 
remember  that  the  breeding  und  frea/iiteui  of 
the  two  animals  have   been   as  different  as  their 


ai>pearance,  and  that  the  fat  and  handsome  young 
animal  we  so  admire  has  probably  cost  more  to 
his  owner  during  the  last  year  of  his  life  than  the 
other  cost  //is  owner  during  the  whole  of  the  four 
or  five  years  during  which  he  found  his  food  in  the 
fields,  with  perhaps  the  addition  of  a  little  hay  or 
straw  during  a  severe  storm,  or  if  kept  in  a  yanl 
in  winter,  with  no  other  food  but  straw. 

"  When  estimating  the  value  of  any  breed  of 
cows  for  the  dairy,  we  naturally  look  first  to  the 
quantity  of  milk  they  yield,  but  we  ought  also  to 
take  into  consideration  their  aptitude  to  fatten ; 
and  if  Ayrshires  were  as  unsuitable  as  some  people 
think  them  for  the  stall,  it  might  well  be  doubtal 
whether  men  farming  prime  land  should  keep 
them,  notwithstanding  their  admitted  merits  as 
milch  cattle. 

"  As  cows  or  heifers  can  be  bought  at  moderate 
prices  at  any  time  of  the  j'car  in  Scotland,  farmers 
who  Avish  to  keep  Ayrshires  on  good  land  in 
England  should  replenish  their  stock  from  the 
north  when  required,  and  they  should  buy  a 
strong-boned,  heavy-coated,  masculine-looking 
Shorthorned  bull  for  crossing  with  their  Ayrshire 
cows.  These  crosses  pay  as  well  for  fattening  as 
any  breed.  Like  the  pure  Ayrshires,  they  kill, 
when  fat,  considerably  heavier  than  they  appear  to 
be ;  their  flesh  is  of  a  peculiarly  firm  texture  and 
of  excellent  quality. 

"  Having  a  dairy,  and  selling  the  milk  to  a 
dairyman,  my  calves  are  reared  on  as  little  milk 
as  possible,  and  soon  sent  away  to  find  their  food 
in  the  fields,  where  they  get  a  small  allowance  of 
cake  for  a  few  months;  after  then  they  get  no 
more  cake  at  all,  but  about  the  1st  of  November, 
when  they  are  a  little  over  2i  years  old,  they  are 
put  into  boxes,  and  fattened  with  roots,  meal,  and 
a  little  hay.  For  a  number  of  years  I  have  sold 
nearly  all  of  my  own  rearing  of  cattle  to  a  butcher 
by  weight,  and  in  1877  the  average  weight  of 
these  bullocks  was  778  lbs.  each,  or  nearly  seven 
cwts.  The  first  one  was  killed  on  the  10th 
January,  the  last  on  April  4th,  and  their  ages 
would  be,  on  an  average,  about  thirty-four  months. 
These  figures  were  commented  on  by  several 
])ersons,  and  one  gentleman  thought  the  cross 
would  not  fetch  the  highest  j)rice  of  beef  per  pound. 
This  drew  a  reply  from  ilr.  Morris,  the  butcher  to 
whom  I  have  referred,  in  which  he  said,  '  I  may 
say  that  I  consider  the  cross  admirably  adapted 
for  the  trade  (particularly  now,  as  customers  have 


AYRSHIRE    CATTLE. 


21 


become  so  fastidious  as  to  what  tlicy  eat) ;  they 
have  an  abundance  of  good  flesh,  without  the  large 
quantity  of  fat  common  to  Shorthoi-ns  and  some 
other  breeds,  and  are  liglit  in  the  bone.'  Further 
on  he  continues  : — '  Let  half  a  dozen  half-breds 
be  bought,  with  the  same  number  of  pure-brcds 
(Shorthorns),  and  fed  together,  I  think  the  result 
would  dispel  a  little  prejudice  that  exists  as  to 
the  merits  of  this  cross.'  Mr.  Morris  had  pre- 
viously said,  in  reply  to  a  question  from  me,  as  to 
whether  he  thought  the  cross-bred  Ayrshires  as 
good  butchers'  beasts  as  the  Shorthorn,  '  They 
are  better  beasts,  both  for  the  butcher  and  the 
consumer;'  and  as  he  has  bought  nearly  all  my 
winter-fed  beasts  of  this  breed  for  the  last  four 
years,  his  opinion  is  entitled  to  respect,  especially 
as  he  is  a  farmer  himself,  and  fattens  a  number  of 
good  beasts. 

"  In  this  year  (I87S)  my  eross-bred  bullocks 
have  weighed  from  a  little  over  six  to  nine  cwts., 
each  killed  between  February  13th  and  end  of 
April,  fed  in  the  usual  way,  ages  about  thirty- 
five  months  on  an  average.  I  have  no  trouble  in 
getting  the  top  price  per  pound  for  them.  For  years 
they  have  paid  me  better  than  the  larger  cattle 
which  I  have  bought  in,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that 
a  cross  with  a  Hereford  bull  would  yield  equally 
satisfactory  results. 

"  In  the  LTnited  States  of  America  the  Ayr- 
shire cows  have  long  been  prime  favourites,  in 
those  districts  especially  where  cheese  is  the  chief 
product  of  the  dairies.  American  farmers  have 
found  out,  by  very  close  and  accurate  investiga- 
tion, that  they  are  almost,  if  not  quite,  superior  to 
every  other  breed  known  on  that  continent  for 
cheese-making." 

A^iiSHiRE  Points. 

"The  favourite  colour  of  the  Ayrshire  is  a 
light  brown  or  brown  and  white ;  some  few  are 
found  black  and  white  (a  notable  bull,  belonging 
to  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch,  of  this  colour  won 
many  prizes  two  or  three  years  ago),  and  now  and 
then  even  a  pure  white  one  is  seen ;  but,  so  far  as  I 
have  seen  or  heard,  they  are  never  roan-coloured. 
Some  years  ago  an  Ayrshire  was  hardly  considered 
pure  unless  it  had  a  black  nose,  but  a  white  nose 
is  not  looked  upon  as  any  drawback  to  a  good 
cow  at  the  present  time.  When  a  cow  or  bull 
is  slightly  brindled  it  is  pretty  sure  to  have  a 
black   nose,  or  if   the    prevailing  colour    is  dark 


brown,  the  nose  and  some  other  points  are  likely 
to  be  black ;  this  is  merely  an  indication  that 
the  West  Highland  blood  is  re-appearing.  Some 
people  think  if  a  cow  shows  a  '  notch '  in  each 
of  the  ears  it  is  a  sign  of  a  pure  Ayrshire,  but 
this  is  a  mistake ;  it  belongs,  nevertheless,  to  some 
families,  and  is  regularly  transmitted,  but  it  is 
no  particular  advantage,  and  an  Ayrshire  cow  is 
just  as  well  without  the  notch.  Nor  do  I  attach 
any  importance  to  the  'escutcheon,'  never  having 
observed  that  a  cow  was  better  or  worse  for  having 
a  large  one. 

"  The  iidiJer  is  the  chief  point  from  which  we 
can  infer  the  milking  capabilities  of  a  cow  of  any 
sort,  and  especially  of  an  Ayrshire.  Take  the  fol- 
lowing description  of  what  good  judges  esteem 
the  best  shape  and  appearance : — '  It  should,  in 
form,  be  long  from  front  to  back,  stretching  well 
forward  on  the  belly,  broad  behind,  filling  up  well 
the  space  between  the  legs,  but  should  not  be  too 
deep  vertically — that  is,  hang  too  far  down — space 
being  obtained  in  it  rather  through  length  and 
breadth.'  I  may  add  to  this  description  that 
some  cows,  even  with  large  well-shaped  'bags,' 
are  not  nearly  so  good  as  they  look,  on  account  of 
their  bags  being  fleshy;  and  it  is  sometimes  hard 
to  tell,  from  their  appearance,  whether  they  have 
been  milked  or  not.  A  cow  having  a  far  less 
udder,  but  which  can  be  emptied,  or  'milked 
down'  as  it  is  called,  is  of  more  value,  and  will 
probably  keep  on  milking  fairly  well  for  a  much 
longer  time  than  the  former  will  do ;  it  is  always 
satisfactory  to  see  the  large  veins  on  the  belly  full 
and  prominent,  with  a  good  large  cavity  at  the  upper 
end  of  each.  When  well-fed,  a  good  Ayrshire  cow 
will  give  milk  up  to  within  two  or  three  weeks  of 
calving,  but  she  ought  never  to  be  allowed  to  do 
so,  as  it  injures  her  considerably  for  the  following 
season;  milking  once  a  day  should  be  begun 
about  ten  weeks  before  the  cow  is  due  to  calve, 
and  she  ought  to  be  quite  dry  at  least  eight  weeks 
before  calving.  There  is  often  considerable  difficulty 
in  doing  this,  but  the  animal  should  be  kept  on 
straw  and  water  until  the  milk  leaves,  if  found 
necessary. 

"As  young  Ayrshire  heifers  and  cows  have 
generally  very  small  teats,  inexperienced  or  heed- 
less milkers  should  not  be  employed  to  milk  them  • 
after  they  have  had  one  or  two  calves,  their  teats 
get  larger,  and  they  are  as  easily  milked  as  cows 
of  any  other  breed.     As  tliese  cows  are  of  lively 


22 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


and  active  dispositions,  it  is  very  seldom  indeed 
they  require  any  help  when  calvinj;,  unless  they 
have  been  allowed  to  get  too  fat ;  this  sometimes 
happens  when  they  have  nin  on  to  ilidsummer 
before  calving,  and  when  they  have  had  very  good 
pasture.  The  best  way  is  to  turn  a  cow,  when 
she  is  about  to  ealve,  into  a  roomy  loose  box  or 
yard,  and  leave  her  alone;  it  is  very  seldom  that 
interference  with  her  on  these  occasions  does  any- 
thing but  mischief.  When  any  unusual  symptoms 
are  observed,  she  may  be  looked  to  occasionally, 
and  assisted  if  really  necessary. 

"A  few  words  may  here  be  added  as  to  the 
best  times  and  ages  at  which  Ayrshires  should  be 
purchased  in  Scotland  by  farmers  \\ho  wish  to 
try  the  breed  in  England  or  Ireland.  Those  who 
wish  to  keep  iip  a  supply  of  milk  in  winter  as 
well  as  in  summer,  and  who  have  small  farms, 
must  no  doubt  buy  cows  near  calving  or  already 
calved,  but  there  are  serious  risks  in  conveying 
them  a  long  distance  by  rail.  If  the  cows  are 
calved,  they  are  very  liable  to  catch  colds  at 
draughty  stations ;  they  cannot  be  regularly  milked 
on  the  journey,  and  consequently  we  often  hear  of 
such  taking  milk-fever  after  arriving  at  their 
destination.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  cows  piir- 
chased  are  very  near  calving,  there  are  obvious 
risks  of  their  calving  in  trucks,  in  which  case  I 
have  found  they  do  not  recover  from  it  during  the 
whole  season.  Perhaps  the  best  way  for  those  to 
do  who  cannot  keep  heifers  for  a  few  months  is 
to  employ  a  cattle  agent,  in  a  district  where  many 
of  the  breed  are  kept,  to  go  to  the  farmers'  houses 
who  have  cows  to  sell,  and  to  buy  them  when 
they  are  only  beginning  to  '  spring,'  and  these 
may  be  conveyed  with  comparative  safety  by  rail. 
To  the  English  or  Irish  farmer,  however,  who  has 
a  good  outlet  for  cattle  through  the  winter,  I 
recommend  him  to  buy  at  some  of  the  Scotch  fairs 
in  October  or  November ;  he  will  get  good  heifers^ 
rising  three  years  old,  warranted  in  calf,  from  £1:J 
to  £14  each :  these  will  thrive  on  grass  fields 
through  the  winter,  and  they  do  not  require  any- 
thing extra  until  snow  or  frost  comes,  when  a 
little  chaff  daily  will  keep  them  M-ell  enough  until 
they  can  get  a  sufficient  supply  of  rough  grass 
again.  I  purchased  twelve  such  heifers  in  Lanark- 
shire last  year  (1877),  and  now,  at  the  beginning 
of  ^lay,  those  dropping  their  calves  are  in  very 
high  condition ;  some  of  them  are  actually  too 
fresh,  having  had  a  month's  good  pasture.     Good 


cows,  from  four  to  six  years  old,  will  cost,  at 
calving,  from  £1G  to  £22  each,  according  to  size 
and  appearance,  and  such  cattle  imported  in 
Fcbniary  or  March  will,  in  all  probability,  leave 
the  first  cost  of  themselves  to  the  owner  before 
Christmas  following,  provided  he  can  sell  all  their 
milk  for  the  very  moderate  price  of  6id.  per  gallon. 

"  It  may  be  convenient  here  to  give  a  few 
well-authenticated  cases  of  the  quantities  of  milk 
given,  or  weight  of  butter  produced,  by  some 
good  specimens  of  this  breed  : — 

"  Mr.  Burn  tells  us,  in  the  book  previously 
quoted  from,  that  the  Duke  of  Athole  bought  an 
Ayrshire  cow  from  ^Ir.  Wallace,  of  Kirklandholm, 
which  produced  1,305  gallons  of  milk  from  11th 
April,  1800,  to  11th  April,  1861,  or  about  17 
quarts  daily  for  forty-four  weeks.  He  estimates 
the  value  of  the  new  milk  at  9d.  per  gallon,  and 
that  would  give  £48  18s.  9d.  in  a  year. 

"In  June,  1868,  I  set  aside  the  milk  of  a 
number  of  my  best  cows,  in  oi-der  to  try  how 
much  butter  they  would  each  yield  in  seven  days, 
with  the  following  results : — The  best  cow  pro- 
duced 14  lbs.  of  butter,  and  the  worst  very  nearly 
12  lbs.,  in  the  time  named;  these  cows  were  all 
pure  Ayrshires,  bred  from  stock  which  I  had 
imported  from  Scotland.  The  pasture  they  had 
was  first  year's  clover  seeds,  and  they  had  no 
other  food  whatever;  the  quantity  of  milk  re- 
quired for  each  pound  of  butter  was  nearly  1 2  quarts. 
The  experiment  was  made  on  the  farm  of  Sackville, 
near  Tralee,  Ireland,  and  was  conducted  with 
great  care  and  exactness. 

"  In  County  Durham  there  are  many  farmers 
who  keep  Ayrshire  cows.  In  Julj-,  1876,  one  of 
those  farmers  showed  me  his  dairy-books,  from 
which  it  appeared  that  in  1875  the  gi'oss  returns 
from  his  thirty-six  cows  were  over  £25  each  cow ; 
and  he  assured  me  that  he  thought  it  a  very  bad 
year  indeed  when  they  produced  less  than  that 
figure  each.  This  gentleman  had  carried  on  his 
dairy  for  nearly  thirty  years  in  that  neighbour- 
hood, and  had  always,  up  to  that  date,  bought 
cows  as  he  required  them  in  Scotland.  This  seems 
the  best  plan  for  English  farmers  to  follow ;  for 
whether  it  is  due  to  the  climate,  food,  or  their 
management,  it  seems  certain  that  those  bred  and 
reared  in  England  seldom  prove  as  good  milkers 
as  those  which  are  brought  from  the  north;  the 
latter  are  always  much  liardier  also,  and  in  the 
midland  and  southern  counties  thev  thrive  verv 


AYRSHIRE    CATTLE. 


23 


well,  with  little  or  no  shelter,  even  in  winter 
time,  i£  only  they  have  a  fair  bite  of  grass  on  the 
j)asture." 

At  a  recent  meeting  of  the  New  York  Dairy- 
men's Association,  Mr.  Robert  M'Adam  read  a 
paper,  giving  the  results  of  his  experience  of 
Shorthorns  and  Ayrshires  in  the  dairy.  He  said 
he  began  dairying  in  184;3  in  Scotland,  and  fol- 
lowed it  till  1869;  that  he  had  studied  the  two 
breeds  carefully  on  the  farm  and  at  fairs ;  that  he 
had  known  many  large  milkers  among  the  Short- 
horns. He  thinks  the  preference  given  by  the  best 
Scotch  dairjonen  to  the  Ayrshire  over  the  Shorthorn, 
Avhere  either  could  be  easily  obtained,  ought  to  go 
a  good  way  in  deciding  the  question  between  the 
two ;  that  a  few  great  milkers  are  not  evidence 
of  the  general  quality  of  a  breed,  but  rather  the 
average  produced  by  large  numbers.  In  1863  he 
purchased  the  milk  from  a  neighbouring  Short- 
horn herd,  and  mixed  it  with  that  of  an  Ayrshire 
herd,  and  found  that  the  mixed  milk  was  poorer 
than  that  of  his  own  herd  had  been  before.  He 
made  a  comparative  test  next  season  (1864-),  and 
for  the  month  of  June  found  the  following  result : — 

Ayrshires  —  64  cows — 6.5,380  lbs.  of  milk; 
cheese,  6,424  lbs. — ratio,  10*17;  daily  average  of 
milk  per  cow,  33  lbs. ;  cheese,  3^  lbs. 

ShortJiorns — 64  cows  —  52,680  lbs.  of  milk; 
cheese,  4,797  lbs. — ratio,  10"98;  daily  average  of 
milk  per  cow,  27  lbs. ;  cheese,  2  7-15  lbs. 

He  says  both  herds  were  pastured  in  adjoin- 
ing fields,  on  land  of  similar  quality.  Both  herds 
were  esteemed  first-class  of  their  respective  breeds. 
He  for  some  years  was  an  instructor  in  cheese- 
making,  and  made  cheese  in  a  hundred  different 
places,  and  had  opportunities  of  examining  a  great 
number  of  herds ;  took  notes  of  the  yields  of 
various  dairies,  and  the  general  results  were  in 
favour  of  Ayrshires.  He  thinks  that  land  which 
will  maintain  cine  Shorthorns  will  keep  ten  Ayr- 
shires, and  that  the  latter  will  yield  more  and 
richer  milk,  and  are  hardier  and  more  prolific. 
For  a  period  of  twenty-five  years  the  average 
yield  of  his  own  dairy  was  500  lbs.  of  cheese  per 
cow. 

Qualities  of  AyRsiimE  Cattle. 

Under  the  microscope  the  milk  of  the  Ayr- 
shire is  found  to  be  well  stocked  with  nitrogenous 
matter,    or    casein,    and   the   cream   globules   are 


numerous,  but  very  une([ual  in  size.  This  defect 
tells  against  the  Ayrshire  as  a  butter-cow,  for 
the  cream  does  not  rise  well  when  the  globules 
are  unequal  in  size,  nor  is  all  the  butter  got 
out  of  it  except  by  skilful  churning. 

Mr.  Allsebrook,  of  Wollaton,  Nottingham, 
Avrites  to  us  as  follows  on  Ayrshire  cows  in  the 
jNIidlands  : — 

"  During  the  last  ten  years  I  have  had  Ayr- 
shire cows  in  my  dairies  in  Warwickshire  and 
Nottinghamshire,  and  where  a  large  quantity  of 
milk  is  desired  I  consider  they  are  more  valu- 
able than  any  other  breed.  They  are  specially 
valuable  where  the  pasture-land  is  not  of  a  first- 
class  quality,  for  their  mouths  seem  to  be  harder 
than  those  of  Shorthorns,  and  they  do  well  on  dry 
wiry  pastures  that  would  starve  cattle  of  more 
aristocratic  blood.  On  second  or  third  rate  land, 
heavy  costly  cattle  require  much  extra  care  and 
artificial  food,  or  they  will  be  sure  to  lose  money, 
but  Ayrshires  on  such  land  thrive  and  do  well. 

"  One  of  the  objections  urged  against  Ayr- 
shires is  that  they  will  not  feed — they  are  bad 
grazers.  Doubtless  some  are;  but  some  of  all 
breeds  are  bad  ones  for  that  purpose.  I  have  had 
many  that  would  get  fat  as  readily  as  cattle  of 
other  breeds,  and  if  such  are  selected  as  appear 
likely  to  feed  there  will  be  little  disappointment 
in  that  direction.  Still,  if  we  get  a  little  cow  that 
eats  but  little,  and  did  not  cost  much ;  that  will 
yield  some  four  or  five  gallons  of  milk  per  day  for 
months  together,  year  after  year,  we  may  well 
forgive  her  if  she  is  not  easy  to  feed  afterwards. 
If  breeders  of  these  very  useful  animals  would  pay 
more  attention  to  the  point  indicated,  it  would 
doubtless  be  an  advantage,  and  if  dams  that  are 
good  milkers  and  also  ilesh -carriers  are  selected, 
the  objection  would  cease  to  be  valid. 

"  Milk  from  Ayrshire  cows  is  of  a  good 
quality,  though  not  so  rich  as  that  from  Channel 
Island  cows.  I  have  found,  from  repeated  tests, 
that  where  Ayrshire  cows  were  fairly  matched 
against  graded  Shorthorns,  ordinary  Derbyshire 
cows,  or  good  Irish  cows,  the  AjTsliires  had  the 
best  of  it,  their  milk  yielding  about  two  per  cent, 
more  cream  than  the  others. 

"  More  Ayrshires  can  be  kept  on  the  same 
quantity  of  food.  Three  Ayrshires  usually  eat 
about  as  much  as  two  ordinary  Derbyshire  cows, 
and  three  of  the  former  will  give  more  milk  than 
three  of  the  latter.     Then  they  cost  less  to  begin 


u 


DAIRY    FAiniL\(l. 


with,  fully  (inc'-tliii'd  less,  so  the  oggs  arc  jiut  into 
more  baskets. 

"Therefore,  in  comparing  otlior  (Liiry-cows 
with  Ayrsliires,  we  got  these  results : — They  cost 
less  to  buy;  they  cost  less  to  keep;  the  capital 
risked  in  one  animal  is  smaller;  the  quality  of  the 
milk  produced  is  better;  the  quantity  is  greater 
per  head,  and  much  greater  for  the  outlay.  Here 
is  the  evidence ;  can  the  verdict  be  doubtful  ?  " 

The  great  points  of  an  Ayrshire  cow  are  lier 
udder  and  teats.  The  udder  must  reach  well  for- 
ward, and  be  firmly  attached  up  to  the  body,  not 
coming  out  behind  or  hanging  loosely  down  ; 
the  quarters  alike  in  size,  and  the  teats  set  on 
widely  and  eqiially  apart,  neat,  and  not  very  large, 
square  at  top  like  a  cork,  not  hanging  together 
like  a  bunch  of  parsnips  under  a  loose  flabby  bag. 
For  breeding,  milking,  and  ultimate  fattening 
combined,  the  first  place  must  be  assigned  to  the 
Shorthorns,  but  for  milk  alone  that  place  may 
probably  be  assigned  to  the  Ayrshires.  They 
are  esjieeially  hardy  and  vigorous  in  constitu- 
tion ;  and  their  superiority  over  many  other 
breeds  is  most  apparent  under  adverse  circum- 
stances— hilly  land,  with  scant  pasturage,  and  a 
climate  subject  to  sudden  and  extreme  changes 
of  temperature.  The  cheerful  look,  the  earnest- 
ness of  manner,  and  the  great  physical  activity 
of  the  Ayrshires  stamp  them  at  once  as  being 
valuable  and  trustworthy  cattle ;  and  these  quali- 
ties, combined  with  those  previously  mentioned, 
are  a  strong  recommendation  to  farmers  in  districts 


to  which  nature  has  not  licon  kind,  as  well  as  in 
those  which  are  favourably  situated.  Dairying 
districts,  as  a  rule,  are  those  in  which  the  climate 
is  more  or  less  variable,  where  the  atmosphere  is 
cool  and  showers  of  rain  are  frequent,  favouring 
the  growth  of  pasture-grasses;  where  the  winters 
are  not  infrequently  severe  and  the  springs  and 
autumns  treacherous  ;  where  the  general  conditions 
of  weather  and  soil  are  adapted  to  the  growth  of 
green  rather  than  grain  crops.  To  such  condi- 
tions, particularly  in  more  extreme  cases,  Ayrshires 
appear  to  be  sijccially  well  adapted,  so  far  as  phy- 
sical fitness  is  concerned ;  while,  as  regards  their 
milking  jiroperties,  there  is  hardly  room  for  two 
opinions.  On  wet,  clayey,  or  heavy  soils  of  any 
kind,  on  which  heavy  breeds  of  cattle  do  much 
harm  in  a  "  dropping  season,"  the  lighter  Ayr- 
shires are  an  advantage,  because  they  do  not 
tread  up  the  ground  so  much,  and  so  destroy 
less  of  the  grass.  The  Ayrshires  possess,  of 
course,  a  few  undesirable  qualities,  but  the  only 
ones  worth  mentioning  are  their  somewhat  de- 
ficient aptitude  to  fatten,  the  shortness  of  their 
teats,  and  their  sleepless  pugnacity  of  disjwsition 
toward  each  other. 

The  Ayrshire  cows  given  in  the  Plate  are 
His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch^s  "  Lady 
Kilburnie,'' winner  of  the  ''Ayrshire  Derby"  in 
1877,  Mr.  CasseFs  "Jeanie,"  and  Mr.  Dunlop's 
"  Daisy."  The  first  is  red  with  but  little  white, 
the  second  has  many  small  spots  of  colour,  and 
the  last  a  few  and  larger  spots. 


CHAPTER      III. 


BuEEDS   OF   Cattle    [conliiuieil)  -.    Jerseys,    Longhorns,    Hereford.-;,    Devons,    Sussex, 
Polled   Breeds,    Kerries,   'Welsh. 

Channel  Island  Cattle— Probable  Origin— Qualities— Great  Milking  Powers— Longhorns-Bakewell's  Herd— Not  as  a  rule  R^markahle 

for  Milk— But  Capable  of  Improvement  in  this  Respect— Instances— Herefords— Recently  Modified  in  Colour— Characteristlics— 

Devons— Two  Types- Richness  of  the  Milk— Sussex  Cattle— Probably  an    Offshoot   from   the   Devons— An    Improving   Breed 

—  Polled   Breeds  — Galloways  — An^s    or   Aberdeen    Cattle— Norfolks   and   Suffolks  — West   HiglJand 

Cattle— Kerries— Their  many  Good  Qualities— Irish  Cattle  Generally— Welsh  Cattle. 


HE  Jersey  and  Guernsey  cattle 
have  been  known  for  a  long 
time  past  as  "  Alderneys  "  and 
as  "  Channel  Islanders."  The 
former  of  these  terms  is  merely 
adventitious,  and  not  suffi- 
ciently descriptive.  Happen- 
the  shipping  point  for  all 
lands  of  the  group,  viz.,  Jersey, 
Guernsey,  Alderney,  and  Sark,  and 
only  so  because  it  is  nearer  than  the 
others  to  the  coast  of  England,  Alderney  gave  its 
name  a  long  time  ago  to  all  cattle  coming  that  way, 
whether  from  the  other  islands  or  from  the  main- 
land of  France.  The  latter  term  is  more  correct 
as  well  as  more  descriptive.  But  the  term  "  Jer- 
seys "  is  now  taking  the  lead  of  the  others,  partly 
because  the  island  of  Jersey  is  the  largest  of  the 
group,  and  partly  because  its  cattle  are  the  most 
fashionable.  There  is,  indeed,  so  little  practical 
distinction  between  the  cattle  of  the  different 
islands,  that  the  concrete  name  of  "  Jerseys  "  may 
well,  for  simplicity's  sake,  take  possession  of  all  of 
them.  There  is,  it  is  true,  some  difference  in  size 
between  the  Guernsey  and  the  Jersey  cattle,  the 
former  being  somewhat  the  larger  and  coarser ; 
but  as  the  latter  are  the  more  nearly  exact 
embodiment  of  what  the  breed  is  claimed  to  be  in 
its  various  excellences,  they  are  already  the  tj'pe 
towards  which  the  others  are  more  or  less  tending. 
There  is  also  a  slight  difference  in  colour,  the 
Guernseys  being  usually  a  light  fawn-colour, 
patched  with  white,  while  the  Jerseys  are  a 
somewhat  darker  or  dun  colour. 


The  source  from  which  the  Channel  Island 
cattle  originally  sprang  is  not  known  with  any- 
thing like  certainty  ;  presumptive  evidence,  ho\\- 
ever,  points  to  Kormandy  and  to  Brittany,  on 
account  of  their  nearness  to  the  islands.  But  as 
these  island  cattle  are  now  totally  different  in 
type  from  those  of  the  adjacent  mainland,  it  is  pro- 
bable that  if  they  ever  came  from  there  at  all  they 
must  have  come  many  hundreds  of  years  ago.  The 
Brittanios  are  mostly  black-and-white  in  coloiu', 
and  the  Channel  Islanders  never  so.  This  striking 
difference  between  them  removes  to  a  very  distant 
point  the  probability  that  they  have  had  a  common 
origin.  An  island  home  for  cattle  is,  of  course, 
highly  favourable  for  the  formation  of  a  type 
differing  from  the  original  stock,  providing  the 
natural  influences  of  soil  and  climate  are  sufficiently 
marked  to  bring  about  the  change ;  and  in  this 
case  we  may  infer  that  identity  would  not  be 
maintained  by  repeated  importations  from  the 
mainland,  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  islands  have 
long  been  jealous,  and  have  prided  themselves  in 
their  jealousy,  of  the  purity  of  the  breed  of  their 
beautiful  cattle — and,  indeed,  a  most  excellent 
jealousy  it  is.  The  radical  differences  which  exist 
between  these  island  cattle  and  their  neighbours 
on  the  mainland,  providing  the  remote  origin  of 
both  is  identical,  are  so  marked,  that  it  must 
have  taken  ages  almost  to  bring  them  about; 
and,  besides  this,  the  type  of  the  former  is  so 
"fixed,"  that  we  have  no  room  to  doubt  its  great 
antiquity. 

Be  their  origin  what  it  may,  however,  these 
Channel  Island  cattle  are,  and   long   have   been. 


20 


DAIHV    FAinri\(i. 


famous  for  the  quantit\-  and  nchiicss  of  tlieir 
milk,  and  for  their  surpassiug  excellence  as 
"butter-cows."  The  Brittanies  are  smaller  in 
size,  but  with  this  exception  the  Channel  Islanders 
are  less  fleshy,  physically  w-eaker,  lio^liter  boned, 
and  fjcnerally  smaller  than  the  cattle  of  the 
adjoining  districts  of  France.  These  differences 
are  accounted  ft)r  by  difference  of  soil,  of  climate, 
and  of  treatment.  The  mainland  cattle  generally 
are  stronger,  robuster,  and  hardier  than  those  of 
the  islands,  because  they  live  in  a  less  genial 
climate,  have  less  affectionate  care  bestowed  upon 
them,  and  roam  at  large  on  the  pastures ;  and  the 
Brittanies  are  smaller  and  hardier  on  account  of 
a  poorer  soil  and  a  severer  climate.  The  climate 
of  Jersey  is  remarkably  genial,  and  its  soil  is 
fertile ;  on  the  north  and  west  the  island  is 
fringed  by  a  high  rocky  shore,  which  secures  to 


'*     / 


Fig  6.— Iron  Tethek  peo 

the  southern-sloping  land  a  grateful  shelter  against 
the  cold  and  boisterous  winds  of  winter.  The 
breezes  of  the  Atlantic  that  sweep  over  it,  and  the 
strong  tides  that  wash  its  rocky  beach,  are  greatly 
tempered  b\'  the  warm  and  softening  influence 
of  that  Gulf  Stream  to  which  the  west  coast  of 
Ireland  owes  its  adventitious  mildness  and  fertility. 
The  grass  is  green  and  nutritious,  and  the  japonica 
blooms  throughout  the  winter;  so  that  the  winters 
and  summers  of  Jersey  are  not  in  violent  contrast, 
and  all  its  seasons  are  mild  and  uniform.  So  far 
the  influence  of  climate  on  the  type  of  cattle. 

The  agriculture  of  Jersey  is  gardening  rather 
than  farming,  so  thrifty  and  industrious  are  the 
people.  The  farms  are  usually  very  small — say 
twenty  acres  or  less  on  the  average  ;  the  cultivated 
crops  are  to  a  great  extent  raised  by  spade-hus- 
bandry and  hand  cultivation,  and  the  abundant 
seaweed  provides   a  cheap  anil   viiluable   manure; 


tiie  fields  are  very  small,  and  their  pr<iductive 
ca])acit3'  is  raised  to  a  high  position.  When  deep 
)iloughing  is  needed  for  the  growth  of  root  crops, 
the  farmers  join  their  teams  and  help  each  other, 
turn  and  turn  about,  because  on  one  of  these  small 
farms  the  horses  kept  are  not  alone  sufficient  for 
the  purpose ;  and  high  farming  on  a  small  scale  is 
carried  out  to  a  degree  scarcely  to  be  found  any- 
where else,  out  of  China  and  Japan.  The  jjastures 
on  which  the  cattle  graze  in  summer  are  orchanls 
or  small  crofts,  and  from  their  birth  none  of  the 
animals  are  allowetl  to  roam  at  will,  even  in  those 
small  enclosures,  but  tiny  are  always  either 
tended  by  children 
or  tethered. 

A  convenient 
and  effectual  tether- 
peg  is  made  from  a 
bar  of  iron  three- 
quarters  of  an  inch 
in  diameter  (if  of 
steel,  half  an  inch 
is  sufficient) ,  by 
twisting  it  into  the 
form  of  a  corkscrew, 
bending  it  at  the  top 
into  a  ring, to  which 
the  rope  is  attached. 
Such  an  implement 
is  shown  at  Fig.  C, 
and  when  screwed 
into  the  ground  will 
hold  an  animal  very 
securely,  and  some- 
times be  found  very 
handy  for  other  purposes.  Another  excellent  iron 
tether-peg  has  been  patented  in  America,  and 
is  shown  in  Fig.  7.  In  this  form  the  top  is 
hollowed  out,  and  the  rope  secured  by  a  large 
knot.  Such  a  peg  cannot  possibly  be  pulled  out 
of  the  ground,  neither  can  the  rope  get  twisted 
or  caught  roiuul  the  top. 

This  method  of  treatment,  and  the  great  care 
bestowed  up(m  them  at  all  times  and  seasons,  have 
made  the  Channel  Island  cows  very  docile  and 
gentle,  though  at  the  same  time  less  hardy  and 
vigorous  than  they  otherwise  would  have  been. 
The  comparative  want  of  exercise  has,  however, 
done  more  than  affect  the  character  and  phy- 
sique of  the  breed — it  has  influenced  it  also  with 
regard    to    the   exceptional    richness  of   the   milk. 


-Improved  American 
Tether-peg. 


-^"^^ 


CHANNEL    ISLAND    CATTLE. 


•27 


"Where  there  is  little  or  no  exercise  there  is  no 
hard  breathing,  and  consequently  only  a  moderate 
degree  of  oxidation  or  combustion  of  carbon  iu 
the  animal  economy ;  and  as  the  hydrocarbons 
of  the  food  the  animal  eats  are  converted  into 
butter,  the  less  exercise  an  animal  takes  the 
richer  the  milk  will  be  in  the  fats  of  which 
butter  is  composed.  On  the  other  hand,  physical 
exercise  tends  to  the  formation  of  muscle  or 
flesh  rather  than  of  milk — that  is,  the  food  of 
the  animal  is  in  part  diverted  away  from  the 
production  of  milk,  and  especially  of  rich  milk. 
Such  being  the  ease,  it  naturally  follows  that 
animals  treated  and  bred  in  the  way  the  Jerseys 
have  been  for  generations  will  acquire,  as  one  of 
their  marked  features,  the  capacity  to  produce 
milk  very  rich  in  quality ;  and  this  feature  is 
transmitted  from  parent  to  offsf)ring  just  as  surely 
as  any  other  quality  that  has  been  acquired  by 
breeding  in  a  given  direction. 

Bred  on  islands  limited  in  size,  whose  inhabi- 
tants for  generations  past  have  been  most  particular 
not  to  admit  the  cattle  of  other  countries,  and  in 
this  way  have  constantly  aimed  at  maintaining 
the  purity  of  their  own  stock,  the  blood  of  the 
Channel  Island  cattle  has  become  more  nearly 
thorough  in  its  concentration,  prepotency,  and 
refinement,  than  that  of  most  other  breeds  of 
the  bovine  race.  In  the  island  of  Guernsey,  for 
instance,  stringent  local  laws  were  enforced  long 
before  the  present  century ;  and  when  an  attemjit 
was  made  to  have  them  repealed,  on  the  plea  of 
cheapening  butchers'  meat,  a  counter-petition  was 
j>resented  to  the  Crown  not  to  allow  the  repeal, 
and  after  the  arguments  on  both  sides  had  been 
heard  and  discussed,  an  Act  was  jjassed  strength- 
ening the  time-honoured  customs  of  the  island. 
Similar  laws  apply  to  the  island  of  Jersey.  But 
though  to  the  purity  of  the  breed  of  these  cattle 
such  uncommon  value  was  attached  a  century  or 
more  ago,  they  have  in  modem  times  been  very 
greatly  improved  by  careful  selection  in  breed- 
ing, and  the  Channel  Islanders  of  to-day  are 
very  superior  to  those  of  seventy  years  ago.  Yet, 
writing  even  in  1834,  Youatt  says*  "they  fatten 
with  a  rajsidity  that  would  be  scarcely  thought 
possible  "  when  not  in  milk.  Under  the  fostering 
influence  of  a  genial  climate,  a  fertile  soil,  kind 
and  generous   treatment,  and  a  jealous  watchful- 

* "  Cattle :    Their    Breeds,    Management,    and    Diseases," 
p.  268. 

7 


ness  as  to  purity  of  blood,  the  Jersey  cow  has 
ripened  into  what  she  is — a  small,  gentle,  and 
exceedingly  useful  animal,  famous  alike  for 
meekness  and  for  milk,  for  butter  and  for 
beauty  1  The  uncommon  richness  of  the  milk 
she  gives,  and  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the 
butter  it  will  yield,  are  characteristics  acquired 
by  careful  breeding  through  a  long  period  of 
time.  Butter  made  from  her  milk  is  a  higher 
colour  than  that  from  the  milk  of  perhaps  any 
other  breed,  and  it  has  the  adrantage  of  being 
more  easily  worked,  and  of  being  finner  and  more 
wax-like  in  texture.  The  cream  globules  are 
larger  in  size,  and  this  aceovmts  for  the  cream 
rising  so  readily  and  thoroughly  on  the  milk ; 
the  envelope  of  casein  seems  thinner  and  weaker, 
and  to  this  may  be  ascribed  the  ease  with  which 
the  butter  comes  out  of  the  cream  in  churning; 
while  the  unusual  firmness,  richness,  and  flavour 
of  the  butter  are  due  to  qualities  not  yet  de- 
termined. 

The  cream  globules  of  milk  are  in  all  cases 
infinitosimally  small,  but  they  difiier  in  size  in 
the  milk  of  different  breeds.  The  globules  in 
Ayrshire  milk  are  intermediate  between  those  of 
Dutch  and  Jersey,  and  the  following  figures 
illustrate  the  difference  between  those  in  Jersey 
and  in  Ayrshire  milk  : — 

Jersey,  average  size    ...  -       ...         ...     Jj^  of  an  inch. 

Ayrshire         ,,  ...         ...         ...     ^Lj         „ 

In  England,  Jersej^s  are  not  much  used  as 
ordinary  dairy-stock,  but  they  are  in  great  demand 
for  family  use  where  only  one  or  two  are  kept. 
In  America  many  large  herds  of  them  are  kept  for 
purely  dairy  purj)oses,  where  clotted  cream  and 
finest  quality  butter  are  in  demand;  and  it  is 
no  uncommon  thing  in  the  latter  country,  where 
results  are  carefully  noted,  for  cows  of  this  breed 
to  produce  an  average  of  upwards  of  300  lbs., 
and  in  some  cases  400  lbs.,  of  butter  in  a  year. 
Instances  are  on  record  where  single  cows  have 
yielded  even  upwards  of  500  lbs.  in  the  same 
period. 

A  curious  experiment  was  recently  made  by 
General  W.  S.  Tilton  at  the  National  Soldiers' 
Home,  near  Augusta,  Minnesota,  f  The  herd  con- 
sisted of  Dutch  cattle,  grades,  and  Jerseys.  The 
average  of  milk  per  day  for  the  whole  year,  as 

t "  Prize  Essay  on  Jersey  Cattle."  By  Georjje  E.  Waring, 
Junior, 


2S 


DAIRY    FARMINC;. 


compai-Ofl    witli   the  average   wei^Iit    of    llic  eows 
of  each  class,  was  : — 


Dutch  . 

Gradog  . 
Jtrsevs.. 


'hi  Pf''  fcnt.  of  live  weight. 


The  proportion  of  cream  was  as  follows  : — 

Of  Dutch,  it  took  ...     Sjlj  Ihs.  live  weight  to  produce 

1  quart. 
Of  Grades         „     ...     3,';-;-,  lbs. 
Of  Jerseys         „     ...     2j^  lbs.  „  „ 

So  that  if  an  animal  (other  things  being  equal) 
consumes  food  in  proportion  to  its  weight,  then, 
in  order  to  make  as  much  cream  from  the  other 
breeds  as  can  be  made  by  a  Jersey  consuming 
2,000  lbs.  of  hay,  we  must  feed  a  Dutch  cow 
2,649  lbs.,  or  a  grade  2,402  lbs.  As  the  cream  of 
Jersey  milk  produces  more  butter  per  quart  than 
that  from  the  other  sorts  of  cattle,  the  advantage 
in  butter-making  is  still  more  in  favour  of  the 
Jerse\"s. 

All  the  animals  in  the  Jersey  plate,  except  the 
one  on  the  left,  are  the  property  of  Mr.  Simpson, 
of  Wray  Park,  Reigate,  to  whose  courtesy  we  are 
indebted  for  the  photographs  from  which  the 
portraits  were  painted.  Their  names  are — the 
bull  Prince  Albert  Victor;  Jersey  Lily  next  to 
him;  Luna  in  the  foreground;  Alice  Grey  close 
behind ;  and  Her  Majesty  farther  off  on  the  right. 
The  cow  on  the  left  of  the  plate  is  an  excellent 
specimen  of  a  Jersey,  named  "  Young  Panzy," 
now  in  America,  and  exported  to  that  country 
from  the  i.sland.  The  cow  Luna  has  been  three 
seasons  in  milk,  with  the  following  record  : — 


1870 
1877 
1878 


876  I 

898 

81G 


This  is  a  return  rarely  surpassed  by  cows  of  more 
than  twice  the  size  of  Luna,  and  is  a  powerful 
testimony  to  the  extraordinary  ability  which,  under 
generous  treatment,  the  Jerseys  possess  for  the 
production  of  a  very  large  quantity  of  milk,  the 
quality  of  which  is  also  superior  to  that  of  most 
other  breeds  of  cattle.  We  have  known  the  milk 
of  a  Jersey  cow  throw  up  25  jier  cent,  of  good 
firm  cream. 

LOXGUOEN     CaTTLK. 

Y^orkshire  is  a  famous  county  !  To  have 
produced,  or  at  all  events  to  have  greatly  helped 
in  producing,  the  noblest  breed  of  cattle  the  world 
has  yet   seen — the   Shorthorns — were   enough    to 


lend  to  the  county  a  lustre  which  time  will  not 
efface.  But  this  is  not  all,  for  the  Longhoms, 
too,  sjirang  from  "  the  district  of  Craven,  a 
fertile  corner  of  the  ^^'est  Riding  of  Y'orkshire, 
bordering  on  Lancashire,"  while  their  great  rivals 
and  supplanters  came  from  the  other  side  of  the 
county.  The  Ayrshircs,  too,  are  said  to  owe  a 
great  deal  of  their  blood  to  Y'^orkshire.  We  may 
again  regret  that  nothing  more  definite  than 
tradition  exists  to  supply  us  with  a  record  of  the 
early  doings  of  these  Yorkshire  cattle.  It  is  not 
known  whether  the  Longhorns  were  imported  into 
Yorkshire  from  some  foreign  country,  or  whether 
to  the  peculiarities  of  the  soil  and  climate  of  the 
Craven  district  we  are  to  give  the  credit  of 
developing  them  out  of  the  ancient  roaming  cattle 
of  the  north  of  England.  One  thing,  we  think, 
is  circumstantially  clear,  viz.,  that  the  farmers  of 
Y'orkshire,  two  or  three  centuries  ago,  were  ahead 
of  those  of  the  rest  of  the  country  in  their  ideas 
as  to  the  improvement  of  the  bovine  race;  for, 
however  much  soil  and  climate  may  have  had 
to  do  in  the  matter,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  only  in  those  two  limited  districts  were  the 
natural  influences  so  active  as  to  produce,  unaided 
by  man,  two  of  the  most  famous  breeds  of  cattle 
that  have  yet  been  known.  Be  these  things  '  as 
they  may,  however,  the  Longhorns  had  spread 
over  most  of  the  midland  counties,  and  had 
become  the  prevailing  stock  in  them,  long  before 
the  Shorthorns  had  begun  to  migrate  far  from 
their  original  home.  Looking  at  the  stock  which 
now  prevails  in  those  counties,  it  is  difficult  to 
realise  that  Longhorns  were  universal  in  them  less 
than  a  century  ago.  But  it  is  a  fact,  nevertheless ; 
and  the  great  change  that  has  taken  place  in  the 
short  space  of  a  single  century  speaks  volumes  in 
favour  of  the  prepotency  of  the  Shorthorns. 

The -earliest  record  we  have  of  a  systematic 
attempt  to  improve  Longhorns  relates  to  that  of 
Sir  Thomas  Gresley,  of  Drakelow  House,  Burton- 
on-Trent,  and  dates  back  to  the  early  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  next  relates  to  a  farmer 
and  farrier  named  Welby,  also  a  Derbyshire  man, 
who  had  obtained  his  "  valuable  breed  of  cows  " 
from  Sir  Thomas,  and  took  a  pride  in  "  improving 
them  and  keeping  the  breed  pure."  The  next 
improver  of  the  breed,  so  far  as  we  know,  was 
a  Mr.  AN'ebster,  of  Canley,  near  Coventry;  he,  too, 
had  some  of  the  stock  of  Sir  Thomas  Gresley, 
and    was  at    great   pains    to   procure    bulls    from 


LONG  HORN    CATTLE. 


29 


Lancashire  and  Westmoreland.  Ilis  success  was  so 
marked  that  he  is  said  to  have  had  the  best  cattle 
then  known ;  and  one  of  his  admirers  says  "  he 
possessed  the  best  stock,  especially  of  heace,  that 
ever  were,  or  ever  will  be,  bred  in  the  kingdom." 
It  may  be  interesting;  to  relate  that  the  word 
"  beace,"  meaning  dairy-cattle,  is  still  used  in 
some  parts  of  the  midland  counties. 

AVe  come  next  to  the  greatest  of  all  breeders, 
the  famous  Robert  Bakewell,  of  Dishley,  who  was 
himself  born,  in  17^5,  at  the  place  whose  name, 
along  with  his  own,  will  never  be  forgotten.  It  is 
not  to  Longhorn  cattle,  however,  so  much  as  to 
Leicester  sheep,  that  Bakewell's  fame  attaches ; 
yet  he  did  so  much  even  for  the  cattle  that  posterity 
have  awarded  to  him  the  merit  of  having  created, 
as  it  were,  a  new  breed.  He  took  in  hand  the 
Longhorns,  because  the  Shorthorns  were  then  but 
little  known ;  and  we  can  but  regret  not  only  that 
he  did  not  try  his  hand  on  the  Shorthorns  as 
well,  but  that  he  left  behind  him  no  record  of 
the  eminently  sound  principles  which  guided  him 
in  his  selection  and  classification  of  animals  in 
breeding.  The  results  he  attained  we  Icnow — they 
■were,  a  small  proportion  of  bone  and  offal  and 
a  large  one  of  meat,  utility  and  beauty  of  form, 
superior  quality  of  flesh,  early  maturity,  and 
aptitude  to  fatten — but  of  his  own  unique  system 
we  know  nothing,  or  next  to  nothing,  except  from 
conjecture.  He  made  excursions  into  various  parts 
of  England,  inspecting  celebrated  herds  of  different 
breeds,  but  less  to  buy  stock  than  to  ascertain  the 
highest  possibilities  of  breeding.  He  thus  formed 
in  his  own  mind  a  sort  of  eclectic  model  of  what 
an  animal  ought  to  be,  and,  under  his  perfect  skill 
in  classing  the  animals  together,  the  various  excel- 
lences he  sought  to  attain  soon  fell  into  the  one 
mould  he  had  made  for  them.  His  Longhorns 
trace  back  to  those  of  Sir  Thomas  Grcsley,  for  he 
bought  tv.'0  heifers  from  Mr.  Webster,  of  Canley, 
and  procured  a  promising  bull  of  the  same  breed 
from  Westmoreland.  To  these  and  their  off- 
spring he  chiefly  confined  himself,  so  mating  them 
together  as  to  develop  and  establish  the  desired 
points  of  excellence,  and  as  his  stock  increased  in 
number  he  was  able  to  do  this  without  too  close 
in-breeding.  In  a  very  few  years  his  stock  were 
unapproachable  for  fineness  of  bone,  smallness  of 
offal,  quality  of  flesh,  and  symmetry  and  beauty  of 
form,  l)ut — not  for  milk.  And  yet  Longhorns  are 
not  inferior  milkers,  but,  as  in  too  many  Shorthorn 


families  of  tlie  jircsent  day,  milk  was  sacrificed  to 
other  qualities  in  the  famous  herd  of  Longhorns 
at  Dishley.  The  farms  of  Drakelow,  Canley,  and 
Dishley  stand  in  relation  to  Longhorns  much  in 
the  same  way  that  those  of  Ketton,  Kirklcvington, 
and  Warlaby  do  to  Shorthorns ;  but  the  influence 
of  the  former  has  not  radiated  so  far  as  that  of  the 
latter  trio  of  bovine  shrines,  though  these  have 
borrowed  their  light  from  the  former. 

Mr.  Bakewell  was  a  man  of  surpassing  kind- 
ness. His  servants  remained  with  liim  twenty, 
thirty,  and  even  forty  years,  and  his  treatment  of 
the  cattle  is  described  by  Arthur  Young  in  these 
terms : — "  Another  peculiarity  is  the  amazing 
gentleness  in  which  he  brings  up  these  animals. 
All  his  bulls  stand  still  in  the  field  to  be  examined ; 
the  way  of  driving  them  from  one  field  to  another, 
or  home,  is  by  a  little  switch ;  he  or  his  men  walk 
by  their  side,  and  guide  them  with  the  stick 
wherever  they  please,  and  they  are  accustomed  to 
this  method  from  being  calves.  A  lad,  with  a 
stick  three  feet  long  and  as  big  as  his  finger,  will 
conduct  a  bull  away  from  other  bulls,  and  his  cows, 
from  one  end  of  the  farm  to  the  other.  All  this 
gentleness  is  merely  the  effect  of  management ;  and 
the  mischief  often  done  by  bulls  is  undoubtedly 
owing  to  practices  very  contrary,  or  else  to  a  total 
neglect."  To  this  we  may  add  that  a  good  deal 
depends  on  the  natural  disjjosition  of  the  bull. 

We  have  said  that  the  prevailing  stock  in  the 
midland  counties  less  than  a  hundred  years  ago 
were  Longhorns,  and  that  they  have  been  displaced 
by  Shorthorns.  Writing  m  1S09,  William  Pitt 
says,*  "  The  natural  breed  of  cattle  in  Leicester- 
shire is  now  the  Longhorns."  He  also  makes 
similar  statements  vsdth  regard  to  Derbyshire  and 
Staffordshire.  The  change  from  Longhorns  has 
been  effected  by  repeatedly  crossing  with  Short- 
horn bulls  the  ordinary  dairy-cattle  of  the  country, 
and  now  the  prevailing  type  is  Shorthorn.  It 
is  thought  by  some  that  the  Shorthorn  element 
predominates  too  much,  and  that  a  dash  of  Long- 
horn  blood  now  and  then  would  be  beneficial. 
In  some  districts  this  has  been  tried,  but,  we 
believe,  with  indifferent  success.  The  offspring- 
are  found  to  be  very  raw ;  yet  we  think  if  the 
system  were  fairly  tried  through  several  genera- 
tions, the  two  elements  would  be  found  to  blend 
together,  to  the  advantage  of  the  stock  as  dairy- 

*  "  A  General  View  of  the  Agriculture  of  the  County  of 
Lpiccster,"  1809,  p.  21C. 


30 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


cattle  and  as  bcof-produoers.  The  home  of  the 
Longlioras  is  still  in  the  midland  counties,  but 
there  are  not  very  many  pure-bred  herds ;  we  arc, 
however,  glad  to  know  that  these  grand  old  cattle 
are  coming  once  more  into  favour,  and  a  herd- 
book  has  recently  been  established  to  promote  and 
systematise  the  breeding  of  jicdigrce  Longhorns. 
A  well- written  account  of  the  breed,  by  the  Hon. 
Secretary,  Mr.  Lythall,  ajipears  in  the  first  volume 
of  the  herd-book,  and  there  are  286  bulls  and 
a  still  larger  number  of  cows  entered  in  that 
volume.  These  form  nuclei  from  which  the 
Longhorns  may  again  be  disseminated  throughout 
the  country,  though  we 
can  hardly  expect  they 
will  again  occupy  the 
relative  position  they 
once  did.  Among  the 
leading  breeders  whose 
names  are  given  in  the 
first  volume  of  the  herd- 
book  we  find  His  Grace 
the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham; Sir  John  Harpur 
Crewe,  Bart.  ;  Major- 
General  Sir  F.  W.  Fitz- 
wygram,  Bart.  ;  Colonel 
Inge,  Tamworth  ;  the 
Hon.  M.  W.  B.  Nugent, 
Hinckley;  Messrs. 
B.  H.  Chapman,  St. 
Asaph;  W.  S.  Shaw, 
Lichfield  ;  R.  Brown, 
Lichfield;     J.    H.   Bur- 

bery,  Keuilworth ;  John  Godfrey,  Hinckley ;  and 
nearly  seventy  others — enough,  in  fact,  to  gua- 
rantee that  the  old  breed  of  the  midlands  still 
retains  its  hold,  and  that  it  will  not  be  lost 
sight  of. 

Among  the  folk-lore  of  the  midland  counties 
it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  traditions  to  the 
effect  that  the  old  cattle  of  the  district  were  \'ery 
good  milkers  and  beef-makers.  As  to  the  former 
qualification,  it  is  stated  by  jMr.  Pitt,  from  whom 
we  have  previously  quoted,  that  in  the  Vale  of 
Belvoir  "  the  cows  are  in  part  Holderness  or 
Shorthorn  ;  these  eat  the  most  food  and  give  the 
most  milk,  but  the  milk  of  the  Longhorn  is  richer, 
and  will  produce  more  cheese  or  butter."  And  as 
to  the  latter  In-eed,  he  tells  of  two  oxen,  bred  by 
Mr.  Princcp,  of  Croxhall,  Derbyshire,  and  fatted 


Fig.  8. —Head  of  Longhorx. 


in  1791  by  the  Marquis  of  Donegal  at  Fisher- 
wick.  "  These  oxen,"  he  says,  "  I  saw  a  short  time 
before  they  were  slaughtered ;  they  were  much 
alike  in  size  and  condition.  One  of  them  was 
carefully  weighed  by  Mr.  Bowman,  his  lordship's 
steward ;  the  four  quarters  weighed  1,988  lbs., 
the  tallow  was  200  lbs.,  and  the  hide  177  lbs.; 
this  ox,  at  the  common  price  of  beef  in  the 
country,  was  worth  £00,  or  guineas."  At  the 
sale  of  Mr.  Paget's  Longhorns,  November  14th, 
1793,  the  bull  Shakspeare  fetched  400  guineas, 
"  and  afterwards  served  cows  at  25  guineas  each. 
I  saw  him  at  Mr.  Stone's,  Qnorudon,  W.  P." 

INIany  Longhorn  cows 
have   been    famous    for 
^  gi^'ing  very  large  quan- 

tities of  milk,  but  the 
breed,  generally  speak- 
ing, is  more  celebrated 
for  the  qualitj'  than  for 
the  quantity  of  it.  Mr. 
R.  H.  Chairman,  of  St. 
Asaph,  a  famous  breeder 
of  Longhorns,  iufomis 
us  of  a  herd  of  twenty  of 
these  cattle,  belonging  to 
Mr.  Taverner,  of  Upton, 
making  4|  tons  of  cheese 
in  the  season  without 
any  extra  keep,  and 
of  one  cow  that  gave 
16  quarts  of  milk  at  a 
meal. 

The  Longhorns  whose 
portrails  are  given  in  the  plate  are  the  property 
of,  and  were  bred  by.  Sir  John  Harpur  Crewe, 
Bart.,  of  Calke  Abbey,  near  Dei-by,  by  whose 
courtesy  we  are  enabled  to  present  our  readers 
^\■ith  good  typical  specimens  of  the  breed.  Then- 
names  are  "  The  Abbot  of  Calke,"  "  Canley  2nd," 
in  the  foreground  of  the  plate ;  "  Lofty  2nd," 
the  middle  one  of  the  three  cows  farther  off; 
"Tuhp  10th,"  on  the  left;  and  "Beauty  4th," 
on  the  right  of  the  picture. 

Herefords. 

The  Herefords  are  said  to  be  an  aboriginal  race 
of  cattle,  bred  for  ages  in  the  county  from  whose 
name  their  own  name  is  derived.  Very  little  that 
is  tnistworthy  is  known  of  their  history  earlier 
than  the  present  century,  but  they  are  commonly 


Jd^ 


HEREFORD    CATTLE. 


81 


adniitted  to  be  one  of  our  oldest  breeds.  The 
Hereford  breeders  of  a  century  or  two  ago,  content 
with  their  hardy,  superior,  meat-produciuo-  breed 
of  cattle,  were  not  careful  to  leave  us  any  of 
the  information  which,  familiar  enough  to  them- 
selves, is  now  lost  to  us  for  ever.  This  absence  of 
definite  knowledge  has  led  to  many  conjectural 
statements  and  to  much  conflicting  argument  con- 
cerning this  fine  old  race  of  cattle.  Some  writers 
have  contended  that  they  were  originally  "self- 
coloured,"  like  the  Sussex  and  Devon  cattle; 
others  that  they  are  in  part  descended  from  a  very 
ancient  race  of  white  cattle,  having  red  ears, 
which  existed  a  thousand  years  ago  in  the  counties 
of  Brecknock  and  Rad- 
nor ;    and   one   writer  * 

went   so   far  as  to  say  ^  V-- ^ 

that,  more  than  two 
centuries      ago,      Lord  j:~- 

Scudamore  had  imported 
from  Flanders  cows  of 
the  "red  and  white  face" 
breed.  Mr.  Rowland- 
son  saySjt "  the  old  Here- 
fords  ai'e  said  to  have 
been  browni  or  reddish- 
brown,  and  it  is  only 
wdthin  the  last  eighty  or 
ninety  years  that  it  has 
been  the  fashion  to  breed 
for  white  faces; "  and  he 
tells  the  story  of  the 
supposed  origin  of  white 

faces,  which  is  said  to  have  been  purely  accidental, 
or  a  mere  freak  of  nature,  as  owing  to  a  favourite 
cow,  belonging  to  an  ancestor  of  j\Ir.  Tully,  who 
lived  at  Huntingdon,  having  produced  a  white- 
faced  bull-calf — an  instance,  he  says,  that  had 
"  never  been  known  to  have  occurred  before." 
But  Mr.  Smith  writes,  J  in  direct  contradiction 
to  this,  "  that  the  race  w^as  originally  red  with 
a  white  face  is  clearly  indicated  by  the  almost 
perfect  uniformity  of  colour  which  the  breed  of 
the  county  now  presents." 

In  the  presence  of  such  conflicting  testimony, 
and  in  the  absence  of  any  that  is  more  authorita- 
tive, it  is  not  easy  to  come  to  any  satisfactory 
conclusion  as  to  what  the  ancient  Herefords  really 

*  Jlr.  J.  A.  Knight,  of  Downton  Castle,  1809. 

f  Journal  of  the  Eoyal  Agricultural  Society,  1853,  p.  450. 

+  Joiininl  of  the  Eoyal  Agricultural  Society,  1858,  p.  366. 


were  in  colour.  That  they  have  not  always  been 
so  uniform  in  colour  as  they  now  are  is  evident 
from  the  fact  that  Mr.  Eyton,  on  issuing  in  1845 
the  first  volume  of  the  Hereford  Herd-book,  found 
it  exijedieut  to  divide  them  into  four  classes — viz., 
mottle-faced,  light  grey,  dark  grey,  and  red  with 
white  face.  The  first  three  varieties  are  now 
nearly  extinct.  Writing  in  1805,  Mr.  Duncumb 
says  :  § — "  The  cattle  of  Herefordshire  have  long 
been  esteemed  superior  to  most,  if  not  all,  the 
breeds  in  the  island.  Those  of  Devonshire  and 
Sussex  approach  nearest  to  them  in  general 
appearance.  Large  size,  an  atliletic  form,  and 
unusual  neatness  chai-acterise  the  true  sort;  the 
prevailing  colour  is  a 
reddish  -  brown,  \vith 
^~     ~  white  faces."     And  ]\Ir. 

Youatt,  writing  thirty 
years  later,  says  :  ||  — 
"  They  are  principally 
distinguished  by  their 
white  faces,  throats,  and 
bellies.  In  a  few  the 
white  extends  to  the 
shoulders.  The  old  Here- 
fords were  brown  or  red- 
brown,  with  not  a  spot 
of  white  about  them. 
It  is  only  within  the 
last  fifty  or  sixty  years 
that  it  has  been  the 
fashion  to  breed  for 
white  faces."  Rowland- 
sou's  statement  respecting  colour  is  evidently  a 
transcript  of  Youatt's.  It  is  probable  that  the  red 
with  white  face  is,  and  always  has  been,  the  true 
Hereford  colour,  and  that  any  deviations  from  it 
are  the  results  of  various  haphazard  crosses  with 
other  and  adjoining  breeds  of  cattle ;  for,  as  Mr. 
Duckham  well  observes,^  "  had  the  previous  tale 
of  the  bull-calf  been  true,  his  progeny  could  not 
possibly  have  given  the  prevailing  character  to  the 
breed  of  the  county  in  so  short  a  space  of  time." 
Even  if  it  had  been  possible  that  one  animal,  born 
five  quarters  of  a  century  ago,  should  have  given 
to  an  entire  breed  a  new  and  distinct  character,  so 

§  "General  View  of  the  Agricultui-e  of  the  County  of 
Hereford,"  1805,  p.  110. 

II  "  Cattle :  Their  Breeds,  Management,  and  Diseases,"  1834, 
p.  31. 

•U  Journal  of  the  Bath  and  West  of  England  Society,  1876, 
p.  1-27. 


Fig.  9.— Head  of  Loxghoejt 


32 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


far  as  colour  is  concerned,  there  would  still  be 
numerous  instances  of  departure  from  it,  and  not 
that  striking  uniformity  that  we  see.  It  is,  how- 
ever, possible  that  in  the  far-away  past,  before 
the  breed  became  domesticated,  the  progenitors 
of  the  Hereford  cattle  were,  as  most  animals  in 
a  state  of  nature  are,  self-coloured ;  and  it  is 
also  possible  that  the  white  portion  in  the  colour 
of  the  present  representatives  of  the  race  may  be 
due  to  an  ancient  cross  with  the  wild  white  cattle 
of  Wales. 

But  however  many  differences  in  colour  there 
may  have  been  among  llerefords  in  the  past,  the 
foi-m  and  build  of  the  different  sorts  were  much 
the  same.  They  were,  as  they  are,  noble-looking, 
having  a  free  and  easy  gait,  heavy-necked,  strong- 
boned,  deep  in  the  fore-quarters  and  rather  light 
in  the  hind.  The  characteristics  of  the  red  and 
white  faces  are  stated  by  Mr.  Duckham  in  the 
following  terms  : — "  The  face,  throat,  chest,  lower 
part  of  the  body  and  legs,  together  with  the  crest 
or  mane,  and  the  tip  of  the  tail,  a  beautifully  clear 
white ;  a  small  red  spot  on  the  eye,  and  a  round 
red  spot  in  the  middle  of  the  white  on  the  throat, 
are  distinctive  marks  that  have  many  admirers. 
The  countenance  is  at  once  pleasant,  cheerful,  and 
open,  denoting  good  temper  and  that  quietude  of 
disposition  which  is  so  essential  to  the  successful 
grazing  of  all  ruminating  animals  ;  yet  the  eye  is 
full  and  lively;  the  head  small  in  comparison  to 
the  substance  of  the  body;  the  chest  deep  and  full, 
the  bosom  sufficiently  prominent,  the  shoulder- 
blades  thin,  flat,  and  sloping  towards  the  chine, 
and  well  covered  on  the  outside  witli  mellow  flesh ; 
and  so  beautifully  do  the  blades  blend  into  the 
body,  that  it  is  difficult  to  tell,  in  a  well-fed 
animal,  where  they  are  set  on ;  the  chine  and 
loin  broad,  hips  long  and  moderately  broad,  legs 
straight  and  small,  the  rump  forming  a  straight 
line  with  the  back ;  thighs  full  of  flesh  to  the 
hocks,  a  well-sprung  rib  and  deep  flank ;  the  whole 
carcase  well  and  evenly  covered  with  rich  mellow 
flesh ;  the  hide  thick,  yet  mellow,  well  covered 
with  soft  glossy  hair,  having  a  tendency  to  curl." 
So  far  as  bonis  are  concerned,  they  belong  to 
what  is  called  the  "middle  horn"  class. 

Hereford  steers  are  still  extensively  used  in 
some  of  the  south-western  counties  for  work  on 
the  farm ;  and  after  working  for  a  few  years  they 
are  fed  for  the  butcher.  The  beef  of  this  race  of 
cattle  is  held  in  hit^h  estimation  on  account  of  the 


pleasant  admixture  of  fat  and  lean  and  the  excellent 
flavour;  and  male  and  female  alike  are  said  to  be 
second  to  no  other  breed  in  rapid  fattening  on  a 
given  quantity  of  food.  Though  not  so  hardy  as 
the  Devons,  they  are  active  in  search  of  food,  doing 
well  in  districts  not  suitable  to  Shorthorns. 

Hereford  cows,  as  a  rule,  are  not  good  milkers. 
Having  in  the  past  been  only  required  to  rear 
their  own  offspring,  as  the  custom  of  their  native 
district  is,  they  have  in  this  respect  been  left 
almost  wholly  in  a  state  of  nature.  Hence  their 
milking  properties  have  been  left  to  take  care  of 
themselves,  aptitude  to  fatten  having  been  culti- 
vated instead.  It  is  probable  that  no  equally 
capable  milkers  have  been  allowed  to  acquire  so 
poor  a  reputation  as  dairy-cattle.  AA'hen  the  re- 
quirements of  the  offspring  are  the  sole  medium 
by  which  the  parent's  milk  is  regulated,  it  follows 
that  no  great  quantity  of  milk  will  be  given,  and 
the  period  of  its  flow  will  be  of  limited  duration — 
this  is  what  nature  dictates.  And  deep-milking 
characteristics  are  the  result  of  treatment  tending 
that  way,  of  breeding  for  that  object,  and  of 
domestication  generally.  These  kinds  of  treatment 
and  breeding  have  not  been  applied  to  the  Here- 
fords  in  times  gone  by.  But  in  many  parts  they 
are  now  being  bred  with  a  view  to  the  dairy,  and 
their  milking  properties  are  being  specially  de- 
veloj)ed ;  their  calves  are  nt,  g  allowed  to  suck  from 
them,  and  they  are  being  hand-milked  instead ; 
and  they  are  already,  under  training  in  the  right 
direction,  rapidly  gaining  favour  as  dairy-cows, 
and  are  proving  themselves  to  be  well  qualified 
for  the  production  of  cheese  and  butter,  for  their 
milk,  though  not  very  great  in  quantity,  is  rich 
in  quality.     So  far,  good. 

Mr.  Duckham  says  : — "  The  Hereford  is  pecu- 
liarly a  flesh-producing  animal,  displaying  great 
aptitude  to  fatten,  and  unsurpassed  for  early 
maturity.  The  soil  of  the  county,  the  home  of  the 
breed,  is  not  adapted  for  dairy  purposes ;  thus  the 
general  system  of  calf-rearing  is  to  allow  it  to  ruu 
with  its  dam  during  the  summer  months,  weaning 
it  when  the  cow  is  brought  to  the  straw-yard  for 
the  winter.  In  all  well-cared  for  herds  the  calf  is 
never  allowed  to  lose  the  flesh  it  has  thus  acquired, 
but  during  the  winter  months  it  is  fed  ujxju 
hay,  roots,  and  a  small  allowance  of  linseed  cake. 
Whether  steer  or  heifer,  it  pays  for  a  fairly  liberal 
treatment,  that  it  may  go  out  to  grass  in  the 
spring  in  fine  condition.     The  steers  so  managed 


DEVON    CATTLE. 


33 


will,  at  eighteen  months  old,  rcaUsc  tL  pur  month 
on  their  age." 

It  is  claimed  for  the  Ilerefonls  that  they  will 
fatten  on  less  food  than  the  Shorthorns,  that  they 
mature  as  early,  that  their  flesh  provides  us  with 
hetter  beef,  and  that  they  are  hardier  and  more 
active.  It  is  not,  of  course,  claimed  that  they  are 
as  good,  or  nearly  as  good,  dairy-cows ;  but  that 
they  are  in  most  other,  if  not  all  other,  respects 
the  equal  of  their  great  rival,  and  that  in  some  of 
them  they  are  decidedly  superior.  But  if  their 
milk  is  smaller  in  quantity  than  that  of  the  Short- 
horns, it  is  richer  in  quality.  Whoever  visits  the 
Bath  and  West  of  England  Society's  Show  will 
find  Ilerefords  so  superbly  well-projiortioned  that 
no  kind  of  animals,  be  they  Shorthorns  or  any 
other,  can  be  found  to  surpass  them.  For  a  long- 
time they  have  been  in  great  demand  for  grazing 
purposes  in  the  counties  adjoining  the  metropolis, 
and  perhaps  for  a  still  longer  time  they  have  been 
highly  esteemed  on  account  of  the  fine  quality  of 
beef  they  yield,  which,  "  by  the  intermixture  of 
fat  and  lean,  presents  that  marbled  appearance 
so  much  prized  by  the  epicure,  and  commands  the 
top  price  in  the  market." 

In  parts  of  the  United  States,  in  Canada,  in 
New  Zealand,  and  in  Australia,  the  Herefords  are 
great  favourites.  In  the  two  former  countries  the 
breeding  of  these  cattle  will  probably  be  stimulated 
by  the  fat  cattle  and  fresh  meat  trade  which  has 
been  established  quite  recently,  because  they  are 
specially  well  adapted  for  meat  production.  In 
those  foreign  countries  to  which  they  have  been 
sent  already,  they  are  found  to  readily  acclimatise 
and  adapt  themselves  to  new  conditions,  retaining 
all  the  while  their  character,  form,  and  quality. 
These  facts  go  far  to  prove  antiquity  of  type,  for 
recently-acquu-ed  qualities  do  not  stand  the  test 
of  other  countries  and  climates.  They  are  a  noble 
race  of  cattle,  handsome  and  picturesque,  docile 
and  profitable;  and  now  that  they  are  turning 
out  to  be  reasonably  good  milkers,  we  may  expect 
them  to  multiply  in  number  among  the  dairy- 
farms  of  Britain.  Public  attention  is  being  turned 
toward  them,  and  they  have  been  and  are  being 
greatly  improved  by  careful  selection  in  breeding. 

The  Devons. 

The  northern  part  of  the  county  of  Devon  has 
long  possessed  a  breed  of  cattle,  whose  compactness 
and  general  beauty,  activity  as  workers,  and  apti- 


(ude  to  fatten  have  made  the  county  and  the  cattle 
alike  famous.  In  the  southern  part  of  the  county 
a  similar  race  of  cattle  prevails,  possessing  the  same 
general  characteristics  of  form  and  colour  as  those 
of  the  northern  part,  but  somewhat  larger  and 
coarser.  The  difference  is  chiefly  caused  by  the 
difference  in  soil  and  climate.  In  the  north  there 
is  much  poor,  very  poor  land,  which  is  bleak,  wet, 
and  exposed,  and  it  is  here  that  the  North  Devons 
have  acquired  their  compactness,  hardiness,  and 
activity.  In  the  southern  and  western  counties  of 
England  it  is  still  quite  common  to  use  steers  for 
draught  purposes  both  on  the  road  and  in  the 
fields,  though  not  so  much  on  the  former;  and  for 
this  purpose  the  North  Devon  steers  are  said  to 
be  unequalled  by  those  of  any  other  breed. 

If  it  be  true  that  what  is  called  "  self -colour  " 
— that  is,  the  same  colour  throughout — is  a  proof 
of  the  antiquity  of  breed,  then  the  Devons  may 
fairly  be  regarded  as  one  of  our  aboriginal  breeds 
of  cattle.  Red  is  the  true  Devon  colour,  though 
the  red  varies  as  to  shades  from  a  rich  dark  red  to 
an  almost  pale  chestnut ;  still,  the  colour  prevails 
all  over  the  animal,  and  no  other  colour  is  found 
among  it  in  patches,  as  the  case  is  with  most  of 
the  northern  breeds  of  cattle — to  wit,  the  Short- 
horns, the  Longhorns,  and  the  Ayrshires.  Some 
animals  have  patches  of  white  among  the  red,  but 
these  are  regarded  as  not  true  Devons.  Domestica- 
tion has  not  at  p)resent,  whatever  crossing  may  have 
done,  caused  much,  if  any,  deviation  from  the  true 
original  colour.  At  the  famous  Smithfield  Show 
the  place  of  honour  in  the  catalogue  is  always 
given  to  the  Devons,  and  their  singular  neatness, 
compactness,  and  symmetry  always  command  the 
admiration  of  the  visitors  who  come  to  the  show. 
They  have  also  a  gentle  and  pilacid  look  which  is 
very  attractive ;  and  while  their  hardiness  enables 
them  to  withstand  a  cold  climate,  and  to  thrive  on 
a  herbage  where  the  larger  Hereford  and  Short- 
horn would  starve,  they  always  do  remarkably  well 
when  removed  to  a  warmer  climate  and  a  richer 
soil.  The  North  Devons,  too,  may  be  regarded  as 
the  true  Devons,  for  while  the  larger  and  coarser 
cattle  of  the  south  of  the  county  owe  their  differ- 
ences of  type  chiefly  to  a  richer  soil  and  a  warmer 
climate,  they  are  said  to  owe  them  also  in  some 
measure  to  crosses  with  the  old  Somerset  and 
Cornish  cattle ;  the  South  Devons  are,  in  fact,  an 
offshoot  of  the  North  Devons,  more  or  less  altered 
by  the  conditions  under  which  they  have  been  bred. 


31 


DAIliV    l-AUMIXC 


The  Devons  are  the  prevailiiioj  cattle  in  several 
districts  in  the  southern  counties.  Though  e\d- 
(k'ntly  related,  the  cattle  of  these  districts  are 
found  to  vary  in  size,  the  Somersetshire  variety 
being  larger  than  the  North  Devons,  and  those  of 
South  Hams  larger  still.  The  last  mentioned  arc 
locally  known  as  the  "  Southammer  breed,"  and 
are  said  to  be  a  very  good  variety  both  for  beef 
and  milk.  These  several  varieties,  indeed,  form  by 
easy  gradations  the  connecting  links  by  which  the 
relationship  Ijetwecn  the  Sussex  and  Devon  cattle 
is  inferentially  established.  Naturalists  trace  in 
the  Highland  Kyloes,  one  or  two  of  the  "Welsh 
breeds,  and  the  Devons,  the  descendants,  more  or 
less  altered  by  crossing,  by  soil,  and  by  climate,  of 
the  Bos  longifrons,  the  small  Celtic  breed,  which, 
was  sujiplanted  by  the  Bos  iirus  [anfiquoi-um),  or 
Bos  priini genius  [recentiornm),  varieties  of  which,  it 
is  supposed,  were  introduced  by  the  Teutonic  ally- 
conquerors  of  Britain,  and  to  which  it  is  thought 
our  different  varieties  of  cattle  are  traceable. 

The  Devons  are  not  celebrated  for  giving 
large  quantities  of  milk,  but  their  milk  is  rich  in 
quality,  and  Devonshire  cream  is  known  far  and 
wide.  A  large  quantity  of  milk  is  indeed  scarcely 
compatible  with  very  good  quality ;  but  with 
regard  to  this  matter  there  is  a  great  difference 
among  breeds  of  cows.  The  size  of  the  cow,  again, 
is,  or  ought  to  be,  taken  into  consideration  with 
respect  to  quantity  of  milk,  and  as  the  Devon  cows 
are  rather  small  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  they 
should  give  large  quantities  of  milk,  and  par- 
ticularly so  when  they  have  not  been  specially  bred 
for  that  piirpose,  as,  for  instance,  the  Ayrshires 
have.  In  times  past  the  Devons,  like  the  Herefords, 
have  been  bred  chiefly  with  a  view  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  male  rather  than  the  female  animal, 
because  of  the  value  of  the  steers  for  draught  pur- 
poses; the  cow,  consequently,  is  as  a  rule  much 
smaller  than  the  ox.  Now,  however,  the  ease  is 
being  altered,  and  the  cows  themselves  are  being 
greatly  improved,  while  they  are  becoming  more 
valuable  as  dairy-cattle.  As  beef-makers  the 
Devons  are  not  easily  excelled  by  any  bi-eed  what- 
ever, and  comparisons  have  lieen  made  which  prove 
that  on  a  given  quantity  and  quality  of  food  they 
will  make  more  beef  than  almost  any  other  breed, 
while  the  beef  itself  is  of  excellent  quality,  com- 
l)act,  sweet,  and  juicy.  The  North  Devons  com- 
monly have  a  beautiful  curly  coat  of  hair,  whilst 
that  of  (he  South  Devons  is  usually  straight  and  less 


pleasing.  The  skin  is  mellow  and  elastic,  handling 
well.  The  bone  is  usually  very  fine,  and  the  offal 
generally  is  small  in  proportion  to  the  meat.  The 
horns  are  of  the  middle  size.  The  countenance 
is  cheerful  and  pleasing,  and  presents  a  deer-like 
appearance  that  establishes  its  beauty  and  refine- 
ment. The  eye  is  full,  round,  and  clear,  and  has 
a  pale,  golden-coloured  circle  around  it,  which  adds 
to  its  expression.  A  well-bred  fat  Devon  presents 
a  form  whose  symmetry  and  compactness  are  as 
nearly  faultless  as  anything  we  can  hope  to  attain, 
and  it  may,  in  fact,  be  taken  as  a  model  in  the 
breeding  of  bovine  stock. 

Sussex  Cattle. 

Leaving  out  the  question  of  size,  the  resem- 
blance between  the  Sussex  and  the  Devon  cattle 
is  striking.  They  are  of  the  same  colour,  a  rich 
rod  throughout ;  and  they  are  much  the  same  in 
form,  except  that  the  former  are  larger,  coarser,  and 
somewhat  less  proportionate.  The  Sussex  more 
nearly  resemble  the  Herefords  with  regard  to  having 
strongly-developed  fore-quarters,  giving  an  undue 
proportion  of  less  valuable  meat.  The  resemblance 
between  the  two  former  breeds  is,  however,  so 
great  that,  taking  into  consideration  the  effect  of 
locality,  it  is  obvious  they  have  at  some  period 
Ijeen  one  and  the  same  breed.  It  is  probable  that 
the  Sussex  cattle  are  an  offshoot  of  the  aboriginal 
Devons,  though  of  this  we  have  no  proof.  Like 
the  Devons,  they  have  in  the  past  been  bred  chiefly 
with  a  view  to  draught  purposes,  but  now  the 
breeding  is  tending  in  the  direction  of  beef  and 
milk.  They  are  not  now,  and  have  not  been  in 
the  past,  celebrated  for  milking  properties;  and  in 
this  respect  they  partake  of  the  general  character 
of  the  breeds  of  cattle  in  the  southern  counties, 
for,  while  cattle  have  been  largely  bred  in  the 
north  for  milk  and  beef,  they  have  been  bred  in 
the  south  for  work  and  beef.  The  direction  in 
which  the  breeding  of  the  northern  animals  has 
been  made  to  tend  is  the  one  which  is  now  most 
in  favour  and  most  useful ;  for  though  steers  are 
still  used  extensively  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil 
in  the  southern  and  western  counties,  they  are 
yearly  becoming  less  valuable  for  this  purpose,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  milk  is  in  great  demand  for 
consumption  in  towns  and  cities.  Youatt  says : — 
"  The  Sussex  cow  does  not  answer  for  the  dairy. 
Although  her  milk  is  of  very  good  quality,  it  is  so 
inferior  in  quantity  to  that  of  the  Holderness  or 


POLLED  BREEDS  OF  CATTLE. 


35 


Suffolk,  that  she  is  little  regarded  for  the  making' 
of  butter  or  cheese.  Almost  every  mongrel  breed 
finds  its  wa}'  into  the  dairy  in  preference  to  her." 

Great  pains  are  now  being  taken  to  breed  the 
Sussex  cattle  without  the  large  and  heavy  bone 
which  is  no  longer  necessary,  and  the  model  aimed 
at  is  the  smallest  bone  with  the  largest  quantity 
of  flesh.  In  the  j)ast  there  have  been  very  large 
Sussex  oxen.  One  fattened  many  years  ago  at 
Burton  Park  was  a  huge  animal :  his  height  was 
5  ft.  6  in. ;  his  length,  from  the  back  of  the  horns 
to  the  tail,  8  ft. ;  wdth  from  hip-bone  to  hip- 
bone, 2  ft.  8  in. ;  depth  of  shoulder,  4  ft.  7  in.  ; 
girth  behind  the  shoulder,  10  ft.;  and  his  weight, 
287  st.  4  ll)s.  This  animal  was  of  course  a  wondei', 
but  he  had  an  immense  quantity  of  bone,  and  he 
was  generally  coarse  and  uneven — not  in  any  sense 
a  profitable  butchers'  beast.  Yet,  as  a  rule,  the 
Sussex  oxen  are  favourites  with  butcher  and  con- 
sumer alike,  and  mature  in  good  time,  making- 
great  weights  at  an  early  age.  At  the  Smithfield 
Show  the  fat  Sussex  steers  usually  form  a  j)romi- 
nent  and  even  handsome  exhibition  in  themselves; 
and  whilst  some  breeds  are  said  to  be  stationary 
so  far  as  improvement  goes,  the  Sussex  cattle  are 
said  to  be  improving  year  by  year  in  form  and  in 
quality.  The  Sussex  breed  has  not  at  present  been 
able  to  win  the  Blue  Riband  of  the  Smithfield 
Show,  but  it  may  do  yet.  We  tliiuk  it  will  one 
of  these  days. 

Polled  Breeds. 

The  different  breeds  of  polled  cattle  have  never 
yet,  in  our  opinion,  met  with  the  amount  of  favour 
that  they  really  merit.  Apart  from  the  fact  of 
their  not  being  disfigured  by  those  ugly  and 
dangerous  excrescences  called  "  horns  ■" — a  most 
benevolent  omission  by  nature  in  their  case — they 
are  really  a  superior  type  of  cattle.  Some  of  them 
are  celebrated  for  milking  properties,  and  all  of 
them  for  the  quality  of  their  beef,  while  many  of 
them  come  to  early  maturity  and  attain  consider- 
able weights  at  a  3routhful  age.  But  the  absence 
of  horns  is  their  chief  merit  over  the  other  breeds, 
and  it  is  no  small  merit.  It  is  not  claimed  for 
them  that  they  are  superior  to  some  of  our  other 
breeds  in  the  various  qualities  for  which  cattle  are 
most  valuable ;  but  that  they  are  capital  feeders 
is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  champion  prize  of 
the  Smithfield  Show  has  on  three  occasions  in  the 
past  twelve  years  been  awarded  to  them — in  each 
8 


case,  however,  to  Scotch  polled  cattle.  Yet  the 
mere  fact  that  they  have  no  horns  is  a  most  valu- 
able recommendation  of  these  cattle.  Nature  gave 
horns  to  cattle  for  purjioses  of  defence  and  attack, 
and  in  a  ■wild  state  the  animals  no  doubt  required 
them  at  times;  but  in  a  state  of  domestication 
horns  are  not  only  useless,  but  a  source  of  danger, 
mischief,  and  inconvenience.  If,  in  the  breeding 
of  all  kinds  of  cattle,  horns  could  be  abolished, 
the  gain  would  be  great.  The  Americans  are 
turning  their  eyes  wistfully  in  the  direction  of 
hornless  cattle,  because  of  their  superior  handiness 
for  the  cattle  trade  to  England ;  and,  indeed,  there 
can  be  no  question  that  in  no  single  instance  would 
the  absence  of  horns  be  anything  but  an  unmixed 
good.  The  cattle  would  be  less  spiteful  toward 
each  other  if  they  had  no  weapons  wherewith  to 
put  their  spite  into  practice,  and  very  little  harm 
could  be  done  by  bare  heads  only.  There  has  been 
an  outcry  against  the  cruelty  involved  in  the 
practice  of  dishorning  cattle — that  is,  cutting  off 
the  horns  close  to  the  head — but  in  some  circum- 
stances there  may  be  less  of  cruelty  in  that  than 
in  leaving  them  in  possession  of  weapons  with  which 
to  rip  each  other  uj)  when  they  get  a  chance  to  do 
so.  We  do  not,  however,  advocate  cutting  off  the 
horns  of  cattle,  but  we  do  recommend  the  breeding 
of  animals  to  -whom  a  beneficent  nature  has  denied 
those  terrible  weapons. 

Galloways. 

The  Scotch  Galloways  are,  and  long  have 
been,  a  noted  breed  of  cattle.  Centuries  back 
they  were  sent  in  numbers  to  be  fattened  in 
England ;  and  writing  nearly  half  a  century 
ago,  Youatt  tells  us  "  the  polled  beasts  were 
always  favourites  with  the  English  farmers." 
Long  before  the  railways  were  dreamt  of,  Youatt 
says,  "for  more  than  150  years/'  very  large 
numbers  of  these  cattle  were  sent  to  be  fed  on 
the  rich  pastures  of  Leicestershire  and  the  Eastern 
counties.  Mr.  Gilbert  Murray  tells  us  that  as 
many  as  25,000  to  30,000  head  were  thus  sent 
away  from  Dumfries  alone,  the  journey  occupying 
several  weeks,  and  he  assumes,  we  think  on  fairly 
good  grounds,  that  the  polled  cattle  of  Norfolk 
and  Suffolk  are  descended  from  these  Scotch 
migrants.  Youatt  stated  long  since  that  "the 
Suffolk,  like  the  Norfolk  beast,  undoubtedly  sprang 
from  the  Galloway."  The  Galloways  were  liked 
in  England  because  "they  fattened  as  kindly  as 


86 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


the  others,  they  attained  a  larger  size,  their  ilesh 
lost  uone  of  its  firmness  of  grain,  and  they 
exhibited  no  trace  of  the  wildness  and  dangerous 
ferocity  whicli  were  sometimes  serious  objections 
to  the  Highland  breed." 

The  distinguishing  featiire  of  the  race  is  the 
hornless  head,  both  in  the  male  and  female;  the 
colour  of  the  animals  is  mostly  black,  though  some 
true-bred  ones  are  red  or  bro\\Ti,  or  even  dun,  and 
others,  again,  have  white  faces,  and  sometimes  arc 
marked  with  white  in  other  parts.  They  are 
symmetrical  and  compact  in  form ;  the  skin, 
though  thick,  is  soft  and  mellow  to  the  touch, 
and  is  covered  with  a  wealth  of  long  silky  hair; 
the  flesh  is  well  and  evenly  distributed  over  the 
frame,  coming  well  down  to  the  knees  and  hocks ; 
the  shoulders  are  well  thrown  back,  giving  width 
to  the  chine  and  expansive  prominence  to  the 
chest;  they  have  long  sides,  with  well-sprung 
ribs  and  well-rounded  hips;  are  straight  and  broad 
in  the  back,  short  in  the  leg,  and  exhibit  every 
symptom  of  soundness  and  hardiness  of  constitu- 
tion. But  they  are  not  good  milkere,  and  for  this 
reason  they  have  been  supplanted  in  some  districts 
by  the  Ayrshires.  Youatt  tells  ns  that  a  Gal- 
loway cow,  giving  12  to  16  quarts  of  milk  per 
day,  is  considered  a  very  superior  milker.  The 
milk,  however,  is  very  rich  in  fats,  and  for  this 
reason  the  Galloways  are  good  butter-cows ;  but  it 
is  as  butchers'  animals  that  they  have  chiefly  won 
the  good  opinion  of  those  who  know  them  well. 
They  would  greatly  improve  as  milkers  if  they 
were  bred  and  trained  in  that  direction. 

The  counties  of  Wigton,  Dumfries,  and  Kirk- 
cudbright form  the  original  home  of  the  Gal- 
loways ;  and  though  they  now  occupy  a  less  area  in 
these  counties,  or  at  all  events  are  not  so  numerous 
as  they  formerly  were,  they  are  still  held  in  high 
esteem  in  many  parts. 

Polled  Angus  or  Aberdeenshire  Cattle. 

There  are  many  points  of  resemblance  between 
these  cattle  and  the  Galloways,  but  they  are  usually 
larger,  flatter  in  the  side,  thinner  in  the  shoulder, 
and  longer  in  the  leg,  so  that  their  de\-iations 
from  the  Galloway  type  can  hardly  be  regarded 
as  improvements  on  it.  Nevertheless,  they  are 
fine,  noble  cattle,  and  in  the  hands  of  such  breeders 
as  Sir  George  Macpherson  Grant,  Mr.  M'Combic, 
(if  Tillyfour,  &c.  &:c.,  they  have  attained  con- 
siderable  celebrity,  and   are  still  gaining  ground. 


At  the  Paris  Exhibition  of  1S7S  these  cattle 
won  the  prize  for  the  best  group  of  foreign  cattle. 
They  are  very  hardy,  good  breeders,  little  liable  to 
disease,  arrive  early  at  maturity,  fatten  quickly, 
and  thrive  well  on  a  moderate  quantity  of  meat. 
The  prevailing  colour  is  black,  sometimes  with  a 
few  spots;  but  some  are  a  kind  of  yellow  of  various 
shades,  or  a  dun,  and  they  have  a  thinner  skin  and 
a  smoother  coat  than  the  Galloways.  Nothing 
whatever  is  known  of  the  origin  of  either  of  these 
breeds  of  cattle,  but  the}'  are  regarded  as  distinct 
from  each  other,  though  it  is  more  than  probable 
that  they  were  once  the  same.  Like  the  Gallo- 
ways, the  Angus  cattle  are  not  good  milkers 
when  compared  with  Ayrshires  or  Jerseys — not 
good,  that  is,  for  the  size  of  them ;  but  this 
fault  is  attributable  to  the  long-established  prac- 
tice of  allowing  the  calves  to  suck  from  their 
dams.  There  are,  however,  many  excellent  milkers 
among  the  Aberdeens,  and  it  is  safe  to  assume 
from  these  instances  that  the  breed  is  not  by 
any  means  destitute  of  the  qualities  which  go 
to  make  up  a  first-class  dairy-breed ;  the  one 
thing  needful  is  to  cultivate,  as  has  been  done 
in  other  breeds,  the  development  of  the  lacteal 
organs.  Were  they  treated  as  the  Ayrshires 
or  the  Shorthorns  have  been,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  of  their  improving  in  milking  proper- 
ties. When  regularly  milked  by  hand  they  are 
commonly  found  to  give  a  very  fair  quantity,  and 
under  this  training,  and  careful  breeding  in  the 
same  direction,  these  polled  cattle  would,  after  a 
time,  be  found  equal  to  some  of  the  more  widely- 
established  dairy-breeds.  Deep  milking,  like  any 
other  physical  property  or  quality,  is  a  question 
of  breeding  and  training.  By  ^Ir.  M'Combie's 
courtesy  we  are  enabled  to  place  before  our 
i-eaders,  in  the  plate  of  Polled  Aberdeens,  the 
group  of  animals  to  which  were  awarded,  as  the 
best  animids  for  breeding  and  for  beef-producing 
puqjoses,  the  Grand  Prize  of  the  Paris  Exhibi- 
tion of  1878.  Their  names  are — Gaily,  Sybil 
2nd,  Pride  of  Aberdeen  Oth,  Halt  2ud,  Witch  of 
Endor,  and  the  young  bull  Paris. 

Norfolk   and   Suffolk   Polls. 

"  Until  the  beginning  of  last  century,"  says 
Youatt,  writing  in  1831',  "and  for  some  yeai-s 
afterwaixls,  the  native  breed,  of  Norfolk  be- 
longed to  the  middle  horns.  Their  colour  was 
usually   retl,  or  sometimes  black;  they    possessed 


■^/■/^  i  \ 


WEST    HIGHLAND    CATTLPl 


37 


many  of  the  eliaracters  of  the  Devons  on  a 
smaller  scale,  with  their  pointed,  turned -up 
horns.  A  few  of  them  are  yet  occasionally 
seen  in  the  less  cultivated  parts  of  the  country, 
and  in  the  possession  of  the  small  farmer  or 
the  cottager.  They  have,  however,  been  almost 
superseded  by  a  polled  breed."  And  he  goes  on 
to  state  that  the  farmers  of  Noi-folk  selected  some 
of  the  imported  Galloways,  probably  on  account  of 
their  superior  form  and  quality,  and  bred  fi-om 
them  a  race  of  cattle  superior  to  their  own — a  race 
they  had  long  been  in  the  habit  of  procuring  from 
Scotland;  and  the  polled  cattle  gradually  so  gained 
on  the  horned  ones  that  they  came  after  a  time  to 
be  regarded  as  the  peculiar  and  native  breed  of  the 
county.  "  They  retain  much  of  the  general  form 
of  their  ancestors,  the  Galloways,  but  not  all  their 
excellences,"  says  he;  "they  have  been  enlarged 
but  not  improved  by  a  southern  climate  and  a 
richer  soil." 

It  is  very  interesting  to  read,  in  a  valuable  work* 
recently  published,  of  the  existence  in  Norfolk  of 
a  race  of  white  polled  cattle  which,  springing 
directly  from  the  ancient  wild  cattle  of  the  country, 
had  become  more  or  less  domesticated,  and  were 
excellent  milkers.  The  Norfolk  branch  of  this 
race  was  brought  by  the  first  Lord  SufReld  from 
Middleton  Park,  in  Lancashire,  to  Gunton  Park,  in 
Norfolk.  The  Gunton  Park  herd  no  longer  exists, 
but  we  are  told,  in  the  work  above  alluded  to,  that 
"  it  had,  however,  while  it  existed,  a  great  effect 
upon  the  cattle  of  the  district."  It  is  probable, 
therefore,  that  the  cattle  now  known  as  the 
Norfolk  polled  have  other  polled  blood  in  their 
veins  than  that  of  the  Scotch  Galloways,  and 
it  would  be  interesting  to  ascertain  the  process, 
with  its  variations,  by  means  of  which  the  two 
became  merged  together.  The  Norfolk  polled 
cattle  of  to-day  bear,  it  is  true,  no  resemblance  in 
colour  to  the  white  polled  cattle  of  Gunton  Park ; 
but  as  colour  is  a  property  which  undergoes  great 
modifications  in  the  domestication  of  cattle,  the 
difference  is  no  j)roof  of  non-relationshij)  between 
the  two. 

The  Suffolk  cattle  are,  according  to  the  oldest 
records,  said  to   have  been  polled,  and  they  were 

*  "The  "Wild  'RTiite  Cattle  of  Great  Britain  :  An  Account 
of  their  Origin,  History,  and  Present  State."  By  the  late 
Rev.  John  Storer,  of  HelUdon,  Northampton.shire.  Edited  by 
his  son,  John  Storer.  (Cassell,  Fetter,  Qalpia  &  Co.  :  London, 
Paris,  and  New  York.) 


originally  described  as  being  dun  in  colour,  but 
later  on  as  red,  red  and  white,  and  brindled.  Like 
the  Norfolk,  the  Suffolk  polled  cattle  are  possibly 
descended  from  the  Galloways,  and  perchance  from 
some  of  the  Angus  blood.  The  dun-coloured  not 
infrequently  found  among  the  last  mentioned 
would  seem  to  establish  some  connection  between 
them  and  the  old  Suffolk.  Two  or  three  centuries 
of  life  under  a  warmer  climate  and  a  richer  soil 
have  caused  both  the  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  cattle  to 
deviate  more  or  less  from  the  type  of  their  far- 
away ancestors.  The  colour  of  both  is  now  chiefly 
red,  and  they  are  specifically  known  as  "red-polled" 
cattle.  But  in  other  respects  the  Suffolk  may  be 
said  to  have  deviated  less  widely  than  the  Norfolk 
from  the  Galloway  type.  They  are,  for  instance, 
somewhat  lower  in  stature  and  finer  than  the 
Norfolk,  shorter  in  the  leg,  broader  and  rounder, 
and  have  a  greater  propensity  to  fatten,  often 
attaining  greater  weights.  The  old  Suffolk  cows 
were  said  to  be  extraordinary  milkers,  some  of 
them  giving  from  six  to  eight  gallons  of  milk  per 
day ;  and  the  red-polled  cattle  of  both  Suffolk  and 
Norfolk  of  the  present  day  are  unquestionably 
good  milkers,  proving  that  the  inferior  milking 
projierties  of  the  Galloways  are  not  by  any  means 
a  fixed  characteristic  of  the  breed,  but  that  they 
are  just  as  capable  of  development  as  those  of  any 
other  cattle.  The  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  red-polled 
cattle  are  excellent  fatteners,  combining  in  them- 
selves in  a  high  degree  the  two  leading  uses  of 
cow-existence — milk  and  beef. 

To  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Lofft,  of  Bury  St. 
Edmunds,  we  are  indebted  for  the  photographs 
of  the  animals  whose  portraits  are  given  in  the 
plate  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk  Polled  Cattle. 

West  Highland  Cattle. 

The  West  Highland  cattle,  or  Kyloes,  as  they 
are  sometimes  called,  are  a  singularly  interesting 
breed  of  cattle.  They  are  always  picturesque  in 
the  field  or  park,  and  they  are  food  for  an  epicure 
on  the  table.  While  the  Ayrshires  and  the  polled 
cattle  owe  their  phjsical  characteristics  to  the  low- 
lands and  less  exposed  districts  of  Scotland,  the 
West  Highlanders  are  essentially  the  cattle  of 
the  highlands  and  mountains.  They  possess  all 
the  features  which  a  mountainous  district  will 
produce — compactness,  agility,  fearless  courage, 
hardy  constitution  that  no  sort  of  weather  can 
subdue,  most  sagacious  instinct,  diminutive  stature, 


38 


DAIRY    l'ARMlN(i. 


aiul  :i  warm,  shaggy  coat  of  liair.  Tlicy  aro  oi; 
various  colours — black,  duu,  cream,  rcil,  briudled, 
&e. — but  there  is  seldom  more  thau  one  colour  on 
the  same  animal.  Reared  in  a  bleak  and  boisterous 
district,  they  have  acquired  the  ability  of  shifting 
for  themselves,  and  of  subsisting  on  food  that 
would  starve  the  lowland  cattle.  As  with  all  the 
other  breeds,  nothing  definite  is  known  of  their 
origin ;  it  is  probable  that  all  alike  have  descended 
from  one  common  ancestry,  and  soil  and  elinuite 
must  be  held  accountable  for  the  modifications. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  however,  the  Kyloes  are  adapted 
to  their  native  district,  and  they  are  found  to  do 
well  when  removed  to  others.  They  give,  for 
the  size  of  them,  a  fair  quantity  of  milk,  the 
quality  of  which  is  very  good,  but  they  are  chiefly 
celebrated  for  the  singular  excellence  of  their  beef, 
which  always  commands  the  highest  price  in  any 
market. 

liMSii  Dairy  Cattle — The  Kerhy  Breed. 

We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  R.  O.  Pringle,  author 
of  "  The  Live  Stock  of  the  Farm,"  and  editor  of 
the  Irish  Farmer's  Gazette,  for  the  following 
notes : — 

"The  Agriculturd  Returns  for  1878  state  that 
in  the  month  of  June  of  that  year  there  were 
1,481',23S  milch-cows  in  Ireland.  The  returns  for 
previous  years  show  that  of  late  the  number  of 
cows  has  undergone  a  considerable  decrease.  Thus, 
in  1872  the  number  returned  was  1,551,784, 
so  that  in  six  years  there  has  been  a  decrease  in 
the  number  of  cows  to  the  amount  of  67,516 
head ;  as  compared  with  1877,  there  was  a  decrease 
in  1878  of  no  less  than  37,022  cows. 

"  This  serious  decline  in  a  leading  department 
of  Irish  agriculture  is  chiefly  owing  to  the  difficulty 
experienced  in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  country,  of 
getting  women  servants  qualified  for  dairy  work. 
Many  who  were  formerly  engaged  as  dairy-women 
have  emigrated,  whilst  those  who  remain  are  either 
imperfectly  trained,  or  expect  wages  which  the 
owners  of  dairies  are  unwilling  or  unable  to  pay. 
Hence,  in  many  instances,  dairy-farming  has  been 
abandoned,  and  the  pastures  stocked  \\  ith  young 
store  beasts  or  with  sheep. 

"  Irish  cattle  have  from  time  immemorial  been 
noted  for  their  milking  properties.  The  old- 
fashioned  cow,  now  extinct  through  crossing,  gave 
a  large  quantity  of  rich  milk.  Those  cows  were 
not   Kerriesj  they  were  short-legged   cattle,  long 


in  the  body,  and  many  of  them  were  hornless, 
or,  as  they  were  called  in  Ireland,  'moyle'  cattle. 
Others  had  wide-spread,  elevated,  and  projecting 
horns.  They  were  of  all  colours,  but  chiefly  black, 
brindled,  or  red,  and  some  were  mottled  along  the 
ridge  of  the  back.  These  characteristics,  although 
indicating  some  distinction  as  to  kind,  did  not 
affect  the  value  of  the  cows  for  the  dairy.  No 
attention  was  paid  to  selection  in  breeding ;  but 
notwithstanding  the  neglect  with  which  they  were 
treated,  their  milking  properties  remained  intact. 

"  The  Kerry  breed  of  cattle  is  undoubtedly  an 
aboriginal  breed,  and  is  now  the  only  native  breed 
existing  in  Ireland;  for  although  the  common  or 
native  cattle  of  Connaught  are  larger  than  the 
ordinary  Kerry,  and  differ  to  some  extent  in  shape, 
still  it  is  evident  they  are  from  the  same  original 
stock  as  the  Kerry.  There  is  much  in  the  Kerry 
A\hieh  indicates  a  relationship  between  it  and  the 
small  Breton  breed,  and  considering  that  Brittany 
and  Kerry  are  the  nearest  points  of  France  and 
Ireland,  it  is  not  improbable  that  at  some  remote 
period  cattle  may  have  been  conveyed  from  one 
country  to  the  other. 

"  The  Kerry  cow  is  a  neat,  light-made  animal, 
with  fine  and  rather  long  limbs,  fine  small  head, 
lively  eye,  fine  white  horn,  which  in  many  cases, 
after  projecting  forward,  is  turned  or  '  cocked ' 
backward.  The  rump  is  narrow,  and  the  thigh 
light.  The  fasliionable  colour  is  pure  black 
throughout,  but  some  are  black  and  white,  and 
others  red.  The  skin  should  have  a  mellow  touch, 
and  should  be  well  coated  with  hair. 

"  The  '  Dexter '  variety  is  distinguished  from 
the  pure  or  true  Kerry  in  having  a  round  plump 
body,  short  and  rather  thick  legs;  the  head  is 
heavier,  and  wanting  in  that  fineness  which  marks 
the  true  Kerry,  and  the  horns  are  longer,  straighter, 
and  coarser.  The  real  origin  of  the  Dexter  variety 
is  not  well  understood,  but  it  is  supposed  to  be  the 
result  of  special  selection.  Youatt  described  the 
Kerry  cow  as  '  truly  the  poor  man's  cow,  living 
everywhere,  hardy,  yielding  for  her  size  abun- 
dance of  milk  of  a  good  quality,  and  fattening 
rapidly  when  required.''  This  is  a  correct  descrip- 
ti<in  of  the  breed,  both  the  true  Kerry  and  the 
Dexter.  In  Ireland  the  Kerry  is  much  esteemed 
as  suitable  for  small  villa  farms;  as  the  cows, 
although  naturally  active,  are  very  gentle,  and  do 
well  when  tethered  on  confined  bits  of  grass.  They 
also  thrive  when  kept  constantly  house-fed.     Wo 


!B!5a.s«f "   ■■-?s>"-  -SB 


IRISH    CATTLE. 


39 


have  known  a  Koriy  cow  to  Le  kept  for  five  years 
in  a  dark  stable  in  Dublin  without  injury  to  her 
health.  About  12  quarts  of  milk  daily  is  an 
average  yield  for  a  Kerry  cow  when  she  is  fairly 
kept,  and  we  have  known  some  cows  to  give  as 
much  as  IG  quarts  daily  for  a  considerable  time 
after  calving.  The  yield  of  butter  is  1  lb.  from 
11  quarts  of  milk;  but  we  have  kno\vn  a  higher 
percentage  of  butter  to  be  obtained. 

"Youatt  says  the  Kerry  cattle  fatten  rapidly 
when  required.  This  is  true  when  they  have  been 
kept,  as  cows  or  otherwise,  for  a  time  on  fair  pas- 
ture; but  poor  Kerries,  especially  bullocks,  when 
obtained  direct  from  their  native  mountain  graz- 
ings,  take  some  time  before  they  begin  to  show 
improvement.  Once  they  do  begin  to  improve 
their  jsrogress  is  rapid,  and  when  slaughtered  their 
flesh  is  of  the  best  quality,  fine  in  the  grain  and 
rich-flavoured.  Their  weight,  when  fat,  is  from 
28  to  30  stones  imperial.  Extra-fed  beasts  will 
make  40  stones  imjjerial. 

"  With  a  few  exceptions,  the  breeders  of  Kerry 
cattle  did  not  until  recently  devote  much  atten- 
tion to  the  proper  maintenance  of  the  breed,  and 
the  fact  that  Kerry  cattle  have  survived  the 
neglect  with  which  they  have  been  treated  without 
material  deterioration,  is  strongly  in  their  favour. 
The  Knight  of  Kerry  has  a  herd  of  Kerry  cattle 
which  has  been  bred  with  great  care  for  a  long 
period,  and  other  gentlemen  in  that  part  of  Ireland 
have  also  devoted  attention  to  the  subject ;  but 
the  reputation  of  the  breed  has  been  considerably 
enhanced  by  the  interest  which  has  been  taken  in 
it  by  various  gentlemen  residing  in  other  parts  of 
Ireland,  who  have  taken  up  the  breeding  of  Kerry 
cattle  not  merely  as  a  '  fancy,'  but  from  the  in- 
trinsic merits  of  the  breed  as  dairy-stock.  The 
late  Earl  of  Charlemont  had  a  large  herd  of  Ker- 
ries at  his  seat  at  Marino,  near  Dublin,  which, 
under  the  management  of  Mr.  James  Brady,  was 
long  well  kno^vn  in  Irish  showyards.  Of  late 
years,  ]VIr.  James  Robei'tson,  La  Mancha,  Malahidc, 
county  of  Dublin,  has  been  a  most  successful 
exhibitor  and  breeder  of  Kerry  cattle.  His  stud 
bull  Basan  took  eight  first  prizes  at  shows  of  the 
Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  Ireland  and  of  the 
Royal  Dublin  Society.  He  has  also  exhibited 
many  animals  in  the  female  classes  at  these  shows 
with  great  success,  and  at  the  recent  International 
Exhibition  at  Paris  he  was  equally  fortunate,  and 
a  special  medal  was  awarded  to  his  herdsman.     At 


the  Dairy  Show  in  London,  and  elsewhere  in 
England,  Mr.  Robertson  has  taken  honours,  and 
at  present  he  may  be  regarded  as  the  champion 
exhibitor  of  Kerry  cattle. 

"  Some  attempts  have  been  made  to  cross 
Kerries  with  other  breeds.  The  West  Highland, 
which  may  be  regarded  as  a  kindred  breed,  has 
been  tried,  with  the  result  of  giving  more  size 
to  the  Kerry,  but  in  other  respects  the  cross  was 
not  an  improvement.  We  have  seen  cattle  wliich 
were  evidently  derived  from  an  intermixture  of 
Ayrshire  and  Kerry  blood,  and  also  of  Dutch  and 
Kerry,  but  in  neither  case  was  the  cross  desirable. 
It  is  possible  that  these  crosses  were  more  the 
result  of  accident  or  of  careless  management  than 
of  intentional  experiment.  When  a  Kerry  cow 
is  put  to  a  suitable  Shorthorn  bull,  the  produce 
possesses  great  aptitude  to  fatten,  with  superior 
quality  of  flesh  and  an  increased  weight  of 
carcase.  Crosses  of  this  kind  are  frequently  met 
with  at  shows  of  fat  stock  in  Dublin,  and  seldom 
fail  to  obtain  a  good  place  in  the  prize  list,  and 
to  secure  a  sale  at  top  rates  to  the  butcher. 

"  The  following  are  the  measurements  of  a  prize 
fat  Kerry  cow  exhibited  at  a  show  of  the  Royal 
Dublin  Society : — 38  inches  in  height  at  the 
shoulder,  70  inches  in  girth,  and  42  inches  in 
length  from  the  top  of  the  shoulder  to  the  tail- 
head.  We  are  inclined  to  believe  that  the  cow  of 
which  these  were  the  measurements  was  of  the 
Dexter  variety. 

"  The  ordinaiy  description  of  dairy-cows  in 
nearly  all  parts  of  Ireland  have  much  Shorthorn 
character — in  fact,  the  more  they  have  of  it,  the 
better  they  are  liked.  Nor  is  this  confined  to  the 
cattle  belonging  to  the  owners  of  large  dairies,  for 
the  cattle  belonging  to  tenants  holding  small 
farms,  say  all  under  50  acres,  are  as  much 
imjiroved  as  any,  which  is  due  to  the  large 
number  of  well-bred  bulls  which  are  to  be  found 
in  most  parts  of  the  country.  Many  landed 
proprietors  are  in  the  habit  of  keeping  well-bred 
Shorthorn  bulls  for  the  use  of  their  tenants — a 
practice  which  has  done  much  of  late  years  to 
improve  Irish  cattle.  In  some  parts  of  Ulster  the 
farmers  are  jiartial  to  Ayrshire  cows,  and  import 
these  and  also  bulls  from  Scotland,  so  that  the 
shows  of  the  North-East  Association,  which  are 
held  at  Belfast,  usually  present  a  fair  display  of 
that  breed.  AjTshires,  or  what  goes  by  that 
name,  are  also  kept  in  some  parts  of  the  south. 


40 


DAIRY    FAEMIXG. 


but  in  such  eases  the  breed  has  become  degenerated 
from  a  want  of  fresh  blood.  The  Dutch  black 
and  white  breed,  which  formerly  existed  in  the 
south,  has  been  crossed  with  the  Shorthorn,  and 
is  extinct. 

"  While  the  Kerry  is  essentially  the  cottier's  cow 
in  Ireland,  the  prevailing  dairy-cattle  are  either 
Ayrshires  or  Shorthorn  crosses  on  the  old  native 
stock.  Shorthorns  have,  in  truth,  done  great 
service  in  Ireland ;  and  at  the  j^resent  time  the 
great  bulk  of  the  cattle  in  many  parts  of  the 
country  are,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  truly 
Shorthorns  in  character  as  are  the  cattle  of  the 
midland  counties  of  Enghind.  In  the  mountain 
districts  of  Ireland,  where  the  land  is  poor  and 
cold,  and  the  herbage  poverty-stricken,  the  Kerry 
is,  and  must  remain,  the  poor  man's  cow;  and 
beyond  this  she  is  cultivated  in  some  of  the  better 
districts.  The  Kerries,  for  instance,  whose  portraits 
are  given  in  the  plate  are  from  the  herd  of  j\lr. 
Robertson,  and  to  the  courtesy  of  this  gentleman  we 
are  indebted  for  the  photographs  from  which  the 
plate  was  composed.  Then  Ayrshires,  again,  have 
taken  fast  hold  of  some  of  the  dairying  districts. 
But,  generally  speaking,  the  Shorthorns  may  be 
regarded  as  really  the  dairy-cattle  of  Ireland,  and, 
indeed,  excellent  cattle  they  are;  the  soil  and 
climate  suit  them  to  a  nicety.  Yet  the  Kerry 
is  the  only  one  of  the  old  Irish  breeds  that  still 
exists  in  its  pristine  purity ;  the  rest  are  more  or 
less  derived  from  English  stock.  Formerly  there 
was  a  breed  of  native  Longhorns  in  Ireland. 
These,  too,  are  merged  in  the  English  crosses." 

"\Vi;t.sii  Cattle. 

Tliere  are,  or  were,  three  breeds  of  cattle  in 
Wales  from  which  the  various  types  descended. 
Deviations  from  these  breeds  were  found  in 
different  parts  of  the  country,  but  they  were  no 
more  than  could  be  easily  accounted  for  by  the 
influence  of  locality  and  by  more  or  less  of 
crossing.  Of  those  three  breeds  the  Glamorgans 
are  said  to  be  now  extinct,  or  nearly  so,  having 
faded  away  before  the  advance  of  the  Shorthorns, 
Herefords,  and  Devous.  This  is  much  to  be 
regretted,  for  they  are  said  to  have  been  excel- 
lent milkers,  while  their  flesh  was  of  superior 
quality. 

In  the  colour  of  these  cattle  there  5\'as  some- 
thing remarkable,  for  while  the  cows  were 
generally  a  rich  brown  or  red  colour,  and  many 


of  them  black,  the  bulls  were  invariably  black 
with  more  or  less  of  white  on  them. 

The  Pembroke  or  Castlemartin  cattle  still 
flourish  in  the  Principality.  In  1834  Youatt 
said  of  them,  "  Great  Britain  does  not  afford 
a  more  useful  animal  than  the  Pembroke  cow  or 
ox."  They  are  fairly  good  milkers — as  good,  it 
is  said,  as  most  of  the  improved  breeds.  The 
meat  produced  by  them  is  said  to  be  of  a  superior 
kind,  both  in  texture  and  quality.  Their  colour  is 
black,  as  a  rule,  a  few  of  them  having  a  brown 
tinge  of  a  peculiar  hue,  and  now  and  again  they 
have  a  little  white  on  the  faces  or  about  the 
udders ;  but  white  about  them  anywhere,  especially 
in  the  face,  is  regarded  as  an  indication  of  strange 
blood.  It  has  been  feared  that  these  cattle,  like 
the  Glamorgans,  are  likely  to  disappear  as  a  dis- 
tinct breed.  We  may,  however,  now  hope  that 
this  misfortune  will  be  averted,  for  a  Welsh  Black 
Cattle  Herd-book,  edited  by  Mr.  R.  H.  Harvey, 
a  well-known  breeder  of  these  very  useful  cattle, 
has  recently  been  established,  and  it  will  doubt- 
less have  a  great  effect  in  preserving  the  breed 
select  and  in  promoting  its  improvement.  In 
the  second  volume  of  the  herd-book  the  number 
of  cows  registered  reaches  215,  and  of  bulls  90; 
and  from  these  it  is  to  be  hoped  the  breed  will 
again  become  numerous  in  the  district  to  which 
it  is  so  well  adapted.  The  best  English  breeds, 
however,  the  Shorthorns  chiefly,  have  penetrated 
into  every  part  of  Wales,  and  they  are  rapidh- 
effecting  a  transformation  of  the  native  breeds. 
But  the  admirers  of  the  Castlemartins  have  taken 
the  projier  steps  toward  the  preservation  and  the 
improvement  of  a  breed  which  had  well-nigh  been 
lost  through  sheer  supineness,  and  we  may  reason- 
ably look  forward  to  its  re-establisliniont  in  many 
of  the  old  haunts  fruni  wliiuh  it  had  already 
vanished. 

The  Anglesea  cattle,  though  claimed  to  be  a 
distinct  breed,  very  much  resemble  the  Pembrokes. 
They  are  black  in  colour,  but  it  is  usually  a  deeper 
black  than  that  of  the  South  ^Yales  cattle ;  this, 
however,  may  be  attributed  to  the  difference  in 
climate.  They  arc  also  a  little  larger,  though  not 
much,  and  are  hardly  so  refined  in  head  and  neck. 
The  milking  properties  of  the  Angleseas  have  been 
neglected  for  ages,  and  they  are  consequently  in- 
ferior dairy-cattle.  As  with  the  Herefords  and 
Scotch  Polled,  the  raising  of  young  stock,  and  not 
cheese  or  butter,  has  been   the  chief  purpose    to 


WELSH    CATTLE. 


41 


which  the  Augleseas  have  been  devoted;  and  it  is 
not  surprising'  that  as  milkers  they  are  inferior. 
But  as  g^-azing  stock  they  are,  and  long  have 
been,  justly  celebrated.  Their  flesh  is  of  excellent 
quality,  and  they  are  sent  long  distances  to  be 
fattened.  It  is  perhaps  less  likely  that  the  Angle- 
seas  may  become  extinct,  than  other  Welsh  cattle  ; 
their  native  habitat,  and  the  primitive  habits  of 
the  people,  will  tend  to  preserve  them  a  long 
time  in  all  their  pristine  purity.  Still,  the  only, 
or  at  all  events  the  chief,  property  that  will  pre- 
serve any  of  the  British  breeds  of  cattle  intact  in 
the  present  day  is  that  of  milk.  Beef  alone  is 
not  enough,  nor  is  milk,  perhaps;  but  the  two 
combined  are  indispensable  to  a  thoroughly  pro- 
fitable breed  of  dairy-cattle ;  and  if  any  breed 
proves  itself  incapable  of  being  trained  and  bred 
into  giving  a  good  paying  quantity  of  milk,  it 
must  lose  its  hold  on  the  suffrage  of  the  people. 
In  an  economic  age  like  this,  antiquity  of  breed 
alone  is  not  enough  to  preserve  a  race  of  cattle 
from  extinction — utility  is  the  one  thing  needful. 
It  is,  however,  a  pity  that  any  of  these  time- 
honoured  breeds  should  die  out;  they  should  rather 
be  improved  in  those  qualities  in  which  they  are 
deficient,  so  that  they  may  hold  their  own  against 
those  breeds  which  will  otherwise  take  possession 
of  the  entire  country. 

There  is  no  need  whatever  for  the  old  breeds 
of  any  district  or  country  to  die  out,  unless  they 
are  hopelessly  beyond  the  reach  of  improvement 
in  a  suSiciently  reasonable  time ;  and  this  is  cer- 
tainly not  the  case  with  any  of  the  British  breeds 
of  cattle.  The  laws  which  govern  animal  repro- 
duction are  now  well  understood,  and  the  principles 
of  breeding  are  equally  well  established.     It  is  a 


well-ascertained  fact  that  to  intelligent  cultivation 
and  treatment  all  our  breeds  of  cattle  respond  in  a 
manner  which  leaves  little  or  nothing  to  be  desired, 
and  this  in  a  very  short  time ;  hence  we  infer  that 
as  a  rule  it  is  better  that  all  our  races  of  cattle 
should  remain  in  their  native  districts,  and  not  be 
w-holly  disjjlaced  by  others  from  a  distance.  This 
end  will  be  attained  if  the  cattle  that  need  it  show 
the  measure  of  improvement  which  is  certainly 
within  the  reach  of  those  who  own  them. 

It  is  true  that  several  of  cm-  more  famous 
breeds  have  great  aptitude  for  adapting  themselves 
to  new  districts,  climates,  and  soils,  and  that  they 
are  quickly  at  home  in  almost  any  portion  of  the 
British  Islands,  not  to  mention  foreign  countries. 
This  fact,  indeed,  supplies  a  reason  why  they  have 
jjenetrated  so  far,  and  why  other  races  have  faded 
away  before  them,  and  no  doubt  it  does  away  to 
some  extent  with  the  economic  reasons  for  main- 
taining the  old  breeds;  at  the  same  time  we  do 
not  think  the  reason  sufficient  for  the  total  dis- 
establishment of  the  old  breeds,  and  we  should 
much  prefer  to  see  them  so  much  improved  by 
careful  selection  that  they  may  be  able  to  hold 
their  own  in  any  fair  competition  with  those  who 
otherwise  threaten  to  supplant  them.  If  the 
Welsh  cattle  do  indeed  die  out,  it  will  not  be  for 
the  reason  that  they  are  not  worth  preserving,  and 
we  trust  the  time  has  come  for  them  to  re-assume 
their  ancient  popularity. 

The  portraits  of  Welsh  cattle  given  in  the 
plate  are  chiefly  from  photographs,  for  which  we 
are  indebted  to  the  courtesy  of  Lord  Cawdor  and 
J.  B.  Bowen,  Esq.,  M.P. 

Some  foreign  breeds  of  cattle  will  be  noticed 
in  treating  of  Foreign  Dairy  Farming. 


CHAPTER      lY. 

Feeding    axd    Treatment    of    Dairy    Cattle. 


Importance  of  Correct  Principles  in  Feeding  Cattle— Effects  of  Food— Differences  in  Milk  from  Poor  Land  or  Greater  Exercise- 
The  Two  Allied— General  System  of  Clieese-Dairy  Management— Evils  of  Over-milking  Cows  about  to  Calve,  or  of  Under- 
feeding  Them— Various   Components   of   Good   Food— Soiling  Cattle— Connection  of   Soiling   with  Arable  Dairy  Farming- 
Various  Crops   Suitable   for   Soiling   Cattle— Rye— Vetches— Rye-Grass   and   Clover— Maize-Turnips- 
Kohl-Rabi— Cabbage— Lupin— Prickly  Comfrey — Lucerne— Straw. 


i^HAT  the  feeding  and  treat- 
"~  ment  of  cattle  is  a  most  im- 
23ortant  question  few  will  be 
slow  to  admit,  and  yet  in 
practice  it  is  too  generally 
neglected.  If  all  dairy- 
farmers  could  be  made  to 
realise  the  simple  fact — so  simple  that 
it  is  commonly  lost  sight  of — that 
whatever  milk  or  beef  is  produced 
must  be  produced  wholly  from  the 
food  that  the  animals  eat,  a  great  change  in 
the  treatment  of  cattle  would  spread  over  the 
face  of  the  country.  Not  a  morsel  of  beef  and  not 
a  drop  of  milk  are  produced  without  food;  not 
a  movement  of  a  limb  can  be  made  and  not  a 
breath  be  drawn  that  is  not  compensated  for  in 
food.  If  the  cows  travel  two  miles  or  one  mile 
to  pasture,  or  if  they  are  hitrried,  or  abused,  or 
frightened — all  is  paid  for  by  the  food.  If  they 
are  chased  by  dogs,  or  by  flies,  or  by  men,  they  are 
chased  at  the  cost  of  food,  and  the  milk  is  poorer 
in  butter — the  nervous  excitement  uses  it  up. 
There  is  not  one  degree  of  heat  in  the  body  of  the 
cow  that  is  not  produced  from  the  food  she  eats. 
If  cows  are  exposed  in  winter  to  a  temperature  of 
fifteen  degrees  below  zero,  if  they  are  "  deformed  by 
dripping  rains  or  withered  by  a  frost,"  food  enough 
must  be  burnt  in  the  stomach  to  make  up  for  the 
loss  of  heat  by  the  body.  This  is  nature's  law 
of  equivalents :  "  Something  must  be  paid  for 
everything,  for  it  is  impossible  to  produce  any- 
thing from  nothing." 

A\  ith  regard  to  dairv-cows,  it   must  he  borne 


in  mind  that  they  have  first  of  all  to  live 
before  they  can  produce  any  milk  at  all  from 
the  food  they  eat;  and  about  two-thirds  of 
their  food  goes  to  keep  them  in  fair  condition 
before  any  milk  can  be  made  from  it.  This  has 
been  tested  and  proved  over  and  over  again. 
Some  dairy-farmers  seem  to  think  that  they  can 
with  imj)unity  keep  their  cows  on  "  short  com- 
mons "  during  the  winter,  and  that  they  will  pick 
up  in  the  spring  and  milk  as  well  as  ever;  but 
this  is  a  great  mistake.  A  poverty-stricken  cow 
must  first  of  all  supply  the  wants  of  her  system 
and  get  back  into  decent  condition  before  she  can 
possibly  give  rich  milk  and  jjlenty  of  it ;  and  many 
cows  for  months  in  the  summer  do  not  fully 
recover  from  a  winter's  starving ;  some  never  get 
over  it  at  all.  All  profit  that  comes  from  either  a 
dairy-cow,  or  one  that  is  being  fattened,  is  derived 
from  the  food  over  and  above  that  which  is 
necessary  to  sustain  the  offices  of  life ;  and  in  a 
feeding  animal  that  weighs  no  more  at  the  end 
of  the  season  than  at  its  beginning,  the  food  con- 
sumed has,  except  for  the  excreta,  been  wholly 
wasted — that  is,  the  farmer  derives  no  profit  from 
it.  So  with  a  dairy-cow;  if  she  gives  no  more 
than  300  gallons  of  milk  in  the  season,  she  is 
kept  at  a  loss. 

A  dairy-cow  is  simply  a  machine  for  the 
production  of  milk,  just  as  a  steam-boiler  is  a 
machine  for  the  production  of  steam ;  and  food 
is  fuel  to  the  cow  exactly  as  coal  is  fuel  to  the 
boiler.  If  the  cow  is  pinched  of  food  she  will  not 
yield  a  profitable  quantity  of  milk;  this  explains 
the  proverli,  "  You  had  Ijetter  be  over-rented  than 


EFFECTS    OF    FOOD. 


43 


over-stoeked."  So  with  the  boiler,  if  it  receives 
only  enough  eoal  to  make  the  water  warm,  there 
will  be  no  steam.  There  is,  of  course,  as  already 
pointed  out,  a  great  difference  in  cows,  as  thewi 
is  in  boilers,  as  to  the  return  they  make,  for 
the  fuel  consumed;  some  cows  and  some  boilers 
seem  to  bum  a  great  deal  of  fuel  to  waste,  and  it 
is  from  the  fuel,  not  from  the  cow  oi-  the  boiler, 
that  we  derive  our  profit.  It  is,  therefore,  a 
mistake  to  bestow  good  and  abundant  food  on 
cattle  whose  physical  imperfections  prevent  their 
turning  it  to  the  best  account.  It  is  advisable  to 
carefully  test  the  milk-producing  capacity  of  a 
suspected  cow ;  this  may  easily  be  done  by  weigh- 
ing the  food  she  eats  and  the  milk  she  yields 
during  a  given  period,  and  comparing  them  with 
similar  records  of  a  cow  that  is  a  satisfactory 
milker.  Such  tests  and  comparisons  as  these  are 
very  instructive;  and  whoever  makes  them  care- 
fully and  repeatedly  is  pretty  sure  to  carry  out 
the  lessons  they  teach,  which  course  will  soon 
result  in  the  production  of  a  first-class  herd  of 
dairy-cows — a  consummation  that  is  within  the 
reach  of  every  dairy-farmer.  It  is  scarcely  neces- 
sary to  say  that  calves  from  cows  that  are  poor 
milkers  should  never  be  used  to  replenish  the 
hei-d  with ;  they  should  go  to  the  shambles,  not 
to  the  milk-pail. 

Effects  of  Food  axd  Exercise. 
Tlie  effect  of  food  in  animal  nutrition,  more 
particularly  with  regard  to  the  production  of 
cheese  and  butter,  and  taking  into  account  the 
influence  of  breed  in  the  animal  consuming  it, 
has  been  carefully  investigated  by  Dr.  E.  L. 
Sturtevant,  of  jMassachusetts,  and  he  gives  as 
follows  a  summary  of  his  conclusions  : — • 

1.  That  the  production  of  butter  is  largely 
dependent  on  the  breed. 

2.  That  there  is  a  structural  limit  to  the  pro- 
duction of  butter  in  each  cow. 

3.  That  when  the  cow  is  fed  to  this  limit, 
increased  food  cannot  increase  the  product. 

4.  That  the  superior  cow  has  this  structural 
limit  at  a  greater  distance  from  ordinary  feed, 
and  is  more  ready  to  respond  to  stimuli  than  the 
inferior  cow. 

5.  That,  consequently,  the  superior  cow  is 
seldom  fed  to  her  limit,  while  the  inferior  cow 
may  be  easily  fed  beyond  her  limit ;  and  as  a 
practical  conclusion,  increased  feed  with  a  superior 


lot  of  cows  will  increase  the  butter  product ;  but 
if  fed  to  an  inferior  lot  of  cows,  waste  can  only 
be  the  result. 

6.  That  the  character  of  the  food  has  some 
influence  on  the  character  of  the  butter;  but  even 
here  breed  influences  more  than  food. 

7.  That  there  is  no  constant  relation  between 
the  butter  product  and  the  cheese  product. 

8.  That  the  casein  retains  a  constant  per- 
centage, and  that  this  percentage  does  not  appear 
to  respond  to  increased  food. 

9.  That  the  casein  appears  to  remain  constant, 
without  regard  to  the  season. 

10.  That  increase  in  the  quantity  of  milk  is 
followed  by  an  increase  in  the  total  amount  of 
casein. 

11.  That  insufBcieut  feed  acts  directly  to 
check  the  proportion  of  butter,  and  has  a  tendency 
to  decrease  the  casein  of  the  milk  and  substitute 
albumen. 

12.  That  the  best  practice  of  feeding  is  to 
regulate  the  character  of  the  food  by  the  character 
of  the  animals  fed — feeding  superior  cows  nearer 
to  the  limit  of  their  production  than  infei'ior 
cows;  feeding,  if  for  butter,  more  concentrated 
and  nutritious  foods  than  for  cheese ;  feeding 
for  cheese  product  succulent  material  which  will 
increase  the  quantity  of  the  milk  yield. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  to  secure  a  full 
measure  of  success  the  dairy-farmer  must  devote 
at  least  as  much  care  to  the  breeding  of  his 
cows  for  milk-production,  as  he  does  to  their 
feeding  and  treatment,  and  to  the  improvement 
of  his  land  for  the  same  end.  Not  one  or 
even  two  of  these  points,  but  all  three  of  them 
demand  special  attention. 

One  of  the  reasons  why  poor  land  produces 
milk  which,  as  compared  with  that  produced  on 
good  land,  is  deticient  in  fatty  mattei'S,  and  so  is 
better  adapted  for  cheese-making  than  for  butter- 
making,  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  grasses  on  it 
contain  a  larger  proportion  of  flesh-forming  ingre- 
dients— as  albumen,  fibrin,  casein,  gluten,  &c. — 
and  a  smaller  oue  of  fat-forming  ones — as  starch, 
gum,  sugar,  &c. — than  are  found  in  the  grasses 
of  rich  land.  But  another  reason  is  found  in 
the  additional  respiration  of  oxygen  which  take§ 
place  in  the  animal  economy  when  cows  ai-e  pas- 
tured on  poor  land,  and  have  to  go  through 
more  exercise  in  the  search  for  food.  The  oxy- 
gen of  the  air,  which  is  inhaled  to  an  increased 


4i 


DAIHV    I'AHMJXO. 


exU-nt  \iy  aniin.-ils  who  take  an  i-xlia  aiuduut  nf 
exercise,  has  a  ilirect  tcndeucy  to  rousunie  the 
fat  in  the  system  of  the  animal — actual  combus- 
tion of  the  fat  takes  place.  Hence  the  increased 
heat  of  tlie  animars  body,  and  hence  also  a 
diminished  amount  of  fat  among  the  tissues,  and 
a  diminished  proportion  of  butter  in  the  milk. 

Again,  the  more  exercise  an  animal  takes,  tin 
greater  will  be  the  waste  or  breaking  up  of  the 
tissue  of  the  body;  and,  as  this  is  the  source  from 
which  the  curd  in  milk  is  derival,  milk  produced 
on  land  whose  herbage  is  scanty  will  contain  a 
larger  proportion  of  curd  than  milk  produced  on 
land  whose  herbage  is  abundant.  And  so  the 
milk  of  unduly  exercised  cows,  in  whatever  manner 
that  exercise  may  be  brought  about — whether  on 
poor  land  in  search  of  food,  or  in  travelling  a 
distance  to  and  from  the  pastures,  or  in  being 
chased  by  dogs,  or  flies,  or  men — will  likewise 
have  a  large  proportion  of  casein  in  it  and  a  small 
one  of  butter. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  that  the  less 
exercise  an  animal  takes,  the  sooner  it  will  fatten, 
for  this  simple  fact  is  known  to  every  farmer; 
and  it  is  equally  well  known  that  the  more  exercise 
an  animal — a  horse,  for  example — is  made  to  take, 
the  more  food  is  required  to  maintain  the  con- 
dition and  bulk  of  that  animal.  And  the  ratio 
of  the  consumption  of  fat  is  equivalent  to  the 
violence  and  extent  of  the  exercise. 

It  will  now  be  perceived  why  it  is  that  the 
milk  produced  on  poor  laud  has  a  larger  proportion 
of  curd  and  a  stnaller  one  of  butter  than  that 
produced  on  good  land ;  it  will  be  equally  plain 
that  the  smaller  the  distance  cows  have  to  travel 
to  and  from  their  pastures,  whether  those  pastures 
be  rich  or  poor  land,  the  richer  in  fats  their 
milk  will  be;  and  it  will  be  even  still  more  evi- 
dent that  the  faster  they  are  made  to  traverse 
that  distance,  the  poorer  their  milk  will  be. 
Distance  and  speed  bring  about  a  greater  in- 
halation of  oxygen,  and  the  more  the  oxygen  that 
enters  the  system,  the  greater  will  bo  the  consump- 
tion of  fat  in  it. 

In  the  hot  weather  in  summer,  when  cows  are 
tormented  by  flies  and  by  heat,  the  evening's  milk 
will  always  be  found  poorer  than  the  morning's 
in  butter.  This  is  explained  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple ;  and  so  is  the  fact  that  the  milk  of  stall-fed 
cows  is  richer  in  fats  than  the  milk  of  cows  who 
roam   at    large   on    the   pastures,  presuming    that 


the  two  sets  of  animals  are  fed  on  exaetly  the 
same  kinds  and  quantities  of  food.  Experiments 
have  demonstrated  the  truth  of  this  position. 
Upwards  of  thirty  years  ago.  Dr.  Lyon  Playfair 
analysed  the  milk  of  a  cow  that  was  fed  out  in  the 
meadow,  and  afterwards  the  milk  of  the  same  cow 
fed  in  the  stall,  and  with  the  food  the  same  in 
both  cases ;  the  milk  produced  in  the  meadow 
was  found  to  contain  more  curd  and  less  butter 
by  several  per  cent,  than  that  produced  in  the 
stall.  The  law  holds  good  throughout  the  entire 
series — the  more  exercise  a  mileh-cow  takes  and 
the  more  heat  is  given  off  by  the  body,  the  greater 
the  amount  of  combustion  of  fat  and  the  less 
butter  will  be  found  in  the  milk. 

Professor  G.  C.  Caldwall,  of  Cornell  University, 
writes  as  follows  on  the  relation  between  the 
composition  of  fodder  and  that  of  milk  : — "  That 
the  composition  of  the  milk  may  change  with  the 
changes  in  the  composition  of  the  food  in  the 
animal  producing  the  milk,  is  another  principle 
also  fully  established  by  the  results  of  both  ex- 
perience and  experiment ;  within  certain  limits 
the  milk  may  be  made  poor  or  rich  by  supplying 
poor  and  watery  fodder  or  rich  fodder.  Whether, 
however,  this  change  simply  affects  the  proportion 
of  the  solids  as  a  whole  to  the  water  carrying  these 
solids,  or  wdiether  the  composition  of  the  dry  sub- 
stance of  the  milk  of  the  same  cow  can  be  altered 
by  ebanging  her  food,  so  that  she  can  be  made 
to  give  milk  richer  in  fat  without  at  the  same 
time  being  richer  to  the  same  degree  in  each  and 
every  one  of  the  other  constituents,  the  albumi- 
noids, sugar,  and  mineral  matters,  is  a  question 
that  has  been  much  discussed  in  the  last  few 
years  ;  it  is  manifestly  a  question  that  can  be 
settled  only  by  the  chemical  analysis  of  that 
dry  substance,  while  increased  richness  of  the 
milk  in  general — a  smaller  proportion  of  water 
and  a  larger  proportion  of  solids — can  be  detected 
by  the  lactometer,  the  cream-gauge,  or  even  by 
the  appearance  of  the  milk  to  an  experienced  eye. 

"  The  composition  of  the  dr_y  substance  of  the 
milk  under  varying  conditions  has  been  made  the 
subject  of  many  careful  researches,  some  of  which 
have  aj)peared  to  lead  to  the  result  that  it  remains 
essentially  the  same  for  the  same  cow  whatever 
may  be  the  character  of  her  ration — so  long  as 
it  is  a  healthy  ration.  The  statement,  in  accord- 
ance with  these  results,  that  the  proportion  of  fat 
in  tlie  milk  cannot   be   sensilily  increased  by  any 


GENERAL  DAIRY  MANAGEMENT. 


43 


system  uf  feoding  willunit  at  the  siime  time  in- 
creasino;  the  richness  in  albuminoids  and  sugar, 
was  undoubtedly  misunderstood  in  many  cases, 
and  taken  to  mean  that  the  richness  of  the  milk 
in  fat  cannot  be  increased  in  any  way  by  increas- 
ing the  richness  of  the  fodder  in  fat,  or  any  other 
constituent.  Such  a  misapprehension  may  have 
been  the  origin  of  some  of  the  expressions  that 
appeared  in  the  agricultural  papers  of  a  want  of 
faith  in  methods  of  scientific  inquirj-  that  led  to 
such  manifestly  false  conclusions. 

"The  most  careful  series  of  investigations  on 
the  influence  of  the  composition  of  the  ration  on 
the  composition  of  the  milk  has  been  carried 
on  under  the  direction  of  Gustav  Kuehn.  From 
the  results  of  these  and  other  researches  the  fol- 
lowing conclusions  have  been  deduced,  and  may 
be  reg-arded  as  sufficiently  well  established  for  all 
practical  purposes :  Firstly,  an  increase  of  the 
ration  with  respect  to  both  nitrogenous  and  non- 
nitrogenous  matter  does,  within  limits,  increase 
the  j-ield  of  milk,  and  the  richness  of  the  milk 
in  dry  substance ;  and  the  better  the  natural  yield 
of  the  cow,  the  larger  will  be  this  increase. 
Secondly,  changes  in  the  proportion  of  carbo- 
hydrates only  in  the  fodder  produce  no  effect  on 
the  yield  of  milk.  Thirdly,  the  proportion  of 
fat  in  the  ration  bears  no  spec^ial  relation  to  the 
proportion  of  fat  in  the  milk,  but  an  increase 
of  fat  in  the  fodder  rather  increases  the  production 
of  milk  as  a  whole.  Fourthly,  the  most  constant 
interdependence  between  composition  of  the  fodder 
and  the  yield  of  milk  was  found  to  exist  with 
reference  to  the  proportion  of  albuminoids  in  the 
fodder.  "Within  certain  limits  the  pi-odnction  of 
milk  rose  and  fell  with  the  proportion  of  albumi- 
noids in  the  ration.  But  for  every  animal  there 
was  found  to  be  a  limit  beyond  which  any  addition 
of  albuminoids  to  her  food  produced  no  effect  in 
the  yield  of  milk.  Fifthly,  in  general  the  compo- 
sition of  the  dry  substance  of  the  milk  was  not 
sensibly  altered  by  changes  in  the  composition  of 
the  ration ;  but  to  this  there  were  some  striking 
exceptions." 

General  System  of  Dairy  Management. 

The  great  bulk  of  dairy-farms,  particularly  of 
those  which  do  not  touch  our  towns'  and  cities' 
milk  trade,  are  still  conducted  on  the  same  general 
outlines  that  have  been  followed  for  many  genera- 
tions, though  in  most  cases  certain  improvements 


in  details  have  in  one  way  or  another  been  intro- 
duced in  late  3'ears.  On  farms  whose  speciality 
is  the  production  of  cheese  the  practice  still  is, 
as  it  long  has  been,  to  have  all  the  cows  dropj^ing 
their  calves  in  the  early  months  of  the  year;  the 
bulk  of  them  in  March  and  April,  and  some  of 
the  heifers  in  May.  In  the  first  or  second  weeks 
of  I\[ay,  or  whenever  there  is  grass  enough  to  go 
on  with,  the  cows  are  turned  finally  out  on  the 
pastures,  having  for  a  week  or  two  previously 
been  pastured  on  "  seeds "  or  other  early  grass 
during  the  day,  to  accustom  them  gradually  to 
the  change  from  dry  to  green  food  and  from 
in-door  to  out-door  feeding;  and  they  commonly 
depend  wholly  on  the  pastures  from  this  period 
xmtil  the  time  when  the  aftermath  in  the  meadows 
is  available.  Later  on  they  have  early  turnips 
or  cabbages  carted  out  to  them  on  the  pastures, 
until  the  time  comes  when  out-door  keep  begins 
to  fail,  and  the  blasts  of  early  winter  give  warn- 
ing that  it  is  no  longer  wise  to  keep  them  out  of 
doors ;  they  are  then  taken  in  0'  nights,  still  going 
out  in  the  days  for  a  short  time  longer,  after  which 
they  are  kept  wholly  in-doors  until  spring-time 
comes  round  again.  This  is,  in  brief,  the  old  and 
still  general  system  of  managing  dairy-cows  on 
cheese-makin  g  dairy-farms. 

The  time  for  cows  to  calve  which  appears  to 
be  most  in  harmony  with  nature's  laws  is  the 
sjjring  of  the  year ;  and  in  obedience  to  these  laws, 
as  well  as  to  the  expediency  of  having  them  in 
the  flush  of  milk  when  "grass  day"  comes,  dairy- 
farmers — but  not  those  who  have  gone  into  the 
milk  trade — always  have  their  cows  timed  to 
calve  between  the  middle  of  February  and  the 
middle  of  ]May.  For  purely  cheese-making  pur- 
poses there  is  nothing  important  gained  by  having 
them  calving  before  the  middle  of  February,  for 
they  would  then  have  passed  through  the  flush 
period  of  milk  before  the  time  when  the  grasses 
in  the  pastures  are  most  plentiful,  luxuriant,  and 
nutritious ;  indeed,  the  only  advantage  of  having 
them  calving  very  early — say  in  January  and  the 
first  half  of  February — lies  in  the  better  chance 
there  is  then  of  those  calves  that  are  intended  for 
the  herd  eventually  being  well  reared  in  good  time; 
but  this  does  not  counterbalance  the  disadvantage 
of  having  the  cows  past  the  flush  of  milk  when, 
the  period  of  succulent  grasses  comes  on. 

It  is  a  serious  mistake,  and  one  too  generally 
committed,    to    allow    milch-cows    to    get    into   a 


46 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


low  condition  of  system  dunns'  t'"^'  '^'^t  tlivoe  or 
four  montlis  of  the  gestation  period,  or,  indeed, 
at  any  other  time  for  that  matter;  and  this  is  too 
common]}'  done  «hen  they  are  " dry  for  calving." 
Many  farmers  milk  their  cows  on  too  far  into  the 
winter,  giving  them  too  short  a  resting  time 
before  they  calve  again,  and  this  is,  where  fol- 
hnved,  an  almost  inevitable  cause  of  winter  lean- 
ness of  milch-cows;  for  as  the  time  of  parturition 
approaches,  the  cow  has  enough  to  do  to  supply 
the  increased  nourishment  which  the  calf  in  the 
womb  demands,  without  giving  milk  in  addition. 

Some  cows,  indeed,  are  such  willing  milkers 
that  it  is  difKcult  to  let  them  dry  at  all  before 
calving,  and  it  is  even  necessary  in  some  cases 
to  put  a  cow  on  "  short  commons  "  for  a  week 
or  so  to  check  the  flow  of  milk.  Generally 
speaking,  however,  cows  show '  signs  of  drying 
up  in  milk  some  six  or  eight  weeks  prior  to 
the  time  at  which  they  are  due  to  calve,  and 
it  is  as  a  rule  advisable  that  they  should  give 
no  milk  during  the  last  month  or  two  of 
gestation ;  the  length  of  this  period  may  be 
governed  by  the  quality  of  the  food  which  the 
cows  receive ;  the  better  the  food,  the  shorter 
the  period  of  dryness,  and  rice  verm.  Some 
farmers  think  cows  are  less  liable  to  lose  quarters 
if  they  are  not  let  dry  at  all ;  but  all  danger 
of  this  disaster  is  avoided  by  drawing  the  teats 
now  and  then,  after  the  cows  are  let  dry,  to 
rid  them  of  any  milk  that  may  accumulate.  And, 
indeed,  they  should  always  be  let  dry  in  a  gradual 
manner,  by  milking  once  a  day  for  a  time,  then 
once  in  two  days,  and  so  on  till  the  milk  is  gone ; 
this  done,  the  quarters  are  safe  enough. 

If  cows  are  lean  and  weak  at  calving-time,  they 
are  occupied  during  the  best  part  of  the  ensuing 
summer  in  "  getting  their  backs  up  again,"  during 
which  has  sli])ped  away  that  which  ought  to  be 
the  flush  period  of  milk ;  and  it  should  ever  be 
borne  in  mind  that  well-bred  cows  are  particularly 
honest  and  grateful  animals,  always  returning 
excellent  interest  on  any  little  additional  capital 
which  is  invested  in  them  in  the  shape  of  nourish- 
ing food,  especially  at  those  times  when  they 
need  it  most — that  is,  when  their  systems  are, 
or  ought  to  be,  laying  in  vigo\n'  for  the  following 
summer's  work.  Farmers  too  seldom  think  of  this, 
and  seldomcr  still  do  they  put  it  in  practice.  The 
most  profitable  milking  season — the  one,  that  is, 
wheu   tliere   is   the  liit>-hest  return  on  the   lowest 


expenditure,  and  with  the  least  labour — is  when 
the  grass  in  the  pastures  is  most  nutritious  and 
tender,  in  the  months  of  May,  June,  and  July, 
and  the  lacteal  stage  of  the  cows  themselves 
should  correspond  with  this,  In'  their  having  but 
recently  passed  through  parturition.  If  cows  are 
turned  out  to  grass  in  good  condition,  and  have 
not  been  calved  too  lf)ng,  they  will  always  give 
a  good  account  of  themselves,  providing  they  arc 
of  a  good  sort  for  milk. 

Many  dairy-farmers  make  the  custly  mistake 
of  thinking  that  when  cnws  are  dry  for  calving 
is  the  time  to  economise  food  by  keeping  them  on 
straw  or  weathered  hay — or  on  anything,  in  fact, 
which  they  would  never  think  of  giving  them  if 
they  were  in  milk.  And  yet  this  is  the  very  time 
when  a  generous  diet  will  lay  the  best  i'<nindation 
for  after  usefulness.  It  is  true  that  the  inferior 
kinds  of  forage  may  be  most  conveniently  con- 
sumed at  this  period,  but  they  should  be  improved 
by  the  addition  of  a  few  pounds  of  cake  per  day 
to  each  cow ;  and  if  straw  is  being  used  at  this 
time,  it  should  be  chaffed  and  improved  by  adding 
to  it  some  kind  or  other  of  meal,  and  its  bulk  may 
well  be  increased  by  brewers'  grains;  but  in  any 
case  the  qualilj/  of  the  ration  must  be  made  at  least 
equal  to  that  of  good  meadow  hay  :  less  than  this 
is  insufficient  to  enable  in-calf  cows  to  acquire 
before  parturition  that  amount  of  bodily  condition 
which  is  necessary  to  enable  them  to  give  a  good 
flow  of  milk  during  the  coming  season.  A  handy 
system  of  improving  inferior  hay,  without  chaffing 
it,  is  to  scatter  a  handful  or  two  of  maize-meal 
over  it  in  the  mangere  before  the  cows  ;  this  done, 
not  only  will  the  hay  be  consumed  with  a  relish, 
but  the  mangers  will  be  kept  clean  without  any 
trouble  on  the  herdsman's  paj-t;  the  quantity  of 
meal  so  used  will  be  regulated  by  the  quality  of 
the  hay  and  the  condition  of  the  cows.  It  will 
])ay  well  to  treat  even  good  hay  in  this  manner, 
])articularly  when  fed  to  cows  in  milk  and  when 
it  is  rather  scarce,  so  as  to  spin  it  out  to  the  best 
atlvantage ;  this  is  the  best  way  to  save  haj'  in 
winter,  when  there  is  no  other  bulky  food  to  be 
had. 

It  is  necessary  in  artificial  feeding  of  cattle 
to  remember  that  the  flesh-forming  and  the  heat- 
producing  elements  should  be  made  to  bear  a 
given  relationship  to  each  other,  accoi-ding  to  the 
season  of  the  year.  If  a  cow  is  not  in  milk  she 
may  not  need  any  more  albuminoids  in  cold  than 


ARABLE    DAIRY    FAR:\I1NG. 


47 


ill  \v;irm  woatluT;  but  slio  will  need  iiKirc  lieat- 
producing  food.  In  summer  she  will  require  3  lbs. 
of  heat-producing  food  for  every  1  lb.  of  Hesh- 
forniing  food  she  uses,  and  in  winter  5  or  61bs. ; 
and  she  will  live  well  on  food  in  such  proportions 
if  she  is  doing  nothing  more  than  merely  living. 
25  lbs.  of  good  hay  per  day  would  sujiply  her  with 
2  lbs.  of  flesh-forming  and  10  or  11  lbs.  of  heat- 
producing  elements,  and  on  this  .she  would  do  well 
enough,  along  wth  water  ad  lib.  But  when  she 
is  in  milk  she  requires  a  much  larger  proportion 
of  albuminoids,  say  2  to  5  lbs. ;  so  to  keep  up  the 
flow  of  milk  she  must  receive  those  kinds  of  food 
in  which  albuminoids  bear  a  larger  proportion,  as 
compared  with  heat-pi'oducing  materials.  These 
kinds  of  food  would  be  meal  of  various  kinds 
and  corn  generally,  bran,  oil-cake,  cotton-cake, 
and  hay  cut  a  little  under-ripe.  The  following 
table  shows  the  proportions  of  these  different 
elements  in  various  kinds  of  food,  and  a  careful 
study  of  it  will  enable  a  farmer  to  give  his  cows 
such  a  ration  as  will  admit  of  the  least  waste 
of  food  and  loss  of  money  : — 


■S.S 

?   ■ 

^  O  M 

®-s 

boo 

^H  510 

Various  Foods. 

If 

5^. 

^ 

1^ 

1* 

^|.a 

Linseed-cake        

28-3 

41-3 

10-0 

76 

Decorticated  cotton-cake 

41-0 

57-0 

100 

105 

Undecorticatcd      „         

24-0 

46-9 

8-0 

58 

Bean  meal            

2V.3 

4.5-5 

2-0 

62 

Pea      „               

22-4 

52-3 

2-5 

62 

Eye      „              

no 

69-2 

2-0 

30 

Indian  com          

10  0 

68  0 

7-0 

25 

Eice  meal  (best) 

6-9 

77'0 

4-0 

25 

Palm-nut  meal     

14-0 

76-0 

4-0 

28 

Wheat  bran         

14-0 

SO-0 

3-8 

55, 

Oats           

12-0 

60-9 

6-0 

23 

Barley       

9 -.5 

66-6 

2-5 

25 

Malt          

9  0 

76-0 

3-0 

26 

Malt  culms           

26-0 

60-0 

4-0 

71 

Alsike  clover  in  blossom 

1.5-3 

29-2 

3-3 

^Vhite       „               „       ... 

14'9 

34-3 

3-5 

2 

Red           „               „       

13-4 

29-9 

3-2 

2 

Lucerne 

14-4 

22-0 

2-3 

2 

Maize,  cut  green             

3  0 

39-0 

1-1 

2 

Common  meadow  hay     

8-2 

41-3 

2-0 

15 

Pea  straw 

6 -.5 

35-2 

2  0 

8 

Oat 

2-5 

38-2 

2-0 

8 

Barley   „ 

3-0 

32-7 

1-4 

8 

Wheat  „ ;;     ;;; 

2'0 

30-2 

1-0 

8 

Potatoes 

2-0 

21-0 

0-3 

7 

Carrots      

1-.5 

7-0 

0-2 

4 

Turnips 

l-I 

5-1 

01 

4 

Mangels 

2-0 

80 

0-2 

In  using  the  foregoing  substances,  or  any  of 
them,  the  farmer  will  naturally  be  guided  to  some 


extent  by  the  market  prices  of  all  those  of  them 
that  he  has  to  buy.  At  present  jirices  (£7  per 
ton),  decorticated  cotton-cake  is  decidedly  the 
cheapest  and  best  article  that  a  farmer  can  buy 
for  milch-cows,  especially  in  winter.  (In  the 
summer,  when  the  cows  are  receiving  a  large 
quantity  of  green  food  of  one  kind  or  another, 
which  is  always  more  or  less  relaxing  in  its  action 
on  the  bowels,  it  will  generally  be  found  advisable 
to  use  undecortieated  cotton-cake,  which  is  an 
astringent,  and  counteracts  any  undue  relaxation 
of  the  bowels  cau-sed  by  green  food.)  Palm-nut 
meal  is  offered  on  the  market  at  a  reasonable  price 
(£G  10s.  per  ton),  and  from  its  eomjiosition  it  can 
hardly  fail  to  be  a  valuable  and  cheap  article  of 
food.  Malt  culms  are  excellent  milk-producers; 
but  as  they  are  singularly  forcing  in  their  action, 
and  have  the  property  of  swelling  out  into  a 
large  bulk  when  soaked  in  water,  it  is  advisable  to 
use  them  with  discretion. 

For  the  production  of  milk,  grass  of  good 
quality  is  the  most  nearly  jierfect  food  that  cows 
can  eat.  If  it  is  required  to  increase  the  quantity 
and  the  value  of  the  milk  for  cheese -making 
purposes,  artificial  food  rich  in  nitrogenous  mat- 
ters— albumen,  casein,  legumen,  &e. — may  be  fed 
to  the  cattle;  if  to  increase  them  for  butter- 
making,  non-nitrogenous  food  may  be  given,  in 
which  there  is  a  large  proportion  of  starch,  gum, 
sugar,  oil,  &c.  And  in  winter  it  is  well  to  prepare 
the  food  so  that  it  may  be  easy  of  digestion  and 
assimilation,  taking  gi-ass  as  a  standard  of  per- 
fection in  this  respect.  This  can  only  be  done 
either  by  steaming  the  food,  or  by  moistening- 
it  -vvith  water  or  pulped  turnips,  and  allowing 
it  to  lie  together  in  a  heap  until  the  fibre  is 
softened  by  incipient  fermentation.  In  cold 
w^eather,  tepid  -water  given  to  cows  will  increase 
the  flow  of  milk. 

Arable  Dairy-Farjiing. 

We  naturally,  or  rather  from  force  of  habit, 
associate  dairy-farming  chiefly  with  grass  land. 
The  districts  specially  known  as  devoted  to  dairying 
in  the  British  Islands  are  the  grass-land  districts, 
in  those  sections  of  the  country  where  the  humidity 
of  the  air  is  well  suited  to  the  growth  of  per- 
manent pastures ;  and  our  arable  districts,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  chiefly  those  in  -which,  ow'ing  to 
the  dryness  of  the  climate,  the  area  of  grass  land 
is  very  limited,  and  where  dairy-farming  is  carried 


48 


DAIRY    FAH.MIXC. 


out  (in  a  very  small  scale.  In  only  isolated  cases 
lias  dairy-farming  been  extensively  followed  on 
an  arable  basis,  with  only  a  small  amount  of  per- 
manent grass ;  and  we  have  consequently  grown 
to  regard  dairy-farming  as  being  inseparable  from 
a  large  proportion  of  grass  land. 

This  idea,  however,  though  based  on  the  prac- 
tice of  many  generations,  is  not  necessarily  the 
only  one  that  may  be  entertained  with  respect 
to  dairy-farming.  Permanent  grass  land,  as  the 
leading  feature  of  the  farm,  is  not  by  any  means 
essential  to  successful  milk-production  in  the  great 
bulk  of  cases,  and  in  dry  climates  it  is  certainly 
unfavourable  to  profitable  dairying.  While  it  is 
true  that  some  kinds  of  land  in  given  districts  are 
more  profitable  in  grass  than  under  the  plough, 
it  is  none  the  less  so  that  other  kinds  will  not  pay 
either  the  landowner  or  the  farmer  if  they  are 
kept  in  permanent  pasture.  It  follows,  therefore, 
that  in  some  districts,  and  almost  everywhere  on 
light  and  naturally  dry  land,  dairy-farming  will 
yield  better  returns  in  conjunction  with  arable 
cultivation  than  it  will  in  any  other  way. 

On  farms  that  have  hitherto  been  given  up 
mainly  to  the  grow-th  of  cereals  and  to  sheep,  the 
changes  necessary  to  dairy-farming  are  not  difficult 
to  bring  about.  Nearly  all  that  is  required  is  an 
increase  of  green  and  a  decrease  of  white  crops; 
instead  of  taking  two  cereal  crops  in  a  rotation, 
only  one  must  be  taken,  and  its  place  filled  in 
with  a  variety  of  green  crops.  On  a  300-acre 
fami,  200  of  which  are  under  the  plough,  the 
rotation  suitable  to  dairy-farming  might  be  as 
follows : — 

First  year,  Oats,  or  other  straw  crops      40  acres. 

Second  „    Turnips,  mangels,  carrots,  &c.      ...  40     „ 

Third     „     Winter  oats  in  part,  rye,  or  vetches  40      „ 

Fourth  „     Clover,  trifolium,  lucenie,  &o.       ...  40      „ 

Fifth      „     Second  year's  clover,  or  lucerne    ...  40      „ 

It  would  always,  providing  the  farmer  was  not 
lionnd  under  a  given  order  of  eropjnng,  be  a  simple 
matter  so  to  vary  the  items  in  the  rotation  as  to 
suit  the  requirements  of  the  period.  A  rotation 
of  this  kind,  in  which  the  land  does  not  often  lie 
still  more  than  one  clear  year,  is  so  pliable  that  it 
may  be  made  to  suit  almost  any  pui-pose.  More 
straw,  roots,  clover,  vetches,  or  any  other  crop 
may  be  grown  at  will ;  any  one  crop  may  be 
dropped  wholly  or  in  part  to  make  room  for  an 
increase  of  another  one.  The  clover,  or  lucerne, 
or  rye-grass  may  lie  a  second  or  even  a  third  year 


if  it  is  found  necessary,  and  if  they  are  doing 
well ;  green  crops  may  displace  white  ones,  or  the 
latter  may  supplant  root  crops,  and  a  regular  suc- 
cession of  those  crops  that  are  intended  for  soiling 
maj'  easily  be  arranged,  and  a  maximum  area  of 
forage  crops  may  with  equal  facility  be  secured. 

On  this  system,  wdiere  the  farmer  has  freedom 
to  crop  as  he  likes,  dairy-farming  may  be  carried 
on  with  a  very  small  area  of  permanent  pasture, 
or,  for  the  matter  of  that,  with  none  at  all ;  but  if 
pasture  were  wholly  dispensed  with  it  woidd  of 
course  be  necessary  to  keep  the  cows  and  young 
stock  wholly  in  sheds  or  yards,  and  feed  them 
there,  cutting  and  carrying  to  them  all  the  green 
food  in  spring,  summer,  and  autumn,  as  well  as 
the  dry  food  in  winter.  And  it  is  true  that  on 
this  method  a  larger  nimiber  of  cattle  can  be 
maintained  than  on  any  other,  because  the  land, 
being  constantly  under  cultivation  for  the  several 
crops,  produces  a  maximum  supply  of  food,  and 
also  because  the  waste  of  food  is  reduced  to  a 
minimum.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however, 
that  the  labour  bill,  the  outlay  in  manures  and 
feeding-stuffs,  and  the  w'ear  and  tear  of  horses 
and  implements  will  all  be  much  greater  on  this 
plan  than  on  any  other ;  and  as  all  farming  is  or 
t)ught  to  be  carried  on  to  the  profit  of  the  farmer, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  ascertain  which  system  will 
admit  of  the  most  satisfactory  results. 

The    Soiuxg   Svsteii. 

The  practice  of  "  soiling"  dairy-cows,  through- 
out the  spring,  summer,  and  autumn,  with  one 
kind  or  another  of  green  food,  is  coming  greatly 
into  favour,  especially  with  those  who  send  off 
their  milk  to  some  town  or  city.  Some  have  even 
carried  the  system  to  the  length  of  keeping  the 
cows  in  the  sheds  all  the  year  round,  cutting  and 
c;irting  to  them  all  the  green  food  they  eat ;  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  system  is  a  money- 
making  system,  provided  it  is  intelligentU'  and 
thoroughly  carried  out.  But  where  it  is  followed, 
two-thirds  or  more  of  the  land  is  necessarily 
under  arable  cultivation.  On  this  system  it  is 
possible  to  carry  on  dairy-farming  in  a  profitable 
manner  on  land  which,  being  of  a  light  and  dry 
character,  and  situated  in  a  dry  climate,  is  com- 
monly considered  most  suitable  to  sheep,  roots, 
and  cereals.  Such  land  will  commonly  grow  good 
rotation  crops  of  clover,  rye-grass,  Trifolium  in- 
carnafinii,    vetches,    S:c.,    all    of    which    are    well 


TIIK    SOILING    SYSTEM. 


49 


adapted  to  soiliug' ;  wliile  it  will  in-oduce,  in  the 
shape  of  straw  and  other  I'ora<;\>,  jjloiity  of  food 
for  winter  consumption. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  on  lig-ht  land 
in  a  dry  climate  dairying  can  only  be  profitably 
carried  on  in  conjunction  with  arable  cultivation 
and  the  growth  of  green  crops  for  soiling.  Left 
in  permanent  grass,  such  land  is  of  very  little 
value.  It  can  only  bs  made  to  pay  by  keeping  it 
constantly  under  the  plough,  taking  many  green 
crops,  and  now  and  then  a  white  one,  and 
manuring  each  of  them  lightly,  instead  of  one 
of  them  heavily  and  the  next  not  at  all;  for 
light  land  does  not  retain  manure  from  one 
year  to  another  as  heavy  land  does.  It  is, 
however,  doubtful  whether  such  a  system  of 
dairy-farming  would  be  suitable  to  cheese-making 
on  English  methods.  It  is  well  known  to  English 
dairy-farmers  that  when  cows  are  eating  in  the 
early  spring  young  clovers  and  grasses  on  newly- 
seeded  land,  it  is  very  difficult  to  make  sound 
cheese  from  the  milk ;  and  on  some  kinds  of  land, 
particularly  marls,  this  difficulty  is  very  marked. 
In  the  dairying  districts  of  France  the  soiling 
system  is  much  more  extensively  practised  than 
it  is  in  England,  and  both  cheese  and  butter  of 
excellent  quality  are  made;  but  the  French  make 
principally  soft  cheese,  much  of  which  is  for  early 
consumption  ;  and  the  English  hard  cheese  differs 
so  w^dely  from  the  French  soft,  that  a  system 
of  farming  suitable  to  the  one  would  in  all 
probability  not  be  suitable  to  the  other.  But  a 
great  deal  depends  in  all  cases  on  the  care  and 
sj'stem  on  which  the  cheese  and  butter  are  made, 
and  on  this  point  we  shall  have  more  to  say 
later  on. 

Where  the  soiling  system  is  carried  out  in 
its  entirety  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  regular 
succession  of  green  crops,  commencing  with  the 
early  spring  and  continued  until  winter  sets  in. 
It  is  important  to  remember  that  dairy-cows 
when  in  full  milk  should  have  an  abundant 
supply  of  succulent  food;  and  on  land  which  is 
well  adaptetl  to  the  growth  of  various  kinds 
of  green  crops  a  special  effort  should  be  made, 
and  a  regular  system  laid  down,  to  provide  these 
crops  for  consumption  from  April  to  November 
inclusive,  along  with  a  small  proportion  of  dry 
food.  It  is  a  good  system  to  give  the  cows 
throughout  the  summer  one  feed  a  day  of  green 
and  dry  food  chaffed  up  togetlier.    The  drv  food 


may  consist  of  straw  or  hay,  whichever  happens  to 
be  the  more  plentiful,  and  the  mixture  may  with 
great  advantage  be  improved  by  an  addition  of  a 
moderate  quantity  of  bean,  pea,  palm-nut,  rice, 
or  maize  meal,  bran  of  wheat,  malt  culms,  linseed 
or  cotton  cake  ;  for  these  kinds  of  food  will  supply 
the  albuminoids  of  which,  as  a  perfect  ration  for 
cows  in  milk,  the  addition  of  straw  or  hay  may 
have  made  the  mixture  more  or  less  deficient. 
Lucerne  and  various  other  clovers  are  excellent 
soiling  crops,  and  when  cut  whilst  they  are  in 
blossom  contain  a  proper  proportion  of  the  different 
food-elements  required  by  cows  in  milk ;  but  most 
other  soiling  crops,  such  as  rye-grass,  green  rye, 
vetches,  green  maize,  and  the  like,  are  more  or 
less  deficient  in  alb\iminoids,  and  these  elements 
should  be  supplied  by  one  or  other  of  the  concen- 
trated kinds  of  food  mentioned  above. 


Ckops 


Suitable    for    Arable    Dairy 
Husbandry. 


For  earliest  green  food  in  spring,  rye  is  found 
to  answer  very  well.  Sown  in  September,  on  corn 
or  potato  land,  it  is  usually  ready  to  cut  for  soiling 
early  in  April.  As  soon  as  the  corn  or  potatoes 
are  harvested,  the  land  should  be  well  cultivated, 
cleaned  and  manured,  and  the  seed  drilled  in  at 
the  rate  of  2  bushels  per  acre ;  or,  if  the  land  is 
clean,  they  may  be  broadcasted.  One  of  the  best 
manurings  for  rye  is  soot,  at  the  rate  of  100  to 
200  bushels  per  acre;  but  if  soot  cannot  be  readilv 
obtained,  10  or  12  tons  per  acre  of  good  farm- 
yard manure,  ploughed  under  when  the  land  has 
been  cultivated  and  cleaned,  will  be  found  to 
produce  a  good  and  early  crop.  It  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  the  rye  will  be  ready  for  cutting 
a  fortnight  earlier  if  the  land  is  well  prejiared  and 
manured  than  it  will  if  these  matters  have  been 
imperfectly  ])erformed  or  neglected  altogether ; 
and  the  secret  of  early  cutting  rests  in  having 
the  land  in  high  condition.  The  period  dm-ing 
which  rye  is  available  for  soiling  is  short,  as  it 
becomes  too  tough  before  May  has  far  advanced ; 
but  it  may  commonly  be  used  until  the  succeeding 
crop  is  ready  to  take  its  place,  and  as  soon  as  it  is 
cleared  off,  the  land  may  be  ploughed  up  at  once, 
and  planted  with  turnips,  cabbages,  or  some  other 
green  crop,  for  autumn  consumption. 

To  come  into  use  immediately  after  the  rye 
is  finished,  winter  vetches,  sown  at  several  times 
in  September  and  October,  either  with  or  without 


50 


DAIRY    FAimiXG. 


a  little  \vlu>;it  <ir  winter  oats  to  koop  tliem 
staiuliiifi',  will  provide  a  large  amount  of  food 
in  May,  June,  and  July.  Spring-  vetches  should 
be  sown  at  intervals  from  the  beginning  of 
March  to  the  middle  of  May ;  and  if  there 
arc  two  sowings  in  the  autumn  and  four  or 
six  in  the  spring,  the  successive  crops  will 
liridge  over  the  summer,  from  ISIay  to  October, 
cs])coially  if  they  are  assisted  in  May  and  Juno 
with  clover  or  rye-grass — they  will  last,  in  fact, 
until  turnips  and  cabbage  ai'e  available.  As 
vetches  are  in  the  best  state  for  use  when  the 
seeds  are  beginning  to  form  in  the  pods,  the  first 
spring  sowing  may  bo  so  regulated  that  the  crop 
will  be  ready  for  use  when  the  winter  vetches 
are  cleared  off.  There  necl,  however,  be  no  great 
amount  of  anxiety  on  this  point,  for  clovers  and 
rye-grasses  are  available  in  May  and  early  June. 
To  secure  a  good  thick -set  crop  of  vetches,  4 
bushels  of  seed  per  acre  should  be  sown  if  they 
are  sown  broadcast,  but  if  drilled,  .'i  or  '61  will  be 
enough;  and  drilling  is  the  best  system,  on  account 
of  the  facilities  it  affords  of  hoeing  the  lanti  so 
as  to  keep  down  the  weeds  until  the  crop  is  fairly 
Gstabliished.  A  good  crop  of  vetches  will  com- 
pletely smother  all  the  small  annual  weeds,  and 
most  of  the  others  too ;  but  with  a  poor  crop  the 
land  is  certain  to  become  so  foul  that  it  is  better 
to  plough  it  up  at  once  and  put  in  some  other 
kind  of  a  cro]).  Along  with  spring  vetches  it  is 
a  good  plan  to  sow  a  little  rape-seed,  say  1  lb.  per 
acre,  in  order  to  keep  the  vetches  standing  better 
than  they  would  alone.  Though  rape  is  an  ex- 
cellent green  food  for  sheep,  it  is  not  much  used 
for  dairy-stock. 

I^yp-g™ss  and  red  clover,  cither  together  or 
separately,  arc  commonly  sown  on  a  eroj)  of  corn 
in  spring,  and  they  come  into  use  the  following 
spring.  They  are  exceedingly  useful  for  a  time 
for  soiling  purposes,  say  from  the  beginning  of 
May  until  the  middle  of  June,  after  which  it  is 
nectssary  to  cut  the  remainder  for  winter  forage, 
because  if  overgrown  they  are  far  less  valuable 
than  they  are  up  to  the  blossoming  period  of  the 
clover.  Some  farmers  advocate  sowing  rye-grass 
early  in  July  on  land  from  which  a  crop  of  Tri- 
fidhim  incarnatum  has  recently  been  consumed ; 
it  is  only  necessary  to  surface  cultivate  the  land, 
providing  it  is  clean,  when  it  is  fit  for  the  rye- 
grass seed.  'When  sown  alone,  \\  bushels  per 
acre  is  recommended  ;  when  with  clover,  1  bushel ; 


of  clover  seed,  II  lbs.  ])er  acre  along  with  the  rye- 
grass will  be  enough ;  if  alone,  20  lbs.  To  gn.w 
cither  rye-grass  or  clover  successfully  the  land 
must  be  in  good  condition,  or  failing  that  the 
crop  must  be  well  manured  just  before  sowing, 
or  at  some  convenient  period  afterwards.  A  good 
dressing  of  well-made  farmyard  manure,  well 
incorporated  with  the  soil,  will  ensure  a  good 
crop;  failing  that,  the  crop  may  be  dressed  in 
early  spring  with  2  ewt.  of  guano  per  acre,  or 
a  mixture  of  nitrate  of  soda,  superphosphate  of 
lime,  and  gypsum — say  1  ewt.  of  the  fii-st,  li  cwt. 
of  the  second,  and  2  cwt.  of  the  third.  These 
artificial  manures  are  best  sown  in  damp  weather. 
Maize  is  an  excellent  green  crop  for  soiling ; 
it  has  for  years  been  extensively  grown  for  that 
purjjose  in  America,  and  it  is,  in  fact,  the  favourite 
green  crop  in  most  of  the  great  dairying  districts 
of  that  country.  It  is  also  grown  widely  in 
France  and  other  continental  countries  for  soil- 
ing dairy-cows.  It  is  a  plant  whose  growth  is 
rapid,  and  it  answers  well  when  sown  for  succes- 
sive crops  ;  it  is,  however,  deficient  in  albuminoids, 
and  though  a  most  valuable  crop  in  itself,  it  is 
greatly  improved  by  cotton-cake,  pea  or  bean  meal 
being  fed  along  with  it.  Simple  of  cultivation, 
a  large  cropper,  of  rapid  growth,  and  rich  in 
sugar  and  other  heat-producing  elements,  maize 
ought  to  become  quickly  popular  in  Britain  for 
soiling  purposes  or  for  winter  forage.  It  is  suited 
to  a  variety  of  soils,  and  when  the  land  is  in  good 
condition  and  the  weather  hot  enough,  will  grow 
an  astonishingly  large  bulk  of  food  per  acre.  It 
is  especially  adapted  to  the  production  of  milk, 
increasing  the  quantity  and  improving  the  quality; 
while,  being  tender,  sweet,  and  succulent,  it  is 
much  relished  by  cattle,  so  long  as  it  is  not  over- 
grown. When  the  land  has  been  well  prei)ared 
Ijy  cultivation,  maize  may  be  planted  after  the 
manner  of  potatoes,  the  land  well  manured,  and 
the  seed  scattered  pretty  thickly  in  drills  2  feet 
apart;  this  admits  of  the  horse-hoe  being  used 
freely  for  a  time.  There  need  be  no  hesitation 
about  sowing  a  good  quantity  of  it,  say  an  acre 
for  each  six  or  eight  eows,  to  come  into  use  in 
successive  half-acre  lots,  for  if  there  is  more  than 
enough  for  soiling  purposes,  it  is  a  simjile  matter 
to  cut  and  stook  the  over])lus,  after  the  manner  of 
oats,  and  it  will  be  found  to  make  excellent  winter 
forage. 

Turnips   arc   mure   costly   and   troublesome   to 


THK    SOILING    SYSTEM. 


51 


grow  than  tlio  pveecHlinfy  props,  nnd  are  iioj  so 
well  adapted  to  the  produetion  of  milk,  not  alone 
because  they  will  not  produce  so  much  of  it,  but 
also  because  they  give  it  an  unpleasant  flavour ;  yet 
are  they  useful  because  they  come  in  when  most 
of  the  other  green  crops  ai'e  over.  Owing  to  the 
attacks  of  numerous  enemies,  of  which  the  "  fly  " 
is  the  most  destructive,  turnips  are  a  crop  on 
which  no  certain  dependence  can  be  placed,  and 
this  very  uncertainty  detracts  greatly  from  their 
value.  It  is  estimated  that  one-sixth  of  the 
turnips  sown  in  these  islands  are  annually  de- 
stroyed in  this  manner.  One  chance  of  check- 
ing such  wholesale  destruction  lies  in  having  the 
soil  well  pulverised  and  mellowed  by  winter  frosts, 
and  in  manuring  it  well  in  the  spring,  so  that  the 
crop  may  make  rapid  progress  out  of  the  reach  of 
its  enemies ;  and  yet  this  forcing  of  the  crop  ii) 
its  early  stages  diminishes  its  subsequent  keeping 
properties,  and  it  is  liable  to  early  decay.  The 
turnip-fly  is  said  to  be  driven  ofE  if  the  land 
has  been  manured  with  dung  that  has  been  pro- 
duced in  stables  where  disinfecting  powders  are 
constantly  used ;  or  by  a  sprinkling,  repeated 
now  and  again  while  the  danger  lasts,  of  paraffin 
oil  diluted  with  water  over  the  young  j)Iants. 

In  some  districts  it  is  the  custom,  when  the  land 
is  clean,  to  plough  under  10  or  IZ  tons  per  acre  of 
farmyard  manure  in  the  autumn,  and  to  give  it 
a  further  dressing  of  3  cwt.  of  superjihosphate  in 
the  following  spring  at  sowing-time ;  but  as  farm- 
yard manure  may  generally  be  applied  with  greater 
advantage  to  meadow  land  and  to  the  growth  of 
soiling  crops,  it  is  on  the  whole  better  to  keep 
it  for  those  purposes,  and  to  grow  the  turnips 
with  3  cwt.  each  of  superphosj^hate  and  dissolved 
bones.  The  thinning-out  and  repeated  hoeings 
which  turnips  require  make  them  an  expensive 
crop  to  grow,  and  when  to  this  is  added  the  uncer- 
tainty of  the  crop,  it  is  no  matter  for  surprise  that 
they  are  much, less  widely  cultivated  than  they 
were  a  few  years  ago. 

Turnips  and  swedes  alike  are  grown  to  the 
greatest  advantage  in  a  cool,  moist  climate,  and 
on  rather  light,  friable  Ljams.  Swedes  are  very 
useful  for  pulping  purposes  in  the  early  winter 
months,  because  they  keep  sound  longer  than 
turnips  ;  while  mangels,  which  grow  best  on  a 
strong,  deep  soil,  and  in  a  hotter  climate  than 
turnips  or  swedes,  are  most  useful  in  the  early 
months  of  the  year,  because  they  keep  sound 
10 


longer  than  either  of  the  other  roots,  and  also 
because  they  improve  in  quality  by  keejiing  until 
February  or  March.  The  cultivation,  manuring, 
and  general  treatment  are  much  the  same  with 
all  of  them. 

In  some  localities  kohl-rabi  has  of  late  years 
attained  a  certain  amount  of  popularity.  It  has 
been  found  a  good  substitute  for  swedes  where  the 
latter  have  failed.  The  chief  advantages  of  this 
root  over  others  are  that  it  is  comparatively  free 
from  the  attacks  of  insects  and  game,  and  does  not 
siiffer  like  them  from  drought  and  mildew.  The 
cultivation  of  kohl-rabi  is  similar  to  that  of  swedes, 
though,  being  of  slower  growth,  it  requires  a 
month's  earlier  sowing. 

Of  all  crops  cultivated  for  late  autumn  con- 
sumption, cabbage  is  without  doubt  the  most 
valuable  in  all  respects.  Under  generous  treat- 
ment it  will  produce  heavier  crops  than  any  other 
kind  of  green  food,  while  its  adaptability  to  the 
produetion  of  milk  is  of  a  very  high  order.  It  does 
not  impart,  as  turnips  do,  unpleasant  flavour  to 
milk,  its  feeding  piroj^erties  are  much  superior  to 
theirs,  and  withal  it  is  a  healthy  and  most  valuable 
article  of  food  for  dairy-stock.  The  seed  is  usually 
sown  in  the  autumn  on  well-jirepared  beds,  the 
plants  are  moved  later  on  into  other  beds,  and  in 
the  spring  are  finally  transplanted  out  in  the  fields. 
The  soils  best  suited  to  them  are  deep,  rich,  friable 
loams;  but  if  the  land  is  well  manured  and 
properly  prepared,  they  will  grow  successfidly  in 
almost  any  soil.  It  is  best,  generally  speaking, 
to  ridge  the  land,  as  if  for  potatoes,  and  after 
putting  in  12  or  15  tons  of  well-rotted  farm- 
yard dung  per  acre,  along  with  2  cwt.  of  nitrate 
of  soda,  or  3  cwt.  of  Peruvian  guano,  the  ridges 
should  be  re-sjilit,  and  the  caljbage  plants  "pricked 
in  ■"  about  two  feet  apart.  The  horse-hoe  should 
afterwards  be  used  once  or  twice  between  the  rows, 
and  the  soil  "earthed  up"  again  with  the  ridge- 
plough. 

The  lupin  is  well  known  in  England  as  a 
large  and  handsome  flowering  plant  for  the  garden 
or  shrubbery,  but  though  it  is  extensively  cul- 
tivated, both  for  its  seed  and  as  a  forage  plant,  in 
Northern  Germany,  it  has  not  at  present  gained 
much  popularity  amongst  the  farmers  of  Britain. 
The  plant  itself,  if  cut  young  enough,  makes 
excellent  hay,  while  the  seeds  are  found  to  be  very 
superior  food  for  fattening  sheep,  as  well  as  for 
ewes  and  lambs.     It  is  said  to  grow  fairly  well  on 


52 


DATEY    FARMING. 


laud  dial  is  too  poor  to  grow  even  middling  crops 
of  anything  else;  striking  its  roots  deeply  down 
into  the  subsoil,  it  procures  more  or  less  of  hard- 
earned  nourishment  that  is  out  of  the  reach  of 
other  crops,  and  it  is  consequently,  being  perennial, 
well  suited  to  occupy  poor,  sandy,  or  chalky  soils, 
which  do  not  pay  to  cultivate  under  any  regular 
system.  It  needs  first  of  all  a  soil  which  ha6 
depth  enough,  and  though  it  may  be  more  pro- 
ductive than  anything  else  in  a  comparatively 
barren  soil,  it  will  of  course  do  still  better  in  a 
fairly  good  soil.  Any  way,  it  would  seem  to 
possess  merit  enough  to  recommend  it  to  a  fair 
trial  on  certain  kinds  of  soil.  As  to  the  seeds, 
the  following  analysis  will  show  that  they  possess 
a  hiarh  order  of  merit  as  food  for  stock  : — 


Water 

Flesh-formers 
Fat-formers 
■Woody  fibrd 
Mineral  matter 


14-15 
33-3G 
32-37 
11-12 
3-04 


The  lupin  will  be  found  represented  in  the 
coloured  plate  containing  clovers  and  other  legu- 
minous plants. 

Prickly  comfrey  {S?/mji/ii/fiim  asperrininm)  has 
in  recent  years  attracted  considerable  notice  as  a 
forage  plant ;  but  though  many  farmers  have  tried 
it  on  a  limited  scale,  it  does  not  at  present  appear 
to  be  gaining  ground  as  one  of  the  aclcaowledged 
crops  of  the  farm.  Providing  only  that  animals 
would  eat  it  freely,  it  might  and  would,  after 
a  time,  come  into  extensive  cultivation,  but  we 
not  uncommonly  hear  the  objection  urged  against 
it  that  they  will  not ;  this  objection,  if  sustained, 
is  of  course  fatal  to  its  popularity.  The  plant, 
however,  is  said  to  possess  such  uncommon  mei-its 
that  it  deserves  to  be  much  more  widely  tried 
before  it  is  discarded.  It  is  said  to  be  "  especially 
adapted  for  the  feeding  and  fattening  of  stock, 
and  for  increasing  the  milk  of  cows;  it  grows 
more  rapidly  and  luxui-iantly  than  any  other  green 
soiling  plant,  producing  in  a  given  space  a  far 
greater  quantity  of  forage.  Being  a  deeply-rooted 
plant,  it  is  independent  of  weather  or  climate, 
and  in  the  hottest  seasons  it  will  afford  several 
heavy  cuttings,  when  all  other  vegetation  is  either 
burned  up  or  at  a  standstill.  It  comes  in  earlier 
than  other  crops,  and  lasts  longer,  continuing  to 
affoi-d  forage  until  it  is  cut  down  by  severe 
frosts.  Comfrey  culture  is  simjjle  and  not  costly. 
The    ground    is    either    forked  or   ploughed  0    or 


S  inches  deep,  and  well  manured.  The  crowns,  or 
root  cuttings,  are  then  planted  like  potato  sets, 
3  feet  apart.  The  plant,  when  dried  into  hay, 
makes  a  good  food  for  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and 
pigs.  When  once  the  plant  is  established,  no 
further  expense  is  needed.  It  may  be  cut  several 
times  during  the  growing  season,  and  will  jaeld 
80  to  120  tons  of  green  food  to  the  acre."  This  is 
certainly  magnificent  testimony,  but,  so  far  as  our 
own  observation  goes,  it  is  not  borne  out.  We 
have  it  in  two  or  three  plots  in  the  botanical 
gardens  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  College  at 
Cirencester,  and  it  has  been  used  as  food  for 
horses;  yet  not  only  are  the  horses  averse  to  it, 
but  it  is  not  by  any  means  an  extraoixlinarily 
heavy  cropper;  still  the  land  there  is  light,  dry, 
and  generally  inferior,  and  under  more  favourable 
conditions  the  plant  would,  no  doulit,  do  verj^  much 
better;  but  we  feel  bound  to  express  our  unqualified 
disbelief  in  the  statement  that  it  will  produce  "  80 
to  120  tons  ■"  per  annum  of  green  food  to  the  acre. 
It  is  said  to  be  a  native  of  the  Caucasus,  and, 
according  to  Loudon,  was  first  introduced  into 
England  in  1799;  but  its  reputation  as  a  forage 
plant  is  quite  recent.  Dr.  Voelcker  says  of  it : — 
"  In  its  fresh  state,  comfrey  contains  still  more 
water  than  white  mustard;  but,  notwithstanding 
this  large  proportion  of  water,  the  amount  of  flesh- 
forming  substances  is  considerable.  The  jtiice  of 
this  plant  contains  much  gum  and  mucilage,  and 
but  little  sugar."  A  representation  of  it  will  be 
found  in  the  chapter  on  forage  plants. 

Lucerne  {3ledicii//o  safira)  is  already,  and 
most  worthily,  popular  in  some  parts  of  Britain, 
and  we  venture  to  predict  that  its  poptilarity  will 
increase.  In  the  Western  States  of  America, 
particularly  in  California,  it  is  held  in  very  high 
estimation,  and  under  the  name  of  alfalfa  it  is 
very  extensively  cultivated  both  for  soiling  pur- 
poses and  for  winter  forage.  A  practical  Califor- 
nian  dairy-farmer  writes  of  it  in  the  following 
terms  : — "  We  speak  our  own  experience,  which 
has  been  considerable,  and  the  experience  of  every 
dairyman  in  the  northern  half  of  the  State,  when 
we  say  that  alfalfa  is  the  best  butter  and  cheese 
making  plant  we  have  ever  fed  cows  upon,  either 
in  the  summer  or  winter,  cither  as  grazing  or 
hay.  Indeed,  it  is  the  general  testimony  of 
dairymen  who  pasture  cows  on  the  native  grasses 
and  on  alfalfa,  that  when  pasturing  on  alfalfa  the 
milk  and  butter  are  at  least  20  per  cent,  greater, 


THE    USE    OF    STRAW. 


53 


and  imuli  riclier  ami  tiuer,  than  wlien  pasturiiio^  on 
native  grasses."  Lucerne,  being  one  o£  the  many 
kinds  of  clover,  requires  the  same  sort  of  general 
treatment  as  the  others  doj  like  them,  it  does 
best  in  a  deep  soil  into  which  its  roots  pene- 
trate deeply,  and  though  it  prefers  a  soil  that  is 
not  very  dry,  it  likes  a  warm  climate.  Under 
favourable  conditions  it  is  said  to  produce  30  to 
40  tons  of  green  food,  or  5  to  6  tons  of  hay,  per 
acre  per  annum,  in  three  or  four  cuttings.  This 
plant  will  be  found  in  the  same  plate  which  con- 
tains the  lupin. 

The  Right  Use  of  Straw. 

Tlie  remaining  crops  grown  on  a  dairy-farm 
where  soiling  is  practised  will  be  wheat,  oats,  or 
barley,  as  the  case  may  be  ;  a  portion  of  the  land 
will  be  in  permanent  pasture  for  the  use  of  young 
stock,  and  the  remainder  in  meadow.  While 
meadow  hay  is  nest  to  indispensable  in  winter- 
time, all  the  straw  of  the  cereal  crops  will  be 
turned  to  good  account  by  being  chaffed  and 
mixed  ■with  pulped  roots  or  brewers'  grains,  and 
brought  up  to  a  high  standard  of  quality  by  the 
addition  of  various  kinds  of  purchased  feeding- 
stuffs,  the  selection  of  which  \vill  be  partly 
governed  by  the  state  of  the  markets.  In  many 
cases,  however,  csiieclally  where  the  farmer  has  no 
conveniences  for  chaffing  his  straw,  and  where  the 
straw  is  very  good  in  quality,  well  harvested,  and 
not  overgrown,  it  is  expedient  to  feed  the  straw 
to  the  cattle  without  chaffing  it ;  and  where  it  is 
given  this  way,  it  is  found  to  be  enhanced  in  value 
by  setting  the  "  battens "  or  sheaves  on  end  out 
in  the  stack-yard  a  few  days  before  it  is  eaten, 
and  either  pouring  water  over  it  or  allowing  the 
rain,  if  any,  to  soak  it;  the  soaking  softens  the 
fibre  of  the  straw,  prepares  it  for  the  stomach, 
makes  it  easier  of  digestion  as  well  as  of  mas- 
tication, and  the  cattle  relish  it  better,  eat  it  ujj 
cleaner,  and  there  is  less  waste.  Tliis  may  appear 
too  simple  an  expedient  to  be  valualjle ;  but  try  it 
— we  can  recommend  it.  If  there  is  any  good 
in  "steaming"  such  food,  it  is  just  the  same 
good,  done  in  a  different  way,  which  the  straw 
derives  from  the  soaking  with  water  out  in  the 
rick-yard. 

The  same  principle  is  involved,  done  in  yet 
again  a  different  way,  and  along  with  certain 
other  improvements,  in  the  system  of  prej)aring 
straw-chaff  described  as  follows  by  Mr.   Samuel 


Jonas,  in  the  Joitnial  of  the   Royal   Agricultural 
Society,  vol.  vi.,  1870 : — 

"I  use  a  12-horse-power  engine  by  Hornsby, 
which  enables  me  (when  used  ou  home  premises) 
to  thrash,  dress,  and  sack  the  corn  ready  for  market, 
and  cut  the  straw  into  chaff.  I  use  one  of 
Maynard's  powerful  chaff-cutters,  which  sifts  and 
puts  the  chaff  into  bags,  ready  for  being  carried 
into  the  chaff-house.  The  straw,  when  delivered 
from  the  thrashing-machine,  is  carried  by  rollers 
to  the  height  of  9  feet ;  it  then  comes  down  an 
inclined  plane.  Three  men  get  in  the  straw,  and 
hand  it  to  the  chaff-ciitter ;  it  is  then  cut,  and 
carried  into  the  chaff -barn  and  well  trodden  down, 
mixing  about  a  bushel  of  salt  to  every  ton,  and 
also  a  certain  quantity  of  green-stuff.  Tares  or 
rye,  cut  green  into  chaff,  are  sown  by  the  hand  as 
the  chaff  is  brought  in.  This  causes  it  to  heat, 
and  adding  the  amount  of  green-stuff  required 
to  give  it  a  jn-oper  heat  is  the  secret  of  the  suc- 
cessful operation  of  storing  chaff. 

"  Respecting  the  quantity  of  green-chaff  to 
be  mixed  with  the  straw-chaff  to  cause  a  proj)er 
fermentation :  I  use  about  1  ewt.  to  the  ton  of 
straw-chaff,  and  1  bushel  of  salt  (56  lbs.)  to  the 
ton  of  chaff.  But  some  judgment  is  required  as 
to  the  state  of  the  green-stuff.  If  it  is  green  rye 
on  the  ear,  a  full  cwt.  is  required ;  if  very  green 
tares,  a  rather  less  quantity  will  do,  as  the  degree 
of  fermentation  depends  upon  the  quantity  of  sap 
contained  in  it.  This  is  done  in  spring  and 
summer — the  chaff  is  not  used  till  October  and 
the  winter  months.  I  can  thus  thrash  and  dress 
the  corn  crops,  and  cut  the  straw  into  chaff,  in  one 
process,  the  expense  of  cutting  and  storing  the  same 
being  about  Is.  per  acre;  the  principal  additional 
expense  is  for  about  4  ewts.  of  coal  per  day,  and 
we  thrash  and  cut  from  8  to  10  acres  per  day." 

This  extremely  simple,  inexpensive,  and  in  all 
respects  excellent  plan  of  dealing  with  straw  for 
feeding  purposes  recommends  itself  to  farmers 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land 
as  one  of  sterling  practical  value,  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  the  system  will  obtain  a  wide-spread  popu- 
larity. The  straw  annually  wasted  in  these  islands, 
in  one  way  or  anotlier,  would  keep  thousands  of 
dairy-cattle  through  the  winter;  and  there  is  a 
still  larger  quantity  which,  though  not  absolutely 
wasted,  is  "next  door  to  it."  Vast  quantities 
of  straw  which,  prepared  on  Mr.  Jonas's  simple 
plan,  would  make  valuable  food,  are  now  trodden 


54 


DAIRY    FAHMIN(J. 


down  into  manui'e  as  expeditiously  as  pussiblc, 
as  if  that  was  the  first  object  for  which  straw- 
is  cultivated  and  the  best  use  to  which  it  can  Ije 
put.  This,  however,  cannot  ho  lielped  at  present, 
because  most  farmere  are  forbidden  to  sell  their 
straw,  and  on  many  arable  farms  there  is  not  half 
enough  stock  kept  to  consume  it,  unless  treading 
it  down  into  manure  can  be  called  consuming  it. 
It  is  easy  to  understand  why,  half  a  century  ago, 
they  should  be  forbidden  to  sell  it,  for  at  that 
jieriod  they  had  no  chance  of  restoring  its  value  to 
the  farm  in  the  form  of  purchased  manures.  But 
a  different  state  of  things  rules  in  the  present 
day,  and  the  restriction  has  now  become  both 
useless  and  injurious.  Numbers  of  dairy-farmers 
would  be  rescued  from  serious  and  frequent  embar- 
rassment in  the  management  of  their  stock  if  they 
could  buy  good  straw  at  a  moderate  price,  for  it  is 
a  simple  thing  to  improve  it  so  that  it  will  answer 
admirably  for  the  winter-feed  of  cattle.  It  may 
be  hoped  that  these  useless  and  absurd  restrictions 
will  shortly  disappear,  as  they  are  already  doing 
\inder  the  more  enlightened  landlords. 

The  following  analyses  by  Dr.  A'^oelcker  show 
the  composition  of  ordinary  meadow  hay,  Mr. 
Jonas's  fermented  straw-chaff,  and  of  ordinary 
wheat-straw  chaff  respectively.  Tabulated  side  by 
side,  the  reader  can  see  at  a  glance  the  great 
improvement  produced  by  the  fermenting  process, 
and  also  the  difference  which  yet  remains  between 
the  fermented  chaff  and  meadow  hay  : — 


COMrOSITIOHS    OF 

Ordinary 

Meadow 

Hay. 

Fermented 
aud  i>repared 
Straw- chaff. 

Wheat- 
Straw  chaff. 

Moisture      

Oil  and  fatty  matters 
•Albuiniuous  compounds  ) 

(flesh-forming  matters)  j 
Sugar,    gum,    and   other  j 

soluble    organic    com-  [ 

pounds     ) 

Digestible  fibre 
Indigestible  woody  fibre  j 

(cellulose)           ...          \ 
Mineral  matter  (ash) 

14-61 
2-56 

8-44 
41-07 

27-10 
G-16 

7-76 
1-GO 

4-19 

10-16 

35-74 
34-54 
601 

13-33 
1-74 

2-93 

4  "20 

19-4U 
54-13 
4-21 

100-00 

100  00 

100-00 

•  Containing  nitrogen 

1-35 

•67 

•47 

In  respect  <>f  these  anal^'ses.  Dr.  "\''oclckev 
remarks: — (1)  The  prepared  wheat-chaff  is  one- 
fourth  richer  than  the  unprepared  in  materials 
which  produce  the  substance  of  the  lean  fibre  of 
meat,  or  of  muscle;  (2)  the  percentage  of  sugar, 
gum,  &c.  amounts  to  nearly  two  and  a  half  the 
quantity  which  occurs  in  good  unprepared  wheat- 
chaff  ;  (;3)  the  treatment  rendered  soluble  50 "85  per 
cent,  of  the  vegetable  fibre  of  the  fermented  chaff, 
whilst  the  soluble  portion  of  vegetable  fibre  does 
not  amount  to  more  than  '26^38  per  cent.;  (l)  the 
fermentation  has  the  effect  of  rendering  the  hard 
and  dry  substance,  which  constitutes  tlie  bulk  of 
straw,  more  soluble  and  digestible  than  it  is  in 
its  natural  condition;  (5)  the  prepared  straw-chalf 
has  all  the  agreeable  smell  which  characterises  good 
green  meadow  hay,  and  a  hot  infusion  with  water 
produces  a  liquid  which  can  hardly  be  distinguished 
from  hay-tea;  and  (6)  about  2  cwts.  of  decor- 
ticated cotton-cake  ground  into  meal  and  added 
to  1  ton  of  fermented  straw-chaff  constitutes  a 
mixture  which  agrees  closely  in  composition  with 
good  meadow  hay. 

No  definite  rules  can  be  laid  down  as  to  the 
quantity  of  food  which  dairy-cows  should  receive 
— this  will  depend  entirely  on  the  capacity  of  each 
cow  individually;  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  it  is  an  imwise  policy  to  over-feed  them. 
They  should  receive  just  what  they  will  eat  up 
cleanly ;  more  or  less  than  this  will  be  detrimental 
not  only  to  the  condition  of  the  animals,  but  also 
to  the  quantity  and  quality  of  milk  they  give. 
The  feeding  of  stock  both  requires  and  rewards 
careful  and  intelligent  attention.  Over-feeding  is 
not  only  a  waste  of  food,  but  is  injurious  to  the 
cattle.  Indiscriminate  and  lavish  feeding  will 
keep  the  cattle  poor.  During  the  time  a  cow  is 
in  calf  aud  in  milk,  and  especially  toward  the  end 
of  the  period  of  gestation,  she  will  require  an 
increased  proportion  of  albuminoids  or  nitrogenous 
food,  and  a  smaller  one  of  carbonaceous,  than  if  she 
is  neither  in  milk  nor  in  calf — if  she  is  merely 
growing  or  fattening. 

The  question  of  feeding  cattle  on  sound  prin- 
ciples is  one  that  needs  to  be  studied  more  than 
it  has  been  by  practical  farmers,  and  we  are  glad 
to  see  that  this  is  coming  to  be  the  case  in  many 
parts  of  the  country. 


CHAPTER      V. 
Milking,    Calving,    and    Calf-Hkaiuxg. 


Times   and  Places  for  Milking— Number  of  Meals  per  Day— Milking-Pails -Sore  Teats— Milking-Machines— Hard  Jlilking  and  its 
Cm-e  -Rearing  of  Calves— Necessary  to  the  Dairy-Farmer— Time  of  Calving— The  Teat  or  the  Pail— Improved  Feeding-Pail 
—Early  Feeding— Condimental  Food— Killing   Calves-Later   Treatment  of  Stock   Calves— Preven- 
'^  tion  of  Black-leg,  or  Quarter-evil- Early  Maturity— Anti-sucking  Devices. 


wm 


ODERN  exigencies  have 
very  much  upset  mauy 
old  -  fashioned  methods  ; 
and  milking  has  shared 
in  the  chan<>:e  which  seems 
^\0:  J  to  have  passed  over  all 
tilings  :  the  hour — five  in 
the  morning  and  five  in  the  evening 
— which  used  to  be  pretty  uniform 
throughout  the  country,  is  now  varied 
in  different  places  to  meet  the  needs 
of  the  milk  trade.  A  given  train  has 
and  the  station  is  two  or  three  miles 
milker  therefore  often  sits  down  to 
his  cow  in  the  morning  wliile  the  cold  stars  are 
still  seen  in  the  sky.  Punching  his  hat  well  into 
her  flank — a  hat  well  covered  with  hairs,  much 
battered  and  shiny  with  grease  from  the  skin  of  the 
cow,  and  w^hich  is  kept  for  this  one  use,  and  lasts 
through  mauy  years — he  tugs  away  lustily  with 
hands  and  arms  aud  shoulders,  first  ou  the  fore 
teats  and  then  ou  the  hind,  the  hands  working 
alternately  because  it  is  easier  so. 

Out  of  doors  the  milker  is  exposed  to  all  sorts 
of  weather.  Storms  of  wind  and  rain  contrive  to 
be  at  their  worst  when  tlie  milking  is  half  done. 
Very  soon  the  soil  is  soaked  with  rain,  in  a  day  or 
two  it  is  mud,  and  it  sucks  at  one's  boots.  The 
three-legged  stool,  whose  rade  surface  is  roughly 
polished  by  use,  sinks  deeper  and  deeper  into  the 
mire.  The  gates,  and  the  trees,  and  the  old  rails 
in  the  fence  are  dripping  with  wet,  and  the  air  is 
a  vapour.  The  rain  runs  in  streams  from  the  back 
of  the  cow  and  pours  ou  the  arms  and  thighs  of 
the  milker,  while  the  wind  blows  Ijig  drops  into 


the  nape  of  his  neek.  But  in  fine  weather,  when 
the  cows  are  contented,  out-door  milking  is  not  the 
least  pleasant  of  the  farmer's  duties. 

After  considerable  exjxn-ieiice  witli  both  ways, 
we  are  strongly  in  favour  of  having  the  cows 
brought  into  the  sheds  and  tied  for  milking,  rather 
than  of  milking  them  out  of  doors  in  a  corner  of 
the  field,  and  especially  so  if  the  corner  is  not 
railed  ofE  from  the  rest.  On  some  inconvenient 
farms,  however,  the  pastures  are  so  far  away 
from  the  buildings  that  it  would  be  a  mistake 
to  bring  the  cows  to  the  sheds  to  be  milked, 
for  the  more  exercise  of  this  kind  dairy-cows  are 
compelled  to  take,  tlie  less  milk  they  -will  give. 
In  cases  of  this  sort  it  is  a  necessary  evil  to  milk 
out  of  doors.  It  is  necessary  because  it  is  an 
unsound  policy  to  bring  the  cows  home  from  a 
distance,  aud  it  is  an  evil  because  the  milkeVs 
themselves  lose  a  great  deal  of  time  in  going  to 
and  from  the  milking  field.  The  cows  are,  espe- 
cially in  hot  weather,  much  more  restless  out  of 
doors  than  in,  and  it  is  consequently  not  only  more 
troublesome,  but  more  annojang  to  milk  them  so. 
Wherever  the  pastures  are  within  easy  reach  of 
the  buildings,  it  will  be  found  more  satisfactory 
in  all  respects  to  milk  the  cows  iu  their  stalls. 

In  winter  more  particularly,  but  at  any  other 
period  if  the  cows  are  kept  in-doors  and  fed  there, 
it  is  well  before  the  milking  commences  for  some 
person  to  go  round  with  a  brush  or  a  coarse  cloth 
in  his  hand  and  rub  off  from  the  cows'  udders  all 
the  loose  dirt  and  dust,  iu  order  to  keep  the  milk 
clean,  and  iu  some  cases  it  may  be  found  necessary 
to  wash  the  udders  and  teats ;  and  it  is  no  less 
expetlient   that   those  who  are  to  do  the  milking 


5fi 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


should  first  wash  their  hands,  and  should  never 
have  long  finger-nails,  or  the  cows  will  have 
sore  teats.  Really  good  and  careful  milkers  are 
scarce  and  valuable,  and  cows  will  soon  fall  off 
in  flow  of  milk  under  the  hands  of  poor  milkers. 
More  frequently  than  people  imagine,  especially 
in  the  hot  weather,  milk  has  been  injured  by 
milkers'  luiclean  hands  and  by  cows'  unclean 
udders  at  milking- time ;  and  we  have  seen 
milkers,  with  the  false  idea  of  milking  easier, 
dip  their  dirty  fingers  into  the  milk  in  the  pail, 
and  then  go  on  milking,  the  drops  of  dirty  milk 
oozing  out  between  the  fingers  and  returning  to 
the  pail  from  which  they  were  taken.  Where 
this  is  done,  the  cheese  and  butter  will  suffer  in 
quality  more  than  those  who  do  it  are  in  the 
habit  of  thinking.  I\Iilk  is  a  peculiar  product, 
and  exceedingly  susceptible  of  injury  from  dirt 
of  any  kind  and  from  impure  odours;  and  if  it 
is  not  iaken  proper  care  of  it  soon  goes  sour  in 
hot  weather,  its  natural  tendency  to  decay  being 
always  j)romoted  by  the  presence  of  impurities. 

Twice  a  day,  generally  speaking,  is  often  enough 
to  milk  a  cow,  but  for  a  few  days  after  she  has 
calved — and  afterwards  if  she  is  a  deep  milker 
— it  is  a  good  thing  to  milk  her  thrice  a  day. 
Some  people  say  that  each  cow  should,  if  possible, 
be  always  milked  by  the  same  person,  as  all 
cows  will  not  let  down  their  milk  to  strangers. 
Now  this,  in  our  opinion,  is  the  very  way  to 
train  cows  not  to  let  down  their  milk  to  strangers, 
and  when  the  person  who  has  been  in  the  habit 
of  milking  them  happens  to  be  away,  the  result  is 
that  some  of  them  are  milked  with  great  difficulty 
by  strangers.  A  better  plan  is  to  accustom  every 
cow  from  the  first  to  be  milked  by  any  one  to 
whose  turn  she  happens  to  fall. 

Milking  should  always  be  done  quietly,  regu- 
larly, and  thoroughly,  though  at  the  same  time 
quickly.  It  should  be  done  quietly,  without  any 
scolding  or  beating  of  the  cow — some  cows,  though, 
are  very  provoking— and  with  as  little  talking  and 
noise  as  possible,  for  some  cows  will  hold  their  milk 
if  they  are  scolded.  It  should  be  done  regularly, 
for  cows  give  their  milk  more  freely,  and  they 
soon  learn  regularity  themselves,  if  they  are  treated 
with  regularity  and  system.  It  should  be  done 
thoroughly,  getting  out  every  drop  when  "after- 
ing,"  because  a  cow  will  soon  fail  in  her  flow  of 
milk  if  she  is  not  milked  clean  each  time ;  and 
it  should    be    done    quickly,  for    cows    appreciate 


despatch,  providing  you  do  not  hurt  them,  and 
because  a  good  milker  is  almost  invariably  a  quick 
milker.  Undue  nervous  excitement  not  only 
lessens  the  quantity  but  lowers  the  quality  of  the 
milk.  Cows  are  essentially  creatures  of  habit ; 
they  soon  learn  to  come  toward  the  sheds  at  milk- 
ing-time,  grazing  homewards,  and  sooner  still 
they  learn  their  own  places  in  the  sheds ;  they 
soon  also  acquire  the  habit  of  letting  down  their 
milk  at  regular  times,  and  it  is  therefore  de- 
cidedly necessary  to  always  milk  them  in  the 
same  order  in  the  sheds,  beginning  so  that  each 
successive  cow  can  be  sat  down  to  without  dis- 
turbing the  previous  one — that  is,  begin  first 
with  the  cow  whose  left  or  near  side  is  next  to 
the  wall  at  the  end  of  the  shed,  and  they  will 
all  very  quickly  learn  to  expect  being  milked 
in  order  as  they  stand.  This  milking  in  order 
is  one  of  the  advantages  of  shed  milking,  for 
if  the  cows  are  milked  out  of  doors,  standing 
loosely  about,  it  commonly  follows  that  all  the 
easy  ones  are  milked  first,  but  not  in  order,  each 
milker  aiming  to  get  hold  of  the  easiest  cow  he 
can  find ;  but  in  sheds  the  cows  must  be  taken 
in  order  as  they  stand,  and  so  each  milker  gets 
his  share  of  the  "  hard "  ones. 

Some  farmers  tie  together  the  hind-legs  of  each 
cow,  in  order  to  prevent  her  kicking  the  pail  over 
while  she  is  being  milked.  With  many  cows  this 
is  absolutely  necessary,  and  we  are  inclined  to 
think  it  is  a  good  system  to  adopt,  for  now  and 
then  a  most  respectable  sort  of  a  cow,  when  any- 
thing hurts  her,  and  sometimes  when  it  does  not — 
a  cow  whose  general  conduct  is  above  reproach — 
will  lift  up  her  foot  suddenly  and  overturn  the 
pail  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  not  that  she 
intends  at  the  time  to  be  vicious,  but  it  is  a  way 
cows  have.  It  is  a  most  unpleasant  and  startling 
thing  for  one  to  have  his  pail  of  milk  knocked 
over  when  he  is  milking,  and  this  is  oftenest  done 
by  cows  whose  character  is  good,  and  with  whom 
he  is  not  so  much  on  his  guard  as  he  is  with  one 
whose  morals  are  shaky;  hence  we  think  it  a  good 
system  to  tie  all  cows'  legs  at  milkiug-time,  as 
the  milkmaids  do  in  Ireland. 

Whether  cows  ought  or  ought  not  to  be  milked 
oftener  than  twice  a  day  is  essentially  a  matter 
in  which  circumstances  alter  cases ;  but  the  fol- 
lowing propositions  may  be  accepted  as  being 
fairly  established  : — 1.  As  a  general  rule,  milking 
three  times  a  day  influences  the  secretion  of  milk, 


MILKINCx    PAILS. 


57 


so  f;ir  as  its  quantity  is  cdiifpi-ned,  nioro  favouvalily 
than  twice  miliiing'.  ^.  Under  certain  circuin- 
stanees,  in  the  case  of  cows  that  are  hirge  milk- 
f^ivers  and  are  highly  fed,  and  are  yet  in  the  early 
period  of  lactation,  milking  three  times  a  day  may 
be  absolutely  necessary  for  their  health,  especially 
with  a  view  to  the  prevention  of  diseases  of  the 
udder.  3.  The  shorter  the  time  that  has  elapsed 
since  the  last  milking,  the  richer  and  fatter  is 
the  milk ;  so  that  in  milking  thrice  a  day  a  milk 
richer  in  dry  substances  is  obtained  than  is  given 
on  the  twice-a-day  system.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  following  points  require  to  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration : — 1.  Milking  three  times  a  day  neces- 
sitates a  greater  demand  on  the  strength  of  the 


jiropcrly  and  an  improperly  constructed  mdking- 
l)ail,  so  far  as  the  milker's  comfort  is  concerned. 
Decj),  narrow  cans  are  not  only  difficult  to  hold 
between  the  knees,  but  they  are  generally  awkward 
and  uncomfortable.  Milking-i^ails  slioidd  always 
be  narrower  in  the  bottom  than  at  the  top,  as  in 
Fig.  10.  Some  people  still  prefer  wooden  pails 
to  milk  in,  but  they  are  objectionable  chiefly  on 
account  of  the  greater  difficulty  of  keeping  them 
sweet  and  clean.  In  Fig.  11  we  give  an  illustration 
of  one  of  these  pails,  to  which  is  attached  a  pair  of 
ears  which,  resting  on  the  milker's  knees,  are  very 
useful  in  sustaining  the  pail  between  the  knees. 
In  Fig.  I'Z  we  give  an  illustration  of  a  newly- 
invented  milking-pail,  for  which  se\'erai  advantages 


Fig.  11 


10. 
Milk-Pails. 


cows.  Only  where  this  is  compensated  by  a  cor- 
responding amount  of  nourishment  can  milking 
three  times  a  day  be  of  lasting  advantage.  The 
better  the  cows  are  fed,  the  more  likely  is  thrice- 
a-day  milking  to  be  more  profitable  than  twiee-a- 
day  milking.  2.  The  better  milk-giver  a  cow 
is,  and  the  less  she  is  advanced  in  lactation,  the 
greater  is  the  advantage  of  the  thrice-a-day  over 
the  twiee-a-day  system.  3.  On  the  thrice-a-day 
system  the  greater  amount  of  labour  requii-ed 
in  it  must  be  taken  into  consideration,  a  factor 
in  the  calculation  which  becomes  of  no  little  im- 
portance when  the  pasture  grounds  of  the  cows  are 
at  any  considerable  distance  from  the  dairy. 

Milking-Pails. 

Every  one  who  has  been  accustomed  to  milking 
is  well  aware  what  a  difference  there  is  between  a 


are  claimed — viz.,  the  scat  and  pail  are  combined  in 
onej  the  cow  cannot  kick  over  or  put  her  foot 
into  the  pail ;  the  milk  is  kept  free  from  hairs  and 
dirt  by  the  strainer  inside  the  funnel ;  and  the 
impure  atmosphere  of  the  cow-shed  comes  as  little 
as  possible  in  contact  with  the  milk.  We  cannot 
speak  practically  about  this  pail,  never  having  tried 
it,  but  we  think  the  former  two  advantages  are 
practical  ones,  whatever  the  latter  two  may  be. 

At  some  periods  of  the  year,  oftenest  in  the 
autumn,  cows'  teats  are  apt  to  crack  and  become 
sore.  A  little  fresh  lard,  applied  at  milking-time 
and  well  worked  into  the  skin  of  the  teat  during 
the  operation  of  milking,  will  generally  cure  the 
sores  with  three  or  four  dressings,  and  it  cer- 
tainly makes  the  milking  much  less  painful  to 
the  cow,  whether  it  cures  the  sores  or  not; 
but   where    the   lard   fails  to  cure^  a  little  well- 


58 


DAIHY    FAinrTxr;. 


u 

Fijj.  IX  -JI11.K 
Sypiimx. 


prepared  siilve  slimild  lio  used.  A  fow  will 
now  and  again  have  a  teat  badly  cut,  or 
scratched,  or  torn  by  accident,  and  sometimes 
a  sore  ■\\'ill  come  which  re-opens  every  time 
she  is  milked,  and  which  for  a  time  defies  all 
attempts  made  to  heal  it.  These  injuries  cause 
s^reat  pain  to  a  cow  when  she  is  being  milke<l  by 
hand ;  and  to  avoid  giving  this  pain,  as  well  as  to 
give  the  sore  a  good  chance  of  healing,  it  is  a 
good  thing  for  a  dairy-farmer  to  keep 
always  in  his  possession,  locked  up 
in  a  place  whore  it  can  at  any  time 
l)e  found,  a  silvi-r  "  syphon,"  or 
"  milkiug-tubc."  The  sore  teat  should 
be  milked  with  this  whilst  the  sore 
remains,  and  the  tube  should  be  care- 
fully smeared  with  fresh  lard  before 
using,  in  order  that  it  may  bo  easily 
inserted  into  the  teat,  and  it  should 
be  carefully  cleaned  each  time  after  using,  in  order 
to  prevent  clogging  up  with  coagidatcd  milk. 

Milkixg-Machixes. 

It  is  estimated  that  200,000  persons  are  re- 
quired to  milk  the  cows  in  England  alone,  so  it  is 
easy  to  understand  that  an  incalculable  amount  of 
time  and  labour  is  expended  in  milking  cows  by 
hand,  and  it  is  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  milk- 
ing is  the  great  bugbear  of  dairy-farms.  It  is  far 
from  being  easy  work ;  it  comes  round  twice  a  day 
with  monotonous  regularity,  and  it  must  be  done, 
whatever  else  is  left  undone.  Dairy-farmers  feel 
the  strain,  and  servants  dislike  the  task  of  milking. 
A  great  number  of  attempts  have  been  made  to 
produce  a  thoroughly  satisfactory  milking-machine. 
There  are  many  different  machines  in  this  country, 
and  more  in  America,  for  which  patents  have  been 
taken  out,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  one  will 
before  long  be  produced  which  shall  embody  the 
necessary  qualifications  of  simplicity,  effective- 
ness, rapidity  in  working,  and  harmlessness  to  the 
cows'  teats ;  such  a  machine  would  be  a  great 
boon  to  dairy-farmers.  The  Royal  Agricultural 
Society  of  England,  alive  to  the  importance  of 
this  matter,  offered  a  special  prize  of  £50  for 
an  cfl[icient  and  satisfactory  milking-machine  at 
the  Bristol  Show  in  July,  1878 ;  but  as  no 
machines  were  entered  for  competition,  it  is  ])lain 
that  no  inventor  had  then  produced  one  which 
he  deemed  likely  to  be  successful.  This  is,  how- 
ever, essentially  an  age  of  meclianical  inventions. 


and  \vi'  feel  confident  of  the  ultimate  production  of 
such  a  machine.  Attempts  have  been  made  in 
the  direction  of  imitating  the  manner  of  a  calf 
sucking,  by  means  of  india-rubber  sockets  which 
enclose  the  teat,  and,  by  forming  a  vacuum  inside 
the  sockets,  a  partial  success  has  been  achieved. 
AVe  think  this  is  the  right  direction,  and  that 
l)erseverance  in  it  will  be  eventually  successful ; 
but  a  great  difRculty  lies  in  the  diversity  in  the 
size  and  position  of  cow's  teats,  and  in  the  ap- 
plication of  the  motive  power.  But  the  bulk  of 
the  "cow-milkers"  hitherto  invented  are  on  the 
syphon  principle — that  is,  tubes  of  one  pattern 
or  another  are  inserted  into  the  cows'  teats,  and 
as  these  tubes  have  holes  near  the  u]>per  end, 
the  milk  simply  runs  out  by  the  force  of  its  own 
gravity.  These  various  machines  resemble  each 
other  .so  much,  and'  are  so  closely  identical  in 
principle,  that  we  need  only  mention  one  of  them, 
described  as  a  "new  self-acting  cow-milker,"  l)y 
way  of  illustration.  It  consists  of  four  metal  tubes, 
n,  a,  a,  a  (see  Fig.  IJ),  two  inches  long,  attached 


Fi''.  14.— Cow'-Mii.KF.R. 


JIn.KER  IJJ   ISE. 


to  india-rubber  tubes,,  i,  I,  I,  b,  seven  inches  long, 
which  are  fastened  together  at  the  lower  end, 
and  which  conduct  the  milk  into  the  pail.  The 
contrivance  is  effective  enough  so  far  as  milking 
the  cow  goes,  but  the  objection  to  passing  tubes 
into  a  cow's  teats  every  time  she  is  milked  is  a 
serious  one.  The  internal  mechanism,  if  we  may 
so  term  it,  of  a  cow's  teat  is  of  a  most  delicate 
description,  and  is  easily  deranged  by  the  intro- 
duction of  foreign  substances.  At  the  lower  end 
of  the  teat  is  an  aperture  closed  by  an  elastic 
band,  which  prevents  the  emission  of  milk,  except 
under  pressure ;  farther  u])  is  a  cavity  enlarged 
in  the  middle,  and  .at  the  to])  of  it  a  diaphragm, 
which  separates  the  cavity  in  the  teat  fnmi  a  larger 


Tin:    REARING     OF    CATA'KS. 


59 


piivitv  ;iljnvi'  it,  and  a  lioli'  in  tlie  diaphragm  aljout 
the  size  of  a  pi^a  ;  tho  upper  cavity  serves  as  a 
reservoir  for  holding  milk,  and  the  diaphragm 
at  tho  base  of  it  ])reveuts  an  undue  pressure  of 
milk  in  the  teat  when  the  udder  is  full.  Tubes 
inserted  into  cows'  teats  arc,  unless  inserted  with 
great  care,  apt  to  produce  inflammation.  We  have 
known  at  all  events  one  cow,  a  valuable  heifer, 
killed  in  this  way;  and  if  the  tubes  do  no  other 
harm,  a  comijlaiut  is  lodged  against  them  to  the 
effect  that  they  permanently  distend  or  otherwise 
derange  the  opening  into  the  teat,  so  that  the 
milk  runs  out  of  its  own  accord  and  is  lost.  Fig.  15 
is  a  representation  of  the  milker  in  ojieration. 
We  have  heard  both  favourable  and  unfavourable 
opinions  given  as  to  its  utility ;  and  though  we 
should  not  venture  to  recommend  its  indiscrimi- 
nate use,  we  consider  every  farmer  should  possess 
one,  if  only  to  milk  very  "  hard  "  cows  a  few  times 
with  it.  The  teats  of  such  cows  would  be  all  the 
better  for  being  distended  a  little. 

It  is  recommended  to  milk  a  few  drops  from 
each  teat  before  using  the  cow-milker,  then  insert 
the  tubes  (not  exceeding  an  inch),  when  the  milk 
will  flow  freely.  No  difficult)^  will  be  experienced 
whatever  if  the  oiJerator,  in  the  first  instance, 
take  the  precaution  of  seeing  the  hole  in  the  teat 
before  inserting  the  tube.  The  apparatus  should 
not  be  allowed  to  remain  in  the  teats  after  the 
milk  has  ceased  to  flow,  or  air  will  find  its  way 
into  the  udder. 

Some  cows  are  extremely  "  hard  "  to  milk,  and 
are  consequently  seldom  milked  "  clean ;"  this  is 
sure  to  cause  the  flow  of  milk  to  diminish,  for 
if  any  milk  is   left  in,   the  udder  becomes  more 
or  less  inflamed,  and  the  milk  falls  off  in  quantity. 
The  hardness  in  milking  is 
caused  by   the   hole    in    the 
end   of   the   teat   being   too 
small ;    it  may  be  distended 
by  the  insertion  of  a  small 
l^lug  or  cone  of  ivory,  bone, 
Ol    hard    wood,    well    oiled, 
when    the    milking   is   over, 
and   leaving   it   in   the  teat 
until  the  next  milking-time, 
after  which  it  must  be   re- 
inserted each  time  until  the 
cow  becomes  easy  to  milk.     The  cone  should  be 
made  as  seen  in  Fig.   16,  with  a  head  at  the  lower 
end,  then  a  neck,   after  which  it  is  sloped   to    a 
11 


Fig.  16.— IvoKY  Cone. 


point.  W  made  1  hi>  right  size,  no  harm  will 
come  of  its  use,  and  in  a  short  time  the  orifice 
in  the  teat  will  become  i)ermanently  enlarged, 
and  the  cow  will  no  longer  be  difficult  to  milk. 

The  Rearing  of  Calves. 

It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  first  proposition  that 
a  dairy-farmer  should  raise  at  least  as  many  heifer- 
calves  as  are  required  to  fill  up  the  vacancies 
which  occur  year  by  year  in  his  herd  of  dairy- 
cows,  and  it  is  all  the  better  if  he  has  a  few  more 
than  he  wants  for  that  purpose.  Some  people 
contend  that  three-year-old  in-calf  heifers  can  be 
bought  for  less  money  than  they  can  be  raised 
for,  counting  in  the  risk ;  this,  however,  depends 
entirely  on  the  facilities  a  man  has  for  keeping 
young  cattle  so  as  not  to  interfere  with  his  milk 
pastures.  On  all  mixed  farms  it  is  commonly 
a  simple  matter  enough  to  summer  and  winter 
young  cattle  so  cheaply  that  it  is  better  to  raise 
them  than  to  buy  others  for  the  dairy-herd,  and 
many  farmers  find  it  to  their  advantage  to  raise 
them  for  sale  when  "  on  note,"  or  to  fatten  for  the 
butcher.  Judiciously  carried  out,  rearing  pays 
very  well,  and  heifers  raised  on  the  farm  are 
commonly  found  more  suitable  to  it  in  after-life 
as  milkers  than  others  that  are  raised  elsewhere 
and  purchased;  besides  which,  it  is  more  than 
proljaljle  that  rearing  will  always  pay  well  in 
the  British  Islands,  providing  only  that  the  stock 
is  of  good  quality,  for  the  demand  for  milk  in 
our  towns  and  cities  is  sure  to  go  on  increasing, 
and  there  will  always  be  a  brisk  demand  for  store 
stock  of  good  quality  for  grazing  purposes.  A 
careful  breeder  can  but  seldom  buy  dairy-stock 
that  will  suit  him  as  well  as  those  of  his  own 
rearing;  those  he  buys  may,  perhaps,  be  as  well 
bred  as  his  own  are  in  every  respect,  but  if  they 
are  only  as  well  and  no  better  bred,  they  will 
scarcely  ever  do  as  well  in  the  milk-pail  as  those 
that  have  been  reared  on  the  farm. 

There  should  always  be  one  or  two  loose  boxes 
available  into  which  cows  may  be  taken  if  any- 
thing is  wrong  at  calving- time ;  but,  generally 
speaking,  they  need  not  be  taken  away  from 
their  stalls  at  this  period.  There  is  a  good  deal 
of  lAilanthropy  wasted  on  this  point  by  some 
people,  for  a  cow  will  be  more  composed  and 
tranquil  in  her  own  stall  than  in  a  loose  box  to 
which  she  is  strange.  It  is  a  mistake  to  huny 
cows     over    their     calving.       Give    them     time, 


GO 


DAIRY    FAEMING. 


supplement  tbe  efforts  of  nature,  not  supersede 
them  altogether,  and  iinmeiliately  they  have  ealved 
give  each  cow  about  two  quarts  of  cold  loaler ;  it 
takes  away  tlie  sickly  feeling  better  than  chilled 
water  does,  and  it  does  the  cow  no  harm  whatever. 
Afterwards  it  is  a  good  thing  to  give  them  linseed 
and  flour  gruel  for  a  few  days;  it  strengthens  the 
cow  and  promotes  the  flow  of  milk.  We  have 
tried  this  system  for  years,  always  with  the  most 
satisfactory  results. 

It  does  not  follow  that  a  eow  need  be  in  very 
good  condition  herself  in  order  to  produce  a  strong 
and  healthy  calf ;  rather  the  contrary.  A  cow  will 
often  be  rather  lean  at  calving-time,  if  she  has 
been  indifferently  fed,  and  yet  produce  a  sur- 
prisingly good  calf  ;  the  calf  is  the  explanation,  in 
part,  of  her  leanness,  and  if  she  had  been  better 
fed  she  would  not  only  have  produced  a  still  better 
calf,  but  would  have  been  in  a  more  profitable 
and  satisfactory  condition  herself.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  not  uncommon  for  a  eow  in  very  high 
condition  to  either  produce  a  small  and  delicate 
calf,  or  to  go  barren  altogether. 

Many  farmers  like  to  have  a  given  number  of 
their  best  cows  calving  rather  early,  so  that  they  may 
have  their  number  of  rearing  calves  in  forward  con- 
dition before  cheese-making  gets  into  full  swing. 
There  is,  indeed,  no  real  but  only  a  fanciful  reason 
why  calves  that  are  dropped  in  April  should  not 
be  as  well  reared  as  those  that  are  dropped  in 
February.  But  the  reason  commonly  assigned  is 
this — as  soon  as  cheese-making  has  fairly  begun, 
the  calves  are  begrudged  the  milk  which  is  freely 
enough  given  to  them  before  it  commences.  And 
yet  milk  applied  to  cheese-making  is  not  by  any 
means  so  essentially  the  most  profitable  use  to 
which  it  can  be  devoted  that  the  later  calves 
should  be  unduly  deprived  of  it  on  that  account. 
This  is  a  point  on  which  a  little  reflection  will 
dispel  much  of  the  prejudice  that  exists;  and  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  calves  will  thrive 
faster  in  May  than  in  March  on  a  given  allow- 
ance of  milk,  simply  because  the  weather  conditions 
are  then  more  favourable.  It  is,  however,  an 
advantage  to  have  the  calves  so  far  advanced 
that  when  grass-day  arrives  they  are  fit  to  be 
turned  out  on  the  pastures  in  good  form,  and  this 
they  hardly  can  be  unless  they  are  drojiped  pretty 
early. 

Perhaps  the  most  ])o(ent  argument  in  favour 
of  giving  calves  as  go,,,!  a    slart    as    possible    iu 


life  lies  in  the  fact  that  at  no  subsequent  period 
do  they  grow  so  rapidly  on  a  given  quantity  and 
quality  of  food.  Moreover,  if  they  are  well 
started  they  nevei-,  as  a  rule,  except  from  accidental 
causes,  suffer  a  check  in  their  progress  to  maturit}'. 
In  anj'  case,  no  matter  when  they  are  bora,  it 
is  "  a  pennj'  wise  and  ))Ound  foolish  "  policy  not 
to  rear  them  very  well — always  avoiding  jiamper- 
ing  them,  mind.  Except  when  rearing  pedigree 
stock,  or  in  ease  of  late  calving,  it  is  seldom  a 
good  plan  to  allow  the  calves  to  suck  at  all  from 
their  mothers,  because  it  makes  the  cows  and 
calves  alike  unsettled ;  and,  once  acquired,  a 
calf  seldom  forgets  the  habit  of  sucking,  but  in 
after-life  will  commonly  begin  to  suck  the  other 
cows  of  the  hei-d,  or  even  to  suck  herself,  which 
is  most  objectionable.  And  yet  there  are  com- 
plaints sometimes  of  young  calves  dying  from 
an  excess  of  coagulated  milk  forming  in  a  mass 
in  the  stomach  when  they  are  fed  from  the  pail — 
a  misfortune  which  is  said  never  to  occur  when 
they  obtain  their  sustenance  in  the  manner  which 
nature  so  beautifully  teaches.  The  complaint 
is  certainly  not  without  foundation  in  fact,  for 
calves  are  apt  to  drink  too  greedily  from  a  pail, 
in  which  case  a  due  proportion  of  the  saliva  of  the 
mouth  is  not  mixed  with  the  milk.  One  of  the 
digestive  agents  is  thus  deficient  in  quantity  iu 
the  stomach ;  hence  the  formation  of  masses  of 
casein,  which  are  simjjly  evidences  of  imperfect 
digestion.  This,  to  a  great  extent,  if  not  wholly, 
may  be  obviated  by  allowing  the  calves,  during 
the  first  week  or  two,  to  have  only  a  small  quantity 
of  food  at  a  time — a  regimen  which  nature  dictates 
to  the  instinct  of  the  liow — and  they  should  have 
that  little  often. 

At  the  same  time  we  think  it  is  well  in  some 
cases,  especially  when  the  udder  is  "  hogged,"  to 
allow  a  stirk  or  a  heifer  to  suckle  her  first  calf 
for  a  week  or  two,  even  at  the  risk  of  making 
her  unsettled  when  the  calf  is  taken  away,  for 
she  comes  to  milk  freely  in  a  shorter  time,  and 
there  is  less  risk  of  spoiling  her  temper.  Yet 
we  should  not  advise  this  to  be  followed  as  a 
regular  practice  with  stirks  and  heifers.  It  must, 
however,  be  always  remembered  that  a  calf  will 
as  a  rule  do  better  when  sucking  from  its  mother 
than  when  it  is  brought  up  by  hand,  and  it  will 
in  the  former  case  seldom  take  any  harm  at  all 
even  in  bad  weather,  while  in  the  latter  it  needs 
f(i  be  most  carefully  sheltered. 


Till-:    REARING    OF    CALVKS. 


61 


il^    17  — rEF[lIN(    TWI 


The  t'eodiiig-pail,  (if  which  we  give  an  illus- 
tratiou  (I'ig'-  ^^),  wiif^  invented  .several  years  ago, 
and  it  is  claimed  for  it 
that,  by  causing'  the  calf 
to  suck  the  milk  through 
the  India-  rubber  tube 
shown  in  the  engraving-, 
nature^s  process  is  closely 
cdpied,  and  the  calf  can- 
not gulp  down  its  food, 
as  it  too  commonly  does 
when  drinking  from  a  pail; 
the  saliva  of  the  mouth 
mixes  freely  with  the  milk, 
and  an  improved  digestion  is  the  result ;  it  ob- 
viates the  necessity  of  teaching  the  calf  to 
drink  by  putting  one's  linger  into  its  mouth ; 
and  as  the  pail  stands  on  a  broatl  base  and  cannot 
easily  be  knocked  over,  one  person  can  tend  a 
number  of  calves  whilst  they  are  being  fed,  and 
none  of  the  food  is  wasted.  We  have  used  these 
feeding-pails,  and  although  they  recpiire  more 
cleaning  than  ordinary  pails,  we  consider  they  are 
a  useful  invention. 

Young  calves  that  are  intended  for  dairy-cows 
eventually  should  always  ho.  allowed  to  receive 
a  sufficient  quantity  of  new  ipilk  for  the  first 
three  or  four  weeks ;  after  this  period  skim-milk 
may  be  fed  to  them,  but  it  must  be  improved  by 
ground  linseed,  with  ground  wheat  or  oatmeal 
added.  And  these  additions  to  the  skim-milk 
should  always  be  boiled  or  steamed,  and  not  given 
raw  to  the  calves — not  so  much  that  they  may 
possiljly  do  harm  in  the  raw  state  as  that  they 
are  made  more  effective  and  are  more  easily 
digested  by  having  been  cooked;  and  the  food, 
when  it  is  given  to  the  calf,  should  be  at  a 
temperature  of  95"  to  98",  which  is  the  tem- 
jierature  of  the  milk  in  a  cow's  udder.  If  the 
prepared  food  is  higher  or  lower  than  this,  it 
is  so  far  a  deviation  from  nature's  rule  in  this 
respect,  and  so  far  it  will  be  improper. 

While  the  cpiautity  of  food  a  calf  requires 
will  naturally  increase  a  little  day  by  day,  over- 
feeding should  always  be  carefully  avoided,  for 
a  calf  will  always  thrive  better  when  its  apjjetite 
is  stimulated  by  under  rather  than  satiated  by 
over  feeding,  and  iu  the  first  two  or  three  days 
it  should  be  decidedly  under  rather  than  over  fed. 
It  is  difficult  to  lay  down  any  rule  as  to  the  quan- 
tity to  be  given,  for  a  strong  and  vigorous  calf  will 


naturally  recpiire  more  than  a  weak  and  delieate 
one — this  is  a  point  on  which  judgment  must  lie 
exercised  at  all  times.  For  the  first  two  or  three 
days  2  to  3  quarts  of  mothers'  milk  per  day 
will  be  enough,  and  this  may  be  increased  to  4 
or  5  quarts  by  the  end  of  the  first  week,  to 
G  or  8  in  the  second  week,  and  to  9  or  10  by 
the  end  of  the  first  month.  These  quantities 
refer  to  new  milk  or  to  its  equivalent,  and  to 
a  full-sized  and  healthy  calf.  The  food  should 
always  be  good  in  quality  and  reasonable  in 
quantity.  When  skim-milk  is  used,  linseed- 
meal  should  ]je  employed  to  make  amends  for 
the  cream  which  has  been  removed,  and  a  little 
oat,  pea,  or  flour  meal  to  restore  the  lost  casein. 
By  the  time  they  are  two  or  three  weeks  old  young 
calves  will  begin  to  niljble  a  little  sweet  green 
hay,  if  it  is  given  to  them  in  racks  or  nets,  and 
it  is  a  good  plau  to  teach  them  to  eat  it  early. 
This  is  best  done  by  suspending  a  netful  of  hay 
so  that  it  dangles  in  front  of  them;  rubljing  their 
noses,  they  soon  begin  to  nibble. 

Many  people  are  in  the  habit  of  giving  "  hay- 
tea,"  as  it  is  called,  to  young  cows  along  with 
the  milk,  with  the  view  of  getting  them  used  to  a 
hay  diet  before  they  are  able  to  eat  the  hay  for 
themselves.  The  tea  is  made  by  putting  some 
hay  in  a  kettle  that  is  half  filled  with  water,  and 
letting  it  simmer  over  a  slow  fire  for  an  hour  or 
two ;  the  water  is  then  poured  off  and  set  aside 
for  use.  There  is,  no  doubt,  a  good  deal  of  merit 
in  this  system,  for  the  calves  get  all  the  nutriment 
the  hay  contains  without  any  of  the  indigestible 
fibre.  It  is  well,  however,  as  soon  as  the  weather 
is  warm  enough,  to  get  the  young  calves  out  of 
doors  for  a  few  hours  each  day,  so  that  they 
may  nil)ble  the  fresh  and  tender  grass. 

CONDIMENTAL      FoODS. 

For  some  years  we  have  used  condimeutal 
food  in  the  i-earing  of  calves — just  a  "pinch" 
in  the  "  beastings,"  and  increasing  it  as  the 
time  goes  on  to  a  good  tea-spoonful — and  we 
have  found  it  an  excellent  thing  in  keeping  the 
calves  healthy,  and  an  effectual  preventive  of 
"  scour,"  a  malady  from  which  young  calves,  when 
reared  away  from  their  mothers,  are  constantly 
liable  to  suffer.  The  condiment  gives  a  tone 
to  the  stomach,  and  when  used  in  moderation 
is  a  very  useful  kind  of  food.  There  are  various 
kinds   of  condimeutal   food   iu    the  market,  some 


62 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


of  which  have  obtained  considerable  reputation, 
but  the  chief  objection  against  them  all  is  that 
they  are  sold  at  a  far  higher  price  than  a  fair 
profit  would  seem  to  justify.  ]\Iuch  credit  has 
been  claimed — and  we  believe  justly  so — for  the 
stimulating  effect  which  a  properly  prepared 
"  cattle-food  "  has  on  the  digestive  organs,  and 
it  is  no  doubt  true  that  a  sparing  use  of  it  will 
prevent  many  illnesses  in  young  stock;  but  the 
price  at  which  it  is  usually  sold  is  far  higher  than 
any  farmer  is  justified  in  paying,  especially  when 
he  can  compound  for  hiniself,  at  a  reasonable  cost, 
a  food  which  will  be  found  equal  to  any  that 
are  sold,  and  superior  to  most — vastly  superior 
to  some  of  them. 

Mr.  Pringle,  in  his  "  Live  Stock  of  the 
Farm,"  gives  the  following  formula,  which  re- 
presents a  safe  mixture  : — 

C'wta.  qrs.    llis. 
Locust  beans,  finely  yrouiid,  at  £('i  prr  foil    ...       fi       0       0 


Indian  com                „ 

£7        „       . 

..       !) 

0 

0 

Linseed-cake             „ 

£10 

..     a 

0 

0 

Powdered  turmiru- 

Sd.porlb.    . 

..       0 

0 

40 

Sulphur     ... 

•Jd.       „ 

..       0 

0 

40 

Saltiietro 

5d.       „        . 

..       0 

0 

40 

Liquorice 

Is.       „ 

..       0 

0 

•27 

Ginger  (ground)  ... 

6d.       „        . 

..     n 

0 

3 

Aniseed     

9d.       „        . 

0 

0 

4 

Coriander 

9d.        „ 

..       0 

0 

10 

Gentian     

8d.        „        . 

..       0 

0 

10 

Cream  of  tartar    ... 

...   Is.  8d. 

..       0 

0 

2 

Carbonate  of  soda 

4d.        „ 

..       0 

0 

6 

Levigated  antimony 

(id.       „       . 

..       0 

0 

6 

Common  salt 

Jd.       „ 

..       0 

0 

30 

Peruvian  bark 

"4s. 

..       0 

0 

4 

Fenugreek 

8d.       „       . 

..       0 

0 

22 

20 

0 

20 

A  ton  of  coiidimontal  fond  compomulcd  of  the 
materials  specified  in  the  foregoing  list,  in  the 
quantities  and  at  the  prices  named,  will  cost  only 
£1;3  4s.  ik\.,  which  is  about  one-fourth  of  what 
is  charged  for  certain  much-advertised  articles. 
Nothing  is  simpler  than  for  three  or  four  farmers 
to  unite  in  the  purchase  of  the  materials  for  a  ton 
of  the  food,  mix  them,  and  divide  the  ioodpro  rain. 
The  food,  we  may  add,  will  be  found  useful  to 
various  kinds  of  animals,  and  1  cwt.  of  it  will 
go  a  long  way  in  the  rearing  of  calves.  But  care 
must  be  observed  not  to  use  too  much  of  it  in  rearing 
store  calves,  or  they  will  after  a  time  be  found 
to  have  been  over-forced,  and  when  turned  out  to 
grass  will  be  apt  to  fall  away  in  condition,  and 
comu  to  a  standstill  so  far  as  progress  is  concerned. 


With  calves  that  are  being  fattened  for  the 
butcher  the  case  is  different ;  the  object  with 
them  is  to  feed  them  as  quickly  as  possible 
consistently  with  safety,  and  they  may  receive 
as  much  milk  as  they  will  take,  along  with  an 
increased  quantity  of  condimental  food.  With 
fattening  calves  we  have  not  to  consider  the  effect 
of  the  feeding  on  their  constitutions  in  after-life, 
for  they  have  no  after-life,  and  all  we  want  is 
to  quickly  and  successfully  fatten  tliem. 

It  is  a  common  practice  to  bleed  fat  calves 
some  hours  before  they  are  killed,  and  to  keep 
them  without  food  for  a  day  or  so ;  these  "  dodges  " 
are  supposed  to  improve  the  veal  somehow  or 
other — a  great  mistake.  It  is  better  to  kill  the 
calf  without  jjreviously  interfering  with  any  of 
its  natural  functions.  The  veal  will  be  better 
and  healthier  in  all  respects  if  the  calf  has  not 
been  put  through  any  change  of  treatment,  and 
there  is  a  gain  on  the  side  of  humanity. 

The  calf-houses  should  not  only  be  kept  as 
clean  as  possible  whilst  the  calves  are  in  them, 
but  when  the  calves  are  turned  out  to  grass  they 
should  be  thoroughly  cleaned  out,  the  floors 
scrabbed  and  swilled,  and  the  walls  lime-washed. 
Whilst  the  calves  are  in  them  they  should  be  well 
ventilated,  but  not  cold,  and  a  daily  supply  of 
litter — the  old  litter  being  removed  once  or  twice 
a  week — should  be  placed  on  sparred  floors,  which 
will  admit  of  the  urine  passing  freely  away.  On 
a  sparred  flixir  the  litter  keeps  clean  and  dry  for 
a  much  longer  period  than  on  an  ordinary  floor, 
and  the  cost  of  it  is  soon  saved  in  litter  aloue. 
Such  a  floor  is  cheaply  and  quickly  made  of 
young  larch-trees,  split  down  the  middle,  and 
nailed  across  on  sawn  spars,  on  unsplit  larch- 
trees,  or  on  any  odd  pieces  of  planking  that 
will  rest  on  the  paved  floor  beneath.  The  in- 
tervals between  the  lower  spars  may  be  about 
2  feet,  and  between  the  upper  ones  about 
1  inch.  Put  down  in  squares  not  too  large 
— say  4-feet  squares.  These  sparred  floors  are 
easily  taken  out  to  be  cleaned,  and  as  easily 
replaced.  If  well  cleaned,  dried,  and  stored  away 
when  the  calves  have  done  with  them,  they  will 
last  several  seasons ;  and  they  not  only  keep  the 
calves  clean,  dry,  and  warm,  but  also  economise 
litter,  and  on  dairy-farms  straw  can  be  put  to  a 
better  purpose  than  that  of  mere  litter.  These 
precautions  properly  attended  to,  young  calves 
will    seldom    suil'cr    much    h\m\  any  kind  of   ill- 


THE    KKARTNG    OF    CALVES. 


less 


health,  aud   tlioy   will    certainly  grow    the   faster 
on  a  given  quantity  of  food. 

The  surest  way  to  prevent  scouring  in  calves 
is  to  feed  them  regularly,  and  to  keep  them  clean, 
dry,  and  warm,  but  not  too  warm.  Neglect  of 
these  matters  is  a  fruitful  cause  of  "scour," 
and  of  the  other  ailments  to  which  young  calves 
are  liable,  while  attention  to  them  will  prevent 
much  troidjle,  loss,  and  disappointment.  Since 
adopting  these  measures,  now  some  years  ago, 
and  by  giving  the  calves  from  the  first  a  little 
condiment  or  spiced  food  in  their  milk,  we  have 
had  no  losses  and  scarcely  any  illness  of  any  kind 
among  young  calves.  The  usual  complaints  met 
with  in  rearing  calves  will  be  treated  in  the  next 
chapter. 

The   Guowinc;   Calves. 

There  is  much  difference  of  oj)inion  as  to  the 
after-treatment  of  calves — say  from  the  time  they 
are  turned  out  to  grass  until  they  are  twelve  or 
fifteen  months  old.  In  their  first  winter,  esjjecially 
in  certain  localities,  calves  are  extremely  liable  to 
the  fatal  disease  of  "  hyant,"  "  sjjeed,"  "  quarter- 
evil,"  or  "  black-leg,"  as  it  is  variously  termed. 
This  scourge  is  said  to  be  the  effect  of  an  excess 
of  fibrin  in  the  blood  or  of  some  kind  of  blood- 
poisoning.  Be  that  as  it  may,  however,  the  causes 
to  which  it  is  more  obviously  due  are  changes  of 
food  and  of  temperature,  and  it  generally  seizes  on 
the  best  and  the  worst  calves  in  the  lot,  passing 
over  the  medium  ones.  It  is  a  very  precarious 
malady,  being-  much  more  active  in  some  years 
than  others,  and  in  autumn  and  spiing  rather 
than  in  mid-winter,  but  it  is  not  infectious. 
We  have  tried  many  highlj--recommended  nos- 
trums, both  scientific  and  eclectic,  with  a  view 
of  preventing  it  —  curing  it  is  out  of  the 
question.  Some  of  these  would  seem  to  succeed 
one  year  and  would  utterly  fail  the  next,  and 
we  have  frequently,  in  spite  of  the  nostrum, 
lost  half  the  number  of  calves  in  the  course  of 
a  single  winter.  For  some  years  past,  however, 
we  have  lost  only  one  calf  from  this  cause,  and 
the  immunity  is  owing  to  an  improved  system  of 
treatment : — The  calves  are  taught,  when  they  are 
six  or  eight  weeks  old,  to  eat  linseed -cake,  Ijroken 
into  small  pieces  and  put  into  their  "suckling," 
and  when  the  latter  is  cut  off,  which  is  commonly 
done  soon  after  they  are  turned  out  to  grass,  the 
cake  is  c<jntinued  to  them  throughout  the  summer 


and  winter  and  until  the  following  "grass-day," 
along  with  a  pinch  of  common  salt  to  each  calf 
once  or  twice  a  week,  and  they  rijn  loose  all  the 
winter  on  a  sheltered  portion  of  the  land,  having 
a  building  or  shed  into  which  they  can  go  when 
they  choose  to  eat  the  hay  which  is  placed  at 
their  disposal  inside.  Instead  of  hay,  tliey  some- 
times have  had  chaffed  oat-straw  and  hay,  improved 
by  some  kind  or  other  of  meal — rice,  maize,  oat, 
pea,  or  bean  meal — and  they  have  liad  the  linseed- 
cake  in  addition  ;  this  last  is  a  uiie  qua  non.  The 
one  calf  we  lost  from  "black-leg"  since  com- 
mencing the  system  just  described  owed  its  death 
to  decorticated  cotton-cake,  which  we  thought  we 
might  safely  substitute  for  the  linseed-cake. 

When  a  calf  is  seized  with  "  black-leg  "  it 
will  go  away  from  its  companions,  and  will  stand 
in  a  dejected  manner  under  a  fence  or  in  some 
out-of-the-way  place,  quite  alone,  and  it  prefers 
not  to  move  away.  It  does  not  seem  to  be  in 
much  pain,  but  it  will  go  lame  if  made  to  stir 
about,  and  sometimes  will  carry  the  infected  leg 
clear  of  the  ground.  The  location  of  the  disease 
is  easily  ascertained  by  passing  the  hand  over 
the  infected  quarter ;  a  rustling,  crackling  noise 
is  heard  under  the  skin,  as  if  there  were  an 
accumulation  of  air  or  gas  in  the  subcuticle, 
whicb  in  reality  there  is.  After  a  time  the  poor 
animal  sinks  into  a  kind  of  stupor,  from  which 
there  is  no  release  but  death. 

Linseed-cake,  given  daily  throughout  the  sum- 
mer, autumn,  and  winter,  starting  before  the 
calves  are  weaned  from  liquid  food,  we  have  proved 
to  be  efficacious  in  preventing  "  black-leg."  When 
the  calves  are  turned  out  to  grass  they  may 
receive  as  much  cake  as  they  care  to  eat  (but  that 
will  not  be  much,  say  \  lb.  each  per  day),  along 
with  a  little  common  salt,  say  a  table- spoonful 
among  half  a  dozen,  once  or  twice  a  week.  As 
the  autumn  comes  on  they  mil  require  and 
will  eat  a  little  more  cake,  say  1  lb.  per  day, 
and  this  may  be  gradually  increased  during 
the  winter  until  they  are  getting  2  lbs.  per 
day  per  calf ;  but  on  no  account  must  cotton- 
cake  be  given  instead.  If  the  calves  are  on 
sheltered  land,  with  an  open  shed  as  a  protection 
against  storms,  and  are  receiving  good  hay  in 
addition  to  the  linseed-cake,  they  will  commonly 
be  big  enough  to  put  to  the  bull  during  the 
ensuing  summer ;  and  it  is  thought  they  become 
better  milkers — they  are  thrown  more  into  milk — 


64 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


by  having;-  tlieir  liisl  ciill'  wlioii  they  are  two 
instead  of  tliree  years  old.  15ut  it  is  necessary 
to  rear  them  well  if  this  system  is  carried  out ; 
half-rearing  will  not  do.  The  chief  advantages  of 
this  system  lie  in  getting  them  into  work  a  year 
earlier,  and  in  saving  pail  of  a  year's  keep. 

The  system  of  wintering  may  be  varied. 
Chaffed  food,  of  the  kind  the  rest  of  the  stock 
are  receiving,  may,  for  instance,  be  given  in  the 
place  of  hay;  but  we  consider  the  linseed-cake 
should  in  all  cases  be  given,  whatever  may  be  the 
other  kinds  of  food  they  have,  and  not  alone  on 
account  of  securing  the  calves'  safety  against 
"  black-leg,"  but  also  because  it  pays  well  in  all 
other  respects.  In  their  second  summer  the 
"  yearlings "  should  run  on  a  good  pasture,  so 
that  the  rate  of  progress  may  be  maintained ; 
and  in  their  second  winter  they  should  have  a 
generous  diet,  and  be  kept  in -doors,  for  the  same 
reason.  If  at  fifteen  months  old  any  of  them 
are  found  to  be  unfit  to  go  to  the  bull,  these  ought 
to  run  on  another  year,  and  come  into  the  herd  as 
heifers  instead  of  stirks — that  is,  at  three  years 
old  instead  of  two.  Formerly  all  young  stock 
ran  on  to  three  years  old  before  the  first  calf, 
and  it  would  have  been  thought  strange  to 
"bring  them  in"  as  stirks;  but  now  it  is  the 
exception  rather  than  the  rule  for  them  to  run 
on  to  heifers  before  calving.  The  new  order  of 
things  is  in  keeping  with  the  spirit  of  the  time. 

Anti-suckix(i   Dkvices. 

One  of  the  chief  objections  against  rearing 
young  calves  by  allowing  them  to  suck  from  their 
mothers  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  frecpiently  ])iik 
up  the  habit  again  in  after-life,  and  suck  their 
companions  or  themselves — generally  their  com- 
panions. Some  years  ago  we  had  a  cow  who  had 
acquired  by  some  means  or  other,  by  accident  or 
by  instinct,  the  habit  of  sucking  herself;  she  was 
very  cunning  over  il,  :in<l  for  a  time  defeated  all 
our  efforts  to  cure  her  of  the  habit.  We  tried 
what  is  called  a  "  cradle  "  round  her  neck,  and 
smeared  her  teats  and  udder  with  various  nau- 
seous things;  but  all  to  no  purpose.  At  length 
a  neighbour  lent  us  a  nose-jiiece  that  would 
cure  her,  he  said,  simple  though  it  seemed  to  be. 
The  nose-piece  was  made  out  of  a  piece  of  oak 
board,  S  in.  long,  5  in.  wide,  and  alx)ut  4  in. 
thick,  and  was  shaped  like  Fig.  IS.  We  sprung 
or    bent    her    nostril    until     the    piece    fitted,    us 


seen   in    Fig.    19,    and   watched   the    result   with 
interest.     The  cow  tried  again  and  again  to  get 


Th 


Fig.  1!!.— The  Nose-piece  in  Use.     Via.  18.— The  Nose-piece. 

one  of  her  teats  into  her  mouth,  but  all  to  no 
purpose,  for  the  nose-piece,  hanging  down,  always 
came  between  the  mouth  and  the  teat.  At  length 
she  gave  it  u])  in  disgust,  and  went  on  with  her 
grazing.  The  nose-piece  formed  no  obstacle  to  her 
in  eating,  for  it  floated  easily  over  the  grass,  and 
was  really  no  detriment  whatever.  In  making 
such  a  nose-piece  care  must  be  taken  not  to  make 
the  two  points  of  it  too  far  asunder,  as  it  will 
easily  slip  off  the  nose.  The  points  should  be 
about  i  in.  apart,  and  nicely  smoothed  and  rounded 
off  so  that  they  will  not  hurt  the  cow. 

Another  device  is  shown  in  Fig.  :JII 
is  useful  in  preventing 
calves  from  sucking  cows, 
or  cows  from  sucking  each 
other,  but  we  have  not 
found  it  effectual  in  pre- 
venting a  cow  from  sucking 
herself.  The  nose-piece, 
on  the  other  hand,  it 
must  be  remembered,  is  not 
so  effectual    as  the    spiked 

halter  in  preventing  one  cow  from  sucking 
another.  All  dairy-farmers  should  have  both 
these  devices  in  readiness.  There  are  various 
other  kinds,  but  none  of  them  that  we  have 
ever  seen  or  tried  are  so  certain  in  action  as 
the  two  we  have  deseribetl  and  illustrated.  The 
spikes  in  the  halter  are  simply  wrought-iron  nails, 
with  llattened  heads,  stuck  through  a  stout  piece 
of  leather,  and  the  heads  protected  underneath  by 
another  piece  of  leather.  The  woodcut  sufficiently 
describes  the  form,  size,  and  method  of  attaching 
the  halter.  These  devices  may  also  be  used  to 
prevent  calves  from  sucking  cows  when  both  are 
out  together  on  the  pasture. 


Fig.  20.— SpiKEii  Hai.ter. 


CHAPTER      VI. 

Pautukttion,   axd   Diseases   or,  Dangers    Incidental  to   Calves    and   Dairy    Stock. 

Normal   Breeding   and   Gestation— Abortion— Parturition— Protracted    Labour— After-birth— Flooding— Straining— Inversion    of   the 

Uterus-Protrusion  of  the  Vagina-Milk  Fever— Inflammation  of  the  Womb -Garget-Sore  Teats— Wind- Gorging  of  the  First 

or  Third   Stomach- Foot-and-Mouth  Disease— Pleuro-Pneumonia— Black-leg- Parasites- The  New-born 

\  x  irffit  t^j^       Calf— Navel-ill-Indigestion— Scouring— Husk  or  Hoose— Useful  Works  of  Reference. 


i 


':^i£.  AIRY-STOCK  are  subject  to 
ja^^  various  accidents  and  diseases, 
miiiiy  of  whicli  are,  however, 
either  entirely  jsrevented  or 
greatly  mitigated  by  intel- 
ligent care.  Well  reared 
when  calves,  neither  stinted 
,  nor  over-fed,  allowed  the  exercise  which 
young  growing  animals  require,  and  put 
to  the  bull  when  about  two  years  old, 
there  is  seldom  difficulty  with  their  breed- 
ing. Where  any  delay  or  difficulty  occurs,  change 
the  feeding  and  management  of  the  heifer,  aud 
try  another  bull.  If  oestrum  is  irregular,  or  more 
fretjueut  than  eighteen  days,  service  should  not  be 
allowed.  One  service  is  sufficient,  and  the  cow 
should  thereafter  be  kept  quietly  by  herself  for 
at  least  one  day.  The  average  2ieriod  of  gesta- 
tion is  284  days;  small  cows,  heifers  with  their 
first  calf,  and  old  animals  usually  go  a  day  or 
two  less ;  bulls  are  carried  a  day  or  two  longer 
than  cow-calves. 

Abortion,  or  sUpphig — the  most  serious  mishap 
affecting  cows  during  gestation — results  from  long 
fatiguing  travel,  the  shaking  of  a  railway  journey, 
the  galloping  and  excitement  caused  by  the  sudden 
appearance  of  foxhounds,  laborious  toiling  through 
a  yard  full  of  wet  manure  or  a  muddy  lane, 
slipping  or  getting  crushed  in  an  awkward  stall. 
The  overloaded  stomach  sometimes  presses  in- 
juriously upon  the  gravid  uterus ;  the  foetus  is 
injured  by  the  eating  of  ergotted  grasses  or  grain, 
or  of  frozen  roots,  or  by  the  copious  drinking 
of  ice-cold  or  of  foul  water.  ]\Iouth-aud-foot 
complaint    and  contagious  pleum-pneumonia  also 


often  produce  abortion.  These  and  other  such 
causes  directly  injure  or  kill  the  foetus,  or  more 
gradually  interfere  with  the  health  of  the  dam, 
so  that  the  offspring  is  insufficiently  nourished 
and  prematurely  brought  forth.  But  many  cases 
result  from  a  species  of  contagion  or  nervous 
sympathy.  Other  in-calvers  in  the  same  house, 
yard,  or  j)asture  with  an  accidental  case,  within 
a  week  or  ten  days  often  abort,  and  thus  the 
mischief  steadily  sj)reads  sometimes  throughout 
the  whole  breeding  cows  of  the  farm.  The  evil 
is  also  liable  to  recur ;  the  cows  that  slip  one  year 
are  ajjt  to  do  so  about  the  same  period  of  their 
subsequent  gestation.  The  mishap  comes  on  sud- 
denly, usually  without  warning.  The  foetus  being 
of  small  size  is  generally  got  rid  of  easily  and 
without  assistance;  if  over  seven  months  it  is 
occasionally  born  alive ;  unless  near  the  full  period 
the  subsequent  yield  of  milk  is  not  so  large  as 
if  matters  had  gone  on  naturally.  The  cleansing 
often  clings  firmly  to  its  uterine  connections,  and 
does  not  entirely  come  away  for  wrecks ;  it  is  not 
desirable  to  use  much  force  to  remove  it,  but 
annoyance  and  smell  are  much  abated  by  washing 
the  parts  twice  daily  with  carbolic  soap,  or  with 
one  part  of  carbolic  acid  to  100  of  tepid  water, 
and  if  need  be  by  injecting  such  a  solution  into 
the  uterus.  The  chief  preventive  measures  consist 
in  keeping  the  in-calf  stock  quiet,  f)roteeting  them 
from  undue  excitement  and  from  being  run  by 
dogs.  When  the  gadfly  is  aboutj  have  them  in 
the  yards ;  see  that  no  blood  or  decomj^osiug, 
badly-smelling  refuse  is  about  the  yards  or 
pastures;  avoid  ergotted  or  mildewed  fodder; 
keep  them   out   of  woods   and    i)lantations  where 


66 


DAIRY    FA  H:\riNG. 


yow  and  oflu'r  ivsiiiuns  lenves  and  Iwiys  an> 
apt  to  be  ea(en;  provide  puro  water;  lake  care 
that  the  stalls  are  comfortable  and  not  too  much 
on  an  incline ;  immediately  remove  to  oiitlyin<? 
premises  any  cow  that  has  aborted,  and  keep  her 
apart  for  some  weeks  and  until  all  discharge  is 
gone.  Before  returning  her  amongst  the  herd, 
wash  her  well  with  carbolic  soap ;  bury  the  fcctus 
promptly ;  cleanse  aud  disinfect  the  place  where 
it  was  dropped,  and  do  not  for  some  weeks 
use  it  for  in-eal\ers.  Endeavour  to  prevent  any 
impending  attack  of  abortion  by  perfect  quiet, 
laxative  rather  than  concentrated  food,  and,  if 
there  is  straining,  by  frequent  doses  of  opium, 
belladonna,  aud  chloral,  or  other  antispasmodics. 

As parhirition  opjiroaclics,  the  cow  instinctively 
separates  herself  from  her  fellows  and  seeks  quiet. 
Tliis  natural  feeling  should,  if  possible,  be  satisfied. 
If  housed  at  night,  she  should  have  a  box  or  quiet 
stall.  In  large  herds  the  haunoliing  and  running 
of  heavy  in-calf  cows  should  be  avoided  by  placing 
them  by  themselves.  Some  big  poor  cows,  owing 
to  the  relaxation  of  the  ligaments  of  the  pelvis, 
for  some  days,  or  even  for  a  week  or  two  before 
calving,  are  unable  to  stand ;  but  so  long  as  no 
sj'mptom  of  illness  is  observed,  alarm  need  not 
be  felt.  The  cow  may  be  fed  as  usual,  mainly 
on  sloppy,  moderately  good  food.  If  she  does 
not  care  to  exert  herself  and  rise,  she  should  be 
propped  comfortably  yni\\  boltings  or  bags  of 
straw,  turned  night  and  morning,  care  taken 
that  her  udder  does  not  get  pressed  upon ;  any 
milk  that  can  be  got  should  be  drawn  away  t\viee 
daily.  Released  of  her  burden  by  calving,  she 
will  usually  sjjeedily  recover  the  use  of  her  limbs. 

T/ie  siyns  of  approaching  partiirilion  are  dis- 
tension of  the  udder,  swelling  and  firmness  of 
the  teats,  secretion  of  milk,  loosening  of  the  liga- 
ments of  the  pelvis,  giving  the  cow  a  rocking, 
uusteady  gait,  relaxation  of  the  external  organs 
of  generation,  and  discharge  of  a  glairy  mucus 
from  the  vagina.  These  a])pcaranees  may  continue 
for  several  days.  Within  an  hour  or  two  of  calving 
the  animal  usually,  in  addition,  is  restless,  seeks 
to  be  alone,  gets  up  and  lies  down  frequently, 
and  whisks  its  tail.  Labour  pains,  continuing  for 
one  or  two  minutes,  now  occur;  the  anuiial,  or 
water-bag,  is  forced  against  the  os  uteri,  gradually 
dilating  it  and  the  vaginal  passages;  shortly  the 
bag  bursts,  softening  and  lubricating  the  parts ; 
and  cessation  of  labour  pains,  continuing  sometimes 


fur  half  an  ho\ir  or  longer,  occurs.  The  cow,  if 
hitherto  loose,  slumld  now  be  tied  up.  If  an 
examination  as  to  the  position  of  the  foetus  and 
condition  of  the  passages  through  which  it  has 
to  come  has  not  already  been  made,  as  it  generally 
is  after  straining  has  begun,  it  should  be  done 
now.  The  hand  and  arm  are  oiled,  the  fingers 
and  thumb  drawn  together  and  carefull}-  introduced, 
advantage  being  taken  of  a  j)criod  when  straining 
has  ceased.  Special  notice  is  taken  of  the  amount 
of  dilation  of  the  os  uteri,  the  presence  of  any 
tumors  or  other  obstructions  likely  to  interfere 
with  delivery,  the  position  and  size  of  the  calf, 
whether  it  is  alive,  whether  there  is  more  than 
one.  JMost  cows  calve  standing :  the  labour  pains 
are  more  powerful  and  effective;  the  diaphragm 
and  abdominal  muscles  are  more  readily  brought 
into  play,  whilst  in  the  standing  position  help 
can  be  more  conveniently  and  effectiudly  rendered. 
Roomy  cows,  having  had  several  calves,  sometimes 
get  through  parturition  in  fifteeu  minutes ;  it 
■  more  usually  occupies  an  hour;  but  when  there 
are  false  presentations  or  other  difficulties  it  is 
sometimes  prolonged  for  a  day,  or  even  longer. 

The  calf  most  commonly  comes  with  its 
fore-limbs  outstretched  and  its  head  (a  little  to 
one  side)  resting  upon  its  knees,  and  into  this 
position  it  must  be  got  when  it  comes  with  the 
anterior  extremities  first.  There  occur,  however, 
abnormal  or,  as  they  are  termed,  false  presentations. 
One  or  both  fore-limbs  may  be  bent  at  the  knees, 
when  the  calf  must  be  put  back  and  the  limb 
or  limbs  straightened.  One  limb  is  sometimes 
over  the  head,  or  the  head  is  depressed  underneath 
the  breast  or  laid  to  one  side,  or  the  head  protrudes, 
whilst  the  limbs,  closely  compressed,  lie  underneath 
the  body.  Occasionally  the  calf  comes  backward, 
with  the  hind-feet  in  the  passages,  when  it  should 
be  got  away  with  all  reasonable  speed,  as  the 
coi-d  in  a  tardy  delivery  is  rather  apt  to  get 
l^ressed  upon,  and  suffocation  may  ensue.  Occa- 
sionally the  hind-limbs  are  flexed  at  the  hocks, 
which  are  the  first  parts  grasped,  and  require  to 
be  pushed  back  and  the  hind-feet  got  into  the 
passages.  A  still  more  troublesome  presentation 
is  when  nothing  but  the  tail  and  buttocks  can 
be  felt,  and  the  hind-limbs  are  down  underneath 
the  body.  Occasionally  all  the  four  feet  are 
presented  together;  sometimes  only  the  back  of 
the  calf  can  be  felt.  Twins,  being  usually  smaller 
than  when  there  is  only  onC)  seldom  cause  much 


PARTTTRITTON. 


67 


trouble,  unless  eac-li  liappon  to  lie  with  a  leo- 
in  the  passages.  The  successful  management  of 
these  and  other  abnormal  presentations  often 
demands  much  tact,  patience,  manual  dexterity, 
and  strength.  It  is  usually  necessary  to  raise 
the  cow's  hind-quarters ;  conls  are  placed  round 
the  head  and  any  limbs  of  the  calf  that  are 
accessible;  the  hand  of  an  assistant  is  often 
usefully  introduced  to  replace  the  calf  as  far  as 
possible  into  the  womb,  whilst  the  operator  en- 
deavours to  rectify  the  faulty  position,  raise  and 
straighten  flexed  limbs,  and  get  into  the  passages 
either  the  fore-limbs  and  head,  or  the  hind-limbs, 
as  may  be  most  convenient.  When  this  is  effected 
there  is  seldom  much  difficulty  in  getting  away 
the  calf.  The  cow,  if  exhausted  or  long  in 
labour,  should  meanwhile  be  supported  with  gruel, 
ale,  whisky  and  water,  or  other  nutrient  stimu- 
lants. If  the  pains  are  feeble,  or  have  ceased, 
infusion  of  ergot  of  rye  may  be  given.  Simul- 
taneously with  the  occurrence  of  the  pains,  gentle 
steady  traction  is  applied  to  the  limbs,  round 
which  a  little  hay  is  twisted  to  secure  a  firmer 
hold,  or  broad  straps,  as  described,  are  fastened. 
Pulling  should  be  made  not  horizontally  or  straight 
back,  but  downwards  towards  the  cow's  hocks, 
which  increases  the  amount  of  room.  Whilst  the 
head  or  buttocks  are  coming,  the  hand  of  the 
operator  should  be  occasionally  passed  round  the 
contracted  holding  j)art  of  the  os.  Sometimes, 
when  the  head,  mthers,  or  other  part  apjjears 
wedged  and  almost  immovable,  progress  is  attained 
by  putting  the  calf  back  a  little,  allowing  a  short 
respite,  and  turning  the  intractable  portion  some- 
what more  obliquely.  Precipitate,  rash,  violent 
interference  is  unjustifiable  and  often  injurious. 
More  time  may  be  allowed  in  cattle  than  in  other 
animals.  Calves  have  been  got  away  two  or  even 
three  days  after  labour  pains  have  occurred,  and 
after  a  portion  of  the  amnial  fluid  has  escaped. 

Protracted  labour  usually  depends  upon  the 
false  presentation,  death,  or  deformity  of  the 
foetus ;  on  disease  of  the  foetal  membranes ;  on 
weakness  or  deformity  of  the  cow ;  rigidity,  spasm, 
or  torsion  of  the  cervix  uteri,  or  tumors  in  some 
of  the  passages.  Careful  skilful  examination  can 
usually  discover  the  cause  of  difficult  labour,  and 
can  frequently  remove  it.  When  the  calf  is 
discovered  to  be  dead,  if  the  water-bag  has  pre- 
sented and  burst,  assistance  should  be  rendered, 
as  the  natural  pains  are  seldom  so  regular  and 
12 


powerful  as  when  the  calf  is  alive.  When  the 
maternal  pelvis  is  of  insufficient  capacity,  from 
tumors  in  the  passages,  from  adhesions  between 
the  fcetus  and  uterus,  or  from  unusual  size  or 
deformity  of  the  calf,  natural  delivery  is  some- 
times impossible,  and  the  foitus  must  be  reduced  in 
size,  usualljf  by  the  removal  of  one  or  more  limbs. 
The  calf  is  sometimes  retained  in  the  uterus  much 
beyond  the  natural  period.  Sometimes  it  softens, 
putrefies,  and  causes  enuo-metritis ;  sometimes  it 
is  broken  up  and  discharged  piecemeal ;  some- 
times it  becomes  shrivelled  up  and  mummified. 
Whilst  the  uterus  is  thus  occupied  the  cow  cannot 
breed,  but  occasionally  continues  to  come  to  the 
bull.  A  manual  examination  readily  discovers 
the  state  of  matters. 

Tlie  fxtal  memhranes,  cleansing,  or  after-birth, 
often  comes  away  shortly  after  the  calf,  especially 
if  it  has  reached  its  full  period.  Sometimes, 
however,  it  is  wholly  or  in  part  retained  for 
many  daj's — a  source  of  annoj'ance  to  the  cow 
herself,  and  from  the  offensive  smell  very  unde- 
sirable in  premises  occupied  by  in-calf  cows,  in 
whom  it  is  apt  to  excite  abortion.  When  firmly 
attached,  dangerous  bleeding  may  result  from 
rashly  tearing  it  away,  and  the  safer  course  is 
to  twist  the  protruding  portion  into  a  cord,  attach 
a  weight  to  it,  giving  a  few  extra  twists  daily, 
and  waiting  for  natural  separation.  Irritation 
and  smell  are  abated  by  washing  the  external  parts 
with  carbolic  solution,  about  one  part  to  a  hun- 
dred; and  if  there  is  much  offensive  discharge, 
injecting  daily  tepid  water  and  a  similar  carbolic 
solution  into  the  uterus.  In  such  cases  the  cow 
is  often  low  and  weakly,  and  requires  liberal 
feeding. 

The  slight  bleeding  occurring  after  severe  labour 
seldom  lasts  long,  but  occasionally  blood  is  shoi-tly 
poured  forth  with  alarming  rapidity.  Rags  soaked 
with  cold  water  must  be  laid  over  the  loins,  and 
kept  wet  by  pouring  water  freely  on  them.  A 
cloth  wetted  with  cold  water  is  introduced  into 
the  uterus;  ice,  if  procurable,  is  placed  in  the 
uteiTis  and  vagina,  large  doses  of  opium  and  lead- 
acetate  given,  and  ergotine  injected  subeutaneously. 

St  rain  in  ij,  or  after-pains,  ensue  sometimes  from 
the  retention  of  clots  of  blood  or  portions  of  foetal 
membrane,  which  are  removed  by  the  hand  or  by 
injection  of  tepid  water.  But  sometimes  they 
result  from  invereiou  of  the  utenis  or  vagina,  and 
still  more  seriously  from  tearing  or  injury  of  some  of 


DAIRY    FAEMTXPt. 


the  23assn<^es,  cffoetinl  in  severe  or  protracted  lal)our, 
whilst  occasionally  they  depend  only  on  weakness 
and  nervous  irritability.  Perfect  quiet,  soothino- 
injections,  full  doses  of  opium,  chloral,  and  Ix'lla- 
donna,  and  laxative,  digestilile,  i^-ixid  iood  aii'  the 
appropriate  remedies. 

Inrersion  of  the  uterus  results  from  violent 
continued  straining,  from  undue  force  in  hrin<4in<;' 
away  the  calf,  from  a  relaxed  state  of  the  weak- 
ened, over-taxed  organ.  It  usually  occurs  within 
twii  days  after  calving.  So  small  a  portion  of  the 
horn  in  which  the  calf  has  lain  may  be  inverted 
that  it  does  not  protrude  externally,  and  is  only 
discovered  when  the  straining  suggests  exami- 
nation. But  unless  soon  rectified  the  iinnatural 
position  excites  more  straining,  and  gradually  a 
large  bulk  of  the  inverted  uterus  is  jirotruded, 
constituting  a  jjear-shaped  tumor,  weighing  some- 
times as  much  as  100  lbs.,  reaching  down  to  the 
cow's  hocks.  Sometimes  the  foetal  memliranes 
are  still  attached;  sometimes  it  becomes  much 
congested,  dark-coloured,  and  gangrenous ;  some- 
times it  gets  torn  and  bruised.  When  first  thrown 
out  it  is  seldom  diflieult  to  return.  The  cow,  if 
down,  should  be  got  on  her  legs  and  firmly  se- 
cured, her  hind  parts  raised,  her  rectum  and  bladder 
emptied.  The  uterus,  supported  on  a  level  with 
the  vulva  on  a  tray  or  sheet  held  by  two  assis- 
tants, is  carefully  washed  and  thoroughly  cleansed 
with  tcjiid  water ;  the  placenta,  if  adherent,  re- 
moved. Subsequent  sponging  with  or  immersion 
in  ice-cold  water  for  five  or  ten  minutes  contracts 
the  organ  and  facilitates  its  return.  When  con- 
gested or  abraded,  it  is  moistened  with  diluted 
spirits,  astringents,  or  laudanum.  The  cow,  if 
straining,  is  much  quieted  by  tweezers  in  the 
nose,  a  chain  round  the  chest  tightened  when 
straining  comes  on,  and  a  full  dose  of  opium, 
belladonna,  and  chloral.  The  displaced  organ,  held 
well  up  and  kept  moist  with  cold  water,  is  usually 
returned  by  pressing  steadily  with  the  closed  fist 
against  the  horn,  the  farthest  part  protruded,  and 
forcing  it  backwards  and  inwards,  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  intervals  between  the  pains.  Care 
must  be  taken  that  reijlacement  is  properly  made, 
without  twisting,  folding,  or  irregularity  of  the 
membrane.  To  retain  the  uterus  the  hand  should 
lie  held  within  it  for  some  time ;  injection  of  cold 
water,  or  a  cloth  steeped  in  cold  water  placed  in 
the  vagina,  causes  contraction  if  the  organ  is  soft 
and  flaccid ;  straining  is  combated  by  full  doses 


of  antispasmodics.  Pessaries,  pads,  and  bandages 
are  sometimes  required  to  retain  the  irritable 
organ.  In  extreme  cases,  when  the  uteinis  cannot 
be  returned  or  has  been  hopelessly  injured,  it  is 
sometimes  successfully  amputated. 

Protrusion  or  inversion  of  the  vagina  occurs 
within  a  few  days  after  calving  or  abortion, 
depending  upon  the  pai'ts  being  injured  by  the 
i'orcible  withdrawal  of  the  calf,  or  from  the  cow 
having  undue  over-exertion  shortly  after.  It  also 
frequently  appears  in  lymphatic,  wide-hipped  cows 
as  pregnancy  advances,  and  the  gravid  uterus  is 
j)ressed  back  upon  the  vagina,  when  the  digestive 
organs  are  over-filled  with  bulky  food,  or  the 
animals  lie  in  sheds  with  a  sharji  slope.  The  soft, 
yielding  tumor  varies  in  size  from  an  orange  to  a 
child's  head,  is  j>erfectly  smooth,  and  marked  in  its 
lower  surface  by  a  depression  leading  to  the  urethra. 
Unlike  the  cornu  of  the  uterus,  for  which  it  might 
be  mistaken,  it  has  no  cotyledons  or  placental 
follicles ;  unlike  the  everted  urinary  bladder,  it  is 
not  corrugated,  has  no  openings  or  urinous  smell. 
Although  easily  returned,  it  is  apt  to  reappear;  is 
usually  more  unsightly  than  dangerous ;  is  much 
abated  by  keeping  the  cow  with  the  hind  parts 
raised.  When  in  an  irritable  or  congested  state  it 
should  be  wetted  twice  daily  with  an  astringent 
lotion,  made  with  an  ounce  of  sulphate  of  zinc  to 
a  quart  of  water;  in  bad  cases  a  pad  or  bandage 
is  applied. 

Alilk  fcrer,  or  ^mrturient  apople.ri/,  is  a  for- 
midable disease,  attacking  good  milk-cows  in  the 
])rinie  of  life,  at  their  third  or  fourth  calving, 
\\hen  their  time  has  been  an  easy  one,  when  they 
are  in  high  condition,  or  are  poor  and  suddenly 
transferred  to  liberal  dietary.  It  usually  comes 
on  within  three  days  after  calving.  Its  nature 
is  not  clearly  imderstood.  The  large  sujjplies  of 
blood  which  have  been  nourishing  the  rapidly 
growing  calf  are  suddenly  thrown,  as  it  were,  on 
the  system ;  brain  congestion  ensues,  specially  apt, 
according  to  Professor  Walley,  to  occur  in  rumi- 
nants, owing  to  the  special  arrangement  of  the 
vessels  of  the  brain.  Such  congestion  is  favoured 
by  any  conditions  which  withdraw  blood  from  the 
skin,  digestive  organs,  or  udder.  The  cow  is  dull, 
with  drooping  head,  is  careless  of  its  food  and  its 
calf;  the  milk  flow  is  diminished;  the  gait  is 
staggering;  the  red  and  blood-shot  eyes  and  hot 
head  point  to  lirain  congestion.  This  is  shortly 
relieved  by  effusion  of  bloixl,  more  often  of  serum, 


MILK    FEVER     AND    INFLAMMATION. 


69 


and  anscmia  coiisoqucntly  ensues,  producing-  tho 
paralysis,  unconsciousness,  and  convulsions  so 
eliaracteristic  of  tlie  later  stages.  The  earlier 
the  cases  occur  after  calving',  the  more  rapid  and 
fatal  they  are.  Returning  consciousness,  ability  to 
swallow,  warmth  of  the  surface,  the  passage  of 
urine  and  fseces  indicate  a  favourable  issue.  Three- 
fourths  of  the  cases  early  and  properly  treated 
should  recover. 

The  cow,  if  still  on  her  legs,  or  if,  although 
down,  she  has  a  tolerably  full  and  firm  pulse,  and 
slow,  deep  breathing,  may  be  bled  to  the  extent  of 
3  or  4  quarts,  drawn  from  a  large  opening  in 
the  jugular  vein.  In  the  later  stages,  when  the 
pulse  is  weak  and  fluttering  and  the  surface  cold, 
bleeding  only  hastens  death.  If  the  animal  can 
still  swallow,  a  full  dose  of  purgative  medicine 
is  given,  consisting  of  i  lb.  each  of  common 
and  Epsom  salts,  20  drops  of  eroton  oil,  2  ozs. 
of  oil  of  turpentine,,  and  1  lb.  of  treacle,  dis- 
solved together  in  1  or  2  quarts  of  water.  En- 
deavour should  also  be  made  to  rouse  the  torpid 
bowels  by  laxative  stimulant  clysters,  repeated 
several  times  daily.  It  is  most  essential  that  the 
cow  be  placed  in  a  eomfortal)le  position,  jiropped 
on  her  broad  breast-bone,  supported  by  boltings  of 
straw  or  sacks  containing  chaff,  her  drooping  head 
raised  by  bags  of  straw  or  chaff,  and  steadied  by 
a  halter  attached  to  the  manger  or  other  elevated 
fixture.  Thrice  daily  the  jsatient  should  be  turned, 
the  udder  rubbed  and  emptied,  the  bladder  also 
emptied.  Ammonia  liniment  or  mustard  paste 
should  be  rubbed  down  each  side  of  the  spine,  or 
counter-irritation  produced  by  a  hot  smoothing- 
iron  used  night  and  morning,  a  piece  of  rug  or 
several  folds  of  paper  bemg  interposed  between 
the  skin  and  the  hot  iron.  Stimulants  are  useful 
almost  from  the  outset ;  a  glass  of  whisky  or  other 
such  cordial,  and  a  drachm  of  carbonate  of  ammonia 
given  in  half  a  pint  of  water,  may  be  repeated 
every  two  hours.  Beware,  however,  of  attem^^ting 
to  give  stimulants  or  anything  else  if  the  cow 
cannot  swallow;  congested  and  inflamed  lungs,  and 
sometimes  immediate  suffocation,  are  thus  apt  to 
be  induced.  As  appetite  returns,  care  should  be 
taken  that  the  animal  is  provided  for  a  few  days 
with  only  a  moderate  supply  of  sloppy  food ; 
solid,  bulky  fare  is  apt  to  cause  indigestion  and 
relapse.  Recovery  once  begun  is  generally  rapid. 
To  prevent  milk  fever,  good  milk-cows  with  great 
appetites  and  in  the  prime  of  life,  as  they  approach 


within  a  month  of  parturition,  should  be  kept 
somewhat  sparingly  on  laxative  fare  ;  they  should 
not  be  allowed  to  graze  all  day  on  abundant  first- 
class  pasture  ;  they  should,  however,  have  plenty 
of  exercise.  A  week  before  calving,  or  earlier  if 
the  udder  is  distended,  it  should  be  drawn,  and  as 
much  milk  as  possible  removed.  INIany  obser- 
vant dairymen  regard  the  establishment  of  the 
milk  secretion  so  important  in  preventing  milk 
fever  that  they  never  allow  the  best  Guernsey, 
Alderney,  or  dairy  Shorthorns  to  become  dry 
between  their  calvings.  Bleeding  before  parturi- 
tion is  .not  desirable,  but  a  dose  of  physic  should 
be  given  to  all  predisposed  subjects  a  week  before, 
and  another  as  soon  as  calving  is  over.  For  three 
or  four  days  subsequently  the  diet,  as  stated,  should 
be  laxative  and  rather  sparing. 

MefrUis,  or  inflammation  of  the  womb,  attacks 
cows  that  have  aborted  or  had  a  hard  time  of 
calving,  that  have  had  inversion  of  the  uterus, 
retention  of  the  foetal  membranes,  that  have  been 
over-driven,  knocked  about  shortly  before  or  soon 
after  calving,  or  have  been  exposed  to  morbid 
poison,  which  the  vascialar  uterus  at  this  time  is 
apt  to  absorb  from  the  hands  of  persons  assisting 
at  parturition,  or  even  from  an  impure  atmosphere. 
In  from  two  to  eight  days  after  calving  fever  comes 
on ;  there  is  restlessness,  shivering,  and  straining, 
which  continues  even  after  the  fcetal  membranes  are 
removed  and  the  uterus  injected  with  tepid  water. 
In  marked  contrast  to  puerperal  aj^oplexy,  or  milk 
fever,  in  which  the  temperature  is  normal,  or  even 
below  normal,  the  thermometer,  especially  in  the 
rectum,  sj^eedily  rises  above  100".  There  is  grinding 
of  the  teeth  and  colicky  pains ;  the  external  organs 
of  generation  are  swollen,  and  the  swelling  extends 
to  the  udder  and  down  the  thighs;  from  the  vagina 
there  issues  an  offensive,  often  blood-stained  dis- 
charge. But  even  to  the  last  the  animal  rises  and 
lies  down,  and  retains  consciousness.  The  disease 
runs  its  course  usually  in  three  or  four  days ; 
about  half  the  cases  are  fatal.  Examination  dis- 
covers that  the  uterus  contains  foul,  decomposing 
serum,  blood,  and  portions  of  the  foetal  membranes. 
Its  walls  are  not  contracted,  but  are  soft  and 
thickened,  and  its  mucous  lining  dark-coloured 
and  filtrated.  Sometimes  the  inflammation  has 
extended  to  the  serous  covering  of  the  bowels, 
constituting  metro-peritonitis.  To  allay  inflam- 
mation and  Ijring  away  irritating  secretions,  the 
uterus   should    be    carefully   syringed    with    tepid 


70 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


water,  containiug  about  one  part  to  sixty  or  ei<^bty 
of  carbolic  acid,  or  otber  effectual  disiiifectaut;  and 
this  cleansing'  ought  to  be  repeated  twee  daily. 
Sulphites  or  carbolates  which  counteract  septic 
poisoning  may  be  administered ;  laxatives  are 
prescribed  if  necessary ;  frequent  small  doses  of 
alcohol  and  (jther  stimulants,  with  good  gruel, 
help  to  sustain  strength.  Regarding  preventive 
measures,  avoid  rough  treatment  during  calving, 
or  too  early  over-exertion  or  exposure  subsequently. 
If  any  injury  has  been  inflicted  in  bringing  away 
the  calf,  esjjccially  if  it  has  been  dead  and  putrid, 
inject  tc2)id  water  and  carbolic  acid  night  and 
morning;  remove  carefully  retained  foetal  mem- 
branes ;  administer  twice  daily  1  oz.  of  sulphite 
of  soda ;  supply  the  best  of  digestible  food ; 
avoid  having  calving  cows  in  yards  or  fields  where 
any  animal  has  had  metritis  or  metro-peritonitis; 
and  never  allow  herdsman  or  shei^herd  to  help  in 
calving  who  has  recently  been  about  such  cases, 
who  has  been  removing  offensive  placentas,  or 
otherwise  handling  putrefying  animal  matter. 

Garget,  mammltis,  or  inflammation  of  the  udder, 
is  induced  by  careless  dripjiing,  by  sore  teats,  or 
by  the  cruel  practice  of  over-stocking,  or  hefting. 
It  also  results  from  blows  and  injuries,  from 
attacks  of  foot-and-mouth  complaint,  and  from 
exposure  to  cold  and  wet,  which  seize  on  the  mucous 
and  fibrous  textures  of  the  udder — the  most  sensi- 
tive, vascular,  and  vulnerable  part  of  a  good  milch- 
eow.  ]\Iany  recently-dried  feeding-cows  suffer 
from  garget.  Wet  weather,  succulent  or  forcing 
feeding,  stimulate  the  recently-active  udder;  milk 
is  secreted ;  the  irritable  engorged  state  of  the  bag 
often,  however,  escapes  notice ;  the  fluid  is  not 
drawn  away ;  it  becomes  stale,  and  the  source  of 
irritation.  Hot  \veather  especially  favours  this  de- 
composition. On  strong  wet  land  the  cows  are 
further  liable  to  suffer  from  garget  conjoined  with 
rheumatic  inflammation  of  the  joints. 

Sometimes  the  skin  and  mucous  coat  of  the  bag 
are  first  and  most  prominently  affected  ;  the  case 
is  a  sort  of  catarrh  of  the  udder ;  the  skin  of  the 
aft'cctod  portion  becomes  hard,  shining,  and  some- 
what reddened.  But  in  the  worse  cases  the  glan- 
dular and,  connective  tissues  are  also  inflamed ; 
one  quarter  or  one  half  is  attacked;  more  rarely 
the  whole  organ  is  involved ;  often  the  seizure  is 
ushered  in  by  shivering  and  fever.  From  exuda- 
tion pressing  upon  and  blocking  the  secreting  parts, 
the  yield  of  milk  is  diminished ;  it  is  drawn  away 


with  difliculty,  and  is  serous,  cui-dled,  and  offensive. 
The  bag  in  a  few  days  is  very  tender  and  painful, 
much  swollen,  hard,  and  nodulous,  and  the  swelling 
extends  to  the  chest  and  back  to  the  hind-quarters. 
The  cow  usually  stands,  or  lies  with  the  inflamed 
side  upwards.  'When  inflammatory  symptoms  are 
not  combated  within  a  week,  itiduration  and  loss 
of  a  quarter  or  of  half  of  the  gland  usually  result. 
Sometimes  during  the  several  months  the  cow  is 
dry,  the  induration  gradually  disappears,  and  the 
damaged  quarter  again  becomes  serviceable.  When 
inflammation  has  been  intense,  and  continues  for 
six  or  eight  days,  suppuration  may  be  expected, 
and  abscesses  form,  opening  into  the  teat,  bursting 
externally,  or  requiring  to  be  opened.  When  the 
whole  gland  becomes  inflamed,  and  is  not  promptly 
relieved,  still  more  unfavourable  results  may  ensue, 
the  part  may  be  mortified,  or  the  acute  inflamma- 
tion and  fever  kill  the  patient. 

As  to  treatment,  the  first  matter  is  to  empty  the 
udder  of  every  particle  of  milk  that  can  be  with- 
drawn. If  the  teats  are  too  tender  or  are  blocked 
with  knots  of  curd,  a  syphon  must  be  used,  and 
milking  repeated  at  intervals  of  two  or  three  hours. 
Warm  fomentations,  followed  by  poultices  of 
spent  hops,  tea-leaves,  or  bran,  afford  much  relief, 
should  be  frequently  repeated  and  applied  suspended 
in  a  web  passed  round  the  loins  with  a  T-shaped 
piece  running  backwards  and  upwards  between  the 
hind-limbs,  and  secured  to  the  web  passing  over 
the  loins.  Such  poultices  and  bandages,  softening 
and  mechanically  supporting  the  inflamed  organ, 
remove  congestion  and  pain,  and  greatly  hasten  re- 
coveiy.  Extract  or  ointment  of  belladonna,  rubbed 
daily  over  the  tender  udder,  not  only  abates  tension 
and  pain,  but  also  lessens  the  troublesome  secretion 
of  milk.  Clots  of  curd  accumulating  in  the  teats 
must  be  gently  broken  down,  and  got  away  either 
])y  the  hand  or  by  the  teat-syphon.  In  chronic 
eases  the  hard  swelling  should  be  rubbed  twice 
daily  with  a  stimulating  dressing,  which  may  con- 
sist of  equal  parts  of  compound  solution  of  iodine, 
tincture  of  opium,  and  soap  liniment.  Abscesses 
must  be  opened  and  dressed  with  antiseptics.  Con- 
stii^ation  and  febrile  symptoms  should  be  combated 
by  oil  and  treacle ;  and  a  daily  dose  of  4  ozs. 
of  l']psom  salt  and  1  oz.  of  nitre  will  relieve 
fever  and  lessen  milk  secretion.  In  acute  cases 
aconite  is  prescribed.  Unless  the  cow  is  reduced, 
the  diet  for  some  days  should  lie  sparing  ancf  not 
succulent. 


DISEASES    OF    MILKING    STOCK. 


71 


The  teats  are  sometimes  elosod  eongenitally,  or 
from  exudation  filliu<>-  tlio  tubes.  The  careful  pas- 
sage of  a  teat-syphou  usually  suffices,  but  where 
the  obstruction  is  considerable  a  bistoury  or  per- 
forating sound  must  be  introduced,  and  the  opening 
kept  clear  either  by  retaining  the  syphon  in  the  teat 
for  several  days,  or  by  passing  a  bougie  twice  daily. 

Crach  and  sores  on  the  teats,  interfering  with 
milking  or  sucking,  are  sometimes  irritable,  exten- 
sive, and  bleeding,  requiring  that  the  milk  be 
withdrawn  by  a  syphon,  that  the  parts  be  kept 
scrupulously  clean,  and  dressed  at  each  milking 
with  glycerate  of  tannin  or  other  mild  astringent. 
Sore  teats,  when  neglected  or  mismanaged,  are  apt 
to  cause  mammitis. 

Horeii  tympanites,  or  distension  of  the  rumen 
or  first  stomach  with  gas,  is  not  peculiar  to  dairy- 
stock,  but  milk-cows,  being  often  greedy  feeders, 
furnish  a  large  proi^ortion  of  such  cases.  Prominent 
amongst  the  causes  are  frosted  grass  or  clover,  wet 
roots,  raw  grain,  especially  wheat,  a  meal  of  un- 
accustomed food,  or  a  foreign  body  in  the  gullet. 
A  few  morsels  of  unsuitable  food  sometimes  suffice 
to  interfere  with  digestion ;  the  mass  of  soft  food 
ferments,  with  evolution  of  gas.  The  animal  be- 
comes much  distended,  especially  on  the  left  side ; 
its  nose  is  poked  out ;  it  blows,  moans,  and,  unless 
relieved,  sometimes  dies  from  the  jjressure  of  the 
enormously  distended  stomach  on  the  lungs  and 
heart.  Moving  the  animal  about  often  favours 
expulsion  of  the  gas;  but  if  not  promptly  effectual, 
administer  a  full  dose  of  oil  of  turpentine,  whisky, 
medicinal  ammonia,  or  carbonate  of  ammonia  in  a 
pint  of  oil,  milk,  or  cold  gruel.  If  no  relief  occurs 
in  an  hour,  another  stimulant  should  be  given. 
When  stimulants,  a  dose  of  physic,  exercise,  and 
external  friction  have  been  vainly  tried,  and  the 
symptoms  increase  in  severity,  an 
opening  must  be  made   into  the 

il  rumen    with    a    large    knife,    or, 

I  better   still,   with  a   trochar  and 

I  canula     (Fig.     21),    at    a    point 

£  equi-distant  from  the  spine  of  the 

lumbar     vertebra?,     the     anterior 
tuberosity  of  the  ilium,  and  the 
last  rib.     In  all  cases,  and  espe- 
Fi".  21.— Trochar    cially    if    an    operation   has    been 
necessary,    it    is    important     for 
several  days  that  the  animal  be  restricted  to  mo- 
derate amounts  of  soft  food  which  can  be  digested 
without  the  need  of  rumination. 


Impaction  of  the  Jirst  and  third  stomachs  with 
food. — The  first  and  third  stomachs  of  cattle  are 
liable  to  be  over-gorged  with  dry  innutritive  food, 
such  as  chaff  or  straw  insufficiently  moistened  by 
roots  or  cake,  too  liberal  supjjlies  of  undecorticated 
cotton-cake,  or  hard  stems  of  clover  or  vetches.  The 
nervous  jiower  of  the  organ  appears  to  be  impaired ; 
the  muscular  contractions  which  should  move  the 
food  onwards  are  hence  feeble  or  wanting ;  appetite 
and  rumination  are  suspended;  the  belly  becomes 
distended ;  any  dung  passed  is  dry,  caked,  and 
covered  with  mucus.  When  the  first  stomach  is 
over-gorged,  the  symptoms  of  abdominal  fulness 
and  distress  are  early  and  urgent.  A  full  dose  of 
physic,  with  stimulants,  is  prescribed,  solid  food 
withheld,  every  encouragement  given  to  drink 
treacle-water,  salt  and  w-ater,  and  other  diluents; 
in  extreme  cases  the  overloaded  piaralysed  rumen  is 
cut  into  and  relieved  of  its  contents.  When  the 
food  has  got  impacted  between  the  leaves  of  the 
third  stomach,  constituting  fardel-bound,  symp- 
toms of  indigestion  and  constipation  are  more 
slowly  shown ;  usually  there  is  a  moan  or  groan 
resembling  the  grunt  of  pleuro-pneumonia  ;  some- 
times there  is  vertigo,  convulsions,  and  other  symp- 
toms of  nervous  derangement.  In  many  of  those 
cases  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  third  and  fourth 
stomach  is  inflamed.  Hence  the  large  and  repeated 
doses  of  drastic  physic  formerly  given  are  not  ad- 
visable. All  solids  should  be  interdicted,  and  the 
animal  allowed  only  thin  gruel  and  treacle-water. 
A  pint  of  oil,  with  1  oz.  each  of  laudanum  and 
tincture  of  belladonna,  helps  to  open  the  bowels  and 
relieve  gastric  irritation;  soap  and  water  clysters 
aid  in  unloading  the  bowels.  A  few  doses  of 
aconite  and  salines  abate  any  febrile  symptoms; 
2  ozs.  of  Epsom  salt  and  1  oz.  of  powdered 
gentian,  repeated  once  or  twice  daily,  impart 
tone.  It  is  mischievous  to  attempt  by  powerful 
physic  to  force  the  bowels  to  resume  their  func- 
tions; and  in  cattle  there  is  no  fear  of  imme- 
diate death  from  constipation  or  torpidity;  ten 
days  in  such  cases  sometimes  elapse  without  any 
movement,  when  the  bowels  gradually  resume  their 
action. 

Foot-and-mouth  disease,  or  contagious  eczema, 
is  apt  to  attack  dairy-cows,  and  punishes  them 
more  severely  than  it  does  store  stock.  It  is  a 
contagious,  eruptive  fever,  characterised  by  the 
appearance  of  blisters  or  vesicles  on  the  skin  and 
mucous   surfaces,  and  attacking  sheep,  pigs,  and 


72 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


poultry,  as  well  as  cattle.  It  was  introduced  into 
Great  Britain  fromthecontinent  of  Europe  in  1839, 
and,  althonoh  it  has  frequently  been  reduced  witliin 
naiTow  limits,  it  has  not  since  been  extirpated. 
Cohabitation  with  infected  subjects,  and  the  eating 
of  food  on  which  they  have  slavered,  in  experiments 
at  the  Brown  Institution  were  found  to  communi- 
cate the  disease;  but  the  litter  on  which  patients 
had  stood  did  not  convey  it,  nor  was  it  produced 
by  rubbino'  the  gums  with  infected  saliva,  or  scari- 
fying with  it  the  gums  or  feet.  But  although 
attempts  artificially  to  produce  the  disease  are 
attended  by  negative  results,  it  must  not  be  con- 
cluded that  manure  from  foot-and-mouth  infected 
premises  can  with  imjninity  be  brought  amongst 
sound  animals.  The  movementi  of  stock,  placing 
them  in  markets  or  fairs,  trucking  them  by  rail, 
conveying  them  by  vessel,  and  the  carelessness  of 
dealers  in  herding  together  sickening  or  convales- 
cent animals  have  been  the  means  by  which  the 
virus  lias  been  preserved  and  disseminated.  A 
period  of  incubation,  varying  from  one  to  four 
days,  elapses  between  the  inception  of  the  infective 
material,  and  the  elevation  of  temperature,  appear- 
ance of  the  slavering,  congestion  of  the  mucous 
membrane,  and  eruption  of  the  characteristic  vesicles 
about  the  mouth,  on  the  udder,  or  between  the  digits. 
Vesicles  also  often  occur  throughout  the  alimentary 
canal,  causing  gastric  derangement  and  diarrlnca. 
The  udders  of  cows  in  full  milk,  being  very  sensi- 
tive, usually  suffer;  the  thin  skin  and  the  mucous 
lining  of  the  teats  and  milk  ducts  are  inflamed, 
milking  causes  j)ain ;  milk  is  hence  apt  to  remain 
in  the  imperfectly  dripped  udder,  causing  garget. 
Abortion  and  uncertainty  in  breeding  arc  also 
very  common  results  amongst  dairy-stock.  Milk 
secretion  is  early  diminished,  but  what  is  yielded 
contains  yellow  granular  masses,  pus  corpuscles, 
bacteria,  and  other  abnormal  matters,  and  doubt- 
less the  special  infective  virus,  for  when  given  to 
calves  or  pigs  it  usually  produces  diarrhoea.,  and 
sometimes  kills  these  young  animals  within  a  few 
hours.  The  mortality  from  foot-and-mouth  com- 
plaint dues  not  exceed  two  per  cent. ;  but  this  does 
not  adequately  represent  the  vexatious  loss  it  pro- 
duces both  in  herd  and  flock — heavy  fat  beasts 
lamed  and  thrown  back  during  several  months; 
cows  in  full  profit  suddenly  dried,  slipping  calf, 
becoming  uncertain  breeders,  or  permanently  de- 
teriorated by  damaged  bags ;  feeding  sheep  lamed 
and  stripped  of  Hesh ;  ewes  slipping  lamb ;  lambs 


wasting  and  dying.  Throughout  a  mixed  herd 
the  loss  from  an  outbreak  of  this  complaint  averages 
£3  to  £4  on  the  numbers  attacked,  whilst  20s.  per 
head  is  the  depreciation  usually  suffered  throughout 
the  affected  flock.  To  prevent  these  ever-recurring 
wide-spread  losses — for,  unlike  other  eruptive  fevers, 
foot-and-mouth  attacks  the  same  animal  in  conse- 
cutive years — the  Contagious  Diseases  (Animals) 
Act,  1878,  has  been  framed  to  check  the  re-intro- 
duction of  fresh  virus  from  the  continent  of  Europe, 
and  to  stamp  out  the  disease  both  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland  by  stringent  uniform  measures  of 
inspection,  isolation  of  infected  subjects,  and  dis- 
infection of  sick  and  convalescent  animals  and 
of  infected  premises.  Whenever  the  temperature 
of  a  beast  reaches  103*'  Fahr.,  it  should  be  care- 
fully watched,  for  some  fever  or  other  mischief  is 
apt  to  be  brewing.  As  it  runs  a  definite  course, 
medical  interference  is  less  needful  than  good 
nursing,  soft,  easily-masticated  digestible  food,  and 
clean  comfortable  quarters,  and  in  cows  careful 
attention  to  the  udder.  The  mouth  and  feet,  if 
sore,  may  be  washed  several  times  daily  with  dilute 
Coudy's  fluid  or  other  mild  astringent  antiseptic 
lotion.  After  perfect  recovery,  it  is  a  wise  pre- 
caution to  wash  or  dip  the  subjects  of  such  a  con- 
tagious disorder  with  a  solution  of  carbolic  soap 
before  placing  them  with  healthy  stock. 

Fleiiro-piieumoitia,  or  coTiiagio\is\im'^(-om\Aiuut, 
causes  serious  losses,  especially  in  town  and  sul)ur- 
ban  dairies  recruited  by  frequent  purchases  in  open 
market.  The  disease  is  propagated  by  some  infec- 
tive material,  perhaps  by  special  virus,  which  is, 
however,  long  and  uncertain  in  producing  its  pro- 
minent constitutional  effects.  The  increased  tem- 
perature, dry  cough,  grunt,  and  other  symptoms 
may  show  themselves  in  three  weeks  after  exposure 
to  contagion,  or  may  not  be  developed  for  three 
months.  Professor  G.  F.  Yeo,  in  his  rejjort  on  the 
pathological  anatomy  of  plcuro-pneumonia  {Jounial 
of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society,  vol.  xvi.,  1878), 
demonstrates  that  inflammation  and  exudation  may 
extendfor  several  weeks  in  the  substance  of  the  lung, 
causing  consolidation,  without  seriously  disturb- 
ing the  health  of  the  cow,  or  attracting  the  atten- 
tion either  of  attendant  or  owner;  but  that  so  soon 
as  the  pleura  becomes  involved,  febrile  and  other 
prominent  distinctive  symptoms  are  apparent. 
Professor  Y'eo  defines  pleuro  as  "  a  chronic,  s])ecitic, 
local  disease,  starting  in  the  bronchi,  and  insidiously 
implicating  the  parenchyma  of  the  lung,  by  oeclu- 


DISEASES    OF    DAIRY    STOCK. 


73 


sion  of  the  bronchi  and  inflummatiou  extending 
along  the  lymphatics;  the  other  organs  and  the 
l)lood  possess  a  singular  immunity  from  the  specific 
contamination.  It  is  not  accompanied  hy  consti- 
tutional symptoms,  and  only  gives  obscure  physical 
signs.  At  any  time  during  the  progress  of  the 
disease  its  existence  may  be  manifested  clinically  by 
the  occurrence  of  complications — acute  pleurisy  or 
h»morrhagic  infarction  with  pleural  inflammation — 
■which  excite  high  fever  with  various  functional 
derangements."  Cohabitation  appears  necessaiy  to 
the  transmission  of  the  disease ;  but  many  experi- 
ments, notably  those  of  Professtir  Burdon  Sanderson 
and  ilr.  Duguid  at  the  Brown  Institution,  indicate 
that  the  exudation  from  the  lungs  of  diseased  sub- 
jects does  not  reproduce  the  lung  eomjjlaint.  Inocu- 
lation with  such  exudation,  usually  on  the  tail  of 
healthy  animals,  has  been  proposed  as  a  preven- 
tive to  pleui'o,  and  has  found  favour  especially  in 
Australia,  and  with  some  German  veterinarians; 
but  the  supposed  protection  at  best  is  uncertain ; 
inoculated  cattle  frequently  take  pleuro ;  and  the 
operation  has  besides  the  disadvantage  of  occasion- 
ally depriving  the  cow  of  her  tail.  French  expe- 
riments indicate  that  about  one-fifth  of  the  animals 
subjected  to  contagion  prove  insusceptible.  Of 
those  attacked  30  to  40  per  cent,  die  in  periods 
varying  from  ten  to  fifty  days.  Even  in  favour- 
able cases,  carefully  nursed  and  doctored,  recovery 
is  generally  tedious,  and  often  leaves  the  animal 
wasted  and  ^Wth  diseased  lungs.  These  considera- 
tions, and  the  hope  of  stamping  out  the  comjjlaint, 
wisely  dictated  those  clauses  of  the  Contagious 
Diseases  (Animals)  Act,  1878,  which  order  the 
slaughter  of  all  pleuro-pneumonia  cases,  allowing 
their  o^\Tiers  two-thirds  of  their  value,  the  comjien- 
sation  being  hmited,  however,  to  £30  for  each 
animal.  Killed  before  febrile  symptoms  show 
themselves,  the  meat  of  pleupo  subjects  has  been 
eaten  without  harm. 

Black-leg,  quarfer-evil,  or  congestive  fever,  is  a 
serious  plague  on  many  breeding  farms,  suddenly 
attaekiiig  and  almost  invariably  killing  calves,  year- 
lings, and  occasionally  two-year-olds.  It  is  a  septic 
or  charbonous  disease,  depending  upon  the  blood 
getting  charged  with  effete  or  deleterious  matters, 
and  hence  becoming  dark-coloured,  fluid,  and  liable 
to  pass  from  its  vessels.  This  septic  condition  is 
induced  in  young  cattle  by  sudden  changes  from 
poor  to  liberal  dietary,  by  undue  supplies  of  rich 
albuminoids,    such    as    decorticated    cotton-cake, 


given  especially'  to  animals  imused  to  them  or 
in  poor  condition,  by  drinking  foul  or  sewage- 
contaminated  water,  by  exposure  to  cold  or  wet, 
which  retard  skin  secretion  and  excretion  of 
excrementitious  matters.  The  disease  is  not  con- 
tagious, but  is  produced  by  inoculation ;  the  flesh 
of  animals  dying  from  quarter-evil  often  causes 
gastric  and  constitutional  derangement  in  animals 
eating  it.  Dulness,  stiffness,  indisposition  to  move, 
febrile  symptoms,  and  elevated  temperature  are 
sometimes  noticed  a  few  hours  before  the  extrava- 
sations of  serum  and  blood  appear  about  the  quarters, 
loins,  or  chest.  The  animal  dies  exhausted  some- 
times in  six,  usually  in  twelve  hours  after  it  is  first 
observed  to  be  amiss.  Rapidly-thriving  young 
calves  occasionally  suffer  fi-om  an  allied  septic  con- 
dition, in  consequence  of  which  blood  is  outpoured 
within  the  membranes  and  in  the  structure  of  the 
brain.  Sometimes  the  haemorrhage  occurs  from  the 
mucous  membrane  of  the  bowels.  In  adults,  espe- 
cially in  good  thriving  mUk-cows  living  on  rich 
food,  the  spleen  becomes  engorged  with  dark 
fluid  blood,  and  sudden  death  occm-s  from  splenic 
apoplexy.  None  of  these  septic  disorders  are 
amenable  to  treatment  :  no  known  remedies  can 
sufficiently  rapidly  remove  the  fault}'  state  of  system 
on  which  they  depend.  In  black-leg,  bleeding, 
salines,  stimulants,  scarifying  of  the  tumors  seldom 
save  or  even  considerably  prolong  life.  Prevention 
is,  however,  secured  by  careful  management  and 
feeding,  by  keeping  the  young  stock  steadily 
thriving,  by  avoiding  too  large  amounts  of  de- 
corticated cotton-cake  or  other  albuminoids,  by 
inserting  a  seton  in  the  dewlap,  and  when  the 
disease  has  sho^vn  itself  giving  the  other  young- 
cattle  1  oz.  of  sulphite  of  soda  twice  a  week  in 
their  mUk  or  mash. 

Parasites  of  several  sorts  attack  dairy-stock. 

Ringworm,  a  cryjstogamic  parasite  called  the 
Tricojilij/ton,  occurring  in  characteristic  circular 
patches,  appears  on  the  skin,  chiefly  of  calves  and 
young  cattle,  is  engendered  by  the  use  of  damp 
mouldy  straw,  especially  of  soft  barley  straw;  and 
is  removed  by  washing  the  roughened  skin  daily 
^\■ith  soft  soap,  potashes,  and  warm  water,  and  then 
dressing  with  a  lotion  made  by  shaking  together 
one  part  each  of  iodine  and  common  salt,  which 
secures  solution  of  the  iodine,  and  twelve  to  fifteen 
parts  of  water.  Solutions  of  corrosive  sublimate, 
chlorides  of  zinc  and  of  iron,  and  nitrate  of  silver 
also  destroy  the  cryptogamic  growth. 


74 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Lice,  or  pedicuU,  arc  common  amongst  poor, 
badly-nourished  stock,  kept  dirty,  or  in  the  vicinity 
of  neglected  fowl-honscs.  Tobacco-juice,  mercurial 
ointment,  and  corrosive  sublimate  solutions  are 
frequently  used  to  kill  them,  but,  unless  applied 
with  caution,  sometimes  injure  the  health  of  the 
cattle,  and  even  cause  death.  A  safe  and  effectual 
dressing  is  made  with  1  oz.  of  powdered  staves- 
acre  seeds  builed  for  fil'lecii  minutes  iu  a  ])int  nF 
water. 

Intestinal  worms  are  not  so  common  amongst 
cattle  as  in  horses  and  dogs. 

Diseases  akd  Accidents  of  Calves. 

The  calf  is  sometimes  born  weak  and  feeble,  and 
it  is  needful  that  its  head  be  raised  and  laid  between 
its  outstretched  limbs,  its  buttocks  slapped  to 
favour  inspiration,  its  mouth  and  nostrils  cleared 
of  mucus  and  amnial  fluid  by  the  hand,  and,  if 
need  be,  by  suction.  If  these  measures  do  not 
establish  breathing,  artificial  respiration  should  be 
adopted,  and  a  little  ammonia  held  to  fhe  nostrils. 
No  milk  or  other  fluid  should  be  attempted  to 
be  given  until  the  calf  shakes  its  head,  breathes 
regularly,  and  can  swallow. 

Bleeding  occasionally  occurs  at  birth,  or  within 
a  few  hours  after,  from  the  rude  tearing  of  the 
umbilical  cord,  or  from  its  being  licked  or  bitten 
by  the  cow.  The  cord,  if  sufficiently  protruding, 
should  be  enclosed  in  a  ligature,  care  being  taken 
that  no  portion  of  the  intestine  is  included.  Or 
the  bleeding  end  may  be  wetted  with  some  strong 
styptic  solution,  such  as  of  sulphate  of  iron  or  of 
copper. 

Urine  sometimes  trickles  from  the  cord,  but 
after  a  few  days  generally  takes  its  natural  course. 
If  it  persists,  and  the  bladder  and  urethra  are 
found  to  be  in  a  natural  state,  the  end  of  the  cord 
may  be  ligatured,  or,  if  too  short  to  hold  a  ligature, 
the  foetal  channel  may  be  closed  by  suture. 

Bruising  and  laceration,  with  consequent  swell- 
ing about  the  umbilicus,  occasionally  result  from 
cows  violently  licking  the  protruding  portion  of 
the  cord,  or  from  other  calves  sucking  at  it.  Male 
calves  sufPer  more  than  female.  Cleanliness  and 
soaj)  and  water  are  the  first  essentials ;  if  the  jiarts 
are  hot  and  tender,  fomentations  are  applied ;  if 
fulness  is  the  only  symptom,  wash  with  some 
astringent  solution,  such  as  one  part  of  alum  or 
of  sulphate  of  zinc  to  twenty  of  water. 

}\avel-Ul,  technically  termed  oiiqilialilk,  begins 


with  inflammation  of  the  cord,  torn  off  close  to  the 
abdomen  or  otherwise  injured  at  birth  or  shortly 
after.  The  severed  raw  surfaces  are  liable  to  ab- 
sorb any  exudation  from  adjacent  injured  parts,  or 
any  putrefying  germs  that  may  be  on  the  ground, 
or  even  in  the  air  of  the  cow-house.  In  his 
admirable  work  on  "  Veterinary  Obstetrics,"  ^Ir. 
Fleming  records  cases  of  navel-ill  produced  by 
exposure  of  the  newly-dropped  calf  to  filth  and 
over-crowding,  to  wet  and  cold,  as  well  as  to  such 
special  infective  materials  as  arise  from  putrefying 
of  the  placenta  and  other  organic  matters.  The 
tediousness  and  danger  of  navel-ill  depend,  however, 
not  only  on  the  external  enlargement,  the  infiltra- 
tion of  serum  or  even  of  lilood  into  the  connective 
tissues,  or  the  firm  hard  swelling  of  the  protruded 
portion  of  the  cord,  but  on  the  fact  that  the  in- 
flammation early  seizes  on  the  interior  of  the  open 
umbilical  blood-vessels,  and  travels  along  them, 
reaching  sometimes  the  liver  and  other  internal 
organs.  The  protruding  end  of  the  coixl,  instead 
of  gradually  drying  and  withering,  is  hard,  swollen, 
moist,  and  hot,  the  little  patient  is  feverish  and 
arches  his  back.  From  the  peritoneum  becoming 
inflamed  there  is  sometimes  colic.  From  inflam- 
mation of  the  vein  abscesses  I'esult,  sometimes 
within  the  abdominal  ring  and  difficult  to  get  at, 
causing  hectic  fever,  pytemia,  and  death,  or  in 
more  chronic  cases  being  complicated  with  inflam- 
mation of  the  joints.  Often  the  liver  becomes 
implicated,  as  indicated  by  yellowness  of  the  mem- 
branes during  life,  and  after  death  by  enlargement, 
but  sometimes  by  wasting  and  bloodlessness.  A 
fatal  result  sometimes  occurs  in  three  days;  more 
frequently  the  patient  survives  for  a  week. 

The  irritable  swollen  parts  shotild  be  carefully 
fomented  and  cleansed  with  tepid  water,  and 
washed  with  a  one  to  twenty  solution  of  car- 
bolic acid ;  and  this  fomentation  and  disinfection 
should  be  repeated  two  or  three  times  daily.  Any 
abscesses  within  the  abdominal  ring  should  be 
opened,  and  a  diluted  carbolic  solution  injected. 
German  veterinarians  further  recommend  that  a 
diluted  astringent  solution  be  cautiously  introduced 
into  the  inflamed  umbilical  vein.  When  the  in- 
tense painful  external  inflammation  does  not  yield 
to  fomentations  and  antiseptics,  it  is  well  to  scarify, 
and  subsequently  wash  with  carbolic  solution.  To 
counteract  pya;mia,  sulphite  of  soda,  wth  other 
antiseptics,  and  tincture  of  the  chloride  of  iron, 
arc  prescribed.      Cle.'inliness  and  disinfectants  are 


DISEASES    OF    CALVES. 


75 


enjoined  about  the  premises,  in  ordei"  to  prevent 
further  absorption  of  septic  materials  and  avoid 
their  transference  to  other  animals.  Strength 
must  be  maintained  by  frequent  supplies  of  milk 
and  linseed  gruel;  constipation  is  comliated  by 
castor  oil. 

Chronic  swellings  of  the  umbilicus  are  not 
uncommon  in  young  bulls ;  when  hard  they  are 
difficult  of  dispersion,  and  sometimes  interfere  with 
the  animal's  usefulness.  Whilst  hot  and  tender 
they  should  be  treated  by  hot  fomentations  or 
continued  cold  applications ;  when  hard  or  non- 
inflammatory they  are  painted  with  iodine  or  blis- 
tering liniment ;  and  all  risks  of  having  the  parts 
rubbed  or  pulled  are  prevented  by  keejDing  the  bull 
by  himself. 

Indigetifion  is  common  amongst  young  calves, 
owing  to  their  being  so  generally  brought  up  on 
the  bucket,  subjected  to  long  fasts  and  subsequent 
rapid  gorging,  or  compelled  to  drink  sour,  stale 
milk,  sometimes  given  at  too  high  a  temperature. 
Occasionally  the  mischief  results  from  the  milk 
containing  noxious  matters,  owing  to  the  cow  being 
over-driven,  excited,  or  having  access  to  foul, 
sewage-contaminated  water.  The  calf  is  dull  and 
uneasy,  its  appetite  capricious,  and  it  often  lies 
outstretched  on  its  side;  the  belly  is  over-distended, 
gas  is  passed  by  the  mouth  and  anus ;  the  faeces  are 
curdy,  yellow,  acid,  fetid,  usually  fluid,  and  passed 
with  straining.  Amongst  carelessly  -  managed 
calves  inflammation  of  the  stomach  and  bowels 
sometimes  supervenes,  proving  fatal  in  three  or 
four  days.  The  diarrhoea  to  which  such  indigestion 
often  leads  is  noticed  below.  A  dose  of  castor  oil, 
with  twenty  drops  of  laudanum  added  to  counteract 
straining  and  pain,  will  gently  remove  the  sour 
curd  lodged  in  the  stomach  and  bowels,  keeping 
up  the  irritation.  If  the  calf  has  remained  with 
its  dam,  her  milk  must  be  examined;  it  may,  espe- 
cially in  old  cows,  contain  too  much  curd,  or  it  may 
have  been  secreted  so  abundantly  that  a  weakly  calf, 
unable  to  take  it  all,  had  it  stale.  At  intervals 
of  three  or  four  hours  the  little  patient  should 
have  4  or  5  ozs.  of  good  milk,  freshly  drawn 
from  a  recently-calved  cow,  and  diluted  with  half 
its  bulk  of  lime-water.  A  daily  dose  of  three  or 
four  drops  of  hydrochloric  acid  and  a  tea-spoonful 
of  whisky  or  gin  in  a  wine-glass  of  water  often  bene- 
fits such  cases.  The  old-fashioned  popular  remedy 
of  a  little  rennet  is  also  useful.  Perfect  cleanhness, 
fresh  air,  and  comfortable  quarters  hasten  recovery 
13 


from  these  gastric  attacks,  and  also  go  a  long  way 
to  prevent  them. 

Diarrhma,  or  white  scour,  carries  off  a  large 
number  of  newly-born  and  carelessly-managed 
young  calves.  It  spreads  rapidly  in  crowded, 
insanitary  places  ;  it  is  contagious,  and  once  occur- 
ring in  the  pens,  it  continues  to  haunt  them  until 
they  are  thoroughly  cleansed  and  disinfected.  But 
although  distinctly  contagious,  several  experimen- 
talists have  failed  to  produce  it  by  giving  healthy 
calves  the  intestinal  excretions  of  those  affected. 
It  is  most  common  where  cows  and  offspring  are 
housed,  and  amongst  calves  brought  up  artificially. 
Its  chief  causes  are  those  above  noted  as  producing 
indigestion.  The  first  symptoms  are  :  a  dirty  tail, 
dulness,  carelessness  as  to  food,  and  abdominal  ful- 
ness. The  fseces  are  fluid  and  charged  with  mucus, 
are  sour  and  bad-smelling,  yellow  or  white  from 
the  imperfect  digestion  of  the  milk  rapidly  hurried 
through  the  digestive  tube,  and  are  discharged  with 
violence  and  pain.  Weakness  is  early  apparent, 
the  calf  lies  much,  its  eyes  are  sunk,  from  the  re- 
ducing discharges  and  consequent  anaemia  it  is 
sometimes  blind  and  unconscious,  dying  without 
a  struggle.  In  foul,  dark  cow-houses,  young  calves 
are  frequently  attacked  and  die  wthin  twenty-four 
hours.  The  stomach  and  intestines  are  usually 
empty,  their  lining  membrane  covered  with  mucus 
of  a  dirty  grey  colour  and  studded  with  patches  of 
congestion  and  oedema.  Cases  that  have  survived 
a  few  days  exhibit  spots  of  ulceration,  esjjeeially  of 
the  lower  bowels,  with  deposits  of  purulent  matter, 
amidst  which  float  crowds  of  minute  organisms,  by 
different  authorities  regarded  as  microscopic  entozoa 
or  cryptogamic  parasites ;  whilst  adjacent  lympha- 
tic glands  are  reddened,  swollen,  and  infiltrated. 
The  liver  is  small,  pale,  and  bloodless.  The  mus- 
cles and  organs  generally  are  pale  and  bloodless. 

With  the  view  of  clearing  the  digestive  canal  of 
irritating  food  and  acrid  discharges,  a  dose  of  castor 
oil  is  given,  excessive  action  being  i^revented  by  the 
addition  of  thirty  or  forty  drops  of  laudanum.  The 
patient  must  be  removed  to  a  clean,  airy,  but  warm 
box.  If  in  spite  of  the  oil  and  laudanum  j)ain  and 
flatulence  continue,  give  three  or  four  times  daily 
forty  to  sixty  drops  each  of  laudanum  and  sulphuric 
ether  in  a  little  water.  At  intervals  of  three  or 
four  hours  sujsply  from  a  bottle  4  or  5  ozs.  of 
new  milk  diluted  with  an  equal  bulk  of  lime- 
water.  If  the  milk,  however,  continue  to  disagree, 
withhold  it  for  several  days,  and  sustain  the  calf 


7C, 


i)\ii!V    rAiniixd. 


with  wcll-boilod  starch  gruel,  of  wliiili  (i  oi"  8 
oy.ri.  aru  given  every  three  or  fuiir  h  mrs.  White 
of  egg  or  beef  tea  stirred  ainongst  it  renders  it 
more  nutritive.  Condensed  milk  and  Liebig's  fari- 
naceous food  are  also  useful  in  such  cases  when  the 
ordinary  milk  keeps  up  the  wasteful  diarrhoea.  An 
occasional  clyster  of  3  or  4  ozs.  of  tepid  well- 
boiled  starch  gruel,  containing  twenty  drops  of 
laudanum,  often  relieves  straining. 

Professor  James  Law,  of  Utica,  N.Y.,  writes 
as  follows  on  "  Scouring  in  Calves": — 

"  When  the  young  animal  comes  int<i  the 
world  it  is  called  upon  to  exercise  new  functions 
of  the  most  varied  kind.  Its  lungs,  hitherto 
unused,  are  inflated  with  air,  and  the  red  blood, 
drawn  into  a  new  channel,  circulates  in  the 
almost  endless  membrane  which  lines  their  cells 
and  cavities.  The  digestive  organs,  hitherto  the 
torpid  and  inactive  receptacle  of  the  excretions 
from  their  own  walls,  from  the  liver  and  pan- 
creas, must  take  in  aliment,  secrete  the  digestive 
fluids,  absorb  the  elaborated  products,  and  expel 
the  effete  matter,  in  order  to  sustain  their  own 
integrity  and  that  of  the  system  at  large. 
"With  the  skin  exposed  to  all  the  unwonted 
vicissitudes  of  cold  and  heat,  and  too  often  of 
dryness  and  wet,  and  the  lungs  compelled  to 
breathe  air  at  all  degrees  of  temperature,  tension, 
and  aqueous  saturation,  and  with  all  grades  of 
impurity,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the 
digestive  process  is  sometimes  retarded  or  rendered 
imperfect,  and  that  the  foundation  of  serious  and 
fatal  disorders  is  laid. 

"Perhaps  the  most  common  cause  of  indiges- 
tion and  scouring  during  the  first  week  of  life 
is  the  want  of  tone  and  activity  in  the  bowels 
These  are  clogged  at  birth  with  tough,  yellowish- 
brown  biliary  products  that  have  been  accumu- 
lating for  mouths,  and  that  virtually  glue  the 
walls  of  the  intestines  together,  and  prevent  their 
natural  movements  or  the  jiassage  of  anything 
throigh  them.  To  remove  this,  nature  has  pro- 
vided a  first  milk — colostrum — rich  in  albumen 
and  salts,  and  actively  laxative;  and  if  from  anj' 
cause  this  is  withheld,  danger  can  only  be  obviated 
by  the  substitution  of  some  other  purge,  such  as 
2  ozs.  of  castor  oil  or  magnesia.  To  make  these 
more  effectual,  and  more  like  nature's  laxative, 
they  should  be  given  in  one-half  these  doses  for 
several  days  in  succession  until  the  natural  activity 
of  the  bowels  has  been  established. 


"  Apart  from  costiveness,  other  evils  may 
result  from  improper  milk.  If  the  dam  is  worked 
or  otherwise  excited  till  fevered,  the  milk  is  altered 
in  (piality,  and  often  proves  jioisonous  to  the  off- 
spring ;  and  the  same  may  result  from  diseases  of 
various  kinds  in  the  mother,  or  from  supplying 
her  with  unsuitable  food,  the  hurtful  elements  of 
which  pass  into  the  milk  or  lead  to  an  altered 
secretion.  Another  common  cause  is  giving  the 
meals  at  too  long  intervals,  so  that  the  calf  comes 
with  stomach  empty,  faint,  and  languid,  and  loads 
it  with  an  excess  in  the  shortest  possible  time  ;  and 
the  simple  distension  for  a  time  partially  paralyses 
it,  not  only  in  movement,  but  in  secretion  as  well. 
If  to  this  is  added  that  the  milk  has  been  altered 
by  too  long  retention  in  the  udder,  or  soured  or 
otherwise  decomposed  by  standing  in  vessels  of 
questionable  purity,  we  have  a  combination  of 
evils  that  too  often  prove  effectual  for  harm. 
There  is  therefore  always  greater  danger  in 
bringing  up  by  hand  on  cold  or  on  soured  milk, 
though  the  mere  souring,  apart  from  putrid 
decomposition,  may  soon  beget  an  accommodating 
action  on  the  part  of  the  stomach,  which  will  in 
many  cases  render  it  proof  against  its  evil  effects. 
Even  this,  however,  it  is  well  to  avoid,  and  hence 
the  allowance  of  a  couple  of  table-spoonfuls  of 
lime-water  with  each  meal  is  a  valuable  precaution 
when  young  animals  are  fed  with  milk  from  a 
pail.  This  sulistitution  of  farinaceous  gruels  for 
the  natural  milk  is  still  more  reprehensible,  and  its 
eft'ects  should  be  watched  with  the  greatest  care. 
Another  common  cause  of  direct  disoitler  of  the 
stomach  is  the  pressure  of  hair-balls  that  the 
calves  have  swallowed  while  licking  themselves 
or  sucking  their  fellows,  and  which,  rolled  into 
firm  masses  in  the  fourth  stomach,  entangle  a 
quantit}^  of  putrefying  milk,  and  sjseedily  set  u]) 
noxious  fermentation  in  whatever  is  introduced 
into  the  stomach.  As  already  suggested,  foid 
air,  damp  beds,  and  cold  exi)osure  are  prolific 
causes  of  digestive  disorder  in  the  young.  Finally, 
the  constitution  has  much  to  do  with  the  result. 
Certain  breeds  of  families,  of  strong  constitution 
and  rounded  forms,  will  in  the  main  resist  these 
injurious  influences  and  survive  under  the  worst 
treatment ;  while  others  with  narrow,  shallow 
chests,  their  necks  hollow,  lengthy  flanks,  and 
light-coloured  skins,  will  bear  little,  but  sink 
under  slight  exciting  causes.  Hence,  to  avoid 
losses  by  scouring,  we  must  begin  at  the  beginning. 


DISEA.SES    OF    CALVES. 


77 


and  lay  the  fouudation  of  a  sound  constitution, 
derived  from  a  stron<i;,  vigorous  race,  kept  and 
breil  in  tlio  most  licaltliy  conditions. 

"  A  very  simple  treatment  will  often  be  suc- 
nessful,  if  adopted  at  the  outset  and  accompanied 
by  a  removal  of  all  the  removable  causes  of  illness, 
as  noticed  above.  If  the  sick  calf  has  been  put  on 
the  milk  of  a  farrow  cow,  he  must  be  put  on  that 
of  one  more  recently  calved  j  if  that  disag'rees, 
still  another  nurse  must  be  sought ;  and  if  from 
any  cause  the  health  of  the  cow  fails,  or  if  her 
bag  cakes,  let  the  calf  have  its  supply  from  a 
more  wholesome  source.  When  the  calf  is  given 
to  rapid  drinking,  this  may  be  partially  remedied 
by  fixing  an  artificial  teat  in  the  pail  for  him  to 
suck  while  drinking. 

"  As  a  rule,  the  stomach  should  be  cleared  of 
its  morbid  accumulations  by  a  dose  of  1  or  2  ozs. 
of  castor  oil  and  a  tea-spoonful  of  laudanum.  If 
the  skin  or  membranes  of  the  mouth,  nose,  or 
eyes  are  of  a  yellowish  tint,  two  grains  of  calomel 
and  twenty  grains  of  chalk  may  be  added,  and 
repeated  daily  for  some  time.  In  'the  absence  of 
the  yellow  tinge,  give  with  each  meal  a  table- 
spoonl'ul  from  a  bottle  of  sherry  wine  in  which 
one-eighth  of  the  fourth  stomach  of  a  calf  has 
been  steeped  for  twenty-four  hours.  A  table- 
spoonful  of  tincture  of  cinnamon,  with  twenty 
grains  each  of  chalk  and  gum-arabic,  will  be  an 
excellent  adjunct.  Finally,  if  the  abdomen  is 
tense  or  tender  to  the  touch,  it  should  be  rubbed 
over  with  a  thin  pwlp  made  of  the  best  ground 
mustard  and  tepid  water,  and  covered  with  a 
bandage  to  prevent  drying  until  it  has  taken 
effect  on  the  skin.'' 

Diarrhoea,  or  scouring,  amongst  older  animals 
is  produced  by  much  the  same  causes  which  induce 
it  in  calves,  notably  by  coarse,  indigestible,  innutri- 
tive  food,  by  bad  water,  by  long  fasts  and  subse- 
quent greedy  feeding.  It  is  often  a  symptom  of 
anremia,  reducing  and  carrying  off  many  badly- 
nourished  cattle  rising  one  or  two  years.  Treat- 
ment consists  in  judicious  feeding,  nutritive  fare, 
lestrieted  water  supply,  laudanum  and  ether  or 
chlorodyne  to  abate  spasm  and  pain ;  iron,  acids, 
and  bitters  to  promote  the  healthy  tone  of  the 
weakened  membrane,  and  comfortable  protection 
from  wind  and  weather. 


Broiic/i'nil  fliiria  [SlrongijlM  micrnrni),  the 
cause  of  liii.tk,  or  Iioose,  in  young  cattle,  are  picked 
up  in  their  larval  state  from  the  muddy  water  or 
pools,  from  rough  herbage,  or  are  swallowed  in  the 
bodies  of  small  slugs  or  minute  insects.  They 
appear  to  be  carried  in  the  circulation  to  the 
lungs,  and  there  undergo  full  development  into 
thread-like  worms,  1  to  'Z\  in.  long.  Hundreds 
are  sometimes  found  rolled  into  masses,  blocking 
the  lesser  bronchi,  exciting  a  tickling  loud  cough, 
which  is  so  fre(pient  that  it  interferes  with  feeding 
and  thriving,  and  the  animal  soon  becomes  thrift- 
less, tucked  up,  and  aua?mie,  and  the  breathing 
increasingly  difficult.  The  parasites  sometimes 
multiply  in  the  digestive  canal,  setting  up  diarrhoea. 
Lambs  are  liable  to  the  invasion  of  an  allied 
strongylus.  In  the  autumn  months,  in  woodland 
districts,  on  flooded  or  rough  old  pastures,  where 
facilities  occur  for  the  propagation  of  the  strongu- 
lus,  it  is  wisdom  to  have  the  young  cattle  housed 
at  night  after  the  middle  of  September ;  or,  if  this 
is  impracticable,  give  them  daily  a  good  meal  of 
dry  food,  and  as  a  further  preventive  j)rovide  them 
rock-salt  to  lick.  The  most  effectual  method  of 
killing  the  intruders  is  to  bring  the  husking  cattle 
into  a  house,  and  cause  them  to  inhale  suljjhur 
anhydride,  produced  by  burning  sulphur  on  a  shovel 
of  live  cinders.  Two  or  three  inhalations  effect  a 
cure.  Chlorine  gas  is  also  used,  but  is  more  irri- 
tating. A  few  doses  of  oil  of  turpentine,  given  in 
milk  or  lime-water,  are  also  effectual,  and  promptly 
destroy  any  of  the  worms  lodged  in  the  bowels. 
Concentrated,  nutritive  dry  food  and  iron  salts  are 
valuable  in  restoring  the  impaired  appetite  and 
strength. 

BMiographiJ. — "Text  Book  of  Veterinary  Ob- 
stetrics, including  the  Diseases  and  Accidents  inci- 
dental to  Pregnancy,  Parturition,  and  Early  Age 
in  the  Domesticated  Animals."  By  George  Fleming, 
F.R.C.V.S.  Balliere,  Tindall,  and  Co.,  King 
William  Street,  Strand,  London.  1877.  800  pp. 
"  The  Principles  and  Practice  of  Veterinary  Medi- 
cine and  Surgery."  By  Professor  A\  illiams.  New 
Veterinary  College,  Edinburgh.  Maclaehlan  and 
Stewart,  Edinburgh.  J.875.  Two  vols.  "Dairy 
Stock,  its  Selection,  Diseases,  and  Produce."  By 
Professor  John  Gams-ee.  Hamilton,  Adams,  and 
Co.,  London.     1801.^    ;J10  pp.  F.  D. 


CHAPTER     YII. 

Dairy     Homesteads     and     Buildixgs. 


Need    of  Good   Farm-Buildings— Their  Requirements— Advantages  o!   Iligli   and   Low  Situation— Compactness— Ladders— Covered 
Yards— Buildings  at  Tattenliall  Hall  Farm— Lord  Tollemache's    Buildings  at  Peekforton— Plans    for  a  Dairy  Homestead   by 
Ulr.  Rouse-Boughton— An  American  Octagon  Barn— Its  Advantages   and  Construction- Difference  in  the 
American  and  English  Idea. 


?MOXG  the  more  important  requi- 
sites to  successful  dairy-farming 
are  a  good  and  convenient  farm- 
house and  a  well-planned  set  of 
farm-buildings.  To  farm  either 
profitably  or  pleasantly  A\ath  an 
ill-adapted  house  and  with  ill- 
arranged,  ill -ventilated,  scattered,  and 
otherwise  defective  buildings,  is  not  to  be 
expected — that  is,  both  pleasure  and  profit 
are  diminished  under  these  conditions.  Though 
a  great  deal  has  been  done  in  recent  years  to  im- 
prove the  building  and  house  accommodation  on 
dairy  as  well  as  on  arable  farms  in  the  British 
islands,  no  one  who  is  well  acquainted  with  our 
dairying  districts  can  have  failed  to  be  struck  with 
the  great  amount  of  improvement  which  still 
requires  to  be  made  in  many  places.  Noteworthy 
examples  of  improvement  in  farm-homesteads  on 
their  estates  have  been  set  by  several  large  land- 
owners, and  the  spirit  of  progress  is  gradually 
spreading  over  the  whole  country.  It  is  a  her- 
culean task  to  re-eonstruct  the  myriad  farmsteads 
of  such  a  country  as  this,  or  even  to  sufficiently 
improve  the  existing  ones;  and  as  the  work  of 
improvement  has  not  yet  been  active  for  a  very 
long  period,  we  may  not  only  regard  with  satis- 
faction the  progress  so  far  attained,  but  also 
look  forward  to  its  being  continued,  and  in  course 
of  time  completed. 

A  modern  farm-house  on  a  dairy-farm  consists, 
first,  of  a  good  substantial  portion  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  the  farmer's  familj',  including  servants ; 
and  in  the  rear  of  this  are  usually  situated  the 
various   buildings,  rooms,   and   offices    which    are 


devoted  to  the  speciality  of  the  farm — cheese- 
making.  These  last  consist,  first  of  all,  of  a  good 
and  spacious  room,  in  which  the  milk  is  jilaccd 
during  the  longer  or  shorter  time  which  passes  before 
it  is  made  into  cheese,  and  in  which  the  various 
operations  belonging  to  cheese-making  are  per- 
formed ;  adjoining  this  is  the  press  and  salting 
room  ;  and  in  the  rear  of  or  alongside  these  are  the 
scullery,  where  the  butter  is  manipulated,  and  the 
open  shed,  where  the  milk-pails,  cheese- vats,  and 
various  other  utensils  and  implements  are  scalded, 
cleaned,  and  laid  aside  until  they  are  again  wanted. 
Various  modifications  and  arrangements  of 
these  rooms  are  adopted,  and  in  many  cases  the 
cheese-making  is  done  in  a  part  of  the  general 
kitchen  of  the  house,  which  is  made  large  enough 
for  the  double  purpose ;  but  this  plan  is  not  to  be 
approved,  and  it  is  better  in  all  cases  that  a  room 
be  specially  set  apart  for  the  actual  cheese-making. 
In 'other  instances  the  cheese-making  room  and  the 
press-room  are  combined  in  one ;  this,  again,  is 
objectionable.  In  yet  other  instances  these  variotis 
rooms  are  all  combined  in  one,  and  all  the  work 
appertaining  to  both  cheese  and  butter  is  done  in 
it,  even  to  the  w^ashing  and  cleaning  of  the 
utensils ;  there  may  be  economy  of  space  in  this 
arrangement,  but  on  every  other  consideration  it  is 
to  be  disapproved  of.  It  is  not  objectionable  that 
the  milk  should  be  kept  overnight  in  the  room 
in  which  the  cheese  is  made,  and  it  is  commonly 
kept  in  the  milk-vats,  or  tubs,  or  kettles  in  which 
it  is  afterwards  coagulated,  and  in  which  all  the 
processes  up  to  "  pressing  "  are  usually  performed ; 
Imt  the  I'oom  should  always  be  kept  perfectly  sweet 
and  clean,  or  the  milk  will  take  injury  through 


T/)('AT1()N    OF    BUILDlXCiS. 


79 


absorbiug-  siiielis  and  (nldur.-;.  'I'lu'  "  clii.'ese-roimi," 
or  "drying-room,"  or  "  curiny-room,"  as  it  is 
variously  named,  is  commonly  on  the  first  floor, 
over  the  general  kitchen,  where  it  is  placed  on 
account  of  the  warmth  which  it  derives  from  the 
kitchen  beneath.  This  room  is  the  most  impor- 
tant ore  in  the  house,  for  here  the  cheese  is  "  made 
or  marred"  in  the  ripening.  It  is  not  enough  to 
make  the  cheese  well,  but  it  must  ripen  properly 
too,  for  much  cheese  is  ruined  in  the  ripening ; 
hence  the  importance  of  the  "  cheese-room.''  On 
a  few  large  dairy-farms  the  house  is  built  apart 
from  the  rooms  which  are  devoted  to  cheese  and 
butter ;  but  this  is  a  matter  of  no  importance — it 
is  one  of  taste  only,  and  needs  no  more  than  to 
be  mentioned.  To  the  construction  and  heating 
of  cheese-rooms  we  shall  refer  at  greater  length 
later  on. 

Where  cheese-making  is  done  at  home  it  is 
especially  necessary  to  have  the  house,  or  other 
building  in  which  the  milk  is  made  up  into  cheese, 
so  situated  that  the  buildings  in  which  the  cows 
are  kept  in  winter  and  milked  in  summer  shall 
be  within  easy  access  of  it.  Some  farmers  would 
object  to  having  their  dwelling-house,  even  though 
the  cheese-making  be  done  in  it,  at  all  near  to  the 
cow-sheds;  there  is  at  least  one  well-founded  ob- 
jection to  such  an  arrangement,  but  we  consider  that 
one  to  be  more  than  counterbalanced  by  certain 
advantages.  It  may  with  truth  be  said  that  if 
the  farm-house  is  situated  near  to  the  cow-sheds, 
unpleasant  odours  may  at  times  obtrude  themselves, 
and  that  these  would  be  objectionable  not  alone  on 
the  score  of  a  hygienic  or  sanitary  nuisance,  but 
also  because  the  milk,  when  once  taken  from  the  cow, 
is  better  removed  quite  away  from  any  odours  which 
it  would  absorb  to  its  hurt.  But  it  may  be  said, 
in  reply,  that  although  the  house  and  buildings  are 
within  easy  distance  of  each  other,  the  latter  may 
be  so  constructed,  and  ought  always  to  be  kejjt 
in  such  condition,  that  no  odours  worth  speaking 
of  should  reach  the  house  from  them.  Then, 
again,  whoever  has  had  a  dairy-farm  on  hand  will 
without  hesitation  allow  it  to  be  a  matter  of 
very  considerable  importance  that  the  distance  to 
be  traversed  at  milking-time  should  be  as  short 
as  can  be  conveniently  arranged,  for  where  the 
milkers  have  far  to  carry  their  milk  from  the 
shippons  to  the  dairy,  a  great  deal  of  valuable  time 
is  continually  wasted. 

It  is,  of  course,  in    all    cases   that    admit    of 


it,  an  excellent  thin:;'  to  liave  both  house  and 
buildings  situated  as  nearly  as  may  be  in  the 
centre  of  the  farm,  and  contiguous  to  a  main  road, 
in  order  to  economise  labour  as  much  as  possible. 
Time  is  money,  and  where  much  of  it  is  occupied 
in  journeys  to  and  from  a  distant  part  of  the  farm, 
it  is  so  much  to  the  wrong  side  of  the  farmer's 
balance-sheet ;  it  is,  in  fact,  so  much  money 
lost,  though  it  may  not  at  first  sight  be  quite 
so  obvious  as  the  loss  of  actual  money.  And  it 
is  not  only  a  loss  in  respect  to  the  servants'  and 
masters'  and  horses'  time  in  the  general  work  of 
the  farm,  but  if  the  dairy-cows  themselves  have 
to  perform  a  double  jouraey  twice  a  day  in  going 
to  their  pastures  and  in  returning  from  them  to  bo 
milked,  the  journey  will  tell  on  the  milk-pail;  this, 
again,  may  not  be  very  obvious  to  every  one,  but  it 
is  there  nevertheless.  Dairy-cows  as  a  rule  are 
not  good  pedestrians,  especially  when  in  the  flush  of 
milk  ;  and  if  they  have  to  do  mnch  walking,  either 
to  or  from  their  pastures,  or  in  the  pastures  them- 
selves in  search  of  food  when  grass  is  scarce,  there 
is  a  loss  of  tissue  and  of  rest,  and  a  consumption 
of  fat,  which  are  detrimental  to  the  production 
of  milk.  These  are  cogent  reasons  why  farmsteads 
should,  in  respect  to  the  land,  be  conveniently 
situated. 

There  are,  however,  other  considerations  not  to 
be  lost  sight  of  which  cannot  fail  to  influence  the 
location  of  the  buildings.  Generally  speaking,  it 
is  an  advantage  to  have  them,  where  the  formation 
of  the  land  admits  of  it,  on  the  more  elevated 
portion  of  the  farm,  with  the  bulk  of  the  land 
sloping  downwards  away  from  them  all  round ; 
and  this  is  important  on  sanitary  grounds,  and 
in  respect  of  an  economical  distribution  over  the 
land  of  the  farm-yard  manure — the  liquid  portion 
particularly,  which  in  that  case  may  be  sent  over 
the  meadows  by  means  of  sluices,  without  any 
carting  whatever.  But  as  the  natural  supply  of 
water,  especially  in  the  case  of  streams,  is  commonly 
found  on  the  lower  portion  of  the  farm,  it  is  a 
matter  which  well  merits  consideration  whether 
the  farmstead  should  or  should  not  be  placed 
contiguous  to  it.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
if  a  high  situation  gives  facilities  for  the  removal 
of  manure,  it  is  more  or  less  awkward  for  the 
harvesting  of  crops;  but,  again,  as  manure  is 
commonly  carted  out  when  the  land  is  wet  and 
soft,  and  crops  are  carted  in  when  it  is  dry  and 
hard,    the    lia lance    of    convenience    rests    on    the 


80 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


mamire  side  of  tlio  question  ;  and  to  tliis  position 
wi'is>'lit  is  added  by  the  fact  that  in  low  situa- 
tions there  is  always  a  greater  or  lesser  waste  of 
manure.  The  rain  falling  in  the  yards  and  on  the 
manure-heaps  goes  to  largely  increase  what  may  l)e 
properly  called  the  liquid  portion  of  the  manure, 
and  this,  being  unable  to  be  turned  to  good  account 
by  being  run  directly  over  the  land,  escapes — at  all 
events,  a  good  part  of  it — into  the  stream  below. 
We  admit  that  in  theory  there  is  no  necessity 
for  this  waste,  yet  in  practice  it  very  commonly 
hajipens ;  and  as  the  manure  produced  on  a  farm  is 
of  great  importance  to  the  farmer,  it  follows  that 
any  waste  of  it  is  a  loss,  and  the  question  of 
location  of  farm-buildings  ought  not  to  be  decided 
without  reference  to  it. 

It  is,  however,  an  advantage  to  have  the  shelter 
■which  a  low  situation  affords,  providing  this  cannot 
be  attained  by  the  planting  of  trees  on  a  higher 
situation ;  and  if  the  low  situation  makes  that 
cheapest  of  all  power — water-power — available  for 
the  driving  of  farm  machinery,  this  again  is  a 
point  which  commands  attention.  All  things  else 
considered,  cleanliness  and  health  f)articalarly,  we 
are  inclined,  in  most  cases,  to  favour  a  high  rather 
than  a  low  situation,  within  reasonable  limits.  But 
as  the  great  bulk  of  English  farm-homesteads  are 
already  located  somewhere  or  other  on  the  farms 
to  which  they  belong,  and  as  but  in  few  cases  are 
they  likely  to  be  wholly  removed  to  some  other 
jjlace,  we  pass  on  to  consider  the  most  convenient 
arrangement  to  be  aimed  at  in  the  erection  of  new 
buildings,  either  on  the  site  of  the  old  ones,  some- 
where near  to  them,  or,  it  may  be,  on  some  other 
part  of  the  farm. 

It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  first  proposition  that 
buildings  scattered  here  and  there  about  a  farm,  as 
was  too  commonly  the  custom  in  the  olden  times,  is 
anything  rather  than  an  economical  arrangement. 
To  have  them  centrally  situated  and  compactly 
arranged,  with  a  view  to  economy  of  time  and 
labour  in  tending  the  cattle,  is  a  matter  of  j)rime 
necessity  in  these  days  of  high  wages  and  sharp 
competition.  Every  dairy-farmer  is  alive  to  the 
importance  of  this  now-a-days.  It  is  thought 
by  some  that  scattered  buildings  form  a  sort  of 
desultory  protection  against  the  spread  of  infectious 
diseases,  on  the  ground  of  partial  isolation ;  but 
we  think  there  is  no  real  safeguard  in  this,  f(jr 
e])izootics  not  uncrmmonly  break  out  first  in  out- 
l\ing  buildhio's  in  a  most  unaccfiuntable  manner. 


and  the  gi'rins  of  infection  are  commonly  carried 
to  all  the  buildings  before  the  disease  is  known 
to  be  on  the  farm  at  all. 

Farm-buildings  sIkjuUI  always  be  constructed, 
with  a  view  to  convenience  and  to  saving  of  labour, 
and  not  only  for  the  comfortable  accommodation  of 
the  cattle  which  they  are  intended  to  contain.  The 
latter  is,  of  course,  a  permanent  consideration,  but 
not  the  only  one.  In  these  days  of  dear  and  scarce 
labour  it  is  highly  important  that  no  time  be  wasted 
by  the  men  who  tend  the  wants  of  the  animals  in 
going  about  from  one  part  to  another  by  indirect 
or  awkward  paths.  Where  food  is  prepared  for 
the  animals  by  steam  or  other  machinery,  it  is 
necessary  that  the  mixing  or  preparation  rooms  be 
so  centrally  and  conveniently  situated  that  easy 
and  direct  access  may  be  obtained  from  them  to 
the  various  food  racks  and  troughs  in  front  of  the 
animals,  and  to  the  sheds  which  contain  them. 
The  loss  of  time — time,  which  is  money — in 
carrjing  food  to  animals,  and  to  sheds  which  have 
been  built  in  a  hajihazard  manner,  remote  from 
the  central  preparation-sheds,  is  greater  and  more 
serious  than  many  imagine ;  and  in  only  too  many 
farmsteads  we  find  the  buildings  arranged  with 
a  total  disregard  of  the  principles  of  convenience. 
Compactness  and  symmetry  are  features  as  valuable 
in  farm-buildings  as  in  pedigree  shorthorns,  and 
considerably  more  permanent.  Three  sides  of  a 
square,  or  of  more  squares  than  one,  commend 
themselves  to  our  notions  as  combining  those 
features  with  the  important  principle  of  handy 
convenience,  while  they  offer  great  advantages 
for  the  economical  erection  of  covered  yards — 
one  of  the  most  valuable  characteristics  of  modern 
farm-yard  architecture.  With  such  the  convenient 
location  of  the  rick-yard  is  also  not  only  possible, 
but  easy,  and  this  is  a  matter  of  almost  as  great 
importance  as  the  other. 

In  many  cases  it  is  expedient  to  have  ladders  in 
barns  instead  of  steps  or  stairs,  so  as  to  have  them 
occupy  as  little  room  as  possible.  A  flight  of  steps 
or  stairs  takes  up  considerable  space  which  cannot 
always  be  conveniently  spared  for  that  purpose, 
but  a  fixed  perpendicular  ladder  may  be  placed 
so  as  not  to  take  u])  any  ajipreciable  room,  and 
yet  answer  the  purpose  snlllciently  well.  In 
Fig.  a  are  given  tliree  such  ladders,  any  one  of 
which  will  be  found  both  simple  and  useful.  \ 
represents  a  post-ladder,  consisting  of  an  npriglit 
post,  through   which   pins  either  of  iron  or  tough 


COVERKD    YAKDS. 


81 


wood 
plank 
plunk 


are    inserted    at     pmpcr    intiTvals;    b,    a 

•hukler,    consistino-    ol'    an    ordinary    9-iueh 

tlu\uio-h  wliicli  a  iiunilior  of  holes  are  cut, 


Fig.  22.— Ladders. 
A,  post-ladder.  B,  plauk-ladder.  c,  frdme-ladder. 

alternating  first  on  one  side  and  then  on  the  other; 
and  c,  a  ladder  in  frame :  it  may  be  an  ordinary 
ladder  in  a  fixed  jjosition,  or  with  one  side  only 
added ;  the  staves  or  rungs  may  be  inserted  on  the 
other  side  into  an  upright  piece  of  timber  which 
forms  part  of  the  building,  the  lower  end  of  the 
added  side  being  fixed  to  the  floor,  and  the  ujiper 
to  a  cross-beam,  as  shown  in  the  figure. 

The  question  of  covered  j'ards  for  young  stock 
is  one  that  has  been  much  debated.  Those  who 
are  in  favour  of  them  have  at  least  two  cogent 
arguments  to  support  their  views — the  additional 
shelter  afforded  to  the  cattle,  saving  thereb\r  a 
given  quantity  of  food  ;  and  the  economy  of  litter, 
much  of  which  is  alwaj's  trodden  to  waste,  or 
next  to  waste,  in  open  yards.  On  the  other  hand, 
some  writers  contend  that  open  yards  are  con- 
ducive to  the  health  and  hardiness  of  the  animals ; 
fresh  air,  and  even  exjsosure  to  the  elements,  being 
necessary  to  give  them  the  desired  vigour  of  con- 
stitution. It  is  true  enough  that  young  animals 
may  easily  be  injured  by  being  kept  under  cover 
too  much,  but  we  fail  to  see  any  advantage  in 
exposing  them  to  the  storms  and  blasts  of  winter. 
Fresh  air  is  necessary  to  them,  and  so  is  exercise, 
but  it  is  a  simple  matter  enough  to  arrange  that 
they  shall  have  plenty  of  both  in  connection  with 
covered  vards.      The  mistake  made  b^■  those  who 


on  these  grounds  condemn  covered  yaixls  lies  in 
assuming  that  when  once  put  in  the  yards  the 
cattle  are  not  allowed  out  of  them  during  the 
winter.  In  this  matter  we  may  admit  the  teach- 
ings of  instinct  in  the  animals.  If.  young  stock 
have  a  building,  a  shed,  or  a  covered  yard  into 
which  they  can  i-etire  when  they  choose,  we  find 
they  always  do  retire  into  it  in  bad  weather,  and 
that  they  require  little  or  no  teaching  to  do  so. 
So  with  covered  yards  it  is  a  simple  matter,  which 
suggests  itself  to  any  one,  to  allow  the  animals  to  go 
out  in  fine  weather  and  to  come  in  in  foul;  they 
will  do  both  these  things  of  their  own  accord, 
if  they  are  allowed. 

Covered  yards,  equally  Avith  open  ones,  are  not 
adapted  for  breeding  cattle.  Not  on  account  of 
the  shelter  question — for  on  this  they  are  certainly 
better  than  oi)en  yards — but  because  breeding 
cattle  should  never,  at  all  events  when  in  calf, 
be  allowed  to  run  loose  in  a  confined  space, 
and  this  for  the  reason  that  they  wall  frequently 
be  goring  each  other  under  such  conditions,  and 
thus  bring  on  abortions.  They  must  either  have 
plenty  of  room  to  get  out  of  each  other's  way,  or 
be  tied  up  by  the  neck,  and  this  last  is  the  better 
plan  in  most  cases.  For  fatting  beasts  covered 
yards  are  well  adapted  in  districts  where  there  is 
no  scarcity  of  litter;  and  for  young  stock  they 
are  best  of  all  adapted,  even  where  litter  is  not 
plentiful. 

At  least  three  prime  factors  enter  into  the 
consideration  of  erecting  covered  yards,  and  these 
are  shelter,  litter,  and  manure. 

1.  S/ielter. — In  some  localities  there  is  no  need 
to  provide  any  sort  of  shelter  for  young  stock. 
Down  in  the  warm  valleys  which  are  out  of  the 
reach  of  cold  blasts,  and  in  other  places  where 
there  are  plenty  of  plantations  or  good  hedgerows, 
and  in  most  districts  that  are  within  300  feet  of 
the  sea-level,  and  where  the  land  is  sound  and  dry, 
young  stock  will  as  a  rule  be  found  to  do  quite  as 
well  without  as  with  the  shelter  that  buildings 
supply  in  winter-time.  Dairy-cows,  too,  in  such  dis- 
tricts require  to  be  housed  only  for  a  comparatively 
short  period — say  from  the  beginning  of  January 
until  the  middle  of  April,  according  to  the  season. 
While  they  are  clearly  doing  well  out  of  doors  in 
the  late  autumn  it  is  unnecessary  to  tie  them  up, 
but  as  soon  as  they  show  the  least  symptoms  of 
taking  harm,  or  wlien  the  weather  is  such  that 
we  have  reason  to  expect  they   are  taking  harm. 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


FARM    BUILDINGS. 


83 


14 


84 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


whether  they  show  symptoms  or  not,  then  they 
must  be  tied  uj)  at  once.  If  the  laud  is  sopping 
wet  they  should  be  tied  up,  no  matter  if  the 
weather  be  cold  or  not,  for  they  do  great  harm  to 
the  land  at  these  times  by  trampling  on  it  when  it 
is  soft;  and  fatting  beasts  should  always  be  under 
cover  as  soon  as  the  chilly  nights  warn  us  that 
winter  is  upon  us.  Altitude  will  generally  decide 
these  points,  for  the  nearer  we  are  to  the  sea-level, 
the  longer  will  winter  be  deferred.  The  turning  out 
to  grass  in  the  spring  will  in  all  cases  be  governed 
by  the  grass  itself — when  there  are  good  pastures 
it  is  time  to  turn  out.  In  high,  cold,  or  exposed 
districts  anywhere  it  is  generally  expedient  to 
provide  shelter  for  all  stock,  young  and  old  alike ; 
and  though  all  in-calf  stock  should  be  tied  up,  it 
is  advisable  on  fairly  dry  land  to  allow  the  j'oung 
stock  to  run  in  or  out  as  they  choose,  but  they 
should  alwaj's  be  fed  under  cover,  in  order  not 
only  to  economise  food,  but  to  train  them  to  make 
use  of  the  shelter  provided  for  them. 

2.  Lifter. — In  districts  where  litter  is  scarce, 
open  yards  are  next  to  impossible,  and  it  is  best 
for  all  kinds  of  stock  to  stand  in  stalls  during 
the  winter,  if  the  weather  is  such  that  it  is 
unfit  for  any  of  them  to  be  out  of  doors.  Tied 
in  properly  constructed  stalls,  there  is  no  need 
whatever  to  give  the  cattle  any  litter  at  all  j  they 
wiU  do  perfectly  well  without  it.  But  where  there 
is  a  moderate  quantity  of  litter  to  spare,  covered 
yards  will  be  found  the  best  for  young  stock,  and 
either  stalls  or  boxes  for  fatting  stock,  while  dairy- 
cattle  should  in  all  cases  stand  in  stalls.  Where 
litter  is  so  abundant  that  it  cannot  all,  or  nearly 
all,  be  consumed  as  food,  there  open  yards  may  be 
tolerated,  because  in  them  the  greatest  quantity  of 
litter  can  be  trodden  down  into  manure,  the  liquid 
portion  of  M'hich  needs  to  be  soaked  up  by  the 
straw.  But  all  kinds  of  straw  are  in  these  days 
too  valuable  to  be  merely  trodden  down  into 
manure;  and  for  this  reason,  if  for  no  other, 
covered  yai-ds  are  preferable  to  open  ones,  simply 
because  they  economise  litter.  Stalls  are  preferable 
to  covered  yards  for  the  same  reason. 

3.  Mtniinx'. — We  contend  that  it  is  next  to 
impossible  so  to  construct  open  yards  that  rain- 
water shall  not  carry  away  a  large  and  valuable 
poHion  of  the  soluble  constituents  of  mainire,  and 
it  is  in  nearly  all  cases,  in  a  wet  climate  such  as 
ours,  a  prodigal  waste  of  straw  to  use  it  in  oyon 
yards  to  soak  up  rain-water  that  falls  in  them.     It 


is  not  so  very  difficult  to  make  the  manure  of  a 
uniform  quality,  because  the  wetter  the  weather, 
the  more  litter  will  be  used,  and  vice  i-crsd ;  but  if 
we  soak  up  all  rain-water,  in  addition  to  the  liquid 
portion  of  the  manure,  we  throw,  all  to  no  purpose, 
an  extra  burden  of  labour  on  our  men  and  horses, 
and  we  have  a  large  bulk  of  inferior  manure. 
The  cost  of  making  an  open  yard  so  that  there 
will  be  no  waste  of  the  soluble  portions  of  the 
manure  will  probably  exceed  that  of  a  covered 
j'ai-d;  so  that  we  are  fain  to  believe  the  order  of 
the  day  in  the  future  will  be  either  covered 
yards  or  no  yards  at  all. 

In  many  cases  it  has  been  the  practice  to 
have  the  open  yards  made  so  that  each  of  the 
four  sides  slopes  into  the  centre ;  that  is,  the 
yard  is  dished.  Either  a  liquid-manure  tank  bus 
been  previously  constructed  under  the  yard,  or 
there  is  one  at  a  distance.  In  the  former  case 
the  liquid  manure  drops  directly  into  the  tank, 
and  in  the  latter  it  is  carried  from  the  centre 
by  a  drain.  But  the  great  objection  against 
trying  to  preserve  liquid  manure  that  is  produced 
in  open  yards  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  always 
gets  too  much  diluted  with  rain-water,  and  so 
is  hardly  worth  carting  out  to  the  fields.  Nor 
is  it  possible  to  prevent  one  of  two  results :  either 
that  the  liquid  manure  is  too  much  diluted,  or 
that  the  solid  consists  too  much  of  litter  which 
has  been  used  to  absorb  the  rain.  It  may  be, 
however,  that  the  farm-buildings  are  placed  on 
an  elevated  spot,  so  that  the  contents  of  the  tank 
can  be  distributed  over  the  land  below  by  means 
of  hose  or  sluices,  and  without  any  carting  at 
all,  in  which  case  it  is  a  matter  of  but  little 
moment  whether  or  not  the  tank  be  half  filled 
with  rain-water  each  time;  nay,  it  is  almost  better 
it  should  be,  because  the  liquid  manure  can  then 
bo  distributed  more  evenly  over  a  large  area  of 
land.  This,  indeed,  where  the  slope  of  the  land 
admits  of  it,  is  by  far  the  best  and  cheapest 
and  most  effective  way  of  distributing  liquid 
maniu'e.  Even  were  the  rain-water  kept  wholly 
out,  it  is  still  an  cxjiensive  and  troublesome  thing 
to  distribute  the  liquid  manure  by  carting ;  and 
as  it  is  better — much  better — that  it  should  be 
put  on  the  land  in  damp  weather,  the  hose  or 
.sluice  nu'thdd  of  distribution  does  away  with  the 
injury  v.hich  the  land  would  receive  from  the 
wheels  of  the  carts  and  the  hoofs  of  the  horses. 
It  will  therefore  appear  that  the  question  of 


LITTER    AND    MANURE. 


85 


the  location  of  a  liquid-manure  tank  is  an  im- 
portant one  in  connection  with  open  yards;  and, 
indeed,  it  is  a  question  well  worth  thinking  out — 
wliether  or  not  there  shall  be  a  tank  at  all.  As- 
suming' that  the  buildings  are  situated  on  sloping 
land,  the  liquid  manure  can  be  economically  dis- 
tributed over  the  meadows  as  it  is  produced, 
without  a  tank  ;  or  with  a  tank  it  can  be  dis- 
tributed any  time  when  the  weather  is  suitable, 
and  this,  indeed,  is  the  chief,  perhaps  the  only, 
advantage  which  tanks  afford.  If,  however,  the 
buildings  are  in  a  hollow,  or  on  flat  land,  the 
licjuid  manure  cannot  be  utilised  without  the  aid 
of  a  tank,,  unless  litter  is  used  to  absorb  it,  and 
in  either  case  it  requires  to  be  carted  out  or 
pumped.  But  whether  there  be  a  tank  or  not, 
or  whether  the  yards  be  open  or  covered  ones, 
it  is  better  that  the  latter  should  slope  a  little 
toward  the  centre,  and  that  they  should  be  well 
and  firmly  paved,  so  that  loaded  carts  will  not  break 
up  the  surface.  This  done,  the  manure  question, 
always  an  important  one,  is  very  much  simplified. 

The  farmstead  of  TatteuhaU  Hall,  of  which, 
by  permission  of  the  author,  we  give  an  iso- 
metrieal  view  and  a  ground-plan,  C02:)ied  from  j\Ir. 
Bailey  Denton's  "  Farm  Homesteads  of  England," 
is  considered  to  be  a  favourable  specimen  of  its 
class.  It  is  situated  on  the  estate  of  Robert 
Barbour,  Esq.,  and  is  occupied  by  Mr.  George 
Jackson.  Mr.  Bailey  Denton  gives  the  following 
description  of  the  homestead : — 

"The  buildings  were  erected  in  the  year  1860. 
Exclusive  of  house  and  piggeries,  the  haulage  of 
materials,  the  formation  of  roads,  and  the  making 
of  the  necessary  approaches,  they  cost  £1,600. 
This  sum  does  not  include  a  small  portion  of 
old  materials  used  in  them.  The  arrangements 
were  designed  by  the  tenant ;  Mr.  J.  Harrison,  of 
Chester,  acting  as  architect. 

"The  dairy-cows,  eighty  in  number,  occupy 
the  principal  building  (the  cow-house),  in  close 
proximity  with  which  are  the  food-chambers, 
machinery,  and  barn.  The  cows  are  placed  on 
each  side  a  central  feeding  passage,  along  which 
the  cut  food  is  carried  by  a  truck  to  the  troughs ; 
while  a  constant  stream  of  water  passes  along  the 
two  lines  of  stalls,  and  furnishes  each  with  an 
ever-fresh  supply.  The  central  portion  of  this 
large  building  is  higher  than  the  two  ends,  and 
cojitains  a  hay-loft,  into  which  hay  is  brought 
direct  from  the  field  and  there  stored.    Ventilation 


is  gained  by  an  air-shaft,  in  the  shape  of  a  centre 
cupola,  and  by  side  openings.  There  is  accommoda- 
tion for  fourteen  calves  and  twelve  store  stock,  in 
atldition  to  the  dairy- stock.  Stabling  is  provided 
for  nine  working  horses,  besides  which  there  is  a 
nag  stable  with  three  stalls,  a  loose  box,  and  a 
hospital  for  cows.  The  piggeries,  which  are  sup- 
plied with  whey  by  means  of  a  pipe-drain  direct 
from  the  dairy,  are  fitted  up  for  about  fifty  breed- 
ing, store,  and  fatting  pigs,  and  are  very  complete. 
"  The  machinery  consists  of  a  portable  steam- 
engine,  with  a  thrashing  apparatus,  and  also  a 
6-in.  cylinder  fixed  steam-engine,  which  drives  a 
chaff-cutter  placed  in  the  straw  depot  and  a  root- 
cutter  and  cleaver  in  the  room  below.  The  latter 
is  supplied  by  the  engine-boy  from  the  adjacent 
store,  and  the  roots,  when  cut,  are  taken  by 
"elevators  and  mixed  with  the  chaff ;  the  whole 
being  sprinkled  with  hot  water  or  oil-eake  gruel 
as  it  descends  to  a  chamber,  the  floor  of  which  is 
perforated,  in  order  to  allow  the  waste  steam  from 
the  engine  to  ascend  and  sweeten  the  whole.  The 
cows  are  kept  on  this  steamed  food  throughout  the 
winter;  as  spring  approaches  an  addition  of  oil- 
cake, bean-meal,  and  a  little  ehop2)ed  seeds  and 
clover  is  made  to  it. 

"  The  milk  when  brought  from  the  cow-house 
is  collected  into  two  cheese-tubs,  or  vats,  placed  on 
the  kitchen  floor,  and  capable  of  containing  240 
gallons.  Each  tub  is  provided  with  a  |-in.  plug, 
and  a  strainer  guards  the  opening  through  which 
the  whey,  when  sej)arated  from  the  curd,  passes 
into  one  of  four  slate  cisterns.  When  all  the  cream 
has  been  removed  from  the  whey,  a  valve  is  raised, 
which  allows  of  the  escape  of  the  refuse  whey 
into  any  or  all  of  the  pig-troughs,  a  little  meal 
from  the  corn-flour  bin  being  added  to  it.  The 
curd,  when  separated,  is  passed  through  the  curd- 
mill.  It  is  then  salted,  vatted,  pressed  into  the 
proper  cheese  shapes,  and  elevated  into  the  cheese- 
drying  room,  and  after  four  months'  detention  the 
cheeses  are  lowered  by  the  same  contrivance,  and 
sent  to  the  Loudon  market. 

"  The  buildings  are  drained  into  two  large 
liquid-manure  tanks,  the  contents  of  which  serve 
to  irrigate  about  14r  acres  of  meadow  land.  The 
rain-water  and  the  wash  of  the  house  is  conducted 
to  suitable  reservoirs,  and  is  made  to  flow  over 
a  small  meadow  at  pleasure.  The  buildings  are 
supplied  with  water  from  a  pond,  which  receives 
the  drainao-e  water  from  about  15  acres  of  land. 


86 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Fig.  23.— View  of  Lord  Tollemache's  Fabmstead. 


Fig.  26.— Grol'nd-Plan  op  Lord  Tollemache's 
Fabmste.vd. 


A,  parlotir;  B,  house-room;  c,  passage;  D,  cellar; 
E,  pantry;  F,  scullery;  G,  kitchen;  H,  chum- 
house  ;  I,  milk-house ;  J,  cleaning-shed  ^covered) ; 
K,  press-house ;  L,  coal-house.  Piggeries. — n,  open  yard  ; 
o,  shed  to  do. ;  p,  w.c  ;  Q,  cisterns  for  whey ;  B,  coal  and 
engine  house ;  s,  oven  ;  T,  meal-house.  Buildin'js. — u,  root^ 
house ;  V,  chop-house ;  w,  tank,  with  room  above  for  chaff- 
cutting,  grinding,  &c. :  x,  bull-house ;  y,  cow-byres ;  z,  bins ; 
A*,  drift-house ;  A*,  house  for  calves;  A^,  barn;  A*,  gig-bouse; 
A^,  cart-house ;  a*,  cart-stable  ;  a",  cart-stable. 


The  c'(irn  crops  are  well  housed  in  skeleton  barns  haviiip;'  elny  floors,  the  crops 
being  preserved  from  contact  with  the  clay  by  means  of  an  intervening  layer  of 
brushwood. 

"  In  addition  to  this  homestead,  which  has  the  disadvantage  of  not  being 
at  the  centre  of  the  holding,  twenty-four  cow-stalls,  a  food-house,  and  labourer'.s 
cottage  have  been  erected  at  a  distant  part  of  the  farm.  At  this  steading 
the  barren  cows  are  fatted  and  the  calves  are  kept,  the  latter  being  supjilicd 
with  roots  and  fodder.  By  this  means  much  cartage  is  saved,  and  manure  is 
made  where  it  is  wanted.  The  farm  consists  of  abf.ut  320  acres,  of  which  about 
lot*  arc  arable,  the  rest  being  jiasture  and   nicadow.      The  land  consists  mostly 


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AN    AMERICAN    OCTAGON    BARN. 


87 


of  clay,  restinj^  on  a  sulistiatum  of  New  Red 
Sandstone." 

Ou  his  Cheshire  estates,  at  Peekforton,  Lord 
Tollomache,  of  ITehnins-ham,  has  erected  or  re- 
built many  substantial,  handsome,  and  well- 
ajipointed  farmsteads.  With  a  personal  industry 
and  a  care  for  the  comfort  of  his  tenantry  which 
are  as  rare  as  they  are  estimable  among  landlords. 
Lord  Tollemache  has  provided  farm-houses,  dairy- 
offices,  and  farm-buildings  which  are  wonders  of 
substantial  neatness  and  of  complete  and  con- 
venient arrangement.  We  are  enabled,  through 
liis  loitlship's  kindness,  to  give  in  Fig.  35  a  view 
of  one  of  the  farmsteads,  and  in  Fig.  26  the 
ground-plun. 

The  outlay  incurred  in  the  erection  of  these 
complete  farm-offices  amounts,  on  the  average,  to 
about  £3, .500  per  set.  In  an  agricultural  journal 
of  May  13,  1878,  was  given  a  summary  of  this 
outlay,  and  we  reproduce  it : — 


Entire  Cost  of  the  Ekection  of  a  Farm- 
AND  Buildings. 
Farm-house, 
Bricklayers'  and  masons'  work,  mcluding  liricks, 

tiles,  lime,  &c.     ... 
Carpenters'   work,   including   timber,  iron   work, 

door  frames,  latches,  &c. 
Plumber,   including   spouting,   glazing,   painting, 
and  papering 


£  s.  d. 

5120  0  0 

380  0  0 

112  0  0 

1,012  0  0 


Piggeries. 
Bricklayers'  and  masons'  work,  including  all  ma- 
terials      ...         

Carpenters'  work,  &c. 
Pump  ... 


OuthiiiUVnigs, 
Bricklayers'  and  masons'  work,  including  bricks, 

lime,  and  all  materials  ... 
Carpenters'  work,  including  timber  and  iron  work, 

and  all  materials  

Plumber,  including  glazing,  painting,  (Sec. 


170  0  0 
36  0  0 
16     0     0 


43.5 

0 

0 

43 

0 

0 

1,218 

0 

0 

Summary. 

£,      s. 

d. 

Farm-bouse 

...     1,012     0 

0 

Piggeries  and  pump           

Outbuildings            

222     0 
...     1,218     0 

0 
0 

Paving  yards,  roads,  gates  and  posts 

60     0 

0 

2,512     0     0 


We    also    give    coloured    plates    of    a   set    of 
buildings  suitable  for  a  dairy-farm  of  100  acres. 


In  this  set  it  will  be  seen  that  ample  covered- 
shed  accommodation  for  young  stock  is  provided, 
in  addition  to  the  stalls  for  dairy-cows,  and  boxes 
for  fatting  beasts.  The  original  drawings,  of  which 
the  plates  are  fac-similes,  were  courteously  made, 
at  our  request,  by  W.  St.  A.  Rouse-Boughton, 
Esq.,  of  Downton  Hall,  near  Ludlow.  The  ground- 
plan  is  so  fully  detailed  as  to  explain  itself  without 
further  description. 

An  American  Barn. 

For  reasons  that  will  appear  on  perusal,  we 
take  the  following  description  and  drawings  of  an 
American  octagon  barn  from  the  National  Live 
Stock  Journal,  in  which  they  were  published. 
They  present  several  novel  and  interesting 
features  : — 

"  This  form  is  most  admirably  adapted  for  cheajily 
enclosing  the  greatest  space  within  the  shortest  line 
of  outside  wall.  The  circle  is  still  more  economical 
of  outside  wall,  but  would  be  more  expensive  to 
build,  while  the  octangle  is  as  easily  and  cheaply 
built  as  the  rectangle.  The  barn  given  in  Fig.  28 
was  designed  to  replace  four  barns  which  were 
destroyed  by  fire ;  the  four  barns  had  a  basement 
area  of  about  7,000  sqirare  feet,  while  the  octagon 
covers  only  5,350  square  feet;  yet  the  internal 
capacity  of  the  latter  is  greater  than  that  of  the 
former,  because  it  has  outside  posts  28  feet 
high,  while  the  others  had  outside  posts  16  to 
20  feet  high.  The  octagon  has  an  outside  wall 
of  2G5  feet,  while  the  four  barns  had  an  aggre- 
gate of  716  feet  of  outside  wall,  showing  the 
great  economy  of  this  form  in  expense  of  wall 
and  siding.  If  we  compare  it  with  a  single 
bam  108  by  50,  the  latter  will  enclose  the  same 
number  of  square  feet  and  have  the  same  capacity 
at  the  same  height,  but  requires  51  feet  more 
of  outside  wall.  The  rectangular  barn  will  also 
require  many  more  interior  cross-beams  and  posts, 
which  besides  adding  to  the  expense  are  always 
in  the  way.  The  long  rectangle  requires,  for 
convenience,  two  cross  floors,  which  take  ujj  more 
room,  and,  being  separated,  are  less  convenient 
than  the  single  floor  through  the  centre  of  the 
octagon.  The  long  bam  re  uires  posts  and  p)urlins 
to  support  the  roof,  wh  ch  are  obstructions  in 
filling  with  hay  and  grain,  while  the  octagonal 
roof  of  one-third  pitch  is  self-supporting,  resting 
only  on  the  outside  plates,  and  may  be  safely 
stretched  over  a  diameter  large  enouoh  to  accom- 


88 


DAIKY    FARMIXCr. 


modate  a  farm  nf  1,000  acres,  or  say  150  feet  in 
diameter.  The  plates  jxirform  the  office  of  the 
bottom  choixl,  and  the  liip  rafters  of  the  top  choi-d, 
in  a  truss.  The  strain  on  the  plates  is  an  endwise 
pull,  and  if  they  are  strong  enough  to  stand  the 
strain  of  the  push  at  the  foot  of  the  rafters,  the 
bottom  of  the  roof  cannot  spread,  and  the  rafters, 
being  properly  bridged  from  the  middle  to  the 
top,  cannot  crash,  and  the  whole  roof  must 
remain  rigldlij  in  place.  Its  external  form  being 
that  of  an  octagonal 
cone,  each  side  bears 
equally  upon  every 
other  side,  and  it 
has  great  strength 
without  any  cross 
ties  or  beams,  re- 
quiring no  more 
material  or  labour 
than  the  ordinary 
roof. 

"  It  will  be  seen 
by  Fig.  iJS  that  there 
is  a  drive-way  1 5  feet 
wide  through  the 
centre  of  the  prin- 
cipal storey  from 
north  to  south. 
There  is  a  line  of 
'  big  beams '  on 
either  side  of  this 
drive-way,  13  feet 
high,  across  which 
a  scaffold  may  be 
thrown  to  enable  us 
to  occupy  the  high 
space  over  this  floor. 
The  posts  being  28 
feet  high  and  roof  rising  ll\  feet,  the  cupola 
floor  is  50  feet  above  the  drive-way  floor  below. 
The  space  above  these  '  big  beams '  is  quite  clear 
of  any  obstruction,  and  a  horse  pitching-fork  may 
be  run  at  pleasure  to  any  part.  The  bay  for  hay 
on  the  left  side  of  this  floor  is  SO  feet  long  and  has 
an  area  of  2,0.'50  square  feet,  and  is  capable  of  hold- 
ing, when  filled  to  the  roof,  160  tons  of  hay.  This 
bay,  extending  along  the  floor  80  feet,  may  Ite 
divided  into  as  many  parts  as  required  for  different 
qualities  of  hay,  and  each  part  may  be  quite  con- 
venient for  filling  and  taking  out. 

"  On   the    viiiht-haiid    side  of    the    floor   is    a 


betn 


there  should  be  no  separati 

ft,  h,  an  open  grated  platform  for 

iipDu  a  concrete  floor  below. 


scaffold,  8  feet  high,  having  the  same  area  below 
(2,0:30  square  feet)  for  carriages,  farm-tools,  and 
machines;  above  this  scaffold  is — a  height  of  \S\ 
feet  to  the  plates — a  large  space  for  grain,  affording 
ample  room  for  the  separate  storage  of  each  kind 
to  the  aggregate  storage  of  2,000  bushels  or  more. 
It  will  be  seen  that  the  large  space  in  this  barn  is 
all  reached  and  fllled  from  one  floor,  saving  much 
labour  in  changing  from  one  floor  to  another.  In 
our  other  buildings  \ve  had  six  places  for  hay, 
holding  less  than 
this  one  bay,  re- 
quiring the  moving 
of  the  horse  fork 
and  tackle  to  six 
different  bays,  while 
in  this  bay  the  hay- 
ing w-ill  begin  and 
end,  with  room  to 
spare.  Fig-  27 
shows  the  basement 
as  we  intend  to  use 
it,  yet  there  are 
many  different  ways 
in  which  it  may  be 
divided  for  stock 
and  other  purj)oses. 
"  The  dri\e-way 
through  the  base- 
ment is  from  west 
to  east,  being  the 
feeding  -  floor  be- 
tween two  rows  of 
cattle,  whose  heads 
are  toward  the  floor. 
The  floor  is  14i  feet 
wide,  out  of  which 
come  two  rows  of 
mangers  2|  feet  wide,  leaving  a  space  of  10  feet 
wide  for  driving  a  waggon  through,  or  running 
a  oar  carrying  food  for  the  animals.  There  are 
places  for  twenty  cows  or  other  cattle  on  each 
side,  leaving  a  space  of  18  feet  at  the  west  end 
to  drive  a  cart  around  behind  the  cattle  on  either 
side  to  carry  away  the  manure  and  pass  out  at  a 
side  stable-door,  8  feet  wide.  The  hoi-se-stalls  are 
an-anged  on  the  south  side,  but  may  be  placed 
on  either  of  several  other  sides,  or  on  all.  By 
placing  tails  to  w'all  and  heads  on  an  inner 
circle,  drawn  12  feet  from  the  wall,  with  feed- 
box  room  3  feet  wide  for  each  horse,  with  ainiilc 


Octagon  B.vsement  (North  Side). 


,  h,  c.  d,  doors  of  basement  \  e,  drive-way  throuph  the  centre ;  n,  c,  south  drive- 
way for  catt  to  carry  out  manure;  o,  d,  north  drive-way  ;  m,  spare  room  for 
root-cellar  or  any  other  purpose;  I,  I,  lying-in  stalls  for  cows  ;  fc,  k,  fc,  fc,  fc,  fc, 
horse-mangers  ;  j,  j,  i^j,  j.  j,  horse-stalls  ;  /./,  fqrty  cow-stalls  or  stanchions — 


n  these  spaces  and  h ;  g,  <7,  cow-mangers ; 
i  to  stand  on,  the  manure  falling  through 


AN    AMERICAN    OCTAGON    BARN. 


room  at  the  roar,  sixteen  horse-stalls  may  he  ar- 
rann-ed  ou  south-west,  south,  and  south-east  sides. 
But  for  200-aere  farms,  generally,  no  more  than 
forty  head  of  cattle  and  six  horses  would  be  kept, 
and  for  such  our  g-round-plan  would  he  most  con- 
venient, because  it  furnishes  easy  access  with  a 
cart,  both  for  supplying  fodder  and  carrying  away 
the  manure.  Ou  our  plan  we  have  much  space  on 
the  north,  north-west  and  north-east  sides,  which 
may  be  used  for  various  purposes,  such  as  root- 
cellar,  sheepfold  for  fifty  sheep,  or  for  stowing 
away  tools,   working   waggons,   and   implements. 

"The  basement 
is  not  sunk  in  the 
earth,  but  on  the 
north  and  south 
sides  it  is  graded 
up  to  the  floor  of 
the  second  storey, 
so  as  to  make  an 
easy  drive  -  way 
into  the  barn.  The 
base  line,  as  re- 
presented on  the 
drawing,  is  4-  feet 
below  the  general 
level  of  the  land 
on  the  north  side, 
but  there  is  an 
open  channel  of 
water,  into  which 
every  part  is 
drained,  on  the 
south  side.  The 
earth  on  the  east 
and  west  sides   is 

scraped  upon  the  north  and  south  sides  to  grade 
up  the  drive-ways  into  second  storey.  This  base- 
ment is  lighted  by  six  windows  of  twenty  lights, 
8  by  12  glass,  and  six  of  ten  lights  each. 

"A  little  examination  of  this  form  of  barn 
will  not  only  show  its  adaptation  to  large  farms^ 
but  to  all  sizes — from  the  smallest  to  the  largest. 
A  farmer  has  but  to  calculate  how  much  room 
he  wants  for  cattle,  how  much  for  horses,  how 
much  for  sheep,  how  much  for  hay  and  grain,  how 
much  for  carriages,  waggons,  tools,  or  any  other  pur- 
pose, and  he  can  enclose  just  the  number  of  square 
feet  needed,  and  with  the  shortest  outside  wall. 
He  may  be  liberal  in  his  allowance  of  room,  for  it 
costs  less,  in  proportion,  as  the  size  is  increased. 


Fig. 
tie-rod 


Suppose  he  requires  for  a  50-acre  farm  2,090 
square  feet  of  room  ;  this  would  require  a  50-i'oot 
octagon  or  a  40  by  52  rectangle.  Now  he  would 
require  timber  40  feet  long  for  the  latter,  while 
he  could  build  the  octagon  with  timber  for  the 
sills  and  plates  only  22  feet  long,  and  this  would 
be  the  longest  timber,  unless  he  wished  his  posts 
higher.  Each  side  would  be  only  20§  feet,  and 
the  wall  for  the  basement  105  feet  long,  Avhilst 
the  other  would  be  184  feet  long,  saving  19 
feet  of  wall  and  siding  by  the  octagon,  requiring 
but  eight  corner  posts,  and  no  intermediates,  as  the 
girts  would  be  less 
than  20  feet  long. 
He  would  require 
no  interior  posts 
or  beams,  except 
those  for  scaffolds. 
All  the  ordinary 
purlin  posts  and 
beams  would  be 
saved,  and  the 
labour  ou  them. 
It  is  easy,  also,  to 
see  that  a  few 
feet  added  to  each 
side  would  furnish 
room  for  another 
50  acres,  and  so  on 
to  any  size  desired. 
This  form  of  build- 
ing, properly  un- 
derstood, would 
lead  farmers  to 
(,  Lip  rafters.  abandon  the  build- 
ing of  a  separate 
barh  for  each  specific  purpose,  and  to  providing 
for  all  their  necessities  under  one  roof.  If  several 
barns  are  placed  so  as  to  be  convenient,  the 
danger,  in  ease  of  a  fire,  is  about  the  same  as  in 
one  barn,  for  all  would  burn  in  either  case.  The 
economy  of  roofage  is  exhibited  strongly  by  a 
comparison  of  my  four  barns  with  the  octagon 
that  takes  their  place.  One  hundred  thousand 
shingles  were  required  to  roof  the  former,  while 
sixty  thousand  covers  the  octagon. 

"We  have  made  these  general  points  in  expla- 
nation of  the  outline  drawing,  but  there  are  many 
other  considerations  which  will  occur  to  our  readers 
that  they  may  study  for  themselves. 

"  At  the  suggestion  of  a  gentleman  of  Buffalo, 


:S.— Octagon  Barn  (Nokth  Elevation) 
nd  brid^ng  between  rafters  ;   s,  piu-lin  rim  ; 


90 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


greatly  interestod  in  improved  methods  of  build- 
ing, Mr.  L.  Brush,  we  give  a  representation  of  an 
octagon  basement,  laid  out,  in  the  interior,  on  a 
circle,  containing  fifty-two  stalls  for  cows  or  cattle, 
with  heads  towards  the  interior.  For  a  fancy 
breeding  establishment,  these  stalls  might  be  made 
some  3  feet  high,  showing  all  the  animals  at  one 
view,  and  with  the  feeding-car  on  track  (c),  and 
the  car  for  running  out  manure  on  track  (<•/), 
the  labour  would  be  made  convenient.  This 
leaves  a  52-foot  in- 
terior circle  which 
may  be  put  to  any 
purpose  required. 
The  track  (c)  takes 
out  6  feet,  still  leav- 
ing a  circle  of  4.S  feet 
diameter.  The  horse- 
stalls  [d)  are  laid  out 
on  a  circle,  but  would 
be  better  placed  at 
right  angles  with 
the  drive-way.  One 
strong  point  to  be 
made  in  favour  of 
the  circular  plan  is, 
that  by  means  of  the 
cars  running  across 
the  drive-way,  food 
dropped  through  the 
floor  above  ujjon  the 
car  can  be  run  to 
every  animal  in  the 
basement.  The  horse- 
stalls  would  also  be 
very  convenient  of 
access  from  the  drive- 
way. One  side  of  the 

drive-way  might  be  fitted  up  with  box-stalls  for 
brood  mares  or  colts,  or  calf-pens.  We  give  tliis 
j)lan  merely  as  suggestive,  and  not  as  the  best 
arrangement.  Every  one  may  divide  the  space 
as  he  sees  fit.  Of  course,  it  will  be  moi-e  ex- 
pensive to  fit  up  on  a  circle,  but  to  one  who 
fancied  it,  a  few  dollars  would  be,  perhaps,  no 
objection. 

"The  plan  of  basement  given  in  Fig.  27  would 
generally  be  preferred,  and  if  wanted  for  a  large 
dairy-barn  there  is  room  for  two  parallel  floors 
with  two  rows  of  cows  to  each  floor,  giving  one 
long   and   one   j^hort    row  of  cows    to  each    floor, 


Fig.  29.— Octagon  Baseifent  (Scale  16  feet  to  the  inch). 

This  represents  an  80-foot  octagon  basement  laid  out  on  a  circle ;  h,  h  repre- 
sents fifty-two  cow  or  cattle  stalls,  heads  toward  inner  circle  ;  c  represents 
a  circular  track  for  a  feeding-car  to  run  round  in  front  of  the  cows  or  cattle ; 
a,  circular  track  for  a  manure-car  to  carry  off  offal ;  d  represents  one 
method  of  plaeing  horse-stalls  convenient  to  ilrive-way  j  e,  vacant  space  to 
be  used  for  any  purpose ;  /,  /,  drive-way. 


affording  ample  room  to  drive  a  cart  behind  each 
row  of  cows  to  take  away  the  manure.  One  drive- 
way would  answer  for  both  inside  rows  of  cows ; 
also  leaving  r(X)m  for  a  narrow  calf-pen  on  the  out- 
side wall  behind  each  outside  row  of  cows.  This 
would  be  occupying  the  basement  to  its  full 
capacity,  but,  usually  on  a  250-acre  farm,  which 
this  size  of  octagon  would  accommodate,  not  more 
than  fifty  head  of  cattle  and  horses  are  kept,  and 
our  first  plan  of  basement  would  be  the  most 
convenient,  leaving 
ample  space  for  a 
great  variety  of 
uses." 

The  octagon  barn 
will  probably  not — 
at  all  events  at  pre- 
sent —  recommend 
itself  to  English 
notions,  because  it  is 
so  totally  different 
from  anything  we 
are  accustomed  to  in 
the  way  of  farm- 
buildings  ;  but  that 
it  possesses  certain 
valuable  features  will, 
we  think,  be  gene- 
ral ly  admitted,  and 
we  may  venture  to 
hope  that  .some  one 
will  try  it  in  this ' 
country,  so  that  its 
merits  and  demerits 
may  be  made  known 
to  English  dairy- 
farmei-s,  for  whom 
alone  it  is  adapted. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  there  is  neither  manure- 
cellar  under  this  barn,  nor  inclined  plane  to  the 
second  floor;  and  the  manure-cellar  is  regarded, 
by  many  American  farmers,  as  a  .??'«e  qua 
non  to  a  dairy-bani.  A  manure-shed  outside 
will,  however,  answer  the  purpose  of  a  cellar, 
and  could  probably  be  constructed  at  a  less 
expense ;  the  chief  advantage  of  a  cellar  is  the 
facility  which  it  affords  for  a  hand}'  disposal  and 
preservation  of  the  manure,  with  very  little  labour, 
until  it  is  wanted  for  the  land.  Unless  the 
building  is  on  sloping  land,  the  manure-cellar 
makes   necessaiy   a  considerable  inclined  plane  if 


AN    AMERICAN    OCTAGON    BARN. 


91 


vehicles  are  to  have  access  to  the  second  fl(.)or, 
and  a  smaller  oue  would  be  required  to  eualile 
the  cows  to  get  to  their  stalls ;  built  on  a  hill- 
side, however,  these  objectionable  features  may, 
the  one  in  part  and  the  other  wholly,  be  dispensed 
with. 

To  English  notions,  which  do  not  favour  more 
than  two-storey  farm-buildings,  it  seems  somewhat 
odd  that  in  America,  where  at  all  events  land  is 
cheap  enongh,  the  practice  should  be  to  make  dairy- 
barns  three  storeys  in  height ;  and  especially  odd 
does  it  seem  that  carts  and  waggons,  loaded  with 
hay  or  straw  at  harvest-time,  should  be  taken  up  a 
plane  to  the  third  storey;  but  we  have  seen  several 
of  these  three-storey  barns  in  the  United  States, 
and  can  testify  to  their  compactness  and  general 
practicability.  The  American  idea  is  to  have  the 
forage,  cattle,  and  manure  all  under  one  roof,  and 
tliis  arrangement,  once  completed,  is  decidedly  a 
labour-saving  arrangement,  and  is  less  ponderous 
than  might  have  been  thought.  In  England,  on 
the  contrary,  even  two-storey  buildings  are  going 
out  of  fashion,  and  it  is  considered  better  to  have 
cattle  in  buildings  which  are  open  to  the  roof,  on 
account  of  the  superior  ventilation  which  is  thereby 
secured,  and  to  store  the  hay  in  "  hay-barns " 
siJeeially  constructed  for  the  purpose,  while  the 
straw  is  in  the  rick-yard  adjoining,  and  that  part 
of  the  buildings  which  is  devoted  to  chaffing, 
pulping,  mixing,  &c.,  of  food,  is  so  situated  as  to  be 
contiguous  on  the  one  hand  to  the  cattle-sheds, 
and  on  the  other  to  the  rick-yard.  But  fashions 
change,  and  in  course  of  time  it  may  happen  that 
we  shall  construct  our  dairy-barns  on  the  American 
plan.  Tliere  are  points  in  both  systems  that  will 
repay  attentive  study,  and  possibly  the  advantages 
of   each  may  yet  be  combined  in  greater  degree 


than  in  any  plan  which  has  yet  come  under  our 
notice. 

It  may  be  atlded  that  the  whole  of  the  build- 
ings should,  if  possible,  be  so  arranged  that  they 
can  without  much  difficulty  be  seen  from  tlie 
farm-house.  The  house  itself  will  usually  be  in 
front  of  the  buildings,  facing  south,  so  that  the 
kitchen,  dairy,  and  back  offices  belonging  to  the 
house  will  be  next  to  the  buildings,  and  the  latter 
should  be  so  arranged  that  the  highest  portion  of 
them  form  a  good  shelter  to  the  rest  from  the 
north  and  west  winds,  providing  they  need  it. 
The  doors  shcjuld  all,  or  nearly  all,  open  where 
they  can  be  seen  from  the  house,  or  from  the  south 
front  of  the  buildings,  so  that  idlers  and  vagabonds 
cannot  obtain  ingress  to  the  buildings,  or  egress 
from  them,  without  affording  a  good  chance  of 
being  seen.  This  is  of  more  importance  than  it 
might  seem  to  be  at  first  sight. 

As  a  rule  it  is  better,  for  the  sake  of  giving 
the  cattle  as  much  as  possible  of  sun  and  light, 
that  the  buildings  should  have  a  southern  aspect ; 
yet  if  the  buildings  are  naturally  well  sheltered  on 
the  west  and  north,  and  are  liable  to  cold  winds 
and  rain  from  the  east  and  south,  then  the  highest 
buildings  should  be  placed  where  they  will  form 
the  best  shelter  to  the  rest.  Generally  we  think  it 
best  not  to  store  forage  in  lofts  over  cattle,  unless 
on  a  well- boarded  floor  that  will  keep  down  the 
smell  of  the  cattle ;  yet  the  system  answers  well 
in  properly  constructed  buildings,  and  there  is  a 
saving  of  roof-space.  The  materials  should  always 
be  good  of  their  kind,  and  not  scanty.  None  of 
the  roof -timber  should  be  exposed  at  the  eaves  or 
gables,  and  the  workmanship  should  be  substantial. 
Building  that  is  worth  doing  at  all  is  woi-th 
doino:  well. 


niAPTKR     YIII. 

The    Ok  Hi  IX    ov    Sori.s. 


Soils  -Cooling  of  the  Globe— Action  of  Water— Formative  as  well  as  Destrnctive-Igneous,  Aqueous,  and  Mctamorphic  Rocks— 

Formation  of  S^-o<a— Composition  and  Properties  of  Sand,  Clay,  and  Liniestonc-AII  Soils  more  or  less  Mixed-  Humus,  or 

Organic  Matter-Essential  Conditions  of  a  Fertile   Soil-Characteristics   and    Names   of  Various   Soils— Processes   by    which 

Soils  are  Formed— Geological  Formations  as  found  in  the  British  Isles,  with  their  Corresponding  Soils  and 

Resulting  Systems  of  Agriculture. 


,'ERY  long  ago— so  far  back, 
indeed,  that  the  time  which 
has  since  elapsed,  even  were 
it  capable  of  being  expressed 
in  a  definite  number  of  years, 
would  be  quite  incomprehen- 
sible by  us — the  globe  on 
which  we  live,  and  which  we  call  the 
Earth,  was  in  a  highly  heated  condi- 
tion, the  intensity  of  the  heat  being  so 
great  that  the  materials  composing  the 
rocks  which  we  now  see  around  us 
were  in  a  molten  condition.  In  the  course  of 
ages  much  of  the  earth's  heat  was  radiated  into 
space ;  and  this  went  on  till  at  length  the  earth 
became  sufficiently  cooled  for  some  portion  of  it 
to  assume  a  solid  state.  It  was  probably  in  this 
manner  that  the  first  hard  rock-masses  made  their 
appearance  on  the  earth's  surface.  As  the  cooling 
continued,  the  water-vapour,  or  steam,  which  must 
have  been  present  in  the  hot  atmosphere,  became 
condensed  into  the  liquid  state  ;  the  water  itself 
was  then  subjected  to  the  cooling  influence  of 
radiation,  and  in  course  of  time  the  earth's  surface 
became  inhabited  by  low  forms  of  life.  The  effect 
of  the  sun's  heat  in  those  far-distant  ages  would 
be  then,  as  now,  to  cause  the  water  on  the  earth's 
surface  to  rise  up  in  the  form  of  vajmur,  and  so 
to  form  clouds.  These  clouds,  floating  about 
in  the  higher  regions  of  the  atmosphere,  would 
become  sufliciontly  cooled  for  their  water-vapour 
to  be  condensed  and  fall  in  the  form  of  drops — 
rain-drops — on  the  earth.  The  rain-water  would 
flow  over  the  surface,  and  percolate  through  the 
rock-masses,    and    the   residue   would    at    length 


find  its  way  into  little  channels,  whence  the  water 
would  emerge  in  rills,  and  l)y  the  confluence  of 
a  number  of  rills  a  larger  stream  would  be  formed, 
the  waters  of  which  would  in  the  end  empty 
themselves  into  some  large  reservoir,  as  a  lake  or 
sea.  Now,  what  is  the  effect  of  falling  rain  and 
running  water  on  the  land  surface  of  the  globe  ? 
To  answer  this  question  it  is  only  necessary  to 
observe  the  results  produced  by  a  shower  of  rain. 
Every  one  knows  that  the  rain  as  it  drains  off 
the  land  is  by  no  means  clear  water,  but  that  it 
is  turbid  or  muddy,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
running  water  takes  uji  in  its  course  and  carries 
along  with  it  small  particles  of  earth.  Water 
may  either  flow  off  the  surface  of  the  land  into 
some  small  stream,  and  thence  to  a  river,  or  it 
may  first  trickle  through  the  earth's  "  crust,"  and 
so  find  its  way  by  a  different  course  into  a  large 
stream.  All  rivers  contain  a  lot  of  fine  mud  or 
sediment  in  their  water,  some,  indeed,  being 
always  j^lainly  muddy,  and  even  those  whose 
waters  appear  to  be  bright,  clear,  and  sparkling 
are  only  apparently  clear,  for  if  a  glass  of  the 
clearest  river  water  be  set  aside  for  an  hour,  a 
fine  layer  of  sandy  particles  will  be  seen  to  have 
settled  down  on  the  bottom  of  the  vessel.  It 
is  evident,  then,  that  the  effect  of  running  water 
is  fo  wear  away  the  surface  of  the  land;  and  so 
water  is  called  a  denuding  agent  because,  when 
in  motion,  it  lays  bare  the  rock-masses  on  the 
face  of  the  earth.  And  this  denuding  action 
of  water,  be  it  remembered,  has  been  going 
on  in  various  parts  of  the  earth  ever  since  the 
time  when  water  first  appeared,  as  such,  on  the 
globe. 


DENUDING    AGENTS. 


do 


The  work  of  ileinnjiition  implies  also  that  oi^ 
ilisiiifi'gration,  by  which  is  meaut  the  breakiupj  up 
of  the  rock-masses  into  small  pai'ticles,  capal)le  of 
being  easily  transjwrted  from  place  to  place.  This 
process  of  disintegration  having  happened,  the 
denuding  action  of  running  water  easily  follows. 
A  moment's  consideration  will  show  that,  besides 
running  water,  there  are  several  other  important 
agents  of  disintegration.  Thus,  the  great  reser- 
voir of  water,  the  ocean,  is  everlastingly  beating 
■with  its  restless  waves  upon  the  rock-bound  shore, 
angular  fragments  of  rock  being  thereby  broken 
off  the  parent  mass.  These,  by  being  continually 
rolled  about,  become  rounded  into  pebbles,  and  the 
smaller  fragments  at  length  form  those  very  small 
pebbles  called  sand.  And  this  marine  denudation, 
as  it  is  called,  is  always  going  on  to  a  greater 
or  less  degree — the  huge,  angry  breakers  urged 
on  in  their  resistless  course  by  the  fiercest  hur- 
ricane, and  the  gentlest  ripple  of  the  ocean  wave 
on  a  calm  summer  day,  both  alike  perform  slowly 
but  surely  their  work  of  destruction.  Other 
causes  are  not  less  potent :  frozen  water  in  the 
form  of  snow  and  ice,  for  example,  exerts  a 
destructive  effect  on  the  land  ;  glaciers  grind  away 
the  rock  surface  over  which  they  flow,  scratching 
and  polishing  the  rock  itself,  and  bearing  away 
to  the  place  where  the  glacier  melts  the  dis- 
integrated particles,  which  are  then  fvirther 
transported  by  the  streams  fed  by  the  melting 
glacier.  The  river  Rhone  is  fed  in  this  way  by 
the  streams  from  the  Alpine  glaciers,  and  before 
entering  the  Lake  of  Geneva  is  a  very  muddy 
river. 

The  destructive  effects  of  water,  then,  are 
produced  by  both  its  liquid  and  solid  forms ; 
and  not  only  is  this  so,  but  in  the  very  act 
of  passing  from  the  liquid  to  the  solid  state — 
that  is,  in  freezing — this  substance  exerts  an 
influence  which  is  not  less  effective.  For  water, 
unlike  most  other  substances  in  nature,  instead 
of  contracting,  expands  when  it  is  being  frozen 
into  ice,  and  the  power  of  this  expansion  is  well- 
nigh  irresistible ;  consequently,  if  a  rock  soaked 
with  water  becomes  frozen,  the  water  between  the 
particles  of  rock  will,  in  expanding  into  ice,  force 
these  particles  further  apart.  As  long  as  the 
ice  remains  solid  it  will  act  as  a  cement  between 
the  disrupted  particles,  but  as  soon  as  a  thaw 
sets  in,  the  crumbling  effect  will  at  once  make 
itself  apparent,    and  the  particles    will    be    easily 


carried  away  in  the  water  that  trickles  out  of 
the  rock.  It  is  in  the  same  way  that  the  bursting 
of  a  water-pipe  by  frost,  though  it  occurs  at  the 
time  of  freezing,  yet  is  only  found  out  when  the 
thaw  sets  in.  The  effect  of  a  frost  on  a  soil  is 
to  make  it  lighter,  for  the  freezing  water  pushes 
apart  the  constituent  particles.  Lastly,  the 
moving  currents  of  air,  which  produce  wind, 
may  be  referred  to,  as  transporting  agents  which 
caiTy  clouds  of  fine  sand  and  dust,  resulting 
in  marked  effects  on  sandy  beaches  and  loose 
soils. 

It  should  now  be  evident  that,  by  means  of 
the  various  agents  indicated,  the  earth's  surface 
is  being  slowly  wasted  away,  and  the  question 
naturally  arises,  How  is  it  that,  notwithstanding 
the  waste  and  denudation  which  have  for  so  long 
been  going  on,  the  whole  of  the  land  has  not  been 
reduced  to  one  dead  level  beneath  the  sea  ",  Clearly 
there  must  be  some  ojjposing  force,  some  counter- 
acting influence,  at  work  ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
this  opposing  force  has  its  origin  in  that  residuum 
of  the  earth's  primeval  heat  which  is  still  stored 
up  in  its  interior.  Geologists  have  shown  that 
the  effect  of  this  internal  heat  is  to  cause  oscilla- 
tions in  the  earth's  surface,  so  that  while  it  is 
slowly  rising  in  one  place  it  is  slowly  sinking  in 
another.  Thus,  the  north  of  Scandinavia  is  at 
present  being  upheaved,  while  the  west  of  Green- 
land is  as  certainly  undergoing  depression.  These 
processes  are  of  extreme  slowness,  but  occasionally 
the  earth's  internal  heat  manifests  its  existence 
in  a  very  violent  and  decisive  manner,  as  in  a 
volcanic  eruption,  when  vast  quantities  of  molten 
matter,  ashes,  and  gases  are  ejected  from  the 
earth's  interior,  or  in  an  earthquake,  when  the 
very  "foundations  of  the  earth"  aj)pear  to  be 
shaken,  and  the  surface  appears  as  unstable  as  that 
of  the  ocean. 

Though  the  process  of  disintegration  may 
appear  at  first  to  be  solely  destructive,  it  is  not 
really  so,  for  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the 
mud-laden  waters  of  rivers  and  other  streams 
are,  in  the  end,  poured  into  lakes  or  seas,  and 
there  the  same  thing  occurs  as  happens  when  a 
glass  of  water  is  taken  from  a  river — the  sediment 
becomes  in  time  deposited,  on  account  of  the 
velocity  of  the  water  being  checked.  The  coarsest, 
and  therefore  the  heaviest,  materials,  such  as  the 
larger  pieces  of  gravel  and  the  stones  rolled  along 
the   bottom   of   the   river,   are    deposited    nearest 


94 


DAI  II V    FARMING. 


tlie  mouth,  while  the  lia^hter  particles  are  carried 
farther  out,  and  the  finest  sediment  farthest  (jf 
all.  It  is  because  of  this  deposition  of  sediment 
that  the  Rhone,  which,  as  has  already  been  stated, 
enters  the  Lake  of  Geneva  as  a  muddy  stream 
fed  by  glaciers,  emerges  therefrom  as  a  river 
of  clear,  ))ellucid  water.  Deltas,  such  as  those 
of  the  Nile  and  Ganges,  and  the  delta  of  the 
Rhine  which  forms  most  of  the  flat  Dutch  country, 
are  formed  in  this  way.  If,  however,  the  river- 
current  be  very  swift,  as  is  the  case  with  the 
Amazon,  for  example,  a  delta  is  not  formed, 
nor  again  when  the  scouring  action  of  oceanic 
currents  disturbs  the  water  at  a  river's  mouth. 

The  sediment,  as  it  is  deposited  on  the  ocean- 
floor,  is  at  first  loose  and  incoherent — shifting 
sand  or  mud — but  gradually,  owing  to  the  pressure 
of  other  .sediment  deposited  on  it,  and  to  the 
])ercolatiou  through  the  mass  of  certain  cementing 
materials,  it  will  in  time  become  a  firm,  coherent 
rock-substance,  as  sandstone  or  clay.  Rocks  formed 
thus  by  the  agency  of  water  are  called  aqneous 
rocks,  while  those  produced  by  the  action  of 
the  earth's  heat  are  termed  iijneous.  There  is 
an  intermediate  class,  in  which  are  j^laced  rocks 
which  were  formed  as  aqueous  rocks,  but  which 
by  the  deposition  of  other  rocks  upon  them,  accom- 
panied by  the  slow  sinking  of  the  ocean-floor,  have 
gradually  come  to  occupy  deep  positions  in  the 
earth's  crust,  and  there  under  the  influence  of  great 
heat,  pressure,  and  perhaps  steam,  have  been 
melted,  and  subsecpiently  solidifying,  have  as- 
sumed more  or  less  the  character  of  tnie  igneous 
rocks  without  really  being  so;  such  rocks  ai'e 
said  to  be  metamorphosed  or  altered,  and  they 
are  called  metamorphic  rocks.  Gneiss,  serpen- 
tine, marble,  and  schists  may  be  mentioned  as 
examples. 

Usuall}^,  it  is  not  difficult  to  determine 
whether  a  rock  is  of  aqueous  or  of  igneous  origin. 
Aqueous  rocks  are  (1)  granular  in  texture,  {;!) 
exhibit  planes  of  bedding — lamination  or  strati- 
fication— due  to  deposition  in  layers,  and  (-'J) 
fi'e(|uently  enclose  mineralised  remains  of  animals 
and  ])lants  (fossils).  Igneous  rocks,  on  the  other 
band,  are  (1)  crystalline  in  texture,  (:i)  do  not 
show  lamination,  and  (•'!)  never  enclose  fossils. 
Familiar  examjiles  of  atpieous  rocks  are  sand, 
sandstone,  clay,  marl,  limestone,  coal,  rock-salt; 
common  igneous  rocks  are  granite,  basalt,  and 
pumice.     Aqueous   rocks,    as    they   occur    in    the 


earth's  crust,  are  usually  itrafified  —  that  is, 
arranged  in  layers ;  igneous  rocks  are  vnniraliJU-d. 

All  the  rocks  which  at  any  one  period  ajipcar 
as  dry  land  are  alike  subject  to  the  influence  of 
disintegrating  agents.  Hence,  by  the  continued 
denudation  of  the  land  accompanied  by  slow 
uj)heaval,  it  would  be  possible  for  igneous  rocks, 
which  had  been  buried  deep  down  in  the  earth's 
crust,  to  appear  at  the  surface.  Further,  although 
atpieous  rocks  may,  at  first,  have  been  dejiosited 
horizontally,  yet,  owing  to  movements  of  the 
earth's  crust,  caused  by  its  endeavour  to  accommo- 
date itself  to  the  contracted  interior  resulting 
from  the  radiation  of  the  earth's  heat  into  space 
(a  process  which  is  still  going  on),  the  horizontal 
layers  become  first  tilted,  and  then  thrown  into 
curves,  these  movements  being  necessarily  ac- 
companied by  great  straining,  tearing,  crushing, 
and  contortion  of  the  rocks.  The  tops  of  the 
curves  then  get  planed  off  by  denudation,  and 
so  the  surface  of  the  land  may  really  consist 
of  the  vptiirned  edges  or  outcrops  of  the  beds. 
This  is  to  a  great  extent  the  case  in  England, 
where  a  rapid  succession  of  beds  or  si  rata  is 
passed  over  in  travelling  from  the  west  coast 
of  the  country  to  the  east  (see  map  and 
Fig.  31),  and  these  strata  are  known  to  diji  down 
into  the  earth  with  a  gentle  ineliualiou  to  the 
east. 

The  section.  Fig.  30,  represents  a  series  of 
beds  thrown  into  curves  in  this  way,  the  upper 
parts,    represented  by  dotted    lines,  having    been 


swept  away  liy  deniulatinn,  the  jirosonf  land 
surface  being  denoted  by  the  letters  a,  a, a.  The 
]iortion  of  the  curve  shown  at  s,  where  the  strata 
appear  to  form  a  basin  <ir  hullow,  is  IcrTiied 
sipicliiiiil ,  wliilc  at  A,  where  the  strata  rise 
up  into  a  ridge,  an  unlirliiiiil  curve  results. 
A  lx)SS  of  igneous  rock,  u,  which  was  forced 
up  amongst  the  aqueous  strata,  is  partly  cx]iosed 
at  the  surface,  owing  to  the  denudation  ot'  tlie 
overlying  beds  which   once   covered    it    up.     The 


ROCKY    STRATA. 


95 


other  section,  Fig.  31,  is  a  general  view  o£  the 
succession  of  British  strata  from  the  north-west 
to  the  south-east  of  England,  and  the  reader 
should  study  it  in  connection  both  with  the 
map  and  with  the  table  on  page  97. 

As  a  result  of  their  investigations,  geologists 
have  succeeded  in  making  a  list  of  strata  in  the 
order  in  which  they  were  formed.  Such  a  list,  as  it 
refers  to  the  British  Isles,  is  now  placed  before  the 
reader,  the  youngest  rocks  being  placed  at  the  top, 
and  the  oldest  at  the  bottom ;  beneath  all  these 
stratified  formations,  and  usually  deep  down  in  the 
earth's  crust,  there  are,  of  course,  igneous  rocks. 
The  thicknesses  which  are  given  must  only  be 
considered  as  apjiroximate,  all  strata  varying  con- 
siderably in  this  respect  j  and  further,  the  thickness 
can  afford  no  indication  of  the  extent  of  rock 
exjiosed  at  the  surface,  as  this  will  depend  rather 
on  the  nature  of  the  outcrop  and  the  angle  of  dip. 


varied  forms  of  scenery  which,  associated  with  a 
mantle  of  verdure,  make  the  face  of  the  earth 
lovely  and  beautiful,  have  been  produced  by  the 
unceasing  action  of  rain  and  frost,  of  rivers  and 
the  sea,  by  nature's  two  great  sculptors,  water 
and  ice. 

It  is  necessary  now  to  give  some  details  re- 
specting the  composition  and  properties  of  those 
substances  which  usually  occur  in  soils,  notably 
sand,  clay,  and  limestone. 

Sand  consists  essentially  of  a  substance  called 
silica,  which  is  composed  of  the  element  silicon 
united  with  the  gas  oxygen.  A  very  pure  sand 
will  contain  little  besides  silica ;  such  is  the  white 
or  grey  sand  found  on  some  sea-beaches.  Other 
sands  will  contain  varying  amounts  of  impurities, 
notably  of  oxide  of  iron,  to  which  many  kinds  of 
sand  owe  their  red,  yellow,  or  variegated  colour. 
The  purest  form  of  silica  is  called  rock-crystal  or 


Fig.  31. — General  View  of  the  Si'ccession  of  British  Strata,  the  Line  SS  denoting  the  Sea-level. 


G,  a,  h,  Highly  Metamorphosed  and  Igneous  Rocks  (G,  Granite;  a.  Gneiss:  b,  Mica-schist); 
g.  Old  Ked  Sandstone;  h,  Carboniferous  Limestone;  i.  Millstone  Grit;  k,  Coal-Measures;  I,  Magu 
n,  Lias ;  o,  Oolite ;  p,  Greensand  ;  q,  Chalk ;  r,  Tertiary  Strata. 


[,  e,  /,  Cambrian  and  Silurian  Rocks ; 
.  Limestone ;  m.  New  Red  Sandstone ; 


In  the  last  column  are  mentioned  some  of  the 
useful  mineral  products  derived  from  the  several 
formations.  The  names  of  the  various  groups  are 
sometimes  intended  to  be  deserii:)tive  of  the  rocks 
themselves  (as  Cretaceous,  Oolite),  or  they  may  be 
of  geographical  origin  (as  Permian,  Silurian)  ;  the 
former  are  objectionable,  because  the  same  forma- 
tion may  vary  considerably  in  the  nature  of  its 
rocks  in  different  localities. 

The  earth's  surface  is  mostly  occupied  by 
aqueous  rocks,  those  of  igneous  origin  being  more 
or  less  covered  by  these.  So  long  as  the  aqueous 
rocks  rested  beneath  the  protecting  covering  of 
the  ocean  they  were  preserved  from  denudation,  but 
directly  they  emerged  above  the  sea  their  destruc- 
tion was  commenced,  and  is  still  going  on,  the  result 
being  apparent  to  every  one  who  is  willing  to  look 
for  it.  All  the  diversified  forms  that  delight  the 
eye  of  the  traveller  or  the  tourist,  crags,  peaks, 
and  fells ;  scarps,  cliffs,  and  jirecipiees ;  gorges  and 
ravines ;  glens,  dells,  straths,  and  valleys  ;  hills  and 
dales;  plains  and  table-lauds — in   a   wurd,  all   the 


quartz  ;  it  is  found  in  colourless  transparent  six- 
sided  crystals,  and  is  harder  than  steel ;  other  less 
j)ure  forms  are  quartzite.  Hint,  and  chert,  the  latter 
containing  carbonate  of  lime.  Sand,  if  examined 
by  means  of  a  magnifying-glass,  is  seen  to  consist 
of  veiy  small  water-worn  pebbles,  not  of  sharp 
angular  fragments  as  is  often  supposed.  It  is  an 
aqueous  rock,  and  originated  in  the  mechanical 
disintegration  of  some  pre-existing  rock — either  a 
sandstone  itself,  or  an  igneous  rock  containing 
much  silica — and  the  transport  of  the  broken 
material  to  some  lake  or  sea  where,  after  having 
been  water-worn,  it  was  deposited.  Beds  of  sand 
may  become  consolidated  into  sandstone,  which 
is  a  rock  with  a  firm  granular  uniform  texture, 
j-ielding  one  of  the  most  useful  and  lasting 
building  stones.  Gravel  is  a  coarse  sand.  If 
sand  contains  a  considerable  amount  of  carbonate 
of  lime  it  is  called  a  calcareous  sand. 

As  a  soil,  pure  sand  alone  would  be  useless,  both 
physically  and  chemically.  Consisting  as  it  does  of 
hard  minute  granules,  it  is  necessarily  very  j)orous, 


oc 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


and  is  therefore  not  retentive  of  moisture,  so  that 
a  few  days'  sunshine  would  render  it  dry  and  arid. 
Tlien,  again,  as  the  particles  have  no  mutual 
cohesion,  they  would  e:isily  become  the  sport  of 
the  wind,  so  that  even  supposing  a  plant  to  be 
growing  on  pure  sand,  it  would  have  no  grip  or 
liold  on  the  soil,  unless  it  possessed  very  long 
straggling  roots  like  those  of  some  of  the  sea- 
shore grasses.  From  the  chemical  side  the  objec- 
tions to  a  soil  of  sand  are  even  more  serious,  for  it 
could  offer  the  plant  nothing  in  the  shape  of  food, 
as  very  few  jjlants  require  silicon,  and  even  those 
that  do  take  up  this  element,  as  the  grasses  and 
cereals,  can  be  grown  quite  healthily  without  it. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  these  drawbacks,  sand,  as 
a  consliluent  of  soils,  confers  on  them  two  im- 
portant properties :  it  renders  them  light,  and 
therefore  permeable  to  air,  moisture,  and  warmth; 
and  it  also  concentrates  and  stores  up  the  solar 
heat. 

Clay,  like  sand,  is  a  mechanically-formed 
aqueous  rock.*  But,  whereas  saud  is  produced  by 
the  disintegration  of  certain  granites,  of  quartz- 
rocks,  and  sandstones,  clay  results  from  the  wearing 
away  of  such  rocks  as  gneiss,  slate,  and  shale.  Mud 
carried  down  by  streams  becomes  consolidated  into 
clay,  and  the  clay  may  harden  into  shale,  and  under 
certain  conditions  this  maybe  converted  into  slate. 
Like  sand,  clay  also  contains  silica,  but  it  differs 
from  sand  in  possessing  as  essential  constituents 
two  other  substances,  namely,  alumina  and  water. 
It  is,  therefore,  said  to  be  a  hydrated  silicate  of 
alumina.  Certain  impurities,  notably  oxide  of  iron 
and  magnesia,  are  usually  present.  The  colour 
varies  much ;  it  is  almost  white  in  the  kaolin  or 
china-clay,  obtained  from  the  weathering  of  the 
felspar  in  certain  granites,  while  in  most  of  the 
lias  clay  it  is  blue.  From  a  ehemieal  point  of  view, 
pure  clay  would  be  a.s  useless  as  j)ure  sand  as  a 
supplier  of  plant-food,  but  clays  are  always  more 
or  less  impure,  and  the  impurities  present  usually 
contain  elements,  such  as  potassium,  iron,  calcium, 
and  magnesium,  which  play  an  important  part  in 
the  nutrition  of  plants.  The  physical  properties 
of  clay  are,  in  many  cases,  the  reverse  of  those  of 
sand.  Sand  is  loose  and  incoherent,  clay  is  firm, 
l)lastic,  and  tenacious;  sand  rapidly  loses  moisture, 
clay  is  very  retentive  of  it;  saud  will  easily 
become  hot  and  dr}',  whereas  clay  remains  cool, 

•  The  geologist  uses  the  word  rock  to  denote  any  l;iige 
mass  of  earthy  matter,  whether  hard  or  soft. 


and  is  well  able  to  resist  a  drought.  It  appears, 
then,  that  a  soil  consisting  entirely  of  clay  would 
be  very  firm,  cold,  and  damp,  and  if  exposed  to 
much  rain  the  surface  would  become  muddy, 
owing  to  the  moisture  not  draining  away.  As  one 
of  the  constituents  of  a  soil,  however,  clay  is  found 
to  possess  many  valuable  properties.  Thus,  it 
condenses  the  oxygen  of  the  air;  retains  water, 
thereby  keeping  the  soil  moist ;  gives  tenacity  to 
the  soil,  preserves  the  useful  products  of  decompo- 
sition of  manures,  and  is  rich  in  u.seful  alkaline 
salts  adapted  to  supply  plants  with  food. 

LniKSTONE  in  its  purest  form  is  a  compound  of 
lime  and  carbonic  acid  gas  (carbon  dioxide),  con- 
sisting therefore  of  the  elements  calcium,  carbon, 
and  oxygen,  and  known  to  chemists  as  calcium 
carbonate.  When  limestone  is  burnt  in  a  lime- 
kiln, the  carbonic  acid  gas  is  driven  off  by  the 
heat,  and  the  residue  is  lime,  the  well-known 
causticity  of  which  is  due  to  the  eagerness  with 
which  it  absorbs  and  combines  with  water, 
thereby  forming  slaked  lime.  The  purest  kind  of 
calcium  carbonate  that  occurs  in  nature  is  a  beau- 
tiful colourless  transjaarent  substance  crystallising 
in  rhombs,  and  known  by  such  names  as  caleite, 
cale-spar,  Iceland-spar.  These  crystals  may  fre- 
quently be  found  in  cavities  in  limestone  rocks. 
Limestones  are  always  more  or  less  impure,  owing 
to  the  presence  of  small  though  variable  quantities 
of  magnesia,  iron,  and  alumina,  in  the  form  of 
silicates,  phosphates,  and  sulphates,  due  frequently 
to  the  intermixture  of  clay  or  sand  in  small  pro- 
portions. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  and  one  of  very 
great  importance  in  the  process  of  disintegration, 
that  water  containing  carbonic  acid  gas  in  solution 
has  the  power  of  dissolving  calcium  carbonate. 
Now  the  air  always  contains  a  small  quantity 
of  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  rain  in  falling  through 
the  atmosphere  dissolves  some  of  it,  so  that  the 
water  which  drains  off  the  land  is  able,  owing 
to  the  solvent  power  confeiTcd  on  it  by  the  gas, 
to  dissolve  the  calcium  carbonate,  or  carbonate 
of  lime,  as  it  is  more  usually  called,  both  out 
of  limestone  rocks,  and  out  of  other  rocks  in 
which  it  may  occur  as  a  cementing  material. 
fSujipose,  for  example,  a  soil  contains  carbonate 
of  lime,  then  rain-water  with  carbonic  acid  in 
solution  will  act  beneficially  in  two  \vays :  by 
gradually  removing  the  carbonate  it  will  render 
the  soil  lighter,  more  porous,  and  therefore  more 


Table   ok   the   Biutisu    Stratified   Formations. 


riiocene 
Miocene 


Post- 
tertiary 

r    Newer 

i    Older 


(  AUuvnal  deposits,  estuarine  ) 
(  beds,  and  peat  bogs  ...  ) 
j  River  alluvia,  raised  beaches  ;  \ 
■\  boulder  clays,  and  other  gla-  > 
(    cial  detritus.  Chillesford  Beds  J 

Norwich  Crag      ) 

(Red  Crag  V     

i  Coralline  Crag     j 

I  Bovey  Tracey  and  Mull  Beils,  1 

i      and  Basalt  of  Antrim    ...      f 

f  Hempstead  Beds  \ 

)  Bembridge     ,,      (^ 

Osborne         ,,      i'      

Headou  , ,      ) 

Barton,  Bracklesham,  1 
\      and  Bagshot  Beds      f    

London  Clay        

Woolwich  and  Reading  Beds,  ) 

and  Thanet  Sand    ) 

(  Upper  ( 'halk  with  Flints  \ 

Lower  ( 'balk  without  Flints      > 
■i  Chalk  Marl J 

Upper  Greensand       

LOault     

j  Lower  Greensand        ) 

t  Atherfield  Clay  )      

j  Weald  Clay  ) 

<  Hastings  Wand      i      

(purbeckBeds      

(  Portland  Beds  1 

\  Kimeridge  Clay    j      

j  Coral  Rag  and  C'alcareous  Grit  ( 
\  Oxford ClayandKelloway Rock  ) 

fCornbrash      ^ 

Forest  Marble  k  Bradford  Clay  I 

I  Great  (or  Bath)  Oolite       ..  | 

■{  Stonestield  Slate 1- 

I  FuUer's  Earth       

I  Inferior  Oolite      | 

l^JIidford  Sands      J 

'  Upper  Lias  Clay  and  Sand 

Middle  Lias  Marlstone      

Lower  Lias  Clay  and  Limestone 
tRhsetic  and  Penarth  Beds 

)  Keuper,  or  New  Red  Marl 

K  Bunter,  or  New  Red  Sandstone 

J  Magnesian  Limestone        

(.  Rothliegende       

I  Coal-measures     
Millstone  Grit  (Farewell  Rock)  "\ 
Yoredale  Beds  (LTpper  Lime-  > 
stone  Shale)     J 

Carboniferous  Limestone 


Upper 
Middle 


indtUe 
Lower 


Old  Red  Sandstone  ] 
and  Devonian  . . .  i 


Upper 


f  Lower  Limestone  Shale  (Calci-  ] 
\    f  erous  Sandstone  of  Scotland)  J 

{Upper 
Middle 
Lower 

^  Ludlow  Beds       

<.  Wenlock  Limestone  and  Shale 

i  Upper  Llandovery  Beds    

TLower  Llandovery  Beds    

Bala  and  Caradoc  Beds     

•'  Llandeilo  Flags 

Tremadoc  Slates 

(.^Lingiila  Flags      


'eet.  Useful  Pboddcts,  etc. 

Peat,  lignite. 
River  mud  at  mouth  of  Thames  for  Portland  cement. 

Loam,  flint  gravel. 

1  no      J  Phosphatic  nodules  used  as  mineral  fertilisers. 
^"^      1  Building  stones. 


Pottery  clay  and  lignite  of  Bovey  Tracey. 
f  Clay  for  bricks. 
)  Sand  for  glass-making. 
^  Ironstone. 

'  .Se|)taria  used  for  making  hydraulic  cement. 
)  White    pure    Bagshot  sands  at  .Sandhurst   and  in 
\      Isle  of  Wight  used  in  glass-making. 

{London  clay  used  for  brick  and  tile  making. 
Septaria  dredged  up  off  coasts  of  the  London  clay. 
(  Chalk,  whiting,  lime,  building  stones. 
I  FKnt  for  roads  and  glass-making. 

Chalk  and  marl  for  manure. 

Phosphatic  nodules. 

Gault  clay  for  bricks  and  tiles. 
(  Phosphatic  nodules  near  Pulborough  and  Godalming. 
I  Kentish  rag  building  stone,  clay,  Fuller's  earth, 
j"  Speeton  clay  of  Yorkshire  yields  septaria  for  Roman 
<      cement,  and  fine,  light-coloured  clay  for  Portland 
I      cement. 


1,270 
480 
270 

1,700 

150 
300 

900 
1,500 

950 
900 


1,250 


200 
600 


700 

1,400 

600 

2,000 

10,000 

600 

4,000 
1,000 


Purbeck  marble. 
(  Building  stone, 
t  Clay. 
(  Building  stone. 

<  Road  stone. 
\  Freestone. 

iClay. 
Roofing  tiles. 
Bath  freestone.  ,^^^   ^^^   j^^^  ^■^^^ 

Fuller's  earth.  *      Northampton  sands. 

Coarse  building  stone.         Coal  in  Sutherlandshire. 

(  Alum,  Whitby  jet,  clay  for  bricks,  tiles,  and  drain- 
\      pipes. 

Cleveland  (Yorkshire)  iron  ore. 

Clay  for  bricks  and  tiles.     Nodules  for  cement. 

Landscape-marble  of  Cotham. 

GyiKum  (sulphate  of  Ume) ;  common  sorts  burnt  for 
plaster  of  Paris,  very  coarse  kinds  used  as  top- 
dressing  for  soils.     Rock-salt. 

Bunter  yields  good  supply  of  water. 
(  Good  building  stone,  Houses  of  Parliament  built  of 
\      it.     Used  in  manufacture  of  Epsom  salts. 

Building,  paving,  and  road  stone. 
(  Coal.     Iron  ore.     Clay  for  bricks,  tiles,  earthenware, 
\      and  pottery. 

(  Stourbridge  clay  for  fire-bricks.     Grindstones. 
I  Iron  pyrites.     Lead  ore. 
(  Barytes.     Fluor  sx)ar.     Ores  of  zinc  and  lead. 

<  Good  road  metal. 

(  Coal  and  black-band  ironstone  in  Scotland. 


2,000 
1,700 
1,.500 
1,000 
6,000 
5,000 
1,000 
5,000 


{Flag-stones,  paving,  and  building  stones. 
Clay  slate  in  Devon  and  Cornwall,  containing  ores  of 
tin,  copper,  lead,  iron,  and  silver.  Madrepore  marble. 
Building  stones. 

Lime  and  flux  for  iron  smelting. 
Green  slates  of  Cumberland. 

[Jasper. 
Limestone  burnt  for  manure.     Phosphate  of  Ume. 


30,000 


Slates,  paving-stones,  flagstones. 

(■Roofing  slates,    slabs  for  cisterns,    and    hones   for 
<      cutlery.     Largest  slate  quarries  in  the  world  at 
(      Penrhyn. 
Plumbago.     Building  materials. 


Note  on  Watek  Supply.— The  Chnlk,  Oolite,  Lias,  and  Carboniferous  L'mestone  yield  haid  water.  Tlie  water  of  the  Mag 
Limestone  is  unusually  hard,  and  that  yielded  by  the  Trias  generally  contains  gypsum,  and  is  therefore  permanently  hard.  The  softest 
waters  spring  mostly  from  sands  and  clay^,  and  are  derived  from  the  Bagshot  Beds,  London  clay,  Wealden  Beds,  and  Upper  Carboniferous; 
the  exits  and  slates  of  the  Cambrian  and  Silurian  series,  and  the  igneous  and  metimorphic  rocks,  also  furnish  soft  water. 


9S 


DAIRY    FAKMIXG. 


easily  erumljlwl;  and  I'lirtluT,  Iiy  huldiny  tlio 
carbonate  of  lime  iu  solution,  it  will  present 
calcium  iu  the  water  around  the  rootlets  of  the 
plants  in  sueh  a  way  that  the  element  can  be 
taken  uj)  l)y  the  plants,  for  vegetable  food  must 
be  either  liquid  or  gaseous. 

If  water  containing  carbonate  of  lime  and 
carbonic  acid  in  solution  be  so  exposed  tliat  the 
carbonic  acid  can  disengage  itself  and  pass  off 
again  into  the  air  as  a  gas,  then  of  course  the 
carbonate  of  lime  becomes  deposited.  It  is  in 
"this  way  that  deposits  of  carbonate  of  lime  are 
formed  in  petrifying  springs;  stalactites,  stalag- 
mites, and  deposits  in  boilers  and  kettles  are 
produced  similarly.  All  the  great  limestone 
formations,  seen  on  the  earth^s  surface,  have, 
however,  been  built  up  1)}'  the  agency  of  marine 
animals  on  the  floors  of  seas  or  oceans,  and 
by  the  subsecpient  u])heaval  of  the  latter  have 
become  dry  land.  All  river-waters  contain, 
amongst  other  things,  carbonate  of  lime  in  solution, 
which  the  water  obtains  in  the  manner  already 
indicated ;  this  carbonate  is  sejiarated  from  the 
sea-water  by  shell-bearing  animals  to  afford 
material  for  their  shells,  and  when  the  animals 
die,  these  shells  fall  to  the  bottom  of  the  ocean, 
and  there  in  time  they  may  accumulate  in  sufficient 
quantity  to  form  subsequently  a  thick  bed  of 
limestone,  consisting  chiefly  of  carbonate  of  lime. 
In  this  manner  the  chalk,  which  now  forms  so 
large  a  portion  of  the  south-east  of  England, 
was  deposited  as  a  deep-sea  formation ;  at  the 
present  day  sueh  a  deposit  is  in  course  of  forma- 
tion over  the  floor  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  between 
lilurope  and  America.  Coral  reefs,  again,  consist 
of  carbonate  of  lime. 

As  a  soil  constituent,  it  is  only  in  the  jKilverised 
state  that  limestone  plays  an  important  part ; 
when  in  the  form  of  gravel  it  behaves  like  other 
granular  pieces  of  rock.  Pulverised  limestone 
has  two  useful  agricultural  properties  :  it  furnishes 
plants  with  mineral  manures  in  the  phosphates 
and  sulphates  of  lime  and  potash  which  are 
usually  present  as  impurities,  and  it  aids  the 
decomposition  of  organic  manures,  such  as  farm- 
yard and  green  manure. 

Soils  consisting  entirely  of  puiv  sand,  or  clay, 
or  limestone  are  never  met  with  iu  nature.  Some 
soils  may  consist  to  a  very  great  extent  of  one  of 
these,  but  there  will  always  be  certain  impurities 
present,  and  most  likely  some  admixture  of  one. 


and  perhaps  both,  of  the  other  two.  If  a  portion 
of  powdered  soil  be  taken  and  stirred  up  iu  a 
vessel  of  water,  and  the  vessel  then  set  aside 
for  a  few  minutes,  a  number  of  clean-looking 
particles  will  be  found  to  have  settled  down  on 
the  bottom  of  the  vessel — these  are  due  to  the 
sand  in  the  soil.  If  the  turbid  water  be  then 
poured  off  the  sand  into  another  vessel,  and  set 
aside  for  a  much  longer  time,  a  very  fine  im- 
])alpable  deposit  will  at  length  take  place — this 
is  due  to  the  clay.  The  clay  and  sand  may 
thus  be  separated,  and  if  some  weak  hydro- 
chloric acid  be  then  j)ourcd  \\\w\\  each,  tlirro 
will  probably  be  an  effervescence  due  to  the 
escape  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  the  lime  con- 
tained in  any  limestone  that  may  be  present 
will  be  dissolved. 

Besides  one  or  more  of  the  three  constituents, 
clay,  sand,  and  pulverised  limestone,  and  iu 
addition  to  certain  saline  substances  which  are 
frequently  present,  all  cultivated  soils  contain 
aceumidatious  of  organic  matter  which  arise  from 
the  growth  and  decay  of  j^lants,  and  from  de- 
composing leaves,  twigs,  &e.,  drawn  into  the 
soil  by  earth-worms.  This  decaying  organic 
matter  is  variously  known  as  vegetable-mould, 
leaf-mould,  and  humus;  to  its  presence  is  due 
the  dark  colour  of  good  garden  mould  and  rich 
fertile  soils.  If  a  portion  of  soil  be  heated  to 
redness,  the  organic  matter,  which  is  composed 
of  carbon,  h}'drogen,  oxygen,  and  nitrogen,  passes 
off  in  gaseous  combinations.  The  interstitial  air 
of  soils  always  contains  more  carbonic  acid  gas 
than  ordinary  air ;  it  arises  from  the  oxidation 
of  the  carbon  of  the  organic  matter,  and  is,  of 
course,  dissolved  by  water,  the  effects  of  which 
the  reatler  already  knows. 

A  soil  cannot  be  considered  })erfect  for  agri- 
cultural purposes  unless  it  contains  a  suitable 
admixture  of  the  four  constituents — sand,  clay, 
limestone,  and  humus.  If  there  be  not  enough 
sand,  the  soil  will  not  be  sufficiently  permeable 
by  water,  and  it  will  be  too  cold ;  if  insufficient 
clay,  the  soil  will  be  too  dry,  not  tenacious  enough, 
and  will  allow  manures  to  become  too  much  scat- 
tered or  dift"used ;  with  a  deficiency  of  limestone 
the  decomposition  of  manures  will  not  go  on 
ivgularly,  and  putrefaction  will  invade  the  soil  j 
and  finally,  if  the  soil  be  poor  in  humus,  the 
plants  will  suffer  hunger. 

Kxperience    has    shown    that    a    soil    is    best 


COMPOSITION    AND    FORMATION    OF    SOILS. 


99 


QLlapteil  for  general  agricultural  purposes  when  it 
contains  of 

Sand  (siliucous  and  calcareous)    from  oO  to  "0  per  cent. 

Clay ,      20  „  30 

Pulverised  limestone          ...  ,,        5  „   10         ,, 

Humus         ,,       •')  ..  10        „ 

It  thus  contains  enough  sand  to  make  it  warm 
and  pervious  to  air  and  moisture;  enough  clay 
to  render  it  moist,  tenacious,  and  conservative  of 
manures;  enough  limestone  to  furnish  calcareous 
manure,  and  to  decompose  organic  manures ;  and 
lastly,  sufficient  humus*  to  supply  the  alimentary 
needs  of  the  plant.  A  soil  of  this  kind  possesses  all 
useful  agricultural  qualities,  and  it  is  only  neces- 
sary to  keep  up  its  fertility  by  a  proper  system 
of  culture,  and  Ly  the  judicious  employment  of 
manures. — Dr.  Meunier. 

Such  a  soil  as  that  just  indicated  is,  however, 
the  exception  rather  than  the  rule  in  nature, 
most  soils  being  characterised  by  an  excess  of 
one  or  more  of  the  ingredients.  Thus,  many 
soils  consist  chiefly  of  sand  and  clay,  and  they 
have  been  classified  according  to  the  proportions 
of  these  substances  present.  When  in  a  soil 
of  sand  and  clay  the  latter  forms  not  more 
than  10  per  cent,  of  the  weight,  a  snndi/  soil' 
results ;  with  10  to  40  per  cent,  of  clay,  a  sandj/ 
loam;  with  40  to  70  per  cent,  of  clay,  a  loamij 
soil;  70  to  83,  a  cla^  loam;  So  to  95,  a  s/wiii/ 
clay.  With  a  still  higher  percentage  of  clay 
the  soil  approaches  a  pure  agricultural  clay.  A 
mixture  of  clay  and  pulverised  limestone — that  is, 
a  calcareous  clay — constitutes  a  marl  when  the 
limestone  is  from  5  to  20  per  cent,  of  the  total 
Weight ;  should  the  limestone  exceed  20  per 
cent.,  a  calcareous  soil  is  the  result.  A  mixture 
of  sand  and  pulverised  limestone  produces  a  soil 
.  which  may  be  tenned,  for  want  of  any  other 
word,  a  calca/e/ief  (Latin,  cal.r,  lime,  and  arena, 
sand). 

As  most  soils  have  a  deficiency  of  some  one  or 
more  necessary  constituents,  and  a  redundancy  of 
others,  it  follows  that  a  mixing  of  two  different 
soils  W'ill  generally  effect  an  improvement.  Many 
instances  will  be  mentioned  in  the  sequel  in 
which   this   occurs  naturally   along   the   common 

*  The  humus  itself  is  not  taken  up  by  plants,  hut  it  plays 
an  important  part  in  those  chemical  changes  in  the  soU  -which 
result  in  the  formation  of  plant-food. 

+  An  expressive  and  appropriate  term,  for  the  suggestion 
of  which  the  writer  is  indebted  to  his  colleague,  Professor 
A.  n.  Chunh. 

16 


line  of  outcrop  of  two  formations  dissimilar  in 
their  mineral  composition ;  each  formation  may 
j)roduce  only  average  crops  excepting  where  the 
two  strata  merge  into  each  other,  and  there  the 
yield  will  be  much  enhanced. 

Referring  to  the  igneous  or  crystalline  rocks 
generally,  it  seems  probable  that  the  carbonic 
acid  gas  of  the  atmosjjhere  is  the  most  active 
agent  in  the  decomposition  of  their  silicates. 
The  potash,  soda,  lime,  magnesia,  and  iron  pass 
into  the  state  of  carbonates,  and  the  silica  which 
was  combined  with  these  bases  is  set  free. 
Now  silica  in  a  fine  state  of  division  is  somewhat 
soluble  in  water  containing  carbonic  acid,  and 
thus  some  of  the  liberated  silica  may  be  removed 
in  solution.  The  carbonates  formed  are  also 
soluble  in  such  water,  so  that  the  residue  will 
in  the  end  consist  of  little  besides  silicate  of 
alumina,  capable  of  assuming  the  plastic  state, 
but  absolutely  insoluble,  and  therefore  approaching 
more  and  more  to  the  nature  of  clay.  In  the 
ease  of  granite  this  clay  is  derived  almost  entirely 
from  the  felspar. 

As  regards  their  immediate  origin,  soils  are 
either  formed  by  the  disintegration  or  loeathering 
of  the  underlying  rock,  in  which  case  they  are 
distinguished  as  sedentary,  indigenous,  <x  local; 
or  they  are  brought  from  a  distance,  as  in  the 
case  of  glacial  detritus,  or  the  alluvium  deposited 
by  a  river  near  its  mouth,  and  are  then  called 
transported  soils. 

The  origin  of  local  soils  has  already  been 
touched  upon,  and  the  mode  of  formation  of  the 
soil  on  the  imjjure  oolitic  limestone  of  the  Cottes- 
wold  Hills  may  further  simplify  the  matter.  Fig. 
32  represents  the  face  of  a  quarry;  the  soil  at 
the  toj)  is  merely  a  superficial  bed,  between  it  (a) 
and  the  virgin  rock  (d)  are  two  beds  more  or 
less  distinct,  which  manifestly  represent  different 
stages  in  the  transformation  of  the  hard  solid 
rock  into  loose  soil.  The  upper  (b)  of  these 
two,  generally  termed  the  subsoil,  differs  from 
the  overlying  soil  in  containing  more  carbonate 
of  lime,  being  greatly  deficient  in  humus,  and 
abounding  in  stones  the  size  of  which  increases 
with  the  depth.  The  other  (c)  consists  exclusively 
of  these  stones,  which,  becoming  progressively 
larger  and  larger,  pass  gradually  into  the 
continuous  rocks  below.  To  account  for  these 
appearances,  it  is  only  necessary  to  bear  in  mind 
the  solvent  power  of   water   containing   carbonic 


100 


DAIRY    FARMIXG. 


:iriil,  iiiul  to  ivnu'mhcr  that  the  deeper  sucli  water 
percolates  ilowuwanls,  the  more  saturated  with 
dissolved  carhouates  will  it  Ijecome,  and  therefore 

".'   -^  ■        ."-"z    ■  "   - .  ■.    '.'■>'.'■  ■'■  ~/o;  ■..;■  ■.  :■  '. 
B-      '.■■^',     "■..     '-'SUBSOI  L  ■-'•";■;  .V-'^- 


the  less  eapaLlo  of  effecting'  further  solution  of 
rock-substance.  The  surface  soil  will  contain 
the  silica  and  alumina  which  were  present  in 
the  imjiure  limestone,  some  undissolved  carbonate 
of  hme,  and  humus. 

Very  low  forms  of  vegetable  life,  such  as 
lichens,  and  then  mosses,  first  appear  on  a  young 
soil,  and  these  disturb  its  chemical  composition ; 
thus,  lichens  which  grow  on  limestone  yield  on 
analysis  oxalate  of  lime.  The  decay  of  such 
low  plants  gradually  confers  on  the  soil  a  small 
amount  of  humus,  and  so  it  is  slowly  prepared 
for  the  growth  and  nutrition  of  other  plants 
higher  in  the  scale. 

It  now  only  remains  to  indicate  briefly  the 
characters  of  the  soils  derived  from  the  various 
formations,  and  these  will  be  taken  in  the  chrono- 
logical order  in  which  they  are  tabulated  on 
page  97,  commencing  with  the  oldest,  the 
igneous  rocks  being  first  dealt  with.  The  reader 
should  keep  constantly  before  him  the  accom- 
panying geological  map  of  the  British  Isles, 
which  we  have  endeavoured  to  make  as  accurate 
as  possible.  !Many  geographical  details  have  been 
given,  but  as  the  map  had  to  be  constructed 
on  a  sufficiently  small  scale  to  be  uniform  with 
the  rest  of  the  work,  such  particulars  as  rivers, 
railways,  and  divisions  into  counties  have,  to 
avoid  comijlication,  been  omitted.  As  these, 
however,    may    be    seen    on    any   ordinary    map. 


tlieir  position  on  tjie  geological  map  may  be 
determined  without  much  difticulty. 

Igseoi's  Rocks. — Granite  soils  owe  wliat 
fertility  they  may  possess  to  the  decomposal)le 
nature  of  the  felspar,  and  (if  present)  of  the 
hornblende,  the  iron  and  magnesia  of  the  latter 
Contributing  especially  to  make  the  soil  productive, 
though  even  these  will  not  avail  much  if,  as  is 
often  the  case,  the  soil  is  at  any  considerable 
elevation  above  the  sea-level.  In  Cornwall  and 
Devon  the  weathered  blocks  of  granite  have  been 
removed  from  the  surface  and  employed  in 
making  walls,  and  the  enclosed  fields  have  been 
brought  into  a  fair  degree  of  pHnluctiveness. 
Granite  (colour  21)  will  be  seen  by  the  map  to  occur 
in  many  isolated  tracts  in  mountainous  regions. 
Trap-rocks,  on  account  of  their  more  varied 
mineral  composition,  are  more  easily  crumbled 
and  }ield  more  fertile  soils  than  granitic  rocks ; 
their  decay  producing  soils  consisting  of  clay, 
and  containing  pota.^ih,  lime,  magnesia,  and  iron. 
Decomposing  trap  is  used  as  a  mineral  fertiliser 
on  other  soils.  Trap-rocks  (colour  20)  occur  in  a 
few  localities  in  Wales,  in  various  parts  of  Central 
and  "Western  Scotland,  and  in  the  south-east  of 
Ireland  in  the  counties  of  Wicklow,  Waterford, 
and  Wexford,  besides  the  Miocene  basalt  of 
Co.  Antrim  in  the  north. 

Cambrian. — Of  the  districts  indicated  on  the 
map  as  Cambrian  and  Laurentian  (colour  10),  only 
a  portion — namely,  the  extreme  north-west  of 
Scotland  and  the  islands  of  the  outer  Hebrides 
— contains  Laurentian  rocks.  The  southern  part 
of  the  north-west  coast  of  Scotland,  the  Welsh 
localities,  the  Charnwood  Forest  district  in  Lei- 
cestershire, and  the  two  patches  on  the  south-east 
coast  of  Ireland  are  Cambrian.  As  the  Cambrian 
consists  chiefly  of  hard  slaty  rocks,  it  j-ields  either 
poor  thin  soils,  or  cold  clays  difficult  to  work  and 
only  amenable  to  high-farming. 

Silurian. — Nearly  the  whole  of  the  Scotch 
Highlands,  a  great  part  of  the  Lowlands,  most 
of  Wales,  Cimiberlaud,  and  large  patches  on 
the  east,  west,  and  north  coasts  of  Ireland  are 
occupied  by  Silurian  strata,  which  are  frequently 
highly  contorted  and  metamorjihosed.  Hard  grits 
and  slates  are  prevalent,  and  these  being  diflicult 
of  decomposition,  little  soil  is  formed,  especially 
on  the  more  elevated  lands,  w-hich  are  therefore 
entirely  devoted  to  pasture.  At  the  feet  of  hills, 
however,   and    on    slopes    where    glacial    detritus 


CLASSIFICATION    OF    SOILS. 


101 


has  Loon  mixed  up  with  the  decaying  roets,  as 
iu  the  Scotch  Lowhuids,  the  soil  is  fertile  under 
good  cultivation.  In  Wales  the  Upper  Silurian 
(colour  17)  forms  cold  muddy  clays,  difficult  to 
work;  but  in  Shropshire  the  Ludlow  beds,  around 
the  town  of  that  name,  crumble  down  into  a  fertile 
soil.  Arable  soils  derived  from  the  Silurian  are 
also  seen  in  the  counties  of  Cacrmarthen,  Radnor, 
Shropshire,  and  West  Herefordshire.  IMost  of  the 
remaining  A^'elsh  Silurians  are  under  pasture. 

Old  Red  Sandstone  and  Devonian  (colour  IG). 
—Under  this  head  are  grouped  two  very  different 
kinds  of  rock,  the  Old  Red  Sandstone  embracing 
rocks  consisting  chiefly  of  reddish  and  greyish  sand- 
stones, and  the  Devonian  comprising  strata  which 
differ  but  little  from  the  succeeding  Carboniferous 
Limestone.  In  the  British  Isles  the  beds  of  the 
Devonian  type  occur  only  in  the  district  indicated 
on  the  map  in  Cornwall,  Devon,  and  Somerset. 
The  Old  Red  is  met  with  in  all  the  other  localities 
—namely,  Herefordshire  and  parts  of  the  adjacent 
counties  in  England  and  Wales,  tracts  in  the  Scotch 
Lowlands,  on  the  southern  flanks  of  the  Gram- 
pians, and  on  the  north-east  coast  of  Scotland, 
also  in  the  south-west  of  Ireland,*  and  at  various 
outcrops  in  the  central  2ilaiQ-  Iu  no  county  is 
the  Old  Red  Sandstone  seen  to  better  advantage 
as  a  soil  than  in  Herefordshire ;  there  the  lower 
divisions  of  the  Old  Red  contain  a  great  numljer 
of  roimded  jjieces  of  impure  limestone,  called 
"cornstones,"  often  embedded  in  marl,  and  the 
whole  decomposes  into  a  soil  of  great  fertility, 
its  reddish  colour  being  due  to  the  presence  of  a 
considerable  percentage  of  oxide  of  iron.  As  the 
cornstones  do  not  allow  water  to  pass  through 
them  without  difficulty,  it  sometimes  happens 
that  when  these  form  the  subsoil  the  overlying 
soil  is  injured  by  the  throwing  up  and  retention 
of  water.  The  Old  Red  yields  one  of  the  best 
natural  pastures,  and  is  the  home  of  the  far-famed 
breed  of  Herefordshire  cattle ;  when  cultivated 
the  soil  gives  fine  crops  of  wheat  and  barley, 
and  in  some  localities  of  hops,  while  its  apple 
and  pear  trees  have  obtained  for  Herefordshire 
cider  and  perry  a  wide  celebrity.  The  superiority 
of  the  Old  Red  soils  over  those  of  the  adjacent 
older  rocks  is  very  apparent  to  the  traveller  jour- 
neying from  Herefordshire  westward  into  Wales. 

*  The  geological  position  of  these  Irish  rocks  is  not  settled ; 
very  probably  the  lower  ones  are  of  Silurian,  the  upper  of 
Carboniferous  age. 


Carboniferous  Limestone. — This  formation, 
w-hcro  it  occurs  in  greatest  purity,  is  a  hard 
bluish  limestone,  and  from  the  fact  that  it  often 
rises  into  bold  hills,  as  in  the  Peak  of  Derbyshire, 
and  lends  itself  to  the  formation  of  fine  cliffs, 
scarps,  and  gorges,  as  in  the  Monmouthshire 
\^'ye  and  the  Bristol  Avon,  it  was  once  termed 
the  IMountain  Limestone.  It  usually  occurs  in 
Great  Britain  skirting  the  ]\Iillstone  Grit  that 
surrounds  most  of  the  coal-fields  (see  map, 
colour  15),  and  is  seen  in  South  Devon,  parts 
of  Somerset  and  Monmouthshire,  and  in  Derby- 
shire, where  it  is  several  thousand  feet  thick. 
When  traced  northwards  into  Northumberland 
and  to  the  vale  of  the  Forth  and  Clyde,  it 
is  found  to  have  greatly  deteriorated  in  quality, 
being  split  uj)  by  intercalated  beds  of  sedimen- 
tary material.  The  Carboniferous  Limestone 
plays  the  same  important  part  in  Ireland  as 
that  taken  by  the  Lower  Silurian  in  the  Scotch 
Highlands,  for  a  glance  at  the  map  will  show 
that  the  whole  of  the  great  central  plain  of 
Ireland  is  occujwed  by  it.  All  this  area  was 
once  covered  by  coal  which  has  been  removed 
by  denudation.  Even  now,  however,  the  Car- 
boniferous Limestone  itself  is  not  generally 
visible  on  the  plain,  as  it  is  mostly  covered  up 
by  beds  of  limestone  gravel,  by  boulder-clay, 
by  shallow  lakes,  or  by  extensive  peat-mosses 
which  occupy  the  positions  of  lakes  that  once 
existed.  The  Carboniferous  Limestone  is  dry  at 
the  surface,  and  sends  out  sj)rings  at  the  base ; 
its  local  soil  is  usually  thin,  and  consists  of  a 
fine  vegetable  mould  mixed  with  broken  fragments 
of  limestone.  The  natural  herbage,  amongst 
which  the  sheeij's  fescue-grass  {Festiica  ovi/ia) 
is  prominent,  is  very  good,  sheep  showing  a 
marked  2'i'eference  for  it,  and  nibbling  it  close 
to  the  ground.  For  this  reason,  and  because 
of  its  great  elevation  in  some  districts,  as  in 
Derbyshire,  it  is  mostly  left  in  natural  pasture. 
As  it  is  favourable  to  the  growth  of  timber,  it  is 
frequently  well  wooded.  It  is  largely  cultivated 
in  the  Mendip  Hills,  where  it  yields  good  crops 
of  oats,  barley,  clover,  and  roots,  the  situation 
being  too  high  for  the  profitable  growth  of 
wheat.  Lower  down,  however,  where  the  lime- 
stone and  the  underlying  shales  crop  out  together, 
the  mixed  soil  produces  good  crops  of  oats  and 
wheat. 

Millstone  Grit. — This  deposit  fringes  most  of 


102 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


the  coal-fields,  as  may  be  well  seen  on  the  map  iu 
the  case  of  the  South  Wales  coal-field.  It  oeeui-s 
also  iu  Devonshire  (colour  11),  aud  in  the  district 
occupied  by  the  Pennine  Chain,  separating  the 
coal-fields  of  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire,  likewise 
in  a  few  localities  amongst  the  Scotch  coal- 
measures.  It  occupies  several  large  tracts  around 
the  Carboniferous  Limestone  of  Ireland,  notably 
in  the  south-west.  The  soil  of  the  ^Millstone 
Grit  is  of  a  poor  gravelly  character,  and  where 
the  subsoil  is  of  clay  the  overlying  gritty  beds 
become  swampy.  This  formation  is  usually  covered 
by  worthless  heaths,  the  appearance  of  which  con- 
trasts anything  but  pleasingly  with  that  of  the 
adjacent  Carboniferous  Limestone. 

CoAi,-MEASUUES. — The  shales,  clays,  and  sand- 
stones that  crop  out  as  the  partings  between 
the.  beds  of  coal  form  at  the  surface  a  wet 
yellowi.sh  clay,  the  natural  i)roduce  of  which  is 
sedges  aud  heaths  with  but  little  grass.  Where, 
however,  there  is  a  large  ])roportion  of  sand 
the  soil  becomes  fairly  productive,  and  is  better 
employed  as  arable  land  than  for  pasture.  These 
soils,  as  well  as  those  of  the  underlying  ^lillstone 
Grit,  require,  after  draining  and  cultivating,  the 
application  of  lime,  which  assists  to  bring  the 
soil  into  sufficient  condition  •  to  yield  fair  crops 
of  wheat,  oats,  turnips,  aud  clover.  A  glance 
at  the  map  will  indicate  at  once  the  localities 
of  the  British  coal-fields  (colour  13).  In  the 
immediate  vicinity  of  coal-pits,  the  conditions 
which  exist  are  utterl}'  inimical  to  vegetation,  as 
will  be  evident  to  anybody  who  has  passed  through, 
for  example,  the"  black  country  "  around  Wolver- 
hampton. 

RoTULiEOENDE. — To  this  group  belongs  a  series 
of  marls  and  sandstones  of  Permian  age  seen  in 
the  Vale  of  Eden  (colour  12),  in  a  few  localities 
in  the  south  of  Scotland,  on  the  Cumberland 
coast,  in  Shropshire,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
coal-fields  of  the  English  midlands.  Their  soils 
are  similar  in  most  respects  to  those  of  the 
Trias  which  are  described  below. 

Magxesi.\n  Limestone. — This,  also  of  Permian 
age,  forms  a  narrow  strip  of  land,  on  the  east  side 
of  the  Coal-measures,  extending  from  Notting- 
hamshire nj)  to  the  north  side  of  the  Tyne, 
there  being  a  break  in  the  continuity  in  Yorkshire. 
Magnesian  differs  from  ordinary  limestone  in 
containing,  besides  carbonate  of  lime,  a  variable 
quantity,  even  as  much  as  one-half,  of  carbonate 


of  magnesia.  Excess  of  magnesia  in  a  soil  is 
bad  for  plants.  The  ilagnesian  Limestone  soils 
are  thin,  light,  and  easily  crumbled,  and  are 
mostly  under  the  plough,  gcxjd  crops  of  wheat 
and  barley  being  the  reward  of  high-farming. 

An  inspection  of  the  map  will  show  that 
the  Palasuzoic  strata,  a  description  of  the  soils 
on  which  has  now  been  given,  are  pi-actically 
confined  to  certain  parts  of  the  British  Isles. 
Tluis,  both  Ireland  and  Scotland  are  almost 
exclusively  occupied  by  these  old  rocks,  the 
most  notable  exception,  perhaps,  being  that  of 
the  fertile  basaltic  plateau  of  Co.  Antrim  in 
the  former  country.  In  England  and  Wales, 
again,  the  counties  of  Devon  and  Cornwall,  the 
whole  of  Wales  with  jMonmouth,  Herefordshire, 
and  Shropsliire,  and  that  major  portion  of  the 
six  northern  counties  which  lies  west  and  north  of 
the  Pennine  Chain,  are  likewise  entirely  occupied 
by  the  outcrops  of  Pala30zoic  strata,  with  bosses 
of  igneous  rocks  rising  up  here  and  there  just 
as  they  do  in  Scotland  and  Ireland.  Now  it  is 
a  noteworthy  fact  that  most  of  these  Paleozoic 
areas  are  under  permanent  pasture,  aud  this 
is  due  not  only  to  the  nature  of  the  soil,  but 
also  to  considerable  elevation  above  the  sea,  as 
in  the  natural  pastures  of  Wales,  Cumberland, 
and  Derbyshire,  and  likewise  to  the  excessive 
humidity  of  climate  to  which  the  Irish,  Welsh, 
aud  Cumbrian  grazing  lands  are  subjected.  The 
nature  of  the  soil  and  the  prevalent  moisture 
combine  to  make  Ireland,  for  example,  essentially 
a  grazing,  and  therefore  a  stock-breeding,  rather 
than  an  ai'able  country.  The  statement  made 
respecting  the  general  character  of  the  Paleozoic 
strata  must,  however,  not  be  received  in  too 
wide  a  sense,  as  there  are  certain  exceptions, 
notablj-  in  the  ease  of  the  Old  lied  Sandstone, 
and  of  the  red  and  j-ellowish  sandstones  and 
marls  (Rothlicgende)  of  Permian  age,  as  witness 
the  Old  Red  arable  soils  which  attain  their 
highest  perfection  in  the  fertile  county  of 
Ilerefoi-dshire,  and  the  excellent  soils  which  have 
resulted  from  a  commingling  of  boulder-clays 
and  Permian  rocks  in  the  beautiful  "N'ale  of  Eden. 
Again,  in  the  central  valley  of  Scotland,  watered 
by  the  Forth  and  Clyde,  and  extending  from 
the  metamorphosed  rocks  of  the  Highlands  on 
the  north  down  to  the  uprising  Silurian  Low- 
lands on  the  touth,  tht>  commingling  of  Old  Red 
sandstones    luid   marls,    Carboniferous   shales  aud 


CLASSIFICATION    OF    SOILS. 


103 


limestones,  fragments  of  igneous  rocks,  and  glacial 
detritus,  have  resulted  in  the  fcrmation  of  au 
arable  soil  which,  under  judicious  cultivation,  has 
attained  a  remarkable  degree  of  fertility. 

In  giving  au  account  of  the  soils  lying  on 
rocks  of  Mesozoic  and  Caiuozoic  age,  the  descrip- 
tion will,  of  course,  ajiply  almost  exclusively  to 
England  alone,  and,  roughly  speaking,  to  that  jiart 
of  it  which  lies  to  the  east  of  a  line  that  may  be 
drawn  on  the  map  from  the  mouth  of  the  Tees  to 
that  of  the  Severn,  the  only  notable  portion  west 
of  this  line  being  the  Cheshire  Plain.  Beneath 
these  younger  rocks  the  older  PalsBozoic  rocks  of  the 
west  dip  away  eastwards  (see  Fig.  31,  page  95),  so 
that  if  a  sufhciently  deep  boring  were  made  in 
one  of  the  eastern  counties  it  would  jirobably 
pierce,  at  last,  the  underlying  Palajozoic  beds. 
The  Carboniferous  strata  which  contain  the  coal- 
field of  South  Wales  ajipear,  in  this  way,  to  dip 
down  under  the  younger  beds  of  the  counties 
between  South  Wales  and  Kent,  and  then  on 
the  other  side  of  the  North  Sea  to  rise  again 
in  the  Belgian  coal-fields,  thus  forming  a  great 
synclinal  curve.  The  strata  now  under  con- 
sideration have  not  been  violently  contorted  and 
disturbed  like  the  older  ones  of  the  west,  nor 
do  they  show  indications  of  metamorphism. 

Trias. — The  Bunter  Sandstone,  or  New  Red 
Sandstone,  as  it  is  also  called,  is  seen  in  parts 
of  Yorkshii-o,  Cheshire,  Lancashire,  and  Central 
England  (colour  10).  The  reddish  and  variegated 
sandstones  often  yield  a  deep,  dry,  sandy  soil,  the 
fertility  of  which  varies  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  subsoil.  When  the  latter  is  of  clay,  the 
overlying  soil  becomes  cold  and  wet,  and  requires 
draining ;  when  the  underlying  subsoil  consists 
of  marl  or  marly  sandstone,  it  is  worked  in  with 
the  soil  to  form  a  rich  red  loam  productive  of 
luxuriant  crops  of  every  kind.  The  Keuper  or 
New  Red  marls  (colour  9)  form  fine  rich  meadow 
land.  The  Trias,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  the  most 
extensive  formation  seen  on  the  surface  in  England; 
it  extends,  with  some  interraption,  from  Devon- 
shire, through  Somerset,  Gloucestershire,  and 
Worcestershire,  to  Warwickshire,  where  it  divides 
into  two  branches,  one  stretcliing  away  through 
Staffordshire,  across  the  fertile  plain  of  Cheshire 
into  Lancashire,  and  the  other  ranging  northwards 
through  the  Trent  Valley  in  Nottinghamshire, 
and  along  a  strip  of  land  in  Yorkshire,  to  dis- 
appear beneath  the  sea  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tees. 


At  its  widest  part  in  the  midlands  the  Trias  is 
eighty  miles  across  from  east  to  west.  The  sandy 
soils  on  some  parts  of  the  formation  are  much 
imjn-oved  by  the  aj)plication  of  marl  from  other 
parts,  hence  the  number  of  old  marl  pits  in  the 
Keuper.  The  general  fertility  of  the  Trias  may 
be  estimated  from  the  fact  that  the  three  highest 
rented  counties  in  England  rest  chiefly  on  it, 
and  it  has  the  reputation  of  forming  the  best 
arable  land  in  the  country.  In  some  parts  of  the 
New  Red  Sandstone,  however,  there  are  beds  of 
conglomerate  (pebbles  cemented  together  into 
hard  rock),  and  when  these  appear  at  the  surface 
they  break  uj)  into  barren,  gravelly  soils,  which 
are  only  brought  under  cultivation  with  extreme 
difficulty,  and  even  now  in  some  localities  form 
waste  land,  as  in  Sherwood  Forest.  Other  parts 
of  the  fomiation,  again,  have  been  ovei's2)read 
with  glacial  detritus,  and  in  this  ease  also  the 
character  of  the  soil  has  suffered ;  in  the  Vale 
of  Cl^'j'd,  in  Denbighshire,  however,  where  the 
New  Red  Sandstone  is  so  overlaid,  the  result  is  a 
very  fertile  soil.  As  to  the  Old  Red  Sandstone,  so 
to  the  New,  do  orchard  fruit-trees  seem  specially 
addicted,  and  the  cider  produced  by  the  Trias 
of  Devonshire  and  Gloucestershire  rivals  that 
from  the  Old  Red  of  Herefordshire. 

Lias. — This  formation  consists  of  thick  beds 
of  blue  and  yellow  clay,  Avith  partings  of  sandy 
limestones  and  shales.  The  clay  and  shales  are 
impervious  to  water;  hence,  near  the  outcrop 
of  the  porous  strata  of  the  overlying  Oolite,  the 
surface  of  the  Lias  is  cold  and  wet,  so  that 
rushes,  sedges,  and  other  water-plants  are  its 
natural  produce.  Atmospheric  influences  cause 
the  clays,  shales,  and  limestones  to  break  up  into 
a  soft  but  retentive  clay  soil,  which  resists  the 
plough,  and  therefore  is  frequently  unsuited  to 
arable  culture,  even  Avhen  drained.  Nevertheless, 
though  exjjensive  to  work,  persevering  industry 
has  brought  much  of  the  Lias  under  the  plough, 
and  cereal  crops  may,  in  such  cases,  be  raised  to 
advantage.  In  some  localities,  as  in  Somerset, 
the  flaggy  limestones  are  so  near  the  surface  as 
to  impede  the  plough.  From  the  very  stiff 
character  of  the  soil,  and  its  persistent  retention 
of  moisture,  however,  much  of  the  Lias  is  devoted 
to  grass  land,  and  it  supports  some  of  the  oldest 
piastures  in  the  country,  which,  producing  as 
they  do  fat  sheep  and  oxen,  rich  cheese  and 
butter,  may  well  be  termed  "  cheesy  "  pastures. 


104 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


The  Lower  Lias  soil  is  brashy,  and  fre(juently 
of  a  rich  brown  colour.  On  it  are  raised  wiieat, 
barley,  oats,  cabbages,  turnips,  mangolds,  beans, 
and  occasionally  teasels.  The  ground  is  mostly 
flat  or  gently  undulating.  Stilton  cheese  is 
yielded  by  cows  grazed  on  the  Lias  clays  near 
Melton  Mowbray,  in  Leicestershire ;  double 
Gloucester  cheese  is  the  product  of  the  Lias 
clays  in  the  Yale  of  Gloucester,  where  they  form 
the  rich  fertile  meadows  on  the  Severn  side; 
Cheddar  cheese,  again,  is  obtained  from  cows 
fed  on  the  pastures  resting  on  the  Lias  clay. 
New  Red  marl,  and  Alluvium  of  Somerset. 

The  Middle  Lias  yields  a  rich  soil  foi-mcd 
by  the  decay  of  the  JNIarlstoue,  which  is  a 
mixture  of  clay  and  sand  with  a  considerable 
quantity  of  limestone.  It  forms,  therefore,  a  strip 
of  very  fertile  land  overlooking  the  grazing  lands 
of  the  Lower  Lias.  Apple-trees  thrive  on  the 
Middle  Lias  of  Somerset. 

The  Lias  extends  as  a  very  irregular  strip 
from  Lyme  Regis,  on  the  Dorset  coast,  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Tees,  on  the  North  Yorkshire  coast. 
It  extends,  then,  from  Dorset,  through  Somerset, 
to  Gloucestershire,  in  which  county  it  forms, 
under  the  shadow  of  the  Cotteswolds,  the  dairy 
districts  in  the  Vales  of  Berkeley,  Gloucester, 
and  Evesham  ;  thence  it  stretches  away  through 
AVorcestershire  and  Warwickshire  into  the  counties 
of  Northampton,  Leicester,  Nottingham,  Lincoln, 
and  York.  Much  of  the  milk  ^^llieh  arrives 
daily  in  London  is  o£E  the  Lias. 

Oolite. — This  formation  consisis  of  beds 
of  limestone,  interstratilied  with  bands  of  clay, 
which  may  become  very  thick,  as  is  the  ease 
with  the  Oxford  and  Kimeridge  clays,  which 
spread  over  considerable  areas.  The  Lower  Oolites 
form  the  Cottcswold  Hills,  which  were  long  in 
a  state  of  natural  pasture,  and  chiefly  grazed  by 
sheep ;  much  of  this  district  is  now  under  the 
plough,  roots,  clover,  and  cereals  being  grown  even 
on  the  sunnnits  of  the  llills,  though  the  soil  gene- 
rally is  thin,  poor,  and  brashy.  The  prevailing 
timber-tree  on  the  Cotteswolds  is  the  beech ;  tjte 
ash  and  the  elm  grow  less  freely,  while  the  oak, 
which  luxuriates  on  the  Lias  clays,  is  scarce  on 
Oolites  of  the  Cotteswolds.  The  Northampton 
sand  yields  a  fair  soil.  The  ground  occuj)ied  by 
the  Inferior  Oolite  is  hilly  and  occasionally  barren, 
but  the  brownish  brashy  soil  is  fertile  where 
it  has  sullicicnt   depth.     The   Lincolnshiic   lime- 


stone, a  section  of  the  Inferior  Oolite,  yields  a 
light  soil,  not  of  much  value.  The  Great  or 
Bath  Oolite  supports  a  thin  stony  soil,  not  difficult 
to  work,  but  too  elevated  and  not  deep  enough 
for  productive  cultivation.  The  Forest  Marble 
and  Corubrash  soils  are  of  a  clayey  nature, 
due  to  partings  of  clay  between  the  flag-like 
beds ;  though  jjoor,  they  may  be  greatly  improved 
by  draining  and  cultivation,  and  then  yield  fair 
crops  of  cereals,  pulses,  and  roots.  The  clays  of 
the  Oolite  form  close,  sticky,  sometimes  calcareous 
soils,  scarcely  adapted  for  arable  land,  but  forming, 
after  thorough  drainage,  rich  pastures  not  unknown 
for  the  quality  of  their  dairy  produce.  The  Oxford 
clay,  Avhich  in  some  localities  is  twenty  miles 
wide,  joins  the  Kimeridge  clay  in  Huntingdon- 
shire. The  Aylesbury  dairy  district  rests  chiefly 
on  the  Kimeridge  clay.  The  Upper  Oolites  are 
mostly  in  old  pasture,  being  too  expensive  to 
work,  good  arable  land  only  resulting  w'hcre 
clay  and  sandy  limestone  crop  out  together.  The 
Oolite  (colour  7)  occupies  a  strip  of  laud  very 
similar  to  the  Lias,  and  lying  on  the  east  of  the 
latter ;  commencing  on  the  Dorset  coast  it  extends 
through  parts  of  the  counties  of  Somerset,  Wilts, 
Berks,  Gloucester,  Oxford,  Bucks,  Beds,  Hunts, 
Rutland,  and  Lincoln,  and  dies  away  on  the 
south  side  of  the  Humber,  the  clays  re-appear- 
ing in  the  North  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  west  of 
Scarborough.  In  Northanij)tonshire  the  nature 
of  the  outcrop  is  such  that  the  Lias  and  Oolites 
ramify  amongst  each  other  very  curiously,  pro- 
ducing the  fertile  districts  around  Rockingham 
and  Kettering.  In  the  Oolitic  strip,  thus  stretching 
from  Dorset  to  Yorkshire,  the  younger  or  upper 
members  of  the  series,  notably  the  clays,  are 
on  the  east  side;  thus,  Huntingdon  is  occupied 
almost  entirely  by  clay. 

Weai.den  and  Pukbeck  Beds. — The  Purbccks 
are  merely  local  in  the  Isle  of  Purbeck.  The 
Hastings  beds  consist  chiefly  of  fine  sand, 
intcrstratified  with  leaser  beds  of  clay;  they 
produce  a  fine  dry  sandy  loam,  which  in  dry 
\\cather  becomes  qviite  a  dust.  Where  the  clay 
and  calcareous  sandstone  weather  down  together, 
a  light  productive  soil  results.  But  where  the 
fiue  siliceous  sand  contains  nodules  of  iron  ore, 
a  poor  wet  soil,  producing  naturally  heath  and 
furze,  prevails.  The  Hastings  sand  occupies 
the  middle  of  (he  Weald  district  in  Kent  and 
Sussex.     The  Weald  clay   forms  a  fringe   round 


CLASSIFICATION    OF    SOILS. 


105 


tho  Hastings  beds  ou  tlio  north,  west,  and  snutli ; 
its  width  vai-ies  from  five  to  twenty  miles,  and 
it  is  seen  (colour  6)  in  Kent,  Surrey,  and  Sussex. 
The  soil  it  supports  is  a  damp,  stiff,  siliceous  clay, 
which  is  used  in  some  localities  for  making  bricks ; 
indeed,  so  well  is  it  adapted  for  this  purpose, 
that  it  sometimes  dries  in  the  sun  as  hard  as 
a  brick,  and  therefore  it  requires  a  considerable 
outlay  to  bring  such  a  soil  into  good  condition, 
thorough  drainage  being  the  firet  requisite. 
Nevertheless,  some  parts  form  a  very  active  arable 
soil,  yielding  wheat,  oats,  beans,  and  roots,  and 
here  and  there  deep  loams  support  some  of  the 
finest  hop-gardens ;  much  of  it,  however,  is  in 
pasture.  Down  to  within  i-ecent  times  most  of 
the  area  occupied  by  the  Wealden  and  Hastings 
beds  was  covered  by  forests,  some  of  which  still 
remain.  From  this  circumstance  the  disti'iet  re- 
ceived its  name  of  A\  eald  or  Wold,  meaning  a 
woodland.     The  district  is  noted  for  its  oak-trees. 

Greensand  axd  Gault  (colour  5) . — The  Lower 
Greensand  forms  a  very  narrow  fringe  along  the 
north,  west,  and  south  of  the  "Weald  clay,  just 
as  the  latter  surrounds  the  Hastings  sand;  it 
also  extends  as  a  narrow  strip  on  the  east  of  the 
Oolite  from  Dorset  up  to  Norfolk,  and  occnjiies 
a  similar  position  in  Lincolnshire  and  Yorkshire. 
Its  soil  is  generally  very  siliceous,  and  frequently 
mingled  with  silicate  of  iron ;  it  is  therefore 
often  barren.  Where  it  becomes  calcareous,  as 
near  Ilythe,  it  is  dry  and  j)roduetive,  hops 
especially  yielding  good  crops.  The  Gault  and 
Upper  Greensand  form  yet  another  border  round 
the  Wealden  area,  separating  the  chalk  on  the 
outside  from  the  Lower  Greensand  on  the 
inside ;  these  beds  are  also  seen  in  Dorset, 
in  the  southern  half  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and 
as  a  fringe  on  the  east  side  of  the  strip  of  Lower 
Greensand  which,  as  already  stated,  extends  fi-om 
Dorset  to  Norfolk,  and  through  parts  of  Lincoln- 
shire and  Yorkshire.  The  Gault  is  generally 
a  bluish,  sometimes  grej^ish,  calcareous  clay, 
forming  a  strong,  tenacious,  stubborn  soil,  which 
is  best  subdued  by  draining  and  applying  some 
of  the  overlying  Greensand,  when  useful  crops 
of  cereals  and  pulses  may  be  obtained.  ]\Iuch  of 
it  is  in  pasture,  and  it  is  known  in  some  locali- 
ties as  "  blackland."  The  soil  is  driest  where 
it  is  covered  by  drift  or  alluvium ;  in  some  places 
it  is  so  very  imper\'ious  that  the  water  remains 
on  the  surface,  as  in  the  Yale  of  "\Miite  Horse, 


Berks.  The  Upper  Greensand  consists  of  soft, 
friable,  calcareous  sand  of  a  dirty  green  colour, 
and  it  yields  a  dry  soil,  excepting  where  the 
underlying  Gault  clay  throws  up  water.  The 
soil,  especially  where  it  is  the  joint  product  of 
the  Ujiper  Greensand  and  the  overlying  Chalk 
ISIarl,  is  one  of  the  richest  in  the  country,  and 
is  easily  cultivated.  Where  it  becomes  too  light, 
an  addition  of  Gault  clay  is  the  natural  remedy. 
Its  great  fertility  is  due  to  the  presence  of  phos- 
phatic  nodules,  called  "  coprolites,"  which  provide 
a  sujiply  of  phosphorus,  for  which  most  soils 
are  dependent  on  expensive  manures,  as  super- 
phosphate of  lime,  bone-dust,  and  guano.  The 
hoji-distriet  of  Farnham,  in  Surrey,  is  on  this 
soil.  There  is  a  rich  tract  in  Beds,  and  others 
in  Bucks,  Oxon,  Wilts,  and  Somerset. 

Chalk  (colour  4). — The  lowest  member,  the 
Chalk  Marl,  especially  where  it  approaches  the 
Upper  Greensand,  supports,  like  the  latter,  a  most 
excellent  soil,  which  produces  fine  crops  of  roots, 
jjulses,  and  cereals.  To  the  Chalk  itself  less  praise 
can  be  given,  as  its  soils  at  the  best  are  only  of 
moderate  fertility.  The  limestone  of  the  Lower 
Chalk  is  of  a  dingy  white  colour,  owing  to  the 
presence  of  iron  and  clay ;  the  Upper  Chalk  beds 
are  whiter,  and  are  freely  interspersed  with  flints, 
which  are  usually  of  a  black  colour.  The  Chalk 
produces  naturally  short,  thick  pastures,  to  which 
sheep  are  addicted.  In  the  north  it  forms  the 
Yorkshire  and  Lincolnshire  Wolds ;  in  the  south 
it  rises  into  the  North  and  South  Downs,  the 
soil  being  very  thin,  so  that  the  Chalk  itself  is 
within  one  or  two  inches  of  the  grass.  A  good 
illustration  of  the  difference  between  transported 
soils  and  indigenous  or  local  ones  is  afforded  by 
a  comparison  of  the  Chalk  of  the  Lincolnshire 
Wolds  with  that  of  the  North  and  South  Downs. 
In  the  former  locality  it  is  mostly  covered  with 
superficial  deposits ;  in  the  latter  this  is  not 
the  case,  consequently  the  Chalk  of  Lincolnshire 
has  not  the  bare  and  arid  appearance  associated 
with  this  formation  in  the  southern  districts, 
and  most  of  it  has  been  converted  into  useful 
arable  laud.  The  Upper  Chalk  is  more  especially 
the  region  of  sheep-walks,  the  Lower  member 
yielding  more  arable  land.  In  some  localities 
water  has  dissolved  out  much  of  the  carbonate 
of  lime  from  the  soil,  and  left  on  the  LTpper 
Chalk  a  loose,  flinty  soil,  and  on  the  Lower  a 
cold,  stiff  clay,  such  as  may  be  seen  in  the  counties 


106 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


of  Kent,  Surrey,  ILM-lfonl,  Burks,  and  "Wills. 
The  soil  rc'sultin<?  from  a  mixture  of  the  Lower 
\vith  the  Upper  Chalk  is  said  to  yield  good  root 
crops,  especially  of  carrots,  after  deep  forking'. 
In  Suffolk,  West  Essex,  and  East  Hertfordshire, 
as  in  Lincolnshire,  to  which  reference  has  been 
made,  the  agricultural  qualities  of  the  soil  are 
entirely  altered,  owing  to  the  surface  of  the  Chalk 
being  covered  by  glacial  detritus.  Besides  the 
counties  already  mentioned,  the  Chalk  is  seen 
in  those  of  Sussex,  Hants,  Dorset,  Oxon,  Bucks, 
Cambridge,  and  Norfolk,  the  lowest  rented 
counties  in  England  being  on  its  soils.  On 
account  of  the  porous  character  of  the  roc'k, 
many  of  the  ponds  used  to  supply  animals  with 
water  in  Chalk  districts  require  to  bo  lined  with 
clay. 

Eocene. — The  metropolis  stands  on  this  for- 
mation (cfilour  3),  which  stretches  from  the  Essex 
coast,  far  up  the  Thames  valley,  to  the  borders 
of  Wiltshire.  Another  tract  on  the  south  coast 
occupies  parts  of  Dorset,  Hants,  and  Sussex,  and 
the  northern  portion  of  the  Isle  of  Wight.  The 
lowest  member  of  the  Eocene  series,  comprising 
the  Woolwich  and  Reading  beds  and  Tlianet  sands, 
was  once  known  as  the  Plastic  clay,  and  it  forms 
wide  heaths  in  Hampshire  and  Berkshire.  The 
light  sandy  soil  suffers  from  the  presence  of 
alternating  beds  of  elay,  which  throw  up  much 
■water ;  to  bring  the  soil  into  condition  requires 
thorough  draining,  subsoil  ploughing,  and  addition 
of  .some  of  the  neighbouring  chalk.  The  natural 
produce  is  heather,  furze,  and  a  poor  grass  almost 
valueless.  The  London  clay  has  a  bluish  or 
brownish  tenacious  soil,  which  splits  iu  dry 
weather,  and  so  assists  drainage.  Much  of  it 
is  in  pasture,  and  it  serves  this  purpose  well, 
but  is  too  strong  for  roots,  though  it  yields, 
after  marling  or  liming,  fair  crops  of  com  and 
beans.  As  the  London  clay  is  impervious  to 
water,  the  wells  in  and  around  London  have  to 
be  sunk  into  the  basement  beds;  they  are  there- 
fore deep,  excepting  where  the  water  is  derived 
from  superficial  gravels  lying  on  the  London  clay. 
It  forms  the  London  basin,  and  stretches  from 
Windsor,  in  the  west,  to  Harwich,  on  the  Essex 
coast,  and  to  Reculver,  on  the  coast  of  Kent; 
and  from  north  to  south  it  extends  fi-om  Baruet, 
in  Hertfordshire,  to  Croydon,  in  Surrey,  its  greatest 
width  being  about  twenty  miles. 

Miocene. — This  formation  is  so  very  slightly 


represented  in  Cireat  Britain  as  to  ro([uire  no 
notice  here.  In  Ireland  the  basaltic  plateau  of 
Co.  Antrim  is  of  Pliocene  age,  and  yields,  as 
trap-rocks  generally  do,  good  soils,  which  are 
under  thorough  cultivation. 

Pliocene. — The  Pliocene  crags  and  Bagshot 
sands  are  represented  under  one  colour  (2)  on  the 
map.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Bagshot  s.iuds  are 
of  Eocene  age,  and  they  ajipear  next  above  the 
London  clay ;  they  occur  to  the  south-west  of 
London,  on  the  sterile  Bagshot  Heath,  and  on  the 
coast  of  Hampshire.  Their  soil  is  poor,  light,  and 
sandy,  and  is  Httle  cultivated.  The  crags  occur 
in  the  extreme  east  of  England,  extending  along 
the  coasts  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  and  partly 
into  Essex.  The  soils  are  sometimes  so  loose  that 
after  ploughing  they  become  drifted  by  the  wind, 
and  after  hot  dry  weather  the  crops  are  light  and 
almost  scorched.  These  crags  form  the  repository 
of  phosphatic  nodules  similar  to  those  of  the 
LTpper  Greensand,  and  as  much  as  £70  an 
acre  has  been  given  for  the  right  to  dig  over 
a  two-acre  field  in  search  of  these  valuable 
mineral  fertilisers,  the  land  itself  reaping  much 
benefit  from  the  process.  The  eastern  counties 
are  essentially  the  corn-j)roducing  districts  of 
England. 

Much  of  the  surface  of  the  counties  of  York, 
Lincoln,  Noi-folk,  Suffolk,  Essex,  and  Hertford 
is  covered  by  Boulder-clay,  which  was  formed 
during  a  comparatively  recent  geological  period 
when  most  of  Britain  was  covered  by  ice,  as 
Greenland  is  at  the  present  day.  It  partakes 
partly,  though  not  entirely,  of  the  nature  of  the 
subsoil ;  thus,  in  Suffolk,  it  is  decidedly  chalky 
in  character,  and  when  drained  forms  a  very  fair 
soil.  Further  allusion  is  made  to  this  subjoet 
below. 

Alluvium. — Alluvial  deposits  arc  usually  formed 
on  the  banks,  and  at  the  mouths,  or  estuaries, 
of  rivers.  They  consist  of  the  silt  and  mud, 
gravel  and  sand,  brought  down  by  the  waters 
of  the  river,  and  being  thus  composed  of  the 
well-mixed  detritus  worn  from  the  various  for- 
mations which  the  river-system  drains,  they  are 
usually  very  fertile,  forming  rich  meadows  and 
pastures.  In  Lincolnshire  the  process  termed 
warping  consists  in  allowing  the  waters  of  the 
rivers  to  flow  over  the  land  for  the  sake  of  the 
fertilising  deposit.  In  Egypt,  again,  the  culti- 
vation of    the  soil    is  entirely   dependent   on    the 


CLASSIFICATION    OF    SOILS. 


107 


periodic  ovcrflnw  of  ilie  Nile,  for  there  is  no 
rain.  In  England  alluvial  soils  occur  on  the 
banks  of  the  Ouse,  Derwent,  Trent,  and  Humbor, 
in  the  York  and  Lincoln  district;  on  the  banks 
of  the  Thames;  and  on  those  of  the  Bristol  Avon, 
]\Ionmouthshire  Wye,  Usk,  and  Severn,  termi- 
nating in  the  broad  flats  bordering  the  Bristol 
Channel.  Under  this  head  mention  must  be  made 
of  vegetable  accumulations,  such  as  peat-mosses, 
bogs,  and  swamps.  The  flat,  undiversified  country 
round  about  the  Wash  consists  partly  of  peat 
in  the  south  towards  the  Fens,  but  chiefly  of 
silt.  It  extends  from  Flamborough  Head  south- 
wards, through  the  district  of  Holderuess,  to  the 
south  of  the  Humber,  and  thence  along  the  Wash 
to  the  Norfolk  coast,  the  total  area  being  upwards 
of  1,800  square  miles.  The  drainage  is  pumped 
up  into  the  rivers,  which  are  enclosed  by  stout 
dykes,  after  the  Dutch  custom.  On  the  west 
coast  of  Lancashire,  in  the  estuary  of  the  Ribble, 
the  Fylde  plains  somewhat  resemble  those  of  the 
Wash.  One  of  the  greatest  difhculties  exjierienccd 
in  reclaiming  alluvial  tracts  is  that  of  drainage, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  unmanageable  peaty  soils  of 
Scotland  and  North-west  Ireland.  If,  howevei-, 
this  has  been  successfully  accomplished,  a  fertile 
soil  is  the  almost  certain  reward.  Thus  the  flat 
country  known  as  the  Bridgewater  Levels,  in 
Somerset,  consisted,  at  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  of  wet  useless  bogs ;  by  efHelent  drainage, 
and  top-dressing  with  river-mud,  it  has  been 
gradually  reclaimed,  and  now  forms  grazing-lands 
of  the  richest  description,  clovers  and  pasture- 
gi-asses  thriving  where  once  the  bog-plants  held 
undisputed  sway.  When  a  peaty  soil  is  drained, 
the  heaths  disappear,  and  the  soft  grass,  Ilolcits 
lannfus,  takes,  at  flrst,  their  place.  Under  alluvial 
soils  must  also  be  classed  the  brick-earth,  or  wash, 
consisting  of  the  detritus  worn  from  hill-sides, 
down  which  it  rolls  to  produce  fertile  accumu- 
lations in  the  plains  below. 

Drift. — This  term  is  used  to  denote,  amongst 
other  things,  the  detritus  which  was  scattered 
broadcast  over  much  of  the  British  area  during  the 
latest  Glacial  Period.  The  ice  in  its  progress  may 
have  eroded  some  of  the  rock  on  which  the  drift — ■ 
Boulder-cla}-,  for  example — rests,  and  a  mixed 
soil  then   results.      And  further,  as    the   glaciers 


ground  up  the  surface  of  the  land  over  which 
they  flowed,  the  detritus  of  one  formation  was 
mingled  with  that  of  another,  and  the  result 
of  this  is  usually  beneficial.  The  drift  necessarily 
forms  tranxporlcd  soils;  and,  as  the  reader  must 
have  noticed,  the  soil  in  such  cases  differs  more 
or  less  from  the  subsoil.  In  some,  more  especially 
the  southern,  parts  of  Britain,  the  drift  is  absent, 
and  then  there  is  a  close  and  intimate  connection 
between  the  nature  of  the  soil  and  that  of  the 
rock  below — the  subsoil.  But  in  nearly  all  cases, 
even  whei'e  the  formation  in  a  given  locality, 
as  represented  on  the  map,  is  masked  by  super- 
ficial accumulations,  it  must  be  evident  that  there 
is  a  more  or  less  intimate  relation  between  soil  and 
subsoil,  and  hence  the  bearing  of  a  knowledge  of 
scientific  geology  on  practical  agriculture.  One 
and  the  same  formation  may,  it  is  true,  vary  much 
in  character  in  different  localities ;  owing  then 
to  this  cause,  and  to  the  existence  of  superficial 
coverings,  a  geological  map  can  only  convey  an 
imjjcrfect  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  soils  borne 
by  the  respective  formations. 

To  obtain  a  trustworthy  map  o£  soils,  a 
much  closer  knowledge  than  is  at  present 
possessed  of  the  "  surface  -  geology "  of  the 
country  is  requisite.  As  the  Geological  Survey 
of  the  United  Kingdom  becomes  further  ad- 
vanced, this  knowledge  will  doubtless  be  ac- 
quired, but  even  then  it  is  questionable  whether 
it  will  easily  pass  into  the  possession  of  those 
who  are  most  interested  in  the  soil,  for  the  price 
at  present  charged  for  the  published  records  of 
the  Survey  is  so  excessive  as  to  be  jiractically 
prohibitive.  The  officers  of  the  Survey  include 
men  of  world-wide  fame  as  geologists,  and  for 
the  very  useful  and  interesting  results  of  their 
zealous  and  arduous  labours  to  be  withheld  from 
the  mass  of  the  people,  on  account  of  the  exorbitant 
price  of  the  luiblications,  is  a  condition  of  things 
which  urgently  needs  alteration.  The  system 
adopted  in  the  United  States  of  America  is  very 
different  to  ours,  and  there  can  be  but  little  doubt 
that  if  the  memoirs  of  the  British  Geological 
Survey  were  published  in  a  cheap  form,  and  sold 
at  a  trifle  over  cost  price,  the  larger  number 
of  copies  sold  would  provide  against  any  possible 
loss.  W.  F. 


17 


CHAPTER      IX. 

Soils    axd    Climatics    Suitable    von    Dairying. 


General  Nature  of  Soils  Most  Suitable  for  Dairy  Fnrming^Main  Point  tlie  (Jiiality  of  I'aslure— Mixed  Ilusbandry  Suitable  for 
Medium  Soils— Unsuitable  Soils— IniiJortanto  of  (Uiinatic  Conditions— Why  Draining  alone  often 
Deteriorates  a  Soil. 


^%^^IIE  practice  iiiid  cxpci-icncc  <il' 
ag'es  have  liitlicrto  determined 
the  conditidiis  of  soil  and 
climate  which  are  natxirally 
best  adapted  to  dairy-farming, 
and  under  which  it  can  be 
conducted  with  the  greatest 
success ;  and  though  modern  science, 
recent  inventions,  improved  appliances, 
draining,  artificial  shelter,  and  the 
greatly  improved  systems  of  farming 
which  have  become  general  in  these  later  days 
have  had  the  effect  of  extending  the  range  and 
area  of  dairy-farming,  the  na"tural  advantages 
of  soil  and  climate,  which  are  found  in  a  high 
degree  in  certain  districts,  still  remain  in  force, 
and  ever  will.  Whatever  improvements  modern 
husbandry,  aided  by  scientific  research  and  experi- 
ment, have  effected  already,  or  may  effect  in  the 
future,  it  will  always  remain  true  that  the  soils 
best  adapted  to  dair\ing  are  those  included  in  the 
terms  "  loamy,"  "  marly,"  and  "  alluvial."  The 
last  are  found  in  valleys,  plains,  and  low-lying 
districts  generally,  and  they  are  best  adapted  to 
dairy-farming  simply  because  the  best  natural 
pastures  are  found  on  them.  They  are  usually 
formed  of  j)articles  of  various  rocky  and  vegetable 
substances,  so  blended  that  all  the  elements  of 
plant-food  are  present  in  them  in  well-balanced 
proportion.  All  the  mineral  portions  of  soils  ha\e 
been  derived  from  the  decay  and  disintegration  of 


most  commonly  the  richest  ones,  because  in  the 
process  of  their  formation  and  deposition,  mainly 
by  river  action,  a  great  variety  of  mineral  frag- 
ments have  been  collected  from  the  different  strata 
through  which  the  rivers  forming  them  have  run 
for  ages. 

Though  tillage  and  dairy-farming  districts  ai'e 
now  less  distinctly  separated  from  each  other  than 
they  formerly  were,  it  is  none  the  less  true  that 
where  the  finest  natural  pastures  are  there  will 
the  most  profitable  dairying  be  found.  Thus  the 
flats  of  Cheshire,  the  undulating  plains  of  Leices- 
tershire, the  valleys  and  lowlands  and  plains  of 
Derbyshire,  Gloucestershire,  and  Somersetshire  are, 
and  ever  will  be,  the  natural  homes  of  dairj-ing 
in  England.  In  these,  and  in  portions  of  other 
counties  having  similar  advantages,  dairying  has 
been  carried  on  from  the  earliest,  and  will  be  to 
the  latest,  days  of  our  civilisation ;  and  it  is  to 
them  in  the  future,  as  it  has  been  in  the  past,  that 
we  naturally  look  for  our  best  and  largest  sujiplies 
of  milk,  cheese,  and  butter.  Still,  dairy-farming 
is  not  by  any  means  confined  to  these  districts  and 
soils,  but  is  practiscKl  by  many  farmers  in  localities 
where  the  soil  and  climate  are  not  too  obviously 
adapted  to  tillage  rather  than  to  grass-land  farm- 
ing. It  is,  however,  rnore  or  less  disappointing 
to  attempt  dairy-farming  on  soils  which,  thin  and 
light  in  their  plwsical  character,  and  situated  in 
a  climate  which  is  dry  at  all  times  and  subject 
to  periodical  droughts,  are  ill  adapted  to  the 
rocks — a  process  that  has  been  going  slowly  on  growth  of  grasses  of  any  kind,  except  the  most 
through  limitless  ages,  and  is  going  on  still ;  and  temporary  ones,  which,  for  one  year  only,  are  taken 
as  the  value  of   a  soil  depends  in   a   very  large     in  rotations. 

degree  on  these  mineral  constituents — their  quality.  But  a  mixed  system  of  dairy  and  arable  farming 

kind,  and  variety — it  follows  that  alluvial  soils  are     — the  latter  made  to  be  subsidiary  to  the  former — 


MIXED    HUSBANDRY. 


109 


on  mixL'J  and  medium  soils,  wliieli  admit  cif  and 
combine  many  of  the  good  qualities  of  both 
systems,  has  long  been  practised  in  many  parts  of 
both  England  and  Scotland ;  and  this  mixed  prac- 
tice, \'iewcd  in  the  light  of  its  influence  towards 
an  increased  production  of  milk,  can  hardly  fail 
to  continue  spreading  so  long  as  the  demand  for 
country  milk  in  our  cities  and  to\\'ns,  which  has 
sprung  up  in  so  wonderful  a  manner  in  the  past 
few  years,  remains  in  its  present  active  state,  and 
more  especially  so  if  the  demand  goes  on  increasing, 
of  which  there  seems  to  exist  moi-e  than  a  pro- 
baliility.  Nay,  the  mixed  practice  has  penetrated 
extensively  into  those  districts,  on  the  one  hand, 
where  tillage  was  aforetime  held  to  be  almost  a 
sacrilegious  encroachment  on  dairy-farming ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  is  already  far  from  uncommon 
m  many  localities  which,  for  generations  past, 
have  been  almost  wholly  given  up  to  the  groui:h 
of  cereals. 

There  are,  however,  some  soils — to  wit,  our 
wettest  and  stiffest  clays — on  which  a  mixed  sys- 
tem of  arable  and  dairy  fanning  cannot,  with 
our  present  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  husbandry, 
be  easil}'  or  profitably  carried  out,  and  these  are 
necessarily  left  in  permanent  pasture,  the  quality 
of  which  is  always  inferior,  or  are  devoted  wholly 
to  wheat,  beans,  and  other  tillage  crops  suitable  to 
stiff  soils ;  they  do  not,  with  either  pleasure  or 
profit,  admit  of  alternate  tillage  and  semi-per- 
manent pasture.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  there 
are  certain  fine-qnality  alluvial  soils,  so  excellently 
adapted  to  peiTnanent  pasture  and  meadow,  that 
it  is  pretty  certain  the  plough,  if  used  on  them, 
would  be  one  of  the  farmers'  greatest  enemies. 
Fine  old-turf  land,  wherever  found,  is  well  worth 
preserving,  and  to  reduce  such  land  to  arable  cul- 
tivation would  be  a  piece  of  agricultural  wanton- 
ness which  could  not  easily  be  too  much  condemned. 

In  the  present  day,  when  the  area  of  permanent 
grass  land  is  rapidly  increasing  in  this  country, 
and  when  tillage  is  decreasing  in  a  corresponding 
degree,  a  school  of  agricultural  writers  have  sprung 
np  who  ciy  out  loudly  against  the  tendency  of 
the  age  in  favour  of  grass,  and  who  declare  their 
belief  that  land  under  tillage  will  produce  more 
food  for  the  people  than  land  under  grass.  This 
is  true  as  to  some  kinds  of  land,  and  untrue  as  to 
others.  The  late  Sir  H.  M.  Thompson,  of  Kirby 
Hall,  York,  than  whom  we  had  no  better  autho- 
rity as  to  the  relative  productiveness  of  grass  and 


arable  land,  laid  down  the  j^roposition  : — "  That 
our  grass  lands,  if  projserly  managed,  would  be 
easily  able  to  meet  the  demand  made  upon  them 
for  an  increased  production  of  meat,  even  if  the 
supply  required  were  greatly  in  excess  of  the  jire- 
sent  rate  of  consumption."  And,  again  : — "  That 
money  judiciously  laid  out  in  improving  grass 
land  makes  a  better  return  than  money  laid  out 
on  arable  land."  The  fact  of  the  matter  is, 
there  is  truth  in  both  these  opposing  opinions. 
The  question  is  one  of  climate  and  kind  of  land. 
If  the  land  is  of  a  veiy  light  or  of  a  verj-  lieavy 
character,  and  situated  in  a  dry  climate,  it  is  best 
kept  under  arable  cultivation,  because  it  is  not 
naturally  adapted  to  be  good  grass  land;  but  it 
would  be  a  great  mistake  to  plough  up  the  deep 
loams  and  alluvial  soils  found  in  the  valleys  in  so 
many  parts  of  England,  and  especially  so  if  they 
are  in  a  moist  climate,  which  is  so  essential  to  the 
growth  of  grass. 

The  farms  on  which  are  found  the  mixed  system 
already  mentioned  are  most  commonly  those  which, 
in  hilly  districts,  stretch  from  the  valleys  to  the 
uplands,  including  a  portion  of  both,  the  valleys 
being  left  in  permanent  grass,  and  the  uplands 
being  more  or  less  devoted  to  tillage ;  those  which 
are  situated  on  loams  varying  from  clayey  to 
sandy ;  and  those  whose  soils  are  on  carboniferous 
or  magnesian  limestone,  or  on  sandstone  founda- 
tions, moderately  deep,  of  good  quality,  and  withal 
sound  and  firm.  For  daiiy-fai-ming  especially, 
though  also  for  other  purposes,  the  best  soils  are 
the  deep  alluvial  loams  and  drifts  which,  though 
situated  in  damp  climates  having  a  considerable 
rainfall,  need  little  or  no  artificial  draining — soils 
of  considerable  thickness,  of  an  open  texture, 
though  firm,  and  ^\'ithal  sound  and  healthy.  Very 
light,  thin,  dry  soils,  of  any  character  whatever, 
are  ill  adapted  to  carry  dairy-stock;  of  these  the 
light  blowing  sands  are  the  worst  for  that  pur- 
pose, because,  though  sound  enough  and  healthy, 
they  do  not  and  cannot  be  made  to  contain  within 
themselves  in  sufficient  quantity  the  nitrates  and 
phosphates  which,  on  the  one  hand,  are  neeessarj- 
to  the  production  of  milk  in  paying  quantities, 
and,  on  the  other,  to  the  production  of  bone  and 
flesh  in  young  stock.  These  soils  are  best  given  up 
wholly  to  tillage-farming  and  to  sheep-husbandry. 

There  are,  however,  between  the  rich  alluvial 
soils  of  the  one  part,  and  the  thin  sedentary  ones 
of  the  other  part,  a  great  variety  of  soils  which, 


110 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


as  they  vary  in  richness  and  in  substance,  and 
as  they  are  favourably  or  unfavourably  situated 
with  res2)ect  to  climate  and  to  water  privileges, 
are  more  or  less  adapted  to  dairy-farming ;  and 
it  is  on  these  soils,  in  varying  degree,  that  a 
mixed  system  of  dairy  and  tillage  farming  will 
be  found  to  yield  the  best  returns.  On  such  soils 
it  may  be  accepted  as  a  truism  that  the  plough 
and  the  milk-pail  are  by  no  means  opposed  to 
each  other,  but  rather  that  tliey  are  calculated 
to  supplement  each  other's  efficiency  and  profit. 
Cereals,  inter.'^persed  with  clovers,  rye-grasses,  aiul 
other  forage  crops,  with  roots  and  with  otiier 
green  crops  for  "soiling''  purposes,  iucludiug 
a  due  area  of  permanent  pasture  and  meadow, 
are  calculated  to  work  so  well  hand  in  hand 
together,  that  dairy-farming,  by  their  united 
aid,  may  be  as  profitably  followed  as  it  may 
under,  perhaps,  any  conditions  whatever.  And 
in  the  present  day,  artificial  manures  and  pur- 
chased feeding-stuffs  enter  so  largely  into  all  farm 
practice  and  economy  that  they  greatly  modify 
some  of  the  natural  conditions  which  have  afore- 
time had  paramount  influence.  But,  in  any  case, 
the  soils  which,  either  with  assistance  or  with- 
out it,  will  produce  the  largest  and  best  crops  of 
green  food  of  one  kind  or  another  are  far  better 
adapted  to  dairying  than  are  those  whose  speciality 
is  the  growth  of  cereals.  Grass,  either  natural  or 
artificial — that  is,  either  permanent  or  temporary 
— is  naturally  of  the  first  importance  in  dairy- 
farming;  it  is  the  foundation,  in  its  capacity 
of  green  food  in  summer  and  of  dry  food  in 
winter,  on  which  the  whole  system  of  operations 
must  in  a  greater  or  lesser  degree  be  built.  The 
question,  then,  to  be  asked  and  answered  in 
selecting  a  farm  for  daiiying  is,  "  Are  the  soil 
and  climate  well  adapted  for  the  growth  of 
grasses?"  The  one  is  almost  as  important  as 
the  other,  for,  however  well  adapted  the  soil  itself 
may  be,  grasses  will  not  flourish  as  they  ought — 
more  particularly  in  pei-manent  pastures — if  the 
climate  is  very  hot  and  dry ;  but  if  the  soil  and 
climate  both  are  well  suited  to  the  growtli  of 
pei-manent  and  rotation  grasses,  it  follows  that 
they  are  also  well  suited  to  the  growth  of  any  cul- 
tivated crops  which  may  be  regarded  as  valuable 
accessories  to  dairy-farming — to  wit,  (•al)bages, 
turnips,  rajjc,  clovers,  oats,  itc. 

The   climates    best    atlajiteil    to    dairying    are 
naturally  and  essentially  those  which  best  promote 


the  growth  of  grasses  and  of  green  crops  gene- 
rally. In  the  varying  states  of  the  weather  they 
are  cool  rather  than  cold,  warm  rather  than 
hot,  and  damp  as  opposed  to  dry — mild,  humid 
climates,  in  fact,  of  which  there  are  many  shades 
and  degrees  in  these  islands,  all  of  them  more 
or  less  suited  to  dairying ;  and  these  variations 
include  the  range  of  climate  wherein  dairy-farm- 
ing can  be  jjractised  to  the  greatest  advantage. 
A  mild,  humid  climate,  with  a  copious  rainfall 
supplying  an  abundance  of  water  to  pools  and 
running  streams,  not  too  bumingly  hot  in  summer 
nor  too  bitterly  cold  in  winter,  supplies,  in  con- 
junction with  suitable  soils,  the  best  conditions 
for  profitable  dairying.  Intense  heat  in  summer, 
and  coiTcspoudingly  intense  cold  in  winter,  are  so 
far  detrimental  that  the  yield  of  milk  and,  con- 
sequently, of  cheese  and  butter  is  considerably  less 
than  it  is  under  temperate  climatic  conditions; 
and  as  man  can  only,  by  such  means  as  the 
draining  of  wet  land  and  the  planting  of  forest- 
trees,  modify  within  limits  the  climate  of  a  given 
district,  it  becomes  necessary  that  he  should 
counteract  it  as  far  as  possible  by  pro\-iding 
adequate  summer  and  winter  shelter  for  dairy- 
cattle.  The  latter  is,  of  course,  always  the  more 
necessary  of  the  two,  but  summer  shelter,  in  the 
months  when  the  sun's  rays  are  commonly  very 
powerful,  is  a  more  valuable  tiling  than  we  are 
in  the  habit  of  thinking. 

It  is  not  cruel  only,  but  it  is  unprofitable,  to  ex- 
jjose  milch-cows  to  extremes  of  heat  in  summer  and 
of  cold  in  -winter.  Shelter,  especially  against  cold, 
stands  in  place  of  a  given  quantity  of  food  which 
woidd  otherwise  be  required.  It  is  expedient  to 
remember  that  one  kind  of  food,  having  a  definite 
composition,  produces  flesh  and  restores  the  waste 
of  it  which  is  continually  going  on  in  the  animal 
system;  the  elements  composing  this  kind  are 
known  under  the  names  of  albumen,  fibrin,  casein, 
gluten,  &c.,  and  are  generally  termed  "albu- 
minoids." Another  kind,  consisting  of  fats,  oils, 
starch,  sugar,  gum,  &c.,  supplies  the  materials 
by  which  the  heat  of  the  animal  body  is  produced 
and  sustained ;  and  it  follows  that  if  animals  are 
overmuch  exjiosed  to  cold  there  is  a  correspond- 
ing waste  of  the  latter  class  of  food-elements. 

The  first  limit  is  placed  on  daiiying  by 
climate,  and  the  next  by  the  character  of  the 
soil,  coupled  with  the  supply  of  water.  If  the 
cUmate  is  either  too  hot  or  too  cold  to  keep  cows 


CAUSES    WHICH    AFFECT    DAIRYING. 


Ill 


in  a  healthy,  comfortable,  and  thriving  condition, 
dairying  cannot  be  carried  on  with  a  full  measure 
of  profit  and  success  ;  and  if  the  character  of  the 
soil  is  unsuitable,  and  there  is  a  meagre  supply 
of  water,  even  though  the  climate  be  suitable, 
the  objection  of  only  partial  success  is  sure  to 
come  in.  It  is  true  that  daiiying  may  be  carried 
on  outside  these  natural  limits,  but  additional  ex- 
pense both  of  shelter  and  food  ■will  be  incurred, 
and  the  profits  mil  be  correspondingly  diminished  ; 
yet  are  there  but  few  natural  disadvantages  which 
the  ingenuity  and  energy  of  man  cannot  remove, 
or  at  all  events  greatly  modify ;  the  question  of 
profit  in  so  doing  is  another,  but  not  a  separate 
consideration. 

The  characteiisties  of  a  naturally  good  dairy 
district  will  generally  be  found  to  be  a  rolling, 
undulating,  somewhat  hilly  surface;  a  soil  not 
too  heavy  and  damp,  nor  too  light  and  dry, 
but  deep,  loamy,  and  moderately  retentive  of 
moisture ;  a  sweet  and  nutritious  herbage  of 
natural  gmsses,  that  springs  up  early,  and  con- 
tinues to  grow  vigorously  late  on  in  the  season 
— a  herbage  whose  vigorous  and  luxuriant  growth 
tends  to  shorten  winter  at  both  ends ;  a  rather 
low  average  temperature,  with  frequent  showers 
rather  than  periodical  droughts  in  summer;  and 
a  never-failing  supply  of  good  water  in  springs 
and  nmning  streams.  There  are  many  districts 
in  the  British  Islands  which  answer  well  to  this 
description. 

Another  limitation  to  dairying  —  but  this 
depends  on  the  foregoing  ones — is  the  supply  of 
food ;  and  it  is  not  quantity  alone,  but  quality 
also,  which  must  be  taken  into  consideration. 
The  pastures  may  be  veiy  fuU  of  grass,  but  if 
it  is  of  a  poor,  sour,  and  inferior  kind,  daiiy- 
cows  will  milk  badly  on  it,  the  milk,  cheese,  and 
butter  will  be  inferior,  and  the  whole  business 
will  result  in  disapi^oiutment.  But  where  the  cha- 
racteristics of  a  good  dairy  district  are  present, 
where  soil,  water,  and  climate  are  all  that  need 
be  asked  for,  there  is  no  deserii^tion  of  farming 
that  promises  quite  so  good  a  prospect  of 
remuneration  as  the  dairy.  So  long  as  the 
production  of  milk  continues  to  be  one  of  the 
most  profitable  objects  to  which  the  English 
farmer  can  devote  himself,  the  area  of  dairy- 
fanning  will  continue  to  extend  into  districts 
which  have  been  hitherto  deemed  more  or  less 
unsuitable   to   it,    and   the   natural    causes  which 


have  so  far  confined  it  within  certain  limits  will 
be  removed  or  diminished.  Where  it  is  a  ques- 
tion of  climate,  shelter  will  be  provided;  where 
of  water,  artificial  supj)lies  will  be  prepared ;  and 
where  of  soil,  a  system  of  tillage  husbandry 
and  extensive  soiling  with  green  croj)s  will  be 
the  method  practised. 

It  must  not  here  be  assumed  that  we  consider 
notliing  has  been  done  already  in  this  direction. 
Though  the  land  in  these  islands  is  undoubtedly 
capable  of  producing  very  much  more  food  for 
the  people  than  it  does  produce  at  present,  it 
is  none  the  less  tnie  that  many  and  great 
improvements,  some  of  them  of  a  very  com- 
prehensive character,  have  been  made  in  the  past 
half-centuiy.  A  very  large  amount  of  draining, 
fencing,  cultivation,  reclaiming,  planting,  and 
general  improvement  has  been  done;  and  some 
districts  have  been  completely  changed  in  cha- 
racter by  the  process,  as  the  inevitable  "oldest 
inhabitant"  can  testify.  But  very  much  yet 
remains  to  be  done.  In  many  cases  land  has 
been  not  so  much  improved  as  prepared  for  im- 
provement by  such  operations  as  draining,  fenc- 
ing, and  planting.  It  is  not  enough  to  merely 
drain  land,  or  fence  or  j)lant  it.  These  ojierations, 
where  necessary,  are  but  the  required  foundations 
for  subsequent  improvements.  If  wet  land,  for 
instance,  is  merely  drained,  it  will  commonly  do 
worse  for  the  farmer — at  all  events  for  some  years 
— than  it  did  in  its  undrained  state.  By  merely 
draining  wet  land  you  change  the  natural  conditions 
under  which  the  herbage  has  been  for  generations 
subsisting,  and  you  do  not  provide  the  new 
conditions  which  the  change  has  made  necessaiy 
to  the  new  class  of  herbage  which,  sooner  or 
later,  must  take  the  place  of  the  old.  You  have 
removed  the  elements  which  have  mainly  sustained 
the  class  of  herbage  you  found  there — herbage, 
of  course,  of  a  wretched  kind,  but  suited  to  the 
then  state  of  the  land — and  you  have  not  provided 
the  new  elements  which  the  altered  herbage 
requires;  hence  there  is,  for  the  time,  a  falling 
oiS  in  quantity,  and  also  in  quality,  of  production. 
The  grasses — coarse  as  they  undoubtedly  were  and 
unprofitable — which  the  wet  land  produced  must 
necessarily  die  out  after  the  draining;  but  the 
new  order  of  things,  the  fresh  and  different 
grasses  which  must  take  their  place,  require, 
unless  properly  assisted,  some  time  to  establish 
themselves.      In    land    recently   drained   there   is 


Hi 


DAIRY    FAKMl.XC;. 


commonly  a  larg'C  amount  of  acidity,  which  comes 
of  decayed  and  decayinj^  vegetable  matter,  and 
of  the  inert  state  in  which  the  laud  has  for 
so  hing  a  time  remained ;  this  acidity  needs  to 
be  immediately  neutralised  by  lime,  in  order  that 
the  better  grasses  may  gain  a  root-hold,  and 
the  land  generally  requires  a  supply  of  nitrogen, 
phosphoric  acid,  and  potash,  that  they  may  not 
only  obtain  a  root-hold,  but  flourish  as  well. 

Thus  the  draining  of  wet  land  is  but  the 
foundation  of  good  husbandry,  and  such  land 
is  commonly  very  grateful  for  further  improve- 
ments of  a  manurial  character — improvements 
which  may  be  expedited  by  the  sowing  of  the 
seeds  of  such  grasses  as  are  calculated  to  fl(nirish 
under  the  new  conditions.  In  many  cases  it  may 
not  be  absolutely  necessary  to  sow  such  seeds, 
for  the  better  gnisses  will  commonly  spring  up 
spontaneously  after  a  time,  and  the  sooner  if 
they  are  encoui-aged  by  judicious  manuring;  but 
you  save  time  by  sowing  them,  and  time  is 
money  to  the  farmer,  as  to  any  one  else.  To  a 
genuine  lover  of  agriculture  there  is  no  plea- 
santer  occupation  than  to  create  the  marvellous 
transformation  which  comes  to  land  of  draining 
and  subsequently  improving  it;  while  there  is 
nothing  appertaining  to  the  farmer's  calling  which 
is  more  productive  of  profit  when  judiciously 
carried  out. 

But  on  all  wet  soils  no  improvements  can  bo 
made  to  pay  until  the  primary  one  of  draining  has 


b.>en  dine;  and  draining  alone  in  many  cases 
effects  greater  changes  for  good  than  any  other 
single  improvement  that  can  be  named.  It  com- 
jjletely  changes  the  mechanical  state  of  the  soil, 
and  greatly  improves  the  climate.  So  long  as 
water  cannot  percolate  through  the  subsoil  and 
pass  away  by  subterranean  ducts  of  one  kind  or 
another,  through  a  stratum  of  sand  or  gravel,  or 
through  the  crevices  of  rocks,  the  soil  will  be 
dense  and  plastic,  and  the  climate  cold  and  damp; 
and  the  water  must  needs  pass  away  by  one  or 
both  of  two  other  means :  over  the  surface  of  the 
land,  or  by  evaporation,  otherwise  the  district  will 
become  and  remain  a  swamp.  Now,  to  evaporate 
the  30  inches  of  rain  which  falls  in  a  year  in  this 
2)art  of  the  world,  it  has  been  calculated  that  a 
quantity  of  heat  would  be  required  equivalent  to 
what  would  be  produced  by  the  combustion  of  ten 
times  as  many  tons  of  coal  per  acre,  so  that  an 
amazing  volume  of  the  sun's  heat  is  thus  wasted 
before  any  of  it  can  be  applied  to  the  warming  of 
the  soil  and  the  growth  of  vegetation.  It  is  of 
course  true  that  in  very  few  cases  does  the  whole 
of  the  rain-water  pass  away  by  evaporation ;  yet 
such  a  large  proportion  of  it  does  so  pass  away 
from  our  Hat  and  low-lying  undrained  soils,  that 
the  summer's  sun  is  to  a  large  extent  thrown 
away.  This  fact  alone  is  enough  to  show  up  the 
immense  value  and  importance  of  draining,  to 
which  subject  accordingly  oui-  next  chapter  will 
be  devoted. 


mm 


H'  ^.zf): 


CHAPTER      X. 


Draining. 


Draining—Business  Arrangements— Ancient  Systems  of  Draining— Plug-Draining— Drains  of  Broken  Stone— Mole-Draining— Sheep 
Drains— Bog-Draining— Draining  Tools  and  Tiles— Stone  Drains— Reasons  for  Draining— Wet  and  Dry  Soils— Eflfccts  of  Draining 
on  Clay  Soils— Aeration,  or  Disintegration— Planning  a  System  of  Drainage— Importance  of  a  True  Level  in  Drains— Examples 
of  Good  Drainage— Preserving  Plans  of  Drainage  System— Discharge  and  Rainfall  Compared— Tables — Rate  of  Inclination — 
Outlet— Costs— Benefits  from  Draining— From  Occasionally  Stopping  Drains— Enemies  to  Drains— 
Capillarity- Why  Wet  Land  is  Cold  Land— Good  Drainage  the  Cheapest. 


;ill  1:111(1  that  is  not  naturally 
dry  and  soitnd,  artifieial  drain- 
ino-  is  the  foundation  of  good 
husbandry ;  no  other  ira- 
j)rovemeuts  can  be  effective 
without  it,  and  no  system 
of  cultivation  satisfactory.  Hence  it 
follows  that  all  water-logged  land, 
and  also  other  land  which,  though 
perhaps  not  exactly  water-logged,  is  still 
too  wet,  must  be  drained  as  a  first  opera- 
tion. As  a  rule,  the  landlord  will  do  this,  charging 
the  tenant  a  fair  interest  on  the  outlay ;  or,  if  the 
tenant  does  it,  the  landlord  \vill  charge  a  smaller 
rent  for  a  given  term  of  years,  in  consideration 
of  his  tenant's  outlay.  There  are  a  variety  of 
arrangements  entered  into  between  landlord  and 
tenant  as  to  the  draining  of  land.  In  some 
instances  the  landlord  provides  draining-tUes,  and 
the  tenant  lays  them  do\vn,  no  subsequent  claim 
for  payment  of  either  principal  or  interest  being 
afterwards  advanced  by  either  party.  In  cases  where 
a  tenant  has  a  lease  for  nineteen  or  twenty-one 
years,  he  will  commonly  do  the  draining  at  his 
own  cost  entirely,  and  will  have  been  well  rejjaid 
long  before  the  end  of  the  lease.  But,  as  a 
rule,  the  most  satisfactory  system,  the  simplest, 
fairest,  and  most  straightforward,  is  for  the 
landlord  to  do  the  draining,  charging  the  tenant 
an  increase  of  rent  equivalent  to  a  fair  interest 
on  the  outlay.  It  is  always  to  tlie  advantage 
of  a  tenant  to  take  a  farm  whose  draining  is 
done,  and  pay  a  corresponding  increase  of  rent, 
rather  than  one  which  needs  it — no  matter  on 
what  terms  he  will  have  it  drained  subsequently. 
In  the  former  case  the  land  is  all  in  a  fit  state 


for  work,  and  there  is  no  time  lost ;  in  the  latter 
there  is  a  considerable  delay,  to  say  nothing 
of  a  large  expenditure  of  work  and  money, 
before  the  land  is  fit  for  either  cultivation  or 
manuring. 

Many  kinds  or  systems  of  draining  have 
been  in  vogue  at  different  periods  for  hundreds 
and  even  thousands  of  years,  and  some  have 
been  peculiar  to  certain  'districts  of  this  country. 
The  ancient  Romans  were  well  acquainted  with 
the  art  of  draining,  for  their  writers  on  agricul- 
ture— Cato,  Palladius,  Columella,  and  Pliny— all 
mention  it,  and  some  of  them  give  very  minute 
directions  for  the  formation  of  drains  and  the 
direction  in  which  they  should  be  carried.  The 
materials  of  which  they  were  formed  were  stones, 
branches  of  trees,  and  even  straw;  and  Palladius, 
in  his  De  Aquae  Diictibus,  mentions  earthenware 
tubes  that  were  smaller  at  one  end  so  that  they 
might  fit  into  each  other.  It  is  probable,  however, 
that  these  tubes,  though  they  appear  to  have 
been  in  some  respects  similar  to  modern  draining- 
pipes,  were  used  rather  for  the  conveyance  of 
water  than  for  draining  land.  So  long  ago  as 
1653,  Caj)taiu  Walter  Bligh  not  only  gave 
directions  for  the  systematic  drainage  of  watered 
meadows,  bogs,  and  marshy  ground,  but  founded 
his  rules  on  principles  which  modem  science  and 
experience  have  shown  to  be  eminently  con-ect. 
In  the  latter  part  of  last  century  a  system  of 
draining  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Elkington,  a 
Warwickshire  farmer,  which,  however,  dealt  only 
with  the  water  arising  from  springs,  leaving  iin- 
touched  the  greater  evils  arising  from  an  excess 
of  rain-water  held  in  suspension  by  retentive  soils  ; 
yet  his   system  attracted  so  much  attention  that 


1 1 


DAIRY    FAR^riXG. 


the  Government   of  the  clay  presented  liim  with 

£1^000  as  a  reward  for  describing  the  principles 

on  wliich  his  practice   was 

founded. 

In  various  parts  o£  Eng- 
land, particularly  in  Essex, 


Fig.  33.— Plug-Dr.unixg. 

a  system  of  "  land-ditching,"  as  it  was  termed, 
had  long  been  practised^  Shallow  drains  were 
formed  at  short  intervals,  and  filled  in  to  a 
certain  depth  with  brushw*od,  straw,  and  even 
weeds,  over  which  the  soil  was  replaced;  this 
system,  however,  could  only  be  practised  in  stiff 
soils,  which  would  retain  the  form  of  the  drain 
after  the  materials  had  decayed  away,  and  even 
in  these  soils  the  drains  were  constantly  liable 
to  Ijecome  useless.  A  somewhat  similar  system 
to  this  is  "plug-draining"  (Fig.  33),  wliich  is 
also  confined  to  clay  soils.  Wooden  plugs,  of 
the  size  and  shape  required  for  the  drain,  and 
joined  together  by  links  of  iron,  are  placed  in 
the  bottom  of  the  newly-excavated  drain ;  the 
clay  is  then  pounded  firmly  over  them,  so  as  to 
retain  its  position, 
alter  which  the 
])lugs  are  drawn 
out,  leaving  a  well- 
formed  passage  for 
the  water;  these 
drains,  though  more 
lasting  than  their 
prototypes,  are  but 
temporary.  Many 
centuries  ago  drains 
were  formed  of  bro- 
ken stones  (Fig.  34), 
ind  iseriminately 
thrown  in,  to  a 
dei)th  of  some  6 
to  1-2  inches,  in  tlie 
and    tlie    upper    portion 


are  sometimes  still  found  in  working  order,  but 
a.s  a  rule  tiiey  are  lialile  to  early  stoppage,  on 
account  of  collections  of  sediment  among  the 
stones.  "  Mole-draining  "  (Fig.  3.5)  is  performed 
by  a  plough  specially  constructed  for  the  purpose, 
and  pulled  along  either  by  steam  or  horse  power, 
or  by  a  windlass.  That  ^wr- 
tion  of  the  plough  which  forms 
the  drain  consists  of  an  elon- 
gated piece  of  iron,  termed 
a  "  mole,"  of  circular  form, 
pointed  at  the  end,  and  placed 
at  the  bottom  of  a  long  and 
_-?^  A  ;;,,:^'*^  •>-  powerfully  -  formed  coulter, 
which  has  a  sharp  cutting 
edge ;  on  stiff 
clay    pastures    this    method    of        '  " ;~' 

draining  remains  effective  for  a 
long  period,  but  on  arable  land 
it  is  liable  to  derangement. 
Open  ditches  of  various  kinds 
are  probably  the  oldest  method 
of  draining,  whilst  pipe-drains 
are  the  most  recent  and,  at 
the  same  time,  the  most  lasting 
and  satisfactory. 

In     mountainous     districts, 
where  a  more  expensive  method 
of  draining  would   not  yield  an 
adequate  return  on  the  outlay,  and  where  the  soil 
is  of  such  a  retentive  nature  that  it  remains,  after 
rain,  for  some  time  saturated  with  water   which 


Fig.  34. — Dkain  of 

Broken  Stones. 


bottom 
idled    i, 


of 


soil ;   these  drains,    some   of   the 


the  drain, 
usual  with 
o-reat   agre, 


Fig.  35.— MoleDr.vining. 

needs  removal,  it  is  a  common  practice  to  cut  out  a 
system  of  open  drains,  called  "  .sheep-drains,"  by 
means   of    which    the    surface-wator   is   conveyed 


DRAINS    AND    DRAINING-TOOLS. 


115 


away  f  n 
idea   of 


_)m  tlie  hill-sides.     Fi 
their    arrangcmcnt- 


X-  '50  fjivcs  a  general 
-the   various    draius 


-i- 


Fig.  3G. — Sheep  UuAiNti. 

at  A  leading  into  a  main  channel  at  b,  and  the 
whole  falling  into  the  nearest  water-course  at  c. 
The  cost  of  them  is  small.  AVith  a  little  scouring 
out  at  times  they  may  be  regarded  as  a  perma- 
nent improvement,  and  they  have  the  effect  of 
reducing  the  ravages  of  the  "  rot/'  which  is  so 
common  to  sheep  on  wet  land. 

In  di-aining  bog  land,  the  subsoil  of  which 
is  too  unstable  and  treacherous  to  carry  .either 
a  tile  or  stone  drain,  it  is  the  practice  to  cut 
out,  first  of  all,  a  spit  of  some  18  inches,  which 
is  then  left  until  the  sides  have  become  mode- 
I'ately  dry  and  firm ;  then  another  spit ;  and 
so  on  until  the  drain  is  deep  enough.  During 
the  cutting  out  of  the  drain,  and  the  drying 
process  which  is  the 
result  of  it,  the  surface 
of  the  bog  sinks  in  pro- 
portion to  the  quantity 
of  water  that  is  with- 
drawn, and  due  allow- 
ance in  depth  of  drain 
has  to  be  made  for  this. 
Last  of  all,  a  spit,  nar- 
rower than  the  others, 
leaving  a  shoulder  on 
each  side,  is  taken  out 
of  the  bottom  of  the 
drain,  and  on  the 
shoulders  so  left  the  first  sod  taken  from  the 
drain  is  placed,  leaving  beneath  the  opening 
represented  in  the  annexed  woodcut  (Fig.  37). 
18 


When  bogs  are  deep  this  is  the  best  and,  in 
fact,  only  way  of  draining  them  successfully ; 
but  where  they  do  not  exceed  6  or  8  feet  in 
depth,  the  best  plan  is  to  cut  right  through 
them  to  the  firm  subsoil  on  which  they  rest,  and 
in  this  pipes  will  lie  securely. 

Not  many  tools  are  required  in  draining 
by  a  man  who  understands  his  work.  Those 
figured  in  the  annexed  woodcut  (Fig.  38)  are  all 
that  are,  as  a  rule,  found  necessary  in  ordinary 
draining.  The  broad  spade  is  necessary  for 
cutting  off  the  first  sod,  and  for  clearing  up  the 


Fig.  38.— DltAINING-TOOLS. 

fragments  left  by  the  two  narrower  ones ;  the 
shorter  of  the  two  narrow  ones  is  used  next 
for  the  intermediate  spit ;  and  the  long  narrow 
one  (No.  b)  last  of  all.  The  two  remaining  imple- 
ments are  used  for  different  purposes :  No.  1 
is  for  cleaning  out  the  bottom  of  the  drain  after 
the  spades  have  done  their  work,  and  No.  ii  for 
placing  the  pipes  in  their  bed. 

Draining-tiles  of  various  shapes  and  patterns 
have  from  time  to  time  been  introduced.  Perhaps 
the  earliest  shape  was  the  "horse-shoe"  pipe  (fl); 
having  no  bottom,  this  pipe  must  either  be 
placed  on  flat  stones  as  a  foundation,  unless  the 
subsoil  were  of  a  very  firm  and  hard  character, 
or    its    sides    would    gradually   sink    downwards 


116 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


and  the  drain  be  destrojeJ.  Tliis  form  of  tile 
was  afterwards  improved  by  putting  a  sole  or 
bottom  to  it,  thus,  Q  ;  but  the  round  tile  (O) 
is  now  in  general  use,  and  it  is  very  much  belter 
in  all  respects  than  either  of  the  others ;  it  is 
effectual  in  excluding  vermin,  the  wash  of  the 
water  through  it  constantly  tends  to  carry  all 
sediment  away,  it  is  much  easier  to  lay  down 
than  they  are,  and  it  is  always  the  "right  side 

up-" 

The  dej)th  at  which  drain-pipes  should  be 
placed  is  a  matter  on  which  a  great  difference 
of  opinion  still  exists.  Whilst  some  advocate 
shallow,  others  pin  their  faith  to  very  deep 
draining;  thus  drains  vary,  according  to  fancy, 
from  li  to  5  and  even  6  feet  in  depth.  Much 
depends  on  the  kind  of  land,  whether  it  be  free 
or  retentive,  the  latter  needing  decider  drains  than 
the  former ;  but  it  would  appear  that  less  than 
2|  feet  is  too  shallow,  whilst  4  or  4^  feet  is 
deep  enough  in  any  kind  of  soil.  The  reason 
why  drains  must  be  deeper  in  clay  soils  than 
in  any  other  kind  lies  in  the  fact  that  water 
percolates  much  more  slowly  and  reluctantly 
through  them;  hence  the  drains  must  be  deeper, 
in  order  that  they  may  "  draw  '■'  more  effectually. 
In  these  soils  it  is  not  an  uncommon  practice 
to  place  a  deep  layer  of  bi'oken  stones  or  of 
friable  soil  next  over  the  drain-pipes,  thus 
increasing  the  efficacy  of  the  drain.  In  some 
parts  of  the  country,  where  stone  is  plentiful, 
and  where  drain-pij^es  are 
costly,  it  has  been,  and  still 
is,  the  practice  to  make  stone 
drains  (Fig.  39).  In  this 
method  the  drains  are  cut  out 
in  the  bottom  much  wider 
than  in  pipe-draining,  so  as 
to  lulmit  of  two  side-walls  of 
stone,  with  a  space  between 
them,  being  built;  these  side- 
walls  are  built  of  narrow 
stones,  to  a  height  of  4  or  C 
inches,  and  flat  covering-stones, 
occupying  the  whole  width 
of  the  drain,  rest  upon  them.  If  well  done, 
this  method  of  draining  may  -  be  taken  to  be 
almost  as  permanent  as  pipe-draining  ;  its 
chief  objection  is  that  it  does  not  exclude 
such  vermin  as  rats  and  rabbits,  and  these  mis- 
chievous animals   soon    choke    up    the   drains    by 


i*"^ 


Pig.  39.— Stone 
Drain. 


scratching  soil  into  them.  Pijie-draius,  on  the 
contrary,  are  not  liable  to  derangement  from 
such  a  cause,  because  vermin  cannot  get  into 
them  ;  and  in  the  case  of  round  pipes  the  wash 
of  the  water  running  down  them  tends  to  clear 
them  of  any  sediment  which  may  percolate  into 
them  from  the  soil  above.  In  porous,  free  soils, 
a  drain  will  lay  dry  fully  7  feet  wide  for  each 
foot  it  is  in  depth ;  thus,  drains  3  feet  deep 
may  be  placed  21  feet  apart.  In  a  partially 
retentive  soil  it  will  drain  5  feet  wide  for  each 
foot  in  depth — that  is,  drains  4  feet  deep  may 
be  placed  20  feet  apart.  In  a  heavy  clay  soil, 
4  feet  drains  should  be  placed  about  1(5  feet 
apart — that  is,  4  feet  wide  will  be  drained  for 
each  foot  in  depth. 

The  theory  of  under-draining  may  be  consider«l 
under  four  heads — viz.,  First,  the  removal  of 
sur^jlus  water  from  the  soil  by  giving  motion 
to  it  where  it  was  previously  stagnant ;  second, 
the  mechanical  or  physical  changes  produced  in 
the  soil ;  third,  the  chemical  influences  brought 
to  bear  on  the  soil ;  and  fourth,  the  improved 
temperature  resulting  to  the  soil. 

The  wetness  of  soils  may  be  considered  to 
be  the  result  of  one  or  other  of  three  several 
causes : — First,  rain-water  falling  directly  on 
the  surface  surcharges  the  retentive  soils  by 
virtue  of  their  retentive  character,  and  free  soils 
by  virtue  of  their  position,  when  thej^  happen 
to  rest  on  a  substratum  which  does  not  admit 
of  a  free  passage  away  of  the  overplus  of  water  ; 
second,  springs  which  rise  from  underground 
channels  to  the  surface,  and,  spreading  over  it, 
ca\ise  a  considerable  jjortion  to  be  continually 
surcharged  with  water;  and  third,  that  wetness 
which,  from  higher  lands  near  or  distant,  filters 
through  free  soils  of  a  lower  level,  and  rises  to 
the  surface  some  distance  below,  drowning  more 
or  less  of  it.  The  first  cause  operates  wherever 
such  soils  are  situated;  the  second  generally  on 
limestone  formations,  in  the  rocky  substrata  of 
which  such  subterranean  channels  are  not  un- 
common, and  the  affluent  stream  may  emerge 
in  almost  any  position,  even  on  the  top  of  a 
hill,  providing  its  source  is  on  still  higher  lands  ; 
and  the  third  in  districts  where  the  soils  vary 
in  character,  but  the  effect  is  usually  produced 
in  valleys  and  lowlands  with  higher  lands  ad- 
jacent. 

And  wet  soils  may  be  chissed  in  four  divisions. 


rRIXCIPLES    OF    DRAINING. 


117 


viz.,  First,  free  soils  in  peculiar  situations ; 
second,  clay  soils ;  third,  peaty  soils ;  and  fourth, 
mixed  soils,  consisting  of  different  pi-oportions 
of  the  other  three. 

Each  kind  of  soil  must  have  applied  to  it 
the  appropriate  method  of  drainage,  and  eaeli 
cause  of  wetness  demands  a  special  mode  of 
removal ;  but  the  atmosphere  plays  so  important 
a  part  in  bringing  about  the  desired  mechanical 
changes  in  clay  soils,  which  are  naturally  retentive 
in  character,  that  it  is  necessary  to  regard  the 
art  of  draining  them  as  distinctly  different  from 
that  of  draining  free  soils,  which  are  not  retentive. 
The  surcharged  free  and  peaty  soils,  being  naturally 
free  and  jjercolative,  are  not  wet,  as  clay  soils 
are,  from  any  inherent  tendency  that  way,  but 
simply  so  by  accident  of  position,  and  they  merely 
require  an  outlet  for  the  water  pent  uj)  within 
them  to  immediately  change  its  character  from 
stagnation  to  motion ;  to  create,  in  fact,  a  kind 
of  sub-irrigation  which  will  benefit  the  roots  of 
the  plants,  and  a  single  drain  in  such  soils  will 
not  uncommonly  lay  dry  an  astonishingly  large 
area  of  surface ;  they  do  not  need,  as  clay 
soils  do,  any  modification  of  physical  condi- 
tion, because  they  are  naturally  free,  open,  and 
friable  enough  in  texture,  except  that  they  are 
water-logged;  nor  does  it  always  follow  that 
they  are  too  wet,  but  rather  that  the  wetness 
they  contain  is  stagnant  where  it  needs  to  have 
motion. 

It  is  not,  indeed,  easy  that  such  soils  should 
be  too  wet,  providing  only  that  the  water  in  them 
has  enough  of  motion ;  and  the  true  art  of  draining 
them  is  less  to  dejirive  them  of  water  than  to 
keep  the  water  in  motion,  for  it  is  an  easy  matter 
to  err  on  the  side  of  over-draining  them.  When 
once  drained  to  the  proper  degree  they  possess 
the  same  properties  and  characteristics  as  those 
which  are  naturally  dry,  and  they  are  equally 
capable  of  absorption,  the  only  difference  being 
that  in  the  case  of  the  naturally  high-and-dry 
soils  the  water  in  a  dry  time  commonly  sinks 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  laws  of  evaporation,  while 
in  the  case  of  the  drained  free  soils  the  water, 
though  sunk  by  the  operation  of  draining  some 
3  feet  below  what  its  level  was  before,  still  re- 
mains within  reach  of  the  atmosphere,  in  which 
case  evaporation  is  not  totally  suspended  in  the 
event  of  a  dry  summer;  and  it  not  uncommonly 
follows  that   the    drained  soils   suffer    less    from 


drought  than  do  some  of  the  soils  which  are 
naturally  dry. 

Some  naturally  dry  soils,  however,  suffer  less 
than  others  during  an  unusually  dry  summer. 
Among  these  may  be  mentioned  the  soils  on 
carboniferous  or  mountain-limestone  formations. 
In  these  cases,  as  it  would  seem,  the  substratum 
of  limestone,  being  of  a  damp  and  retentive 
character,  possesses  the  faculty  of  supplying  the 
soil  above  with  some  moisture  from  beneath, 
through  the  influence  of  evaporation  or  capillary 
attraction.  But  in  the  case  of  other  naturally 
dry  soils,  which  are  so  by  virtue  of  their  rest- 
ing on  a  sandy  or  gravelly  drift  of  considerable 
extent,  the  water  finds  no  resting-place  until  it 
is  far  beneath  and  away  from  the  surface,  and 
utterly  beyond  the  reach  of  evaporation.  These 
soils  suffer  early  and  most  seriously  in  a  dry 
summer. 

Clay  soils,  though  made  permeable  by  under- 
drainage,  still  retain  their  peculiar  properties  of 
retention,  contraction,  and  expansion,  which  limit 
their  capacity  of  absorption  of  water,  and  cause 
them  to  resist,  in  the  absence  of  proper  and 
deep  draining  and  cultivation,  the  admission  of 
falling  rain.  These  soils  hold  in  suspension  the 
moisture  they  absorb,  and  give  it  out  gradually 
to  the  drains,  except  in  the  case  of  heavy  down- 
pours of  rain,  when,  after  their  own  capacity 
of  absorption  and  retention  has  been  satisfied, 
they  freely  discharge  the  excess.  They  cannot 
be  over-drained,  nor  can  they  be  aerated  too 
much ;  they  lay  in  a  store  of  water  sufficient 
for  their  own  use  for  a  long  time,  and  it  is  only 
by  aeration  that  their  retentive  nature  can  be 
kept  within  bounds.  All  the  draining  in  the 
world  will  not  radically  change  the  constituents 
of  these  soils — it  merely  modifies  or  alters  their 
condition.  But  the  more  perfectly  the  aerating 
action  of  the  drains  influences  the  mass  of  soil 
between  them,  the  quicker  and  more  uniform  is 
the  percolation  of  the  surplus  water  through 
the  soil.  The  true  practical  object  of  draining 
these  soils  is  not  the  mere  removal  of  the  surplus 
water  in  the  readiest  way  which  is  possible  by  an 
artificial  process,  but  embraces  also  the  no  less 
important  princijile  of  aeration  of  the  soil  which 
is  drained.  By  giving  motion  to  the  water  in  a 
wet  soil  numberless  vacuities  are  formed,  and  these 
must  be  filled  with  air.  Thus  is  aeration  accom- 
plished ;  and  by  this  agency  soils  are   not   only 


118 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


improved  in  temperature  by  the  admission  of 
air  into  them,  but  they  arc  chemically  acted 
upon  by  it,  to  their  great  advantage.  In  free 
soils,  which  are  not  subject  to  expansion  and 
contraction  as  clay  soils  are,  and  throuo-li  which 
water  percolates  most  evenly  and  freely,  providing 
it  has  an  outlet,  it  is  easy  to  understand  how 
simple  a  matter  artificial  drainage  is ;  but  even 
to  those  who  have  minutely  watched  the  effects 
of  drainage  on  clay  soils  it  is  not  so  easy  to 
comprehend  that  air  as  well  as  water  permeates 
them  throughout.  Their  qualities  of  contraction 
and  exjjansion,  always  at  work  as  water  is  with- 
drawn and  re-absorbed,  are  peculiarities  which 
make  them  wholly  different  from  free  soils.  In 
a  free  soil  of  even  texture,  rain-water  is  instantly 
absorbed,  and  percolates  quickly  and  evenly  through 
it ;  but  not  so  in  clays ;  and  were  it  not  a  fact 
that  natural  sand  and  gravel  veins,  more  or  less 
minute,  are  intersj^ersed  through  most  claj^s,  and 
that  there  are  no  clays  that  do  not  crack  as 
they  contract,  the  theory  of  those  who  believe 
in  the  impermeability  of  these  soils  would  gain 
popularity.  This  theory,  indeed,  would  hold  good 
in  respect  of  pure  claijs,  but  these  are  seldom 
found.  But,  in  point  of  fact,  no  water  can  be 
withdrawn  from  clay  soils,  by  drainage  or  evapora- 
tion, without  causing  contraction  of  the  soils, 
and  there  can  be  no  contraction  of  soils  in  a 
lateral  direction  without  cracks  and  rents.  The 
space  previously  occupied  by  water  is  then  occu|)icd 
by  air,  and  these  cracks  and  rents  multiply  and 
ramify  in  every  direction  to  an  extreme  degree 
of  minuteness,  and  thus  the  disintegration  of  a 
previously  compact  and  plastic  clay  becomes  year 
by  year  more  nearly  complete,  and  the  soil 
throughout  becomes  more  susceptible  to  the  laws 
of  gravitation  of  water  downwards  to  the  drains, 
and  of  capillary  suction  or  attraction  upwards  to 
the  snrface.  Some  think  that  if  clay  soils  are 
thoroughly  drained  they  become  as  ductile  and 
friable  a.s  free  soils,  but  this  is  not  the  result, 
for  they  always  retain  their  peculiar  properties  ; 
but  the  microscope  reveals  that  both  the  texture 
and  colour  of  clay  soils  undergo  a  marked  change 
in  course  of  time  after  draining,  and  this  is 
good  evidence  of  the  improvement  which  lias 
taken  place  in  their  condition. 

But  the  object  of  draining  is  Udl  to  create 
large  cracks  and  rents  down  which  rain-water 
may    pass    quickly    to     the   drain-pijies,    and    if 


this  were  the  result  the  water  would  have  com- 
paratively little  fertilising  effect  on  the  land; 
but  it  is  rather  to  cause  the  soil  to  become  more 
porous  and  minutely  divided,  in  order  that  the 
water  passing  through  the  soil  shall  wrap  round 
every  atom  of  it,  and  not  merely  wash  the  cracks 
and  fissures  in  its  journey  downwards.  In  pa.ss- 
ing  through  a  soil,  water  carries  air  along  with 
it,  and  it  is  essential  that  the  one  as  well  as  the 
other  should  be  made  to  permeate  the  entire  mass 
of  soil,  touching  every  particle  of  it.  The  striking 
effect  which  rain  has  on  land  in  warm  weather, 
and  especially  after  a  dry  period,  is  by  no  means 
attributable  to  the  water  alone,  but  in  no  small 
degree  to  the  warm  air  which  is  carried  by  the 
rain  into  the  soil,  and  to  the  fertilising  properties 
which  the  air  contains.  The  increased  or  created 
porosity  of  a  clay  soil,  which  is  brought  about 
by  draining,  means  the  reducing  of  the  soil  to  a 
finely-divided  state,  through  every  part  of  which 
the  fine,  tender,  filamentary  roots  of  j^lants  may 
sjjread  themselves  in  search  of  new  stores  of  food. 
In  commencing  to  drain  a  farm  it  is  expedient, 
first,  to  see  that  the  water-courses  are  in  good 
form,  because  they  must  receive  the  drainage 
water;  and,  next,  that  a  plan  be  made  which 
will  embrace  the  whole  of  it,  and  not  to  lay  one 
field  after  another  dry,  on  plans  jjossibly  proper 
to  each  individual  field,  but  not  conceived  with 
a  view  to  the  requirements  of  adjoining  fields. 
This  refers  more  particularly  to  main  drains  and 
outfalls.  As  a  general  rule,  the  drainage  opera- 
tions will  commence  in  the  lowest-situated  field  on 
the  farm — the  one  nearest  to  the  streamlet  or  river 
into  which  the  outfalls  of  the  main  drains  must 
be  conducted;  and  it  follows  that  the  direction 
of  these  main  drains,  and  their  capacity,  should 
be  so  laid  out  and  calculated  that  they  may  serve 
for  as  many  fields  as  come  properlj^  within  their 
scope.  It  may  happen  in  some  cases — as  where 
springs  come  to  the  surface  and  saturate  a 
considerable  area  of  land — that  by  draining  an 
upper  you  lay  dry  a  lower  field;  in  such  a  ease 
as  this  the  draining  of  the  lower  field  would  be 
superfluous,  and  it  would  be  advisable  to  try 
Elkington's  system  of  tapping  the  effluent  waters 
of  the  spring  at  its  outlet,  to  see  whether  or 
not  it  was  necessary  to  drain  the  lower  field  at 
all ;  yet  even  in  this  case  the  main  drain  would 
have  to  pass  up  the  lower  in  order  to  get  to 
the   upper   field,   and    it   would    be    advisable   to 


PRACTICAL    DETAILS. 


119 


cany  it  in  sndi  ilii-cftion,  and  to  make  it  of 
such  capacity,  that,  ii'  afterwards  found  necessary, 
it  would  serve  to  convey  away  the  drainage  water 
of  both  lower  and  upper  fields,  as  well  as  of  any 
others  that  lie  within  its  reach.  In  other  cases 
it  might  be  that  the  upper  field  is  periodically 
swampy  and  wet  on  account  of  false  springs, 
which  only  flow  in  winter  or  in  a  wet  time  at 
another  period,  and  that  the  lower  field  is  per- 
manently wet  on  account  of  the  real  spring  to 
which  the  upper  one  is  only  subject  in  a  wet  time. 
In  such  a  case  as  this  the  tapping  of  the  real 
spring  in  the  lower  field  would  lay  the  upper 
field  dry  without  a  spade  being  put  in  it.  The 
deciding  where  to  tap  a  spring ;  the  determining 
which  are  the  real  and  which  are  merely  the 
overflow  springs ;  the  ascertaining  whether  the 
swampy  -wetness  is  owing  to  springs  at  all,  or 
to  the  accident  of  a  basin-like,  impervious  sub- 
soil, or  to  percolation  through  a  free  subsoil  from 
some  higher  level — these  are  matters  which  require 
considerable  skill  and  experience,  skill  which  books 
can  only  suggest,  not  give. 

The  direction  of  the  main  drains  being  decided 
on,  the  next  thing  is  to  lay  out  the  minor  drains 
in  such  a  manner  that  undulations  of  surface  may 
be  taken  due  advantage  of  in  the  way  of  securing 
a  free  and  easy  descent  of  the  water,  and  that, 
if  necessary,  certain  depressed  portions  of  the 
field  may  be  laid  dry  by  draining  the  higher 
portions  adjoining.  It  must  always  be  borne  in 
mind  that,  in  draining  land  whose  surface  is 
undulating  or  unlevel,  special  care  must  be  taken 
that  the  bottom  of  each  drain — the  pipe-bed — has 
a  uniform  and  even  descent,  whatever  the  surface 
may  be,  and  that  there  are  no  depressions  in 
it  where  the  water  could  lodge,  eventually  de- 
composing the  j)ii5es  and  filling  up  the  drain  with 
sediment.  No  man  ever  wrote  more  wisely  and 
wittily  on  agriculture  than  the  late  Chandos  Wren 
Hoskyns,  Esq.,  and  we  cannot  here  do  better 
than  quote  from  his  "Chronicles  of  a  Clay  Farm," 
where  he  speaks  of  "  the  unaccountable  and  ever 
new  difiiculty  of  getting  proper  attention  paid 
to  the  levelling  of  the  bottom  of  a  drain,  and 
the  laying  of  the  tiles  in  that  continuous  line, 
where  one  single  depression  or  irregularity,  by 
collecting  the  water  at  that  spot  year  after  year, 
tends  to  the  eventual  stoppage  of  the  whole  drain, 
through  two  distinct  causes — the  softening  of 
the  foundation   underneath,    and  the    deposit    of 


soil  inside  the   tile   from   the  water   collected    at 
the  spot,   and  standing  there   after  the  rest  has 
run    off.     Every   depression,    however    slight,    is 
constantly    doing    this    mischief    in    every   drain 
where  the  fall  is  but  trifling ;  and  if  to  the  two 
consequences   above   mentioned  we  may    add  the 
■decomposition  of  the  tile  itself  by  the  action  of 
the  water  long  stagnant  within  it,  we  may  deduce 
that  every  tile-drain  laid  with  these  imperfections 
in   the  finishing   of  the  bottom  has   a   tendency 
towards    obliteration,    out   of    all   reasonable    pro- 
portion  with  that  of  a  well-burnt  tile  laid  on  a 
perfectly  even  inclination,  which,  humanly  speak- 
ing, may  be  called  a  permanent  thing.     An  open 
ditch,  cut  by  the  most  skilful   workman   in   the 
summer,  affords  the  best  illustration  of  tliis  un- 
derground mischief.     Nothing  can  look  smoother 
and  more  even  than  the  bottom,  till  that  uncom- 
promising test  of  accurate  levels,  the  water,  makes 
its  appearance.    All  on  a  sudden  the  whole  scene 
is  changed,   the  eye-accredited   level   vanishes  as 
if  some  earthquake  had  taken  place;   here  there 
is  a  gravelly  scour,  along  which  the  stream  rushes 
in  a  thousand  little  angry-looking  ripples;  there 
it   hangs,    and   looks  as  dull  and  heavy  as  if  it 
had  given  up  running   at  all  as  a  useless  waste 
of  energy;  in   another   place   a   few  dead   leaves 
or  sticks,    or   a   morsel   of  soil   broken  from  the 
side,   dams    back    the    water    for    a    considerable 
distance,  occasioning  a  deposit  of  soil    along   the 
whole  reach,  greater  in  proportion  to  the  quantity 
and  the  muddiness  of  the  water   detained.      All 
this  shows  the  paramount  importance  of  perfect 
evenness  in  the  bed  on  which  the  tiles  are  laid. 
The  worst  laid  tile  is  the  measure  of  the  goodness 
and  permanence  of  the  whole  drain,  just  as  the 
weakest   link    of   a  chain  is  the   measure   of   its 
strength." 

Mr.  J.  C.  Morton  \vi-ites  : — "  The  frequency 
of  drains  ought  to  depend  not  so  much  upon 
the  quantity  of  rain-water  which  they  have  to 
remove  (because  that  should  be  met  rather  by 
increasing  their  capacity  than  their  frequency), 
but  by  the  degree  of  facility  given  to  its  passage 
by  the  porosity  or  the  stiffness  of  the  soil  and 
subsoil.  On  very  stiff  land  they  should  be  nearer 
to  one  another  than  on  lighter  soil.  In  the 
former  the  passage  of  the  water  is  necessarily 
slow,  and  it  should  not  have  far  to  travel  to  a 
drain,  or  the  land  will  remain  sodden  for  an 
injuriously    long   time ;   and   so,  in  case    of  wide 


HO 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


intervals,  the  niitUllc  of  those  intervals  remains 
unbenetited. 

"  It  appeare  to  me  that  the  only  reasonable 
argument  for  the  shallower  draining  of  a  stiff 
clay  soil  arises  out  of  its  greater  richness  in 
matters  which  the  plant  requires  as  food.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  plants  will  make  use  of  a  verj' 
great  depth  of  soil  and  subsoil  if  it  be  laid 
open  to  them ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  jilain 
that  a  smaller  depth  of  clay  soil,  with  its  larger 
quantity  of  internal  surface — owing  to  the  sniall- 
ness  of  its  particles,  and  its  richer  comiKisition, 
too — will  contain  as  much  available  food  for 
plants  as  a  much  greater  depth  of  sandy  soil.  It 
thus  amounts  to  this,  that  the  maximum  which 
it  is  desirable,  as  a  supply  of  food,  to  lay  open  to 
plants  I's  smaller  in  clays  than  in  sands ;  while 
the  minimum  depth — that  at  which  the  drains 
must  be  laid,  if  the  capillary  attraction  of  the 
soil  for  water  is  to  be  overcome  at  all — is  greater 
in  clays  than  in  sands.  The  capillary  attraction 
of  the  clayey  soils  is  greatest;  it  is  in  them 
that  water  will  be  lifted  highest  from  the  level 
of  the  drains,  and  it  is  in  them,  therefore,  that 
the  drains  must  be  laid  lowest  before  any  drainage 
at  all  is  effected  by  them. 

"On  the  arrangement  of  the  drains  upon 
the  land,  it  would  seem  plain  that,  as  we  have 
already  provided  for  the  exit  of  spring-water, 
and  as  our  object  now  is  mei-ely  to  remove  from 
below  the  soil  the  water  which  falls  upon  its 
surface,  the  channels  for  that  purjiose  should  be 
placed  as  uniformly  below  as  the  water  to  be 
removed  is  supplied  above.  And  this,  as  a  general 
rule,  does  accordingly  guide  the  practice  of  the 
drainer.  Nevertheless,  the  structure  of  the  sub- 
soil docs  to  some  extent  justify  a  departure  from 
that  uniform  arrangement  of  drains  which  would 
at  first  sight  seem  to  be  justified  by  the  uniform 
abundance  of  rain-water  supplied  and  by  the 
uniform  luxuriance  of  vegetation  desired.  There 
is  a  propriety  in  placing  drains  at  varying  intervals 
within  the  soil,  so  as  to  meet  those  variations 
in  the  quantity  of  water  accumulatetl  there  which 
have  arisen  from  a  varying  structure,  or  even, 
I  may  add,  from  a  varying  surface  of  the  land, 
notwithstanding  the  uniform  supply  of  rain-water 
on  its  surface.  Take  a  single  field,  an<l  you  often 
find  that  it  is  not  altogether  of  uniform  consistency 
to  any  considerable  depth.  No  doulit,  the  portion 
acted   on    by   tillage    (the   soil)   is  very  different 


in  its  consistency  from  the  subsoil ;  but  this  is 
a  uniform  want  of  uniformity.  Go  deeper,  and 
you  will  find  the  subsoil,  which  also  must  be 
drained,  varying  in  its  consistency.  It  may  be 
a  sand  or  gravel  of  varying  depth,  lying  on  a 
floor  of  clay,  which  has  been  water-worn  and 
furrowed  before  this  gravelly  subsoil  was  brought 
upon  it ;  or  it  may  be  itself  a  clay,  with  porous 
partings  or  rocky  beds  here  and  there  within  it. 
All  these  things  influence  the  passage  of  the 
water  downwards ;  so  that,  while  in  a  soil  and 
subsoil  of  perfect  uniformity  it  is  plain  that 
the  absorbent  points  on  which  we  dejiend  for 
ensuring  the  percolation  of  the  rain-water  down- 
wards ought  to  be  jJW'fectly  equidistant,  in  an 
unequally  constructed  soil  these  absorbent  jjoints 
(or  the  drains  which  represent  them)  should  be 
more  frequent  where  the  water  naturally  tends 
than  where,  after  a  shower,  less  of  it  will  be 
found.  Of  course,  as  the  object  and  the  result 
of  perfect  cultivation  is  to  bring  about  a  uniform 
consistency  to  a  greater  depth  than  naturally 
exists,  we  ought  not  to  accommodate  our  practice 
slavishly  to  the  conditions  which  have  arisen 
out  of,  or  have  been  effected  by,  imperfect 
cultivation. 

"In  Fig.  40  there  is  the  jilan   of  the   drains 


in  one  or  two  fields  on  an  estate,  a  larger  portion 
of  which  is  represented  in  Fig.   1 1 . 

"  Mere  we  have  (1)  parallel  drains  down  the 
fall  of  the  land ;  (2)  drains  for  the  removal  of 
water  from  springs  and  from  flats,  or  lateral 
slacks  or  furrows  in  the  general  slope ;  and  (3) 
main  drains,  uniting  at  wells   (i),  and  delivering 


IMPORTANCE    OP    A    DRAIN-MAP. 


HI 


their  water  at  fiaal  outfalls  {<i).  lu  this  figure 
the  regular  drainage  of  a  homogeneous  clay  upon 
the  gridiron  system  is  h;irdly  represented.  In  the 
map,  however, 
(Fig.  -il),  in 
which  the  posi- 
tion of  the  drains 
on  an  estate  on 
the  Oolitic  for- 
mation, drained 
under  Mr.  Bailey 
Denton's  direc- 
tion, is  given  in 
detail,  the  uni- 
form parallel 
drains  on  the 
more  level  fields 
upon  the  Oxford 
clay  are  fully 
represented  at 
the  foot  of  the 
map.  The  oc- 
casional drains, 
intended  for 
the  removal  of 
spring -water, 
and  the  lateral 
drains,  rendered 
necessary  by  the 
configuration  of 
the  land,  and 
intended  for  the 
removal  of  water 
lodging  in  slacks 
upon  the  surface, 
are  also  recognis- 
able in  some  of 
the  middle  fields. 
There,  too,  and 
elsewhere,  the 
less  frequent — • 
generally  pa- 
rallel —  drains 
needed  for  the 
tapping  of  the 
more  porous 
water  -  bearing 

strata  are  to  be  observed.  Too  great  a  stress 
cannot  be  laid  on  the  necessity  of  such  a  plan 
of  executed  drainage — of  course,  on  a  lai-ger  scale 
than    is   adopted    in    Fig.     41 — being    preserved. 


There  are  many  instances  in  proof  of  this,  where 
large  sums  of  money  have  been  lost  entirely  for 
want  of  a  record  of  the  operation.     The  tenants 

have  changed, 
and  the  outfalls 
have  been  ruined 
and  have  dis- 
appeared." 

DlSCHARGEOP 

Drains,  com- 
pared WITH 
THE  Rainfall. 


To  ascertain 
the  law  which 
governs  this 
matter,  Mr.  J. 
Bailey  Denton, 
in  the  year 
1S56-7,  caused 
observations  of 
rainfall  and  dis- 
charge from 
drains  to  be 
taken  during  the 
months  of  Octo- 
ber, November, 
December,  Jan- 
uary, February, 
March,  April, 
and  May.  The 
area  experi- 
mented upon 
consisted  of  two 
kinds  of  soil — 
first,  soil  of  a 
mixed  nature, 
consisting  of 
ela^',  gravel,  and 
sand;  and  second, 
a  very  stiff  clay, 
considered  hard 
and  almost  im- 
penetrable. The 
mixed  soil  was 
drained  by  occa- 
sional and  wide  parallel  drains  suSicient  to  dis- 
charge the  rainfall  and  deep  enough  to  relieve 
the  pressure  of  subterranean  water.  The  clay 
soil  was  drained  uniformly  by  a  parallel  system 


12:J 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


or  drains,  4  fe^t  iloep  and  25  to  27  feet  apart. 
The  total  cost  of  draining-  the  800  acres  included 
in  the  area  experimented  on  was  £3,357  10s. 
The  discharge  from  the  open  soils  was  more 
regular  and  continuous  than  that  from  the  clays, 
probably  because  of  the  greater  distance  apart  of 
the  drains. 

The  rainfall  per  acre  was  227,210  gallons, 
and  the  discharge  per  acre  on  the  mixed  soil 
was  100,920  gallons,  or  about  71  per  cent,  of  the 
rainfall;  on  the  clay  soil  it  was  50,930  gallons, 
or  about  21  jjcr  cent,  of  the  rainfall.  The  reason 
why  clay  discharges  less  than  loam  is  doubtless 
found  in  the  fact  that  it  has  greater  power  of 
retaining  water  by  capillary  attraction.  Thus, 
Professor  Schiibler,  of  Tubingen,  found  that 
100  lbs.  of  dry  soil  would  retain  the  following 
amount  of  water  that  would  not  flow  off  : — 

Sand         '2o  lbs. 

Loamy  soil  ...         ...         ...         ...  40    „ 

Clay  loam  SO    „ 

Pure  clay  70    „ 

Observations  conducted  by  Mr.  John  Dickinson 
for  eight  years  gave  the  following  mean  values 
of  the  discharge  as  compared  with  the  rainfall  : — 
October  to  ]\Iarch,  75'5  per  cent. ;  April  to 
September,  7"1  per  cent. ;  average  42'4'  per  cent. 
Mv.  Tracey,  in  1849,  made  some  experiments  in 
regard  to  the  drainage  of  certain  valleys  near 
Boston,  and  concludes  that  the  discharge  varies 
from  45  to  44  per  cent,  of  the  rainfall. 

Computation  op  Table  foe  Drainage. 

Tables  of  rainfall  tell  us  that  showers  exceed- 
ing 1  inch  are  rare,  but  that  about  one-fourth  of 
our  rain  falls  in  heavy  showers.  From  that  it  is 
safe  to  conclude  that  if  the  drains  are  capable 
of  conveying  away  the  water  that  reaches  them 
during  the  twenty-four  hours  next  after  a  rain- 
fall of  1  inch,  little  or  no  surface-water  will 
remain  on  the  land  during  any  jiortion  of  the 
year. 

The  amount  of  discharge,  as  compared  with 
the  rainfall,  depends  upon  so  many  conditions 
that  it  cannot  be  accurately  stated ;  but  it  jiro- 
bably  will,  during  the  next  twenty-four  hours, 
seldom  or  never  exceed  50  per  cent,  of  the  rainfall, 
under  any  conditions.  In  order  to  produce  thorough 
drainage — that  is,  to  so  drain  land  that  surface- 
water  shall  not  exist  on  it  on  an  average  longer 
than  six  or  eight  hours  after  the  rainfall — it  is 


necessary  to  assume  tliat  the  capacity  of  the 
drains  should  be  suflicient  to  carry  off,  during 
twenty-four  houi-s,  one-half  the  water  that  fell 
the  ])revious  twenty-four  hours.  The  probability 
of  the  rainfall  in  any  day  exceeding  1  inch  is 
so  slight  that  we  shall  be  safe  in  assuming  the 
greatest  ordinary  rainfall  to  be  1  inch  in  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  the  necessary  carrying  capacity 
of  the  drains  J  inch  for  the  same  time.  One 
inch  of  rainfall  produces  3,G30  cubic  feet  per 
acre ;  consequently,  our  drains,  to  j)roduce  imder 
all  conditions  thorough  drainage,  should  be  able 
to  convey  1,815  cubic  feet  of  water  for  each 
acre  drained. 

For  ordinary  farm  drainage,  where  the  drains 
are  simply  to  run  under  the  low  places  on  the 
surface  of  the  fields,  the  water  will  be  longer  in 
reaching  the  drains,  and  consequently  the  area 
drained  by  a  given-sized  tile  may  be  increased 
with  perfectly  satisfactory  results.  Again,  if 
flooding  is  of  little  moment  for  a  few  days  at 
a  time,  it  may  receive  another  corresponding  in- 
crease. The  areas  in  the  following  table  should 
be  doubled  for  ordinary  farm  drainage,  but  they 
must  be  changed  with  caution  if  thorough  drain- 
age, such  as  a  gardener  would  need,  is  desired. 

Table  foe  Size  of  Tile  of  Main  Drain. 


Rate  of 
Inclination. 


1  foot  in    20 
1       „        30 


.50 

CO 

70 

SO 

90 

100 

l.iO 

200 

2.50 

300 

400 

.500 

600 

800 

1000 

1500 

2000 


Acres  Dhained  (Thoeoooh  Dkaikage). 


3-incli    4-mch    6-iucli    8-inch  10-incli  12-inch 
Tile.      TUe.      Tile.     Pipe.     Pipe.     Pipe, 


60-4 
.510 


1.50-0 

l2S-n 


47-7 

ilNII 

171)1 

43-4 

.  '.10  u 

IMO 

39-9 

83-0 

144-4 

37-2 

770 

135-0 

330 

72o 

1270 

33- 1 

69-2 

120-6 

26-6 

.56-0 

97-3 

22-8 

48-0 

83-9 

20-4 

42-4 

74-4 

18-4 

38-2 

65-5 

IGS 

32-6 

60-3 

14-8 

301 

54-0 

13-3 

280 

48-6 

11-4 

24-0 

41-9 

10-2 

21-2 

37-2 

8-0 

16-8 

30-8 

7-4 

15-0 

250 

346-0 
■.".18-4 
•J(i9-0 
246-0 
228-1 
213-0 
200-5 
190-5 
1.54-4 
132-5 
117-0 
107-0 
90-7 
81-6 
74-0 
65-0 
.560 
47-0 
40-8 


To  afford  a  simple  rule  for  those  who  wish 
to  construct  drains  merely  through  the  low  places 
of  a  farm,  and  who  do  not  possess  means  of  ascer- 
taining the  fall,  the  following  will  probably  be 
sufficiently  accurate  : — On    the   average,  the  fall 


GRADIENT    AND    LOCATION    OF    DRAINS. 


U:i 


usually  secured  is  about  1  in  200,  and  foi"  ordi- 
naiy  farm  drainage,  doubling  the  results  g^iven 
in  the  table,  we  find  that  a  drain  of  2-iiKh 
tile  will  drain  •!•  acres ;  3-iueh  tile  will  drain  1 1 
acres;  4-inch  tile  will  drain  17  acres;  6-inch 
tile  will  drain  45  acres ;  8-inch  tile  will  drain 
96  acres;  which  rule  does  not  differ  essentially 
from  the  one  given  by  Waring  in  his  work  on 
"  Farm  Drainage."  The  above  rule  is  for  casual, 
not  thorough  drainage. 

Fall  of  the  Drain. 

From  what  has  already  been  said  in  reference 
to  the  capacity  of  a  drain,  it  is  seen  that  tlie 
greater  the  fall,  the  greater  is  the  amount  of 
water  that  will  pass,  through  in  a  given  time, 
other  things  being  equal.  For  this  reason  the 
fall  should  be  as  great  as  possible,  within  certain 
limits.  It  is  possible  to  have  drains  so  steep 
that  the  water,  instead  of  entering  the  drain 
at  the  joint,  will  run  along  the  outside  of  the 
tile,  and  finally  undermine  and  destroy  the  drain; 
this  danger  is  to  be  anticipated  only  for  laig'e 
drains,  where  there  is  a  great  deal  of  water,  and 
never  for  small  drains,  which  serve  only  as  feeders. 
The  limits  of  steejmess  for  main  drains  that 
convey  much  water  we  may  put  at  from  1 
in  10  to  1  in  30,  depending  on  the  tenacity  of 
the  soil.  The  least  gradient  admissible  depends 
entirely  ujion  the  mechanical  execution.  Drains 
cannot  be  laid  like  water-pipes,  alternately  de- 
scending and  ascending,  but  they  must  descend 
continuously  from  their  commencement  to  their 
outlet.  If  laid  with  any  portion  ascending  from 
the  commencement,  even  though  that  portion 
may  not  rise  above  the  head,  the  drains,  not 
being  tight,  will  let  out  at  their  joints  much  of 
the  water  from  above  them,  the  ground  at  that 
point  being  constantly  wet,  and  the  objects  for 
which  the  drains  were  laid  will  entirely  be 
destroyed.  It  is  not  material  that  uniformity 
of  descent  be  preserved,  but  although  it  makes 
little  difference  how  much  the  grade  changes, 
it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  it  always  changes 
in  the  same  manner.  That  is,  as  we  leave 
the  outlet  we  must  continually  go  up,  though 
we  may  ascend  at  times  much  faster  than  at 
others.  Now,  the  greater  the  ascent  in  a  given 
distance,  the  less  danger  is  there  of  giving  any 
portion  of  the  drain  an  inclination  in  the  wrong 
direction ;  but  if  the  ascent  is  small,  any  mistake 
19 


of  this  kind  becomes  exceedingly  difficult  to 
detect.  Probably  any  one  could  see  that  an 
inclination  of  1  in  50  was  not  a  level  line,  but 
an  inclin-ation  of  1  in  500  is  quite  a  different 
thing,  and  there  are  few  persons  that  could  detect 
tlie  difference  from  a  level  line,  or  even  tell  which 
end  was  the  highest.  Great  care  is  necessary 
to  keep  a  continual  descent  or  ascent,  whichever 
the  case  m-ay  be;  and  with  a  less  inclination 
than  1  in  500,  the  difficulty  becomes  so  great 
that,  except  in  cases  of  extreme  necessity,  it  should 
not  be  resorted  to. 

The  Location  of  Drains. 

For  the  economical  construction  of  drains 
nothing  is  more  important  than  their  location, 
compared  with  the  land  they  are  expected  to 
drain ;  for  a  bad  location  can  never  be  remedied. 
No  definite  rules  can  be  laid  down  for  the  location 
of  drains  in  all  eases.  Usually  the  outlet  must 
be  at  the  lowest  point  in  the  area  to  lie  drained, 
and  from  this  the  main  drain  must  be  laid  up 
the  depressions  or  valleys,  and  from  the  main, 
at  various  points,  branch  drains  or  laterals  are 
to  be  laid.  That  is,  the  main  drains  usually 
follow  the  lowest  portions  of  the  field,  and  receive 
the  feeders  or  laterals,  which  minor  drains  make 
a  right  angle  with  the  main  drain,  and  inin 
from  it  directly  up  the  slopes  to  be  drained. 
This  method  of  running  the  laterals  is  now 
xmiversally  conceded  to  give  the  best  results, 
though  in  the  early  days  of  drainage  a  considerable 
number  of  agriculturists  advocated  and  practised 
the  method  of  laying  their  minor  drains  obliquely 
across  the  slopes.  After  the  drain  is  constructed, 
the  outlet  (F^ig. 
42)  should  be 
built  so  as  to 
be  a  permanent 
record  of  the 
existence  of  the 
drain.  It  is  best 
to  build,at  right 
angles  to  the 
direction  of  the 
drain,    a    stone 

wall  laid  in  masonry,  and  with  foundations  below 
the  reach  of  frost.  Through  this  stone  wall  should 
pass  the  last  or  outlet  tile  of  the  drain ;  this  tile 
should  have  a  diameter  1  inch  greater  than  the 
remainder  of  the  drain,  so  that   its   end   may  be 


124 


DAIRY  FAR:\rixa. 


fjratctl  to  keep  out  vermin  without  olistrufting  the 
flow  of  water  in  the  remainder  of  the  drain. 

The  depth  at  wliich  tlie  f^enerahty  of  soils 
can  be  most  profitably  and  effectually  drained 
varies  from  3  to  4  feet;  the  more  clayey  the 
soil  the  deeper  the  drain,  until  4  feet  is  reached. 
The  deeper  the  drain,  and  the  more  it  "draws" 
the  water;  hence  free  soils  need  shallower  drainintr. 
At  the  same  time,  4- feet  drains  will  as  a  rule  be 
found  deep  enoug-h  for  the  stifPest  clays,  and  it 
is  better  to  have  them  nearer  together  than  to 
deepen  them. 

The  cost  of  diaininor,  including  pipes  and 
carriage  thereon,  will  vary  according  to  depth 
of  drain,  diameter  of  pipe,  and  cost  of  labour 
in  the  district.  The  following  statements  are 
for  actual  draining  done  : — 

l._Doi)Ui,  3  foot;  width  apart,  19  fict. 

£     s.    d. 
93  roods,  at  9d.   per  rood  of  8   yards,  ) 

cutting;  out  and  filling  in  of  drains  1 
2,300  pipes,   2.J   inch  diameter,  at  30s   )        o     ,      ^ 

per  1,000  i        3     J     0 

Carriage  on  pipes     ...         ...         ...         ...       0   10     0 

Total  cost  per  acre 

2.— Depth,  4  feet ;  width  apart,  24  feet, 

82  roods,  at  Is.  2d.  per  rood  of  8  j-ards 
2,000  pipes,  3  inch,  at  40s.  per  1,000 
Carriage  on  pipes     ... 

Total  cost  per  acre 

The  foregoing  statements  of  cost  are  for 
work  effectually  done,  in  a  district  where  wages 
are  higher  than  in  most  parts  of  England. 

If  the  water-level  in  wet  land  be  lowered  by 
draining  to  a  depth  at  which  the  water  may, 
without  injury  to  the  land,  be  allowed  to  remain 
stagnant — lowered,  in  the  ease  of  free  soils,  by 
as  few  drains  as  are  necessary  to  simply  give 
motion  to  all  water  in  the  soil  above  the  level 
at  which  they  are  placed,  and  in  the  case  of  clay 
soils  by  as  many  drains  as  are  found  necessary 
not  only  to  drain  but  to  thoroughly  aerate  a 
like  mass  of  soil — then  the  mechanieal  improve- 
ments secured  are  ample  for  all  agriciiltiiral 
pui-poses.  In  the  first  place,  the  land  beeonus 
capable,  if  its  form  and  slope  admit  of  it,  of 
absorbing  the  rain  that  falls  upon  its  surface; 
in  the  second,  the  improvement  of  condition  and 
temperature,  and  the  disintegration  of  the  hitherto 
dense  and  compact  mass  of  the  soil,  are  secured 
by  the  infiltration  of  rain-water  through  it,   and 


£7 

8 

9 

?t. 
£ 

3. 

rt. 

4 

IT) 

8 

4 

0 

0 

0 

10 

0 

£9 

0 

8 

by  the  admission  (f  air  which  accompanies  the 
water;  in  the  third,  the  passage  of  the  rain-water 
vertically  and  evenly  through  the  soil,  moistening 
as  it  goes  every  particle  of  cai'th,  is  obtained  ; 
and,  in  the  fourth,  the  rising  to  the  surface  of 
the  diffluent  water,  coming  through  free  soils 
from  a  higher  level,  is  prevented,  and  the  eflluent 
water  of  springs  is  confined  within  safe  limits. 
Following  in  the  wake  of  these  mechanical 
improvements  in  the  .soil  are  chemical  effects, 
which  produce  an  increased  fertility,  and  a  better 
adaptation  of  the  land  not  only  to  tillage  opera- 
tions, but  also  to  the  growth  of  all  kinds  of  agri- 
cultural plants. 

Every  one  will  have  noticed  how  poorly,  if 
at  all,  cultivated  plants  and  trees  thrive  where 
stagnant  water  abounds  in  the  soil,  and  how 
the  land,  under  such  eircumstanees,  is  given  up 
to  the  growth  of  ill-conditioned  aquatic  plants, 
which,  in  an  agricultural  sense,  are  wholly 
worthless.  To  cultivate  such  land  profitably  is 
out  of  the  question  until  it  is  drained.  Air 
beneath  the  surface  is  as  essential  as  air  above 
it  to  the  growth  of  all  kinds  of  vegetation  which 
are  of  value  to  the  farmer,  and  we  may  therefore 
understand  how  necessary  it  is  to  drain  all  wet 
soils  in  order  to  make  them  permeable,  free,  and 
open.  This  is  necessary,  not  only  because  the 
roots  of  plants  will  not  penetrate  into  a  soil 
which  is  a  constant  quagmire  on  account  of 
stagnant  water,  but  also  because  there  are  in 
such  soils  both  organic  and  inorganic  substances 
which  require  to  be  changed  by  the  action  of 
atmospheric  gases  before  they  can  become  available 
as  food  to  vegetation.  For  every  inch  in  depth 
of  such  soil  that  we  lay  dry  by  draining,  we 
give  to  vegetation  nearly  100  tons  of  additional 
earth  per  acre  to  feed  upon;  we  correct  the 
influence  of  the  noxious  constituents  which  are 
always  present  in  such  soils;  and  we  introduce 
into  the  deepened  staple  of  useful  earth  those 
fertilising  elements  which  are  always  associateil 
with  fresh  air  and  moving  water. 

The  draining  of  land  that  is  wet  because  of 
an  impervious  subsoil  that  will  not  admit  of 
the  percolation  dow-nwards  of  the  rain-water  that 
falls  on  the  surface  is  a  simple  matter  enough; 
but  when  it  is  wet  on  account  of  effluent  or 
diffluent  water,  either  of  which  rises  to  the  surface 
from  beneath,  the  task  is  one  which  involves 
more  nicety.      Mr.    Mechi,  of  Tiptree,  to  whom 


THE    ACTION    OF    DRAINS. 


125 


ngrieuUure  is  very  g^reatly  indebted,  says: — "T 
consider  it  most  important  that,  for  spring-water  " 
(effluent  water)  "rising  from  below,  draining 
should  never  be  less  than  4  feet  from  the 
surface,  in  certain  cases  even  deeper  than  that, 
so  that  capillarity  should  not  counterbalance 
gravity.  In  pure,  stiff  clays,  free  from  spring 
water,  I  found  that  the  land  has  become  gradually 
free  from  stagnant  water  by  draining  at  4  feet 
deep,  and  I  have  always  there  had  good  crops. 
I  know  a  case  near  a  river  where  a  wet  field 
adjoining  the  river  was  drained  4  feet  deep 
to  take  off  the  'winter  water;'  but  in  summer 
the  drains  were  occasionally  stopped  to  cause 
the  under  water  to  '  head  back '  until  the 
surface  soil  was  moistened,  and  then  the  drain- 
mouth  was  opened  again.  The  result  was  mar- 
vellous in  the  increase  of  the  grass  crop.  It 
proved  that  while  a  constant  wetness  of  the 
soil  was  most  injurious,  an  occasional  supply 
was  most  beneficial  and  profitable."  The  sur- 
charging of  the  soil  with  water,  by  stopping  the 
mouths  of  the  drains,  had  a  twofold  effect-  — 
the  moistening  of  the  too  diy  soil,  and,  as  the 
water  sank  again,  the  bringing  by  suction  of 
a  volume  of  fresh  warm  air  into  the  soil. 

Forest  and  hedgerow  trees  frequently  do  great 
mischief  to  drains;  their  roots,  with  unerring 
instinct,  find  their  way  down  to  the  drains,  in 
search  of  moisture,  in  a  dry  time,  and  they  will 
go  long  distances  in  search  of  it ;  once  arrived 
there,  the  roots  send  out  an  innumerable  quantity 
of  tendrils,  whose  object  is  to  absorb  as  much 
water  as  possible  and  transmit  it  upwards  to 
the  tree.  These  rootlets  or  tendrils  form  a  com- 
plete mass  in  course  of  time,  and  stop  up  the 
drain  as  effectually  as  if  a  fleece  of  wool  had  been 
crammed  into  it.  Tree-roots  also  find  crevices 
in  rocks  in  the  same  manner,  sometimes  a 
considerable  distance  from  the  surface ;  and  it 
not  uncommonly  hajipens  that  they  divert  the 
course  of  a  small  current  of  water  which  they 
may  find  there,  in  some  eases  causing  it  to  come 
out  at  the  surface — a  thing  it  would  never  have 
done  Avithout  their  interference.  In  an  instance 
of  this  kind  they  make  land  wet  which  would 
not  otherwise  have  been  so,  and  draining  it  then 
becomes  neeessaiy.  In  the  case  of  drains  which 
are  stopped  up  by  the  roots,  the  only  thing  to 
be  done  is  to  open  the  drain,  cut  the  offending 
roots   clear   away,   replace   the   drain,   and    make 


it  as  secure  as  possible,  with  the  aid  of  large 
flat  stones  well  mortared  together,  against  a 
second  invasion.  Anyway,  trees  are  not  an  im- 
mixed  good  on  land  that  is  drained. 

In  the  draining  of  laud  we  are  too  commonly 
in  the  habit  of  regarding  the  earth  as  a  compact 
mass  of  inert  and  unsj'mpathetic  matter.  But 
this  is  a  great  mistake,  for  in  some  instances 
the  subsoil  has  shown  extreme  sensibility  to  the 
action  of  the  atmosjihere  after  draining,  and 
the  extent  to  which  air  will  penetrate  a  drained 
free  soil  is  not  yet  determined  ;  but  the  retentive 
and  expanding  properties  of  clay  soils  do  impose 
a  limit.  A  singular  piheuomeuon  has  frequently 
been  noticed,  which  demonstrates  in  a  striking 
manner  the  fact  that  soil  is  not  so  inert  and 
unsympathetic  as  we  have  been  in  the  habit 
of  considering  it.  Drains  previously  dry  have 
been  known  at  times  to  re-commence  discharging 
a  perceptible  stream  of  water  without  any  rain 
falling  on  the  surface  of  the  land ;  this  occurs 
sometimes  in  a  dry  season,  when  the  barometer 
is  falling  and  the  atmosphere  is  dense,  and  they 
will  cease  again  to  run  water  if  the  barometer 
begins  to  rise  and  the  air  to  lighten.  Facts  of 
tliis  kind  will  help  us  to  understand  the  effect 
of  aeration  and  the  circulation  of  water  in 
disintegrating,  comminuting,  and  warming  a  soil 
which  is  either  naturally  or  artificially  drained  ; 
and  we  must  bear  in  mind  a  common  law  of 
hydrostatics,  which  rules  that  water  in  draining 
can  only  be  put  in  motion  by  forming  a  vacuum 
beneath  and  by  the  admission  of  air  to  the 
surface,  and  that  no  water  can  be  withdrawn 
from  the  soil  without  its  place  being  taken  up 
either  by  air  or  by  a  fresh  supply  of  water; 
in  any  case,  mofiott  is  giAcn  to  the  water  in  the 
soil,  and  all  the  other  benefits  quickly  follow. 
The  withdrawal  of  water  causes  air  to  enter  the 
soil  at  all  its  numberless  pores,  and  to  permeate 
it  thoroughly  to  as  g;eat  a  depth  as  circumstances 
admit  of;  and,  as  air  contains,  besides  oxygen, 
which  is  essential  to  vegetable  vitality,  and 
vaporised  moisture,  which  serves  to  maintain  that 
Antality  in  diy  seasons,  a  variety  of  fertilising 
sulistances,  to  wit,  ammonia  and  carbonic  acid, 
which  have  been  exhaled  from  the  sea  and  from 
decomposing  animals  and  vegetables,  and  such 
as  come  from  the  breath  of  living  creatures, 
from  combustion,  and  other  causes,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind   that    to    introduce    plenty  of   air 


126 


DAIRY    FARMIXG. 


into  a  soil  from  whieli  it  was  previously  excluded 
is  to  perform  one  of  the  most  important,  as  it 
is  one  of  the  most  beneficial,  acts  that  can  be 
done  in  aid  of  agricultural  progress.  It  will  be 
clearly  perceived  how  true  is  the  saying  that 
"  draining  is  the  foundation  of  agriculture." 

The  upward  action  of  water  from  the 
level  of  the  drains,  by  capillary  attraction,  is 
an  important  factor  in  considering  the  effects 
of  under-draining,  for  it  is  said  to  be  of  sufficient 
force  in  some  soils  to  almost  counterbalance 
gravitation.  It  is  in  clay  soils  that  capillaiy 
attraction  is  most  powerful.  Some  thoroughly 
practical  men  go  so  far  as  to  say  that  draining 
increases  the  volume  of  evaporation  by  which 
moisture  is  exhaled  from  the  soil ;  but  as  an 
increase  of  evaporation  would  inevitably  have  the 
effect  of  making  the  land  colder,  and  as  this 
is  not  the  effect  which  is  j)opularly  understood 
to  follow  draining,  and  is  not  by  any  means 
the  result  which  draining  is  intended  to  produce, 
we  may  venture  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  the 
inference.  The  power  of  soils  to  absorb  and 
retain  water  does  not,  however,  in  any  way 
interfere  with  the  required  action  of  drainage, 
nor  is  the  quantity  of  water  which  a  soil  has 
the  power  to  soak  up  necessarily  the  measure 
of  the  height  to  which  the  water  will  rise  by 
capillary  attraction  from  the  level  to  which  the 
drains  have  reduced  it.  It  is,  however,  true 
that,  among  the  other  benefits  W'hich  draining 
secures  to  land,  the  prevention  of  excessive 
evaporation,  by  means  of  which  wet  land  is 
continually  kept  at  a  low  temperature,  is  not 
the  smallest.  And  this  evaporation  is  most 
active  in  hot  weather,  so  that  the  land  is  deprived 
of  the  warmth  which  is  indispensable  to  vegeta- 
tion in  the  very  time  when  that  warmth  would 
be  of  the  greatest  service  and  when  it  is  most 
available.  The  only  way  by  which  stagnant 
watf.T  can  escape  from  land  is  by  evaporation, 
or,  in  other  words,  by  exhalation  into  vapour; 
and,  though  perhaps  not  equally  well  known,  it 
is  equally  true  that  heat  is  dispersed  or  becomes 
latent  by  the  conversion  of  water  into  vapour. 
It  is  in  obedience  to  this  law  that  human  beings 
catch  cold  when  their  clothes  are  wet  through 
and  they  expose  themselves  to  the  air ;  evaporation 
immediately  commences,  the  system  is  chilled, 
and  a  cold  is  the  result ;  and  precisely  the  same 
evils  play  on  a  wet  soil  which  is  exposed  to  sun 


and  wind.  The  cooling  effect  is  well  illustrated 
by  swathing  a  bottle  of  water  in  wet  flannel 
and  placing  it  out  in  the  sun  :  if  the  flannel  is 
kept  moist,  the  more  will  be  the  eva])oration 
and  the  colder  will  be  the  water  inside  the 
bottle.  To  reduce  the  effect  of  evaporation  to 
tangible  figures,  it  may  be  stated  that  in  the 
process  of  carrying  off  a  gallon  of  water  by 
evaporation  the  soil  is  deprived  of  as  much  heat 
— heat,  remember,  that  is  indispensable  to  vege- 
tation— as  would  raise  5^  gallons  of  water  from 
freezing  to  boiling  point ;  it  is  not  surprising, 
therefore,  that  everywhere  wet  land  is  kno^\^l  to 
be  cold  land.  Heat,  again,  will  pass  only  a  very 
short  distance  downwards  in  water,  because  water 
is  a  bad  heat-conductor,  and  if  a  soil  is  saturated 
w^ith  water,  the  warmth  of  the  atmos2^here  cannot 
penetrate  it. 

Rain  is  of  immense  benefit  to  land  in  summer, 
but  on  retentive  soils,  or  on  soils  which  are 
wet  from  other  causes,  the  rainfall  requires  to 
be  kept  under  control  by  an  efficient  system  of 
under-draining,  othenvise  it  will  do  more  harm 
than  good.  The  part  played  by  dew  and  atmos- 
pheric moisture  in  underground  circulation  cannot 
be  precisely  stated,  but  it  may  safely  be  taken 
for  granted  that  when  air  highly  charged  by 
moisture  is  caused  to  pass  through  the  soil,  it 
must  give  up  to  vegetation  a  large  portion  of 
its  moisture.  In  his  work  on  "  Farm  Drainage," 
published  in  New  York,  Judge  French  says  : — 
"  Dew  is  one  of  the  most  ordinary  forms  in 
which  moisture  is  deposited  in  and  upon  the 
soil  in  its  natural  csnditions.  The  aljsorbent 
power  of  artificiall}'  dried  soils  seems  to  depend 
much  upon  their  chemical  constitution.  The  soil 
absorbs  moisture  from  the  air,  when  both  are 
of  the  same  temperature,  the  amount  absorbed 
depending  also  upon  the  physical  condition  of 
the  soil  and  upon  the  comparative  moisture  of 
the  soil  and  atmosphere. 

"  The  deposition  of  dew  results  from  a  dif- 
ferent law.  All  bodies  throw  off,  at  all  times, 
heat  by  radiation,  as  it  is  termed.  In  the  day- 
time the  sun's  rays  warm  the  earth  and  the 
air  is  heated  by  it,  and  that  nearest  the  surface 
is  heated  most.  l'2vaporation  is  constantly  going 
on  from  the  earth  and  water,  and  loads  the  air 
with  vapour,  and  the  warmer  the  air  the  more 
vapour  it  will  hold. 

"  When   the   sun    goes   down,   the   earth  still 


PRACTICAL    HINTS    ON    DRAINING. 


1:27 


continues  to  throw  off  lioat  by  radintion,  and 
soon  becomes  cooler  than  the  air,  unless  the 
same  amount  of  heat  be  returned  from  other 
surfaces.  Becoming  cooler  than  the  air,  the  soil 
or  plants  cool  the  air  which  comes  in  contact 
with  them ;  and  thus  cooled  to  a  certain  point, 
the  air  cannot  hold  all  the  vapour  which  it 
absorbed  while  warmer,  and  part  of  it  is  deposited 
upon  the  soil,  plant,  or  other  cool  surface.  This 
is  dew ;  and  the  temperature  at  which  the  air 
is  saturated  with  vapour  is  called  the  dew-point. 
If  saturated  at  a  given  temperature  with  vapour, 
the  air,  when  cooled  below  this  point,  must 
part  with  a  portion  of  the  vapour  in  some  way : 
in  the  form  of  rain  or  mist  if  in  the  air ;  in 
the  form  of  dew  if  on  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

"  If,  however,  other  surfaces  at  night  radiate 
as  much  heat  back  to  the  earth  as  it  throws 
off,  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  not  thus  cooled, 
and  there  is  no  dew.  Clouds  radiate  heat  to 
the  earth,  and,  therefore,  there  is  less  dew  in 
cloudy  than  in  clear  nights.  If  the  temperature 
of  the  earth  sinks  below  the  freezing-point,  the 
aqueous  vapour  is  frozen,  and  is  then  called  hoar- 
frost. Dew,  then,  is  an  effect,  not  a  cause,  of 
cold.  It  imparts  warmth,  because  it  can  be 
deposited  only  on  objects  cooler  than  itself." 

Some  practical  men  think  it  necessary  to 
give  a  direct  admission  of  air  to  drains  by  con- 
necting the  upf)er  ends  of  minor  drains  with 
the  surface  of  the  land,  and  they  do  this  by 
putting  two  or  three  of  the  ordinary  pipes  in  a 
perpendicular  or  in  a  sloping  position.  It  is  true 
that  no,  or  very  little,  harm  is  done  by  this 
method,  but  it  is  a  suj^erfluous  thing  to  do ; 
for  if  the  soil  was  not  easily  penneable  by  air 
after  draining,  the  draining  itself  could  not 
possibly  do  any  good,  and  if  soils  were  air-tight 
they    would    also    be    water-tight.      It    is    also 


supposed  (hat  water  enters  the  drain-])i])es  only 
at  the  joints ;  but  if  this  were  true,  the  pipes 
would  not  be  nearly  as  effective  as  they  are. 
The  fact  is  that  the  water  soaks  slowly  through 
the  pipes  over  their  entire  siirface ;  if  this  were 
not  the  ease  it  would  be  unnecessary  to  glaze 
sanitary  earthenware  pipes,  and  if  these  were 
left  unglazed  they  would  leak  water  all  along, 
except  at  the  glazed  sockets. 

All  practical  men  agree  in  this — if  draining 
is  worth  doing  at  all  it  is  worth  doing  well. 
We  have  known  people  try  to  economise  money 
by  placing  the  drains  a  yard  or  two  farther 
apart  than  they  ought  to  be,  with  the  result 
of  having  aftenvards  to  put  in  additional  drains 
midway  between  the  first,  because  the  land  was 
found  to  be  only  partially  drained ;  and  these 
supplementary  drains  make  the  number  greater 
than  there  was  at  first  any'  necessity  for,  while 
they  have  caused  an  extra  outlay  of  money, 
which,  being  unnecessary,  might  have  been  avoided 
if  at  the  onset  the  drains  had  been  properly 
and  not  parsimoniously  laid  out.  Some  err  in 
not  putting  drains  deep  enough,  especially  in 
heavy  clay  soils ;  and  instances  are  on  record 
where  shallow  drains  have  had  to  be  taken  up 
to  be  replaced  by  deeper  ones.  Thei-e  are,  however, 
some  clay  subsoils  so  dense  and  impervious  that 
deep  draining  has  little  effect  on  them;  and  if 
the  excavated  subsoil  is  rej^laced  over  the  pipes 
it  settles  down  into  a  compact  mass,  through 
which  water  passes  very  slowly  or  not  at  all. 
These  drains  should  be  filled  in  over  the  pipes, 
not  with  the  dense  subsoil  that  was  taken 
out,  but  with  loose  stones,  or  with  free  soil,  to 
within  one  foot  of  the  surface.  It  is  better  to 
drain  ten  acres  perfectly  than  fifteen  imperfectly, 
and  to  leave  the  five  until  they  can  be  properly 
attended  to. 


CHAPTER      XI. 

M.VN-URIKG      AND      TREATMENT      OF     TIIK      Sori,      ON      DaIRY-FaHMS. 


The  ExhaTistion  of  Soils— Its  Causes— General  Method  of  Prevcniion  and  Operation  of  Jlanurcs  Explained  -Table  showing  Con- 
stituents of  lianures  and  of  Plants— Deticiencies  of  Farni-jard  Manure— Special  Requirements  of  a  IJairj -Farm— Experiments 
in  \\'atcr-Culturc  with  Jlineral  Mantires- Their  Practical  Lessons— Use  of  Lime— Improvement  of  Grass  Land— Cake— Manure 
— TiUi^je— A  Good  Top-dressing— Farm-yard  Manure— Box-feeding— Manure  Cellars— An  American  Kxaniple— I'sual  Waste 
of  Farm-yard  JIanure— Need  of  More  Covered  Yards— Manure  Worth  Care — Means  of  Preventing  the 
V  ji^l''/^'    "  \  Vv'asle  of  Ammonia,  and  of  Increasing  the  Bulk — Compost. 


'Ci^ 


HE  exhaustion  of  soils  is  a  pro- 
•eess  ■«'ith  whose  effect  eveiy 
farmer  is  familiar,  thoiio'h  but 
few  farmers  are  familiar  with 
p."  the  details  of  the  method  hy 

,  \,  ■  which  the  effect  is  produced. 
It  is  e\4deut  that,  with  an 
exhaustive  system  of  cropping,  or  from 
A\  ant  of  that  periodical  assistance  which 
the  bulk  of  land  requires,  soils  gratlually 
become  poorer,  until  at  length  they 
cease  to  yield  a  profitable  return.  It  is  not 
only  on    arable  laud  or  on    meadow  laud    which 

Composition  of  Fertile  and  of  Barren  Soils. 


Barren 
Land. 

Barren 
Peat. 

Good 

blacksaiidy 

Loam. 

Good 
Loam. 

Wafer    

Orffanic  matter    . . . 
Phosphoric  acid  ... 
Sulphuric  acid     ... 

Potash 

Soda       

Lime      

JIagnesia      

Alumina        

Silica     

Chlorine        

Oxide  of  iron 

2  0 
1-80 

■60 

•80 
92-50 

2-84 

4o.'> 
89-14 

a  trace 

11.5 
-17 
-.58 

4-18 

•23 

3-42 
9-30 

-31 

-u 

2-23 

1-98 

1-34 

-96 

10-25 

67-29 

-68 

213 

2-47 

911 

•29 

•14 

2-73 

1-39 

2-27 

1-05 

17-69 

68-14 

•54 

4-20 

100-00 

Totals      

100o4 

10000 

100  00 

is  not  adequately  manured  that  this  exhaustion 
occurs,  but  the  great  bulk  of  pasture  land, 
especially  that  which  is  depastured  by  young 
stock,  also  becomes  inii)overished  in  course  of 
time,  unless  it  is  periodically  restored  to  condition 


liy  manuring.  The  following  tables,  by  'Sir.  J. 
Jckyll,  of  Louth,  show  at  a  glance  the  composition 
of  fertile  and  of  baiTen  soils  on  the  one  hand, 
and  on  the  other  the  percentage  of  silica,  lime, 
and  potash  which  are  found  in  the  ash  of  various 
cultivated  plants. 

In  respect  of  these,  Mr.  Jekyll  remarks : — 
"  One  kind  of  crop  requires  a  heavy  amount 
of  soluble  silica,  while  some  other  crop  requires 
little  or  none  of  that  compound.  By  taking 
a  crojj  not  requiring  silica,  time  is  given  for 
its  accumulation  in  the  soil.  Some  plants 
rob  the  land  of  its  nitrogen,  others  increase   it. 

Ash  of  Some  Cultivated  Plants. 


Salts  of 

Salts  ot 

Put  tail  and 

Lime  aud 

Silica. 

Soda. 

Ma^esia. 

Silica  plants : — 

Oat-straw  with  com  ... 

34  00 

4-00 

62-00 

Wheat-straw        

22  00 

7-20 

61-05 

Barlev-straw  with  corn 

19-00 

25-70 

55-03 

Eye-straw     

18-05 

16-52 

63-89 

Linio  plants  :  -- 

Pea-straw      

27-82 

63-74 

7-81 

Bean-straw 

34-00 

64-51 

6-78 

Clover     

39-20 

56-00 

4-90 

Potato-haulm        

4-20 

69-40 

36-40 

Potash  plants: — 

Turnips 

81-60 

18-40 



Beetroot       

88-00 

12-00 



Potato-tuhers       

85-81 

14-19 

— 

Some  gain  their  support  from  the  surface  soil, 
while  others  strike  deep  into  the  subsoil,  and 
draw  from  it  a  rich  store  of  mineral  wealth, 
which  can  be  returned  to  the  land  as  manure, 
to  supjily  those  which  feed  in   surface  soil  only. 


now    SOILS    ARE    EXHAUSTED. 


129 


One  class  of  agricultural  plants  requires  for  its 
well-being  au  excess  of  silica ;  a  second  an  excess 
of  the  salts  of  lime  and  magnesia ;  while  a  third 
will  not  flourish  without  au  extra  amount  of 
the  salts  of  the  alkalies.  Every  sack  of  corn, 
pound  of  beef,  mutton,  or  bone,  truss  of  hay 
or  straw,  carried  off  from  the  farm,  reduces  tlic 
productive  capabilities  of  that  laud  by  exactly 
the  amount  of  nitrogen,  phosphoi-us,  potash,  &c., 
which  has  been  extracted  from  the  soil  by  those 
agricultural  productions ;  aud  every  load  of  mauu- 
rial  matter  returned  to  the  farm  restores  pro- 
ductiveness in  exact  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  these  chemical  substances  which  it  contains. 
It  matters  not  from  what  source  is  the  nitrogen, 
lime,  potash,  or  phosphorus,  so  long  as  these 
substances  are  in  an  available  form,  or  readily 
become  so  in  the  soil ;  but  they  must  be  returned 
to  the  soil,  or  sterility  -n-ill  sooner  or  later  overtake 
the  best  land  ever  cropped." 

Professor  Anderson  writes  : — "  In  order  that 
we  may  have  definite  data  to  go  upon,  let  us, 
in  the  first  instance,  consider  the  cause  of  the 
exhaustion  of  soil  and  the  different  modes  in 
which  it  may  be  brought  about.  It  is  to  be 
observed,  then,  that  all  plants  require  for  their 
growth  an  adequate  supply  of  carbonic  acid, 
ammonia,  nitric  acid,  sulphuric  acid,  chlorine, 
and  silicas,  which  are  all  indispensable,  although 
some  of  them  are  required  in  larger  quantities 
than  others.  They  are  divisible  into  two  classes — 
one  including  the  first  four  substances,  which, 
being  all  either  gaseous  or  volatile,  are  found 
not  only  in  the  soil  but  in  the  atmosphere ;  the 
remainder  are  confined,  at  least  in  quantity,  to 
the  soil.  These  two  great  classes  are  usually  dis- 
tinguished as  the  organic  and  inorganic  elements 
of  the  plaut-food,  by  which  it  is  to  be  understood 
that  the  foi-mer,  though  they  are  in  a  chemical 
sense  inorganic,  are  the  source  of  the  organic 
or  combustible  part  of  the  plant,  while  the  latter 
supply  the  constituents  of  the  ash.  They  may 
also,  however,  and  with  more  advantage,  be 
described  as  the  movable  and  the  immovable 
elements  of  the  plant,  because  the  former,  existing 
in  the  air,  are  conveyed  backwards  and  forwards 
by  the  wind;  while  the  latter,  being  fixed  in 
the  soil,  cannot  be  removed  and  replaced  by 
ordinary  natural  causes.  It  is  sufficiently  ob\aous 
that  if  a  crop  be  grown  for  a  succession  of  years, 
and  be  systematically  removed  from  the  soil,  the 


quantity  of  these  substances  must  be  gra<lually 
diminished,  and  if  this  course  be  persisted  in, 
the  soil  must  eventually  become  incapable  ol 
supporting  the  life  of  plants.  The  period  at 
which  this  will  occur  must  necessarily  differ  very 
greatly  in  different  soils,  and  dejjend  on  the 
quantity  of  available  plant-food;  for  the  air, 
constantly  shifting,  is  always  prepared  to  yield 
a  practically  inexhaustible  supply  of  the  movable 
elements,  so  that  the  exhaustion  must  in  all 
cases  be  due  to  the  removal  of  the  fixeil  or  mineral 
substances ;  and,  consequently,  when  it  is  wished 
to  restore  to  the  soQ  its  power  of  supporting 
vegetation,  it  is  not  necessary  to  add  to  it  all 
the  elements  of  the  plant,  but  it  will  suffice  to 
give  those  which  it  cannot  otherwise  obtain — 
that  is,  the  fixed  substances — and  leave  it  entirely 
to  depend  on  the  air  for  a  supply  of  those  which 
can  be  derived  from  it.  We  do  not  mean  here 
to  discuss  whether  this  method  would  reproduce 
the  highest  degree  of  fertility,  but  only  to  point 
out  that  a  soil  thus  treated  would  regain,  more 
or  less  completely,  the  power  of  supporting  plant 
life,  of  which  it  would  have  been  dejnived  by 
the  supposed  system  of  management. 

"  In  point  of  fact,  then,  the  complete  ex- 
haustion of  a  soil  in  its  natural  state  must  always 
be  due  to  the  want  of  mineral  matters,  because, 
practically,  no  method  of  treatment  can  deprive 
it  of  those  which  the  air  supplies.  As  far,  also, 
as  these  matters  are  eoucerned,  it  must  be  ob- 
vious that  they  would  rarely,  if  ever,  be  exhausted 
simultaneously,  but  that  in  general,  some  one 
substance  being  present  in  relatively  small  pro- 
portion, the  soil  becomes  incapable  of  supporting 
the  life  of  plants  when  it  is  entirely  withdrawn, 
although  there  may  be  still  an  abundant  supply 
of  all  the  others.  If,  for  example,  a  soil  con- 
tain a  sufficient  quantity  of  potash  to  }ield,  say, 
twenty  full  crops  of  wheat,  and  of  the  other  con- 
stituents of  that  plant  enough  to  yield  forty  crops, 
the  excess  of  the  latter  would  be  unavailing,  and 
the  soil  would  be  exhausted  by  twenty  crops. 
If  now  we  added  to  such  a  soil  a  supply  of 
potash,  it  would  again  become  cajiable  of  produc- 
ing a  crop,  and  would  go  on  doing  so  until  some 
other  substance  had  been  entirely  consumed,  when 
it  also  would  have  to  be  added  ;  and  so  on,  until 
all  being  removed,  the  soil  would  at  length  end 
in  a  complete  infertility,  which  would  only  be 
retarded,    and   not   be   prevented,   by   this    mode 


130 


DAIRY    FAU^rixa. 


of  operation.  To  maintain  duriiiij:  an  unliniitwl 
series  of  years  a  uniform  amount  of  produce, 
it  would  be  necessary  to  add,  year  by  year,  a 
quantity  of  the  elements  of  plant-food  equal  to 
that  which  the  crop  removes ;  and  the  necessity 
for  doin<?  this  is  so  obvious  that  it  cannot  be 
controverted,  and  it  may  safely  be  asserted  that 
it  is  a  point  on  which  all  scientific  and  practical 
men  are  entirely  at  one. 

"This  being  the  principle  on  wliicli  the 
exhaustion  of  the  soil  is  to  be  avoided,  we  have 
only  to  carry  it  out  a  little  further  to  dra\v  the 
conclusion  that  if  we  add  to  it  a  larger  quantity 
of  the  elements  of  plant-food  than  is  requisite 
to  replace  what  has  been  removed,  its  productive 
capacity  must  be  increasal,  and  it  will  become 
capable  of  yielding  a  larger  crop  than  it  did 
in  its  original  state.  This  is,  in  fact,  the  foun- 
dation of  the  use  of  manures ;  aud  if  it  were 
possible  to  carry  out  these  theoretical  principles 
in  their  integrity,  the  soil  might  be  made  to 
produce,  during  an  unlimited  succession  of  years, 
a  crop  greatly  exceeding  anytliing  known  in 
actual  practice.  Practically,  however,  there  is  a 
limit  which  cannot  be  exceeded,  and  this  depends 
upon  several  circumstances.  In  the  first  place, 
the  effect  of  a  manure  is  not  due  to  its  composi- 
tion alone,  but  is  dependent,  to  no  small  extent, 
upon  the  different  constituents  existing  in  it  in 
a  state  in  which  they  are  readily  available  to  the 
plant.  And,  in  the  second  j)lace,  the  composition 
of  manures  is  not  entirely  under  our  control. 
Although  farm-yard  manure,  which  is,  and  will 
always  continue  to  be,  the  foundation  of  agri- 
cultural practice,  is  a  mixture  containing  all  the 
elements  of  plant-food,  and  generally  in  propor- 
tions not  very  far  removed  from  those  in  which 
the  plant  requires  them,  yet  it  is  impossible  not 
to  recognise  the  fact  that  differences  occur  in  it, 
and  that  part  of  its  constituents  are  not  directly 
available  to  the  plant,  but  only  become  so  by 
virtue  of  certain  changes  which  occur  in  it  after 
it  has  been  deposited  in  the  soil,  and  do  not 
necessarily  proceed  exactly  as  we  could  desire. 
It  is  a  familiar  fact  that,  owing  to  these  de- 
compositions proceeding  in  an  imperfect  manner, 
manure  may,  and  often  does,  accumulate  in  the 
soil,  and  remains  there  in  an  inert  and  dormant 
condition.  If  from  this  or  any  other  circumstances 
the  supply  of  one  or  more  of  the  substances 
required  by  the  plant  is  deficient  in  the  manure, 


then  cither  the  crop  is  tlicrcby  limitetl,  or  it  is 
forced  to  derive  the  requisite  supj)ly  of  that 
sul)stanec  from  the  natural  resources  of  the  soil 
itself.  In  fact,  a  manure  which  is  deficient  in 
any  one  element  of  the  crop  does  not  improve 
the  soil ;  and  though  it  may  produce  a  greatly 
increased  crop,  its  effect  is  merely  temporary, 
and  eventually  it  only  causes  its  more  rapid 
exhaustion.  In  the  case  of  farm-yard  manure, 
which  necessarily  contains  all  the  elements  of 
plants,  this  is,  of  course,  less  likely  to  occur  than 
in  special  manures,  containing  only  one  or  two 
of  these  substances.  Thus,  for  example,  the 
opposite  effect  would  be  conspicuously  seen  in 
the  case  of  a  soil  manured  during  a  series  of 
years  with  a  salt  of  ammonia.  In  that  case, 
though  the  crop  might  be  greatly  increased  in 
any  one  year,  the  total  amount  of  produce  would 
be  no  larger  than  it  would  have  .'een  without 
that  addition,  but  it  would  have  been  obtained 
within  a  shorter  period  of  time. 

"  The  general  conclusion  to  which  all  these 
considerations  lead  is,  that  we  can  only  maintain 
the  fertility  of  the  soil  by  returning  to  it  all 
the  substances  which  the  crop  removes,  and  that 
we  can  increase  it  by  applying  these  in  larger 
quantity ;  but  when  the  mixture  supplied  is 
deficient  in  any  one  substance,  it  does  not  pre- 
vent but  hastens  exhaustion.''' 

The  question  has  often  been  raised  whether, 
in  the  use  of  artificial  manures,  which  in  recent 
years  has  become  so  extensive,  we  not  only  do 
not  restore  all  the  elements  of  fertility,  but  only 
those  which  enable  the  crop  to  draw  more  largely 
than  it  would  otherwise  do  on  the  natural  pro- 
ductiveness of  the  soil.  It  is  a  question  which 
can  be  satisfactorily  answered  by  nothing  less 
than  a  series  of  carefully  conducted  experiments, 
extending  over  a  long  period  of  time.  The  appli- 
cation of  partial  manures,  and  the  constant  selling 
off  of  the  crops,  would  no  doubt  in  course  of 
time  so  impoverish  the  soil  of  those  constituents 
which  the  manures  did  not  contain,  that  it  would 
cease  to  yield  good  crops ;  but  where  the  crops 
are  consumed  on  the  farm,  and  the  farm-j'ard 
manure,  liquid  and  solid,  is  all  returned  to  the 
soil  from  wliich  it  was  derived  in  the  form  of 
a  crop,  no  exhaustion,  but  a  gradual,  and  in 
some  cases  a  rapid,  improvement  will  ensue. 
When  used  to  supplement  the  manure  produced 
on  a  farm,  artificial  manures  are  of  great  benefit ; 


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1,000  LBS.   CONTAIN 

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do.     moderately  rotted... 
do.    thoroughly  rotted... 

Dunghe.ap  liquor        

Fa:ces,  fresh        

Urine,  human,  fresh 

Night-soil,  fresh 

COMMERCIAL    FER- 
TILISERS. 

100  LBS.    CONTAIN 

Peruvian  Guano 

Dried  Blood        

PH0SPH.\TE3. 

Bone-meal,  average 

Bone-meal,  from  solid  parts 
do.      from  porous  parts 

Bone-black,  frci-h       

Bone-black,  spent      

Bone-ash      

Baker  Guano       

Jarvis  Guano       

Navassa  Phosphates 

8UPERPH0.SPHATES. 

Rectified  Peruvian  Guano. . . 
Baker  Guano,  superphos-  1 

Navassa,  ditto    

Bone-black,  ditto       

Bone-meal,  ditto       

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Sulphate  of  Ammonia     . , . 

Nitrate  of  Soda 

Plaster,  Gypsum       

Gas-Lime     

Sugar-house  Scum     

Ashes,  Evergreen  Trees    . . . 
Ashes,  Deciduous  Trees   ... 

Leached  Ashes    

Peat  Ashes 

Anthracite  Coal  Ashes     ... 

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3 

3 

Wheat,  grain 

Wheat,  straw 

Rye,  grain       

Rye,  straw       

Oats,  grain      

Oats,  straw.     ...     

Indian  Corn,  gi-ain 

do.   stalks  and  leaves... 

Buckwheat,  grain 

Buckwheat,  straw 

Beans        

Bean  straw      

Peas 

Pea  straw 

HAY. 

Average  Meadow  Hay  ... 

Timothy  Hay 

Red  Clover  Hay     

Swedish  Clover  Hay      ... 
Lucerne  (Alfalfa)   

GREEN  CROPS. 

Young  Grass 

Timothy  Grass       

Fodiler  Rye     

Fodder  Corn    

Red  Clover  in  blossom  . . . 

HOOTS  (tubers)  &  TOPS. 

Potatoes,  tubers     

do.     vines,  nearly  ripe 

Turnips,  roots 

Turnips,  tops 

Sugar  lieets,  roots 

Sugar  33eets,  tops 

Carrots,  roots 

Carrots,  toi^a 

Hops,  entire  plant 

Hops,  the  conea      

Tobacco,  leaves      

132 


DAIRY    FARMINC}. 


but  it  is  open  to  grave  doubt  if  they  can  Ije 
successfully  made  to  take  the  place  of  farm-yard 
maiuu-e  wholly  throu<4'h  a  loiif^  series  of  years. 
Properly  compounded  and  genuine  artificial  ma- 
nures, when  usal  alternately  with  farm-yard 
manure  on  meadow  land,  give  to  the  grasses  a 
fillip  which  is  very  beneficial ;  and  when  used 
as  an  occasional  top-dressing  to  pasture  land, 
supplementing  thereon  the  excreta  of  cattle,  the 
result  is  equally  satisf;ictory.  The  question  of 
the  exhaustion  of  soils,  however,  resolves  itself 
into  ascertaining  whether,  throughout  the  country, 
there  is  a  proper  balance  maintained  between 
the  crops  removed  from  the  soil  and  the  manure 
returned  to  it.  This  can  only  be  decidwl  by 
carofully  comparing  the  amount  of  fertilising 
matter  removed  by  various  crops  with  that 
contained  in  the  manure  which  is  returned  to 
the  soil.  Though  not  an  impossible,  it  certainly 
would  not  be  an  easy  task  for  a  practical  farmer 
to  accurately  determine  this  point,  but  he  may, 
sufficient  for  all  practical  puqioses,  af)proximately 
ascertain  it  by  the  aid  of  the  foregoing  tables. 
By  comparing  the  composition  of  the  manures 
with  that  of  the  crops,  an  idea  may  be  formed 
how  nearly  the  former  restore  what  the  latter 
take  away  from  the  soil,  and  how  much  of 
different  fertilising  materials  will  be  needed  for 
the  production  of  a  given  crop. 

In  a  six:-course  rotation,  consisting  of  turnips, 
wheat,  clover,  hay,  oats,  potatoes,  and  wheat, 
average  crops  of  each,  the  quantity  of  fertilising 
elements  removed  from  an  acre  of  land  has  been 
calculated  to  be  as  follows  : — 


Potash 

Soda 

Lime 

Magnesia    ... 

Chlorine 

Sulphuric  acid 

Phosphoric  acid 

Silica 

Nitrogen     ... 


lbs. 

319-4 

G(i-G 

lOO-O 

39-9 

5S-9 

78-7 

122-3 

3G1-4 

274-0 


The  quantity  of  the  ingredients  in  the  fore- 
going table,  when  compared  with  what  exi.sts 
in  most  soils,  is  so  small  that  the  exhaustion 
of  the  soil  does  not  appear,  under  fairly  good 
conditions  of  farming,  to  be  a  result  at  all 
likely  to  occur.  But  the  other  point  in  tl;e 
solution  of  the  question — the  estimating   of  the 


elements  of  fertility  restored  to  the  soil  by  the 
application  of  fami-yaixl  manure — is  not  so  easily 
determined,  because  it  is  difficult  to  alwaj's  tell 
the  exact  quantity  of  manure  which  is  ordinarily 
apjtlied  to  crops,  and  especially  so  because  it  varies 
nuieh  in  composition.  The  following  quantities, 
however,  may  be  taken  as  the  average  amounts 
of  fertilising  materials  contained  in  a  dressing 
of  1;J  tons  of  farm-yard  manure  per  acre  : — • 


Potash 

Soda 

l.ime 

Jlairnt'sia 
Cliloi-ine 
Sulphuric  acid 
Phosphoric  acid 
Siliai  (soluble) 
Nitrotrou 


201 
67 
337 


84 
108 
269 
163 


The  elements  of  fertility  which,  if  any, 
farm-yard  manure  wquld  fail  to  return  to  the 
land  in  sufficient  quantity,  as  compared  with 
the  remainder,  are  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid, 
pf)tash,  and  chlorine  ;  and  it  would  appear  to  be 
expedient — in  practice  we  know  it  to  be  beneficial 
in  a  high  degree — to  occasionally  supplement 
farm-yard  by  an  application  of  artificial  manure 
which  is  specially  comiiounded  in  reference  tr 
those  elements  in  wliich  farm -yard  manure  i: 
more  or  less  deficient.  The  nitrogen  is  specially 
contained,  in  a  most  readily  available  form,  in 
nitrate  of  soda ;  the  phosphoric  acid  in  super- 
phosphate of  lime  or  bones  ;  the  potash  in  kaiiiite  ; 
and  the  chlorine  in  common  salt.  The  first  three 
are  the  elements  on  which  plants  chiefly  subsist, 
and  the  soil  is  naturally  very  grateful  for  an 
artificial  supply  of  them,  over  and  above  what 
farm-yard  manure  contains.  But  farm-yard 
manure,  if  produced  in  part  by  the  consumption 
by  animals  of  various  kiuds  of  cake  and  corn — 
of  which  decorticated  cotton-cake  is  the  richest 
in  manurial  residue — may  be  so  much  improved 
that  it  will  contain  sufficient  of  every  element 
that  the  land  requires  for  its  fertility. 

There  is  a  steady  exhaustion  of  the  .soil 
going  on  upon  a  dairy  as  well  as  upon  an  arable 
farm,  but  it  is  much  less  rapid.  It  consists  chiefly 
of  ])hosphates,  but  also  of  nitrogen  and  potash, 
which  are  carried  away  in  the  milk,  and  these  may 
be  restoi-ed  by  an  application  of  ground  bones, 
superphosphate    or    lime,    nitrate    of    soda,    and 


THE    EXHAUSTION    OK    SOILS. 


l.-i;3 


kainitc.  Prof.  J.  F.  W.  Johnston  says: — "Every 
40  gallons  of  milk  contain  1  lb.  of  bone  earthy  be- 
sides other  phosphates.  Estimating  a  cow  to  yield 
750  gallons  per  year,  it  will  require  19  lbs.  of 
phosphate — equivalent  to  30  lbs.  of  bone  dust.  If 
the  calf  is  sold  off  we  may  assume  there  is  a  loss 
of  20  lbs.  of  bone,  and  the  waste  of  phosphates  in 
the  urine  equals  4  lbs.  And  thus,  for  every  cow  a 
dairy-farm  maintains,  it  will  lose  of  earthy  phos- 
phates as  much  as  is  contained  in  56  lbs.  of  bone 
dust."  Dr.  Voelcker  saj's  : — "  In  the  cultivation 
of  remote  districts,  in  the  reclamation  of  wastes, 
and  in  the  restoration  of  fertility  to  the  worn-out 
pasture  lands,  which  had  been  exhausted  hy  the 
constant  removal  of  milk,  Intter,  Sec,  from  their 
surface,  bone  manure  has  been  scarcely  less  bene- 
ficial than   in  turnip  husbandry." 

Where  much  young  stock  is  reared  the  phos- 
phates in  the  soil  diminish  more  rapidly  than 
where  the  pastures  are  kej)t  for  the  production  of 
milk  only  J  they  serve  to  build  up  the  bony  and 
muscular  stnieture  of  the  young  animals,  and  a 
smaller  proportion  of  them  is  returned  to  the  soil, 
in  the  form  of  animal  excreta,  than  is  the  case 
with  atlult  animals  which  are  in  milk  or  are 
being  fattened  for  the  butcher;  hence  it  follows 
that  to  young-stock  pastures  the  pihosphatic 
elements  require  to  be  more  frequently  restored 
than  to  milking  pastures,  and  more  frequently 
to  the  latter  than  to  fattening  pastures.  There 
are,  however,  some  pastures  that  are  so  rich  in 
all  the  elements  of  plant  and  of  animal  nutrition, 
that  for  generations  no,  or  very  little,  exhaustion 
has  become  perceptiljle,  and  they  are  as  rich 
now  as  any  one  woidd  wish  them  to  be.  The 
excreta  of  the  animals  grazing  on  them,  together 
with  the  genial  climate  in  which  they  are  usually 
situated,  are  to  all  appearance  amj^ly  sufficient 
to  maintain  them  in  a  veiy  high  state  of  fertility. 
On  these  soils  farming  is  always  a  simple,  pleasant, 
and  profitable  occujjation,  so  far,  at  all  events, 
as  the  laud  itself  is  concerned.  But  the  quantity 
of  such  land  is  very  limited. 

Professor  S.  W.  Johnson,  of  Yale  College, 
Connecticut,  U.S.A.,  author  of  "  How  Crojjs 
Grow "  and  "  How  Crops  Feed,"  two  excellent 
works,  writes  on  "  Guiding  Ideas  in  the  Use 
of  Fertilisers": — "We  do  not  know  jyositively, 
as  yet,  all  the  processes  or  arrangements  by 
w'liich  nitrogen  is  made  accessible  to  our  crojis. 
We  have  got  a  great  deal  of  valuable  knowledge. 


but  there  is  still  much  to  be  learned.  The  at- 
mosphere contains  au  immense  store  of  nitrogen 
gas — four-fifths  of  its  bulk  and  weight — but 
this  free  nitrogen  is,  so  far  as  our  present  in- 
formation enables  us  to  decide,  of  no  use  as 
food  to  vegetation  directly.  It  is  only  capable 
of  feeding  plants  after  it  has  been  brought  into 
combination  with  other  elements,  as  ammonia,  or 
as  a  nitrate.  (It  will  be  remembered  that  am- 
monia and  nitric  acid  are  compounds  of  nitrogen, 
and  that  compounds  of  nitric  acid  with  bases,  as 
ammonia,  lime,  &c.,  are  called  nitrates.)  The 
atmosphere  will  furnish  a  limited  but  variable 
supjjly  of  these  comijounds,  enough  to  be  of 
essential  service  to  well-developed  vegetation, 
having  great  absorbent  surface  of  leaf  and  root, 
but  not  enough  to  bring  annual  plants  to  great 
development,  so  that  agricultural  plants,  if  planted 
in  a  soil  destitute  of  available  nitrogen  comjiounds, 
can  never  make  a  crop  without  the  help  of  manure 
containing  suitable  nitrogen  compounds. 

"  Nitrogen  is  the  most  costly  element  of  our 
ordinaiy  fertilisers,  because  it  is  the  most  gene- 
rally and  strikingly  useful,  and  because  it  is 
the  most  difficult  to  obtain  ;  or,  in  other  words, 
the  demand  is  great  and  the  supply  small. 

"The  soil,  if  it  contains  little  nitrogen,  must 
be  enriched  by  that  element;  if  it  contains 
abundance,  it  is  obviously  not  needful  to  add 
more.  By  natural  processes  the  soil  is  constantly 
losing  and  gaining  nitrogen,  or  is  liable  to  such 
loss  and  gain,  and  these  changes  are  intensified 
under  the  artificial  conditions  of  agricultural 
practice.  Nitrogen  enters  the  soil  from  the 
atmosphere,  by  direct  absorption  of  ammonia, 
especially  when  moisture  condenses  in  it,  as  hap- 
pens in  the  night-time,  and  loses  ammonia  again, 
or  may  lose  it,  as  the  water  exhales.  The  rain 
that  falls  upon  the  earth  brings  both  ammonia 
and  nitrates  in  vaiying  quantity,  equivalent  to 
from  two  to  twenty-one  pounds  of  nitrogen  to 
the  acre  j)er  annum  in  the  dozen  instances  where 
chemists  have  taken  the  immense  trouble  necessary 
to  ascertain  its  quantity  for  an  entire  year.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  nitrates,  and  ammonia  after 
being  oxidised  to  nitrates,  wash  from  the  soil 
in  the  outflowing  water,  and  are  lost  in  the 
streams.  Again,  the  soil  itself  is  not  passive  to 
nitrogen,  but  on  the  one  hand  appears  to  be  able 
to  render  a  portion  of  the  available  nitrogen 
inert,    and    on   the    other,   to   assimilate  nitrogen 


134 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


from  the  air,  and  make  it  available  to  plants. 
But  with  regard  to  these  processes  we  are  very 
much  in  the  dark.  Another  source  of  loss  of 
nitrogen  is  when  its  compounds,  which  are  so 
precious  as  plant-food,  are  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent  broken  up  in  the  soil  by  cultivation,  and 
the  nitrogen  let  loose  as  free  nitrogen,  which  is 
not  directly  useful  as  plant-food. 

"  Nitrogen,  then,  is  somewhat  exceptional 
among  the  elements  of  fertilisers.  It  comes  to  our 
soil  in  an  unseen  atmospheric  stream,  sometimes 
larger  and  sometimes  smaller,  but  alwa\'s  so  small 
that  the  current  quantity  is  not  adequate  for  the 
cuiTcnt  crop.  It  is  always  wasting,  or  liable  to 
waste,  and  it  wastes  the  more  the  greater  the 
volume  of  rain-water  which  our  soil  is  unable 
to  retain  in  its  pores,  but  permits  to  leach  through 
and  away.  The  natural  accessions  of  nitrogen 
to  the  land,  though  not  enough  for  a  grain  or  a 
green  crop  while  that  crop  is  growing,  are  yet 
enough  to  help  it  essentially  when  its  absorbent 
surface  of  leaf  and  root  has  become  large.  And 
by  judicious  alternations  of  the  large-surfaced 
and  deep-rooted  plants  of  the  perennial  class,  or 
of  perennial  habit,  like  clover,  we  can  save  and 
store  up  in  the  soil  nitrogen  of  atmospheric 
manurings,  to  use  for  those  crops  which  are  active 
consumers  of  this  element,  either  of  themselves 
or  by  the  culture  they  require. 

"  In  brief,  nitrogen  is  the  most  valuable 
because  the  most  scarce  of  all  the  ingredients  of 
plant-food  ;  the  immense  stores  of  free  nitrogen 
in  the  air  are  not  available  to  plants  because 
they  can  use  it  only  when  combined  with  other 
substances.  But  plants  do  seem  to  have  the 
power  to  take  some  nitrogen  compounds  from 
the  air  by  their  leaves;  clover  and  like  largo- 
leaved  plants  seem  to  absorb  more  in  tliis  way 
than  grain  crops.  The  main  sujiply  of  niti'ogeu 
to  plants  must  come  from  the  soil,  and  to  be 
useful  to  the  plants  this  nitrogen  must  be  in 
available  forms.  In  vegetable  remains  and 
manures  it  is  in  more  or  loss  available  forms, 
and  is  gradually  made  more  available.  This 
change  is  facilitated  by  right  manuring  and 
tillage.  At  the  same  time,  the  soil  is  continually 
gaining  more  or  less  nitrogen  from  the  atmosphere, 
and  is  losing  more  or  less  by  escape  in  a  free 
state,  entering  into  unavailable  combinations,  or, 
especially,  by  leaking  off  in  drainage  water. 

"  As  to   the   other  elements  of  plant-food — 


lime,  magnesia,  potash,  iron,  sulphuric  acid, 
phosphoric  acid,  and  chlorine — we  know  that  they 
belong  to  the  soil,  and  while  they  may  be  rcmovcxl 
from  our  fields  in  the  crops,  or  may  some  of 
them  wash  out  of  the  land  in  the  drain  water, 
they  cannot  return  of  themselves,  but  must  be 
returned  in  the  manure  we  apply,  unless  the 
overflow  of  some  water-course  may  chance  to 
bring  them  back.  Of  the  elements  just  named, 
there  are  some  which  are  especially  liable  to  waste 
in  drainage  waters,  or  waste  easily  and  rapidly, 
while  others  are  practically  fixed.  Lime  and 
suljilniric  acid,  next  to  nitrates,  are  the  suljstanccs 
which  water  dissolves  and  removes  most  copiously 
from  our  fields.  Phosphoric  acid  and  potash,  it  is 
noticed,  are  found  in  but  the  minutest  quantities 
in  these  drain  waters.  We  need  not  fear,  then, 
that  these  suljstances  are  wasting  from  our  lands, 
unless,  indeed,  they  are  over-manured  and  under- 
retentive.  But  lime  and  sulphuric  acid  wash  out 
more  freely,  and  hence,  probabh'',  one  reason  of 
the  wide-spread  advantage  of  gypsum  as  a  fer- 
tiliser; it  must  be  constantly  applied  to  make 
up  the  constant  loss  of  its  elements." 

Experiments  in  "Water-Culture. 

The  two  following  engravings,  with  the  ex- 
planations belonging  to  them,  relate  to  the  results 
of  an  experiment  in  water-culture  made  by  Dr. 
Nobbe,  at  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Station 
in  Tharandt,  Saxony,  and  to  one  in  sand-culture 
made  by  Professor  AV.  O.  Atwater,  Director  of 
the  Connecticut  Agricultural  Experiment  Station, 
U.S.A.  The  exj)criments  were  made  with  buck- 
wheat and  oats,  and  were  undertaken  to  demon- 
strate the  effect  of  withholding  certain  elements 
of  plant-food  separately,  noting  the  difference  in 
effect,  and  comparing  each  case  with  an  example 
in  which  the  plant  was  supplied  with  eveiy  in- 
gredient necessary  to  its  development.  It  is  to 
these  and  similar  researches  that  the  discovery 
of  what  constitutes  the  food  of  plants  is  due. 
The  number  of  these  researches  is  veiy  large, 
and  years  of  patient  work,  by  many  investigators, 
have  been  expended  in  the  chemical  analysis  of 
plants,  soils,  and  maniu'cs,  in  the  culture  of  plants 
in  the  greenhouse  and  of  crops  in  the  field,  in 
order  to  demonstrate  the  different  materials  that 
arc  required  in  perfect  ]ilant-nutrition.  These 
labours  have  thrown  a  tlood  of  light  on  problems 
the  solution  of  which  had  previously  been  made 


THE    NUTRITION    OF    PLANTS, 


13J 


liy  conjecture  only,  and  tliey  liave  demonstrated 
the  incorrectness  of  some  of  the  old  theories  on 
this  subject.  The  researches  have  been  made  prin- 
cipally in  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Stations  of 
Germany  and  America,  and  they  have  given  to 
the  world  a  large  amount  of  definite  knowledge, 
which,  if  properly  put  into  practice,  is  of  incal- 
culable value.  In  order  to  the  better  understand- 
ing of  the  significance  of  these  results,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  mention,  in  connection  with  this 
subject,  a  few  important  facts  in  chemistry,  for 
the  terse  description  of  which  we  have  to  thank 
Professor  Atwater,  who  is  a  well-known  American 
specialist. 

"  Phosphoric  acid  combined  with  lime,  as 
phosphate  of  lime,  makes  up  most  of  the  mineral 
matter  of  all  bones.  Sulphuric  acid  (oil  of 
vitriol),  with  lime,  forms  suljjhate  of  lime,  other- 
wise known  as  '  j)laster,'  or  gypsum.  Silica  is 
the  chief  ingredient  of  ordinary  sand.  It  occurs 
nearly  pure  in  flint  and  quartz,  and,  combined 
with  other  substances,  in  many  minerals.  Nitrogen 
constitutes  foiir-fifths  of  the  air,  the  other  fifth 
being  oxygen ;  and  nitrogen  also  makes  up  about 
seven-eighths  of  ammonia,  the  rest  being  hydrogen. 
Charcoal  and  lampblack  are  nearly  pure  carbon. 
By  potash  is  to  be  understood  the  compound  of 
potassium  and  oxygen,  and  by  soda,  sodium  and 
oxygen.^' 

Bearing  these  facts  in  mind,  we  quote  the  fol- 
lowing tersely  expressed  statement,  by  Prof.  S.  W. 
Johnson,  of  some  of  the  substantial  results  referred 
to  : — "  In  respect  to  the  food  of  plants,  it  has  been 
settled  that  potash,  lime,  magnesia,  iron,  phos- 
phoric acid,  and  sulphuric  acid  mu>it  be  furnished 
to  all  agricultural  plants  through  their  roots  and 
by  the  soil,  in  order  to  their  growth.  It  has 
also  been  shown  that  soda,  silica,  and  chlorine 
are  not  needful  for  the  early  growiih  of  grain 
crops,  but  that  chlorine  is  essential  for  the  per- 
fection of  the  seed,  and  that  silica  is  probably 
necessary  to  uniform  blossoming  and  lipening. 
It  is  further  proved  that  water  must  enter  crops 
through  their  roots  ;  that  carbon,  which  constitutes 
more  than  half  their  weight,  is  superabundantly 
furnished  by  the  air ;  that  air  and  water  together 
yield  the  materials  out  of  which  fully  90  to 
9S  per  cent,  of  croj)s  is  built  up;  and  that  the 
soil  has  to  give  for  their  nourishment  only  the 
two  to  eight  per  cent,  of  mineral  matters  which 
remain  as  ashes  when  they  are  burned,  and  the  one 


and  a  half  to  two  per  cent,  of  nitrogen  which 
they  also  contain." 

In  order,  then,  that  any  agricultural  plant 
may  grow,  it  must  have  at  its  disposal,  in  the 
soil,  besides  water,  a  certain  list  of  substances, 
viz.,  potash,  lime,  magnesia,  iron,  phosphoric  acid, 
sulphuric  acid,  and  some  compound  of  nitrogen. 
Besides  these,  chlorine,  certainly,  and  silica, 
probably,  are  necessary  in  many,  if  not  in  all 
cases,  for  the  perfection  of  the  plant.  If  any 
one  of  these  substances  be  lacking,  the  plant 
will  not  thrive.  With  an  abundant  supply  of 
all,  and  other  conditions  favourable,  its  growth 
will  be  luxuriant.  How  has  all  this  been  learned  ? 
In  the  first  place,  in  every  analysis  that  chemists 
make  of  any  plants,  be  it  corn,  or  grass,  or  turnips 
— and  thousands  of  these  analyses  have  been  made 
— each  one  of  these  substances  has  always  been 
found.  It  is  fair  to  suppose,  then,  that,  being 
always  present,  they  have  each  a  work  to  do  in 
the  plant.  Still,  this  is  not  positive  proof.  As 
every  ordinaiy  soil  contains  all  of  these  substances, 
is  it  not  possible  that  the  plant  may  take  up 
some  of  them  in  the  water  it  absorbs  from  the 
soil,  just  as  a  towel,  one  end  of  which  has  fallen 
into  a  dish  of  water,  will  absorb  the  water  and 
whatever  it  holds  in  solution  ?  This  question 
might  be  tested  by  growing  plants  in  soils  with 
one  of  these  substances  absent  from  it,  potash 
for  example.  But  it  is  difficult  to  find  a  soil 
entirely  free  from  potash.  It  is  easy,  however, 
to  dissolve  in  pm-e  water  any  or  all  of  these 
substances  in  any  desired  proportion,  and  it  is 
well  known  that  plants  \y\\\  grow  with  their  roots 
in  water. 

"Experiments  in  'water-culture'  consist  in 
raising  plants  without  any  soil  at  all,  but  with 
their  roots  immersed  in  water,  in  which  are 
dissolved  the  soil-ingredients  of  plant-food.  The 
seeds  are  germinated,  or  '  sprouted,'  in  pure  sand 
or  moist  cotton.  At  the  same  time,  the  ingredients 
of  plant-food  which  are  to  be  supplied  to  the 
plants  are  dissolved  in  water  in  the  desired 
proportions,  and  these  solutions  put  into  glass 
jars.  At  the  tops  of  these  the  just  gei-minated 
plants  are  placed,  projjerly  supported,  with  their 
roots  dij^ping  into  the  solutions,  and  thus  allowed 
to  grow.  Solutions  containing  all  the  soil- 
ingredients  or  plant-food  are  called  normal  solu- 
tions. In  these,  plants  are  raised  as  large,  as 
healthy,    and   in    every   way  as  perfect   as    those 


136 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


grown  in  the  soil.  Dr.  Wolff  raised  in  such  a 
solution  four  perfect  oat  plants,  with  40  stems 
and  1,.j35  well-developed  seeds.  Dr.  Nobbe  ob- 
tained a  Japanese  buckwheat  plant,  9  feet  high, 


its  roots  ha<l  been  immersed  only  in  watery 
solutions.  The  above  were  obtained  in  the 
'  noi-mal  solutions.'  ^ATiat  would  result  if  one 
of  the  necessary  food  ingredients  were  omitted  ? 


Fig.  43.— ExPEatrMENTS  in  ■Water-Cultuke. 
(By  Dr.  N^ihhe,  at  the  ExpcriTtiental  Station  in  Tluirandt,  Saa-ony.) 
The  above  en£rravin<7  is  copied  from  pliotosrr.ipbs  of  buckwheat  plants,  jTrown  with  the  roots  immersed  in  jars  containing  various  solations 
of  the  infrredieuts  of  pbiut-food  in  water.  Tlie  jilants  were  supported  by  perforated  corks  reiting  on  the  covers  of  the  jars,  and  by  upright 
sticks.  In  jars  I,  and  I. a  w-s  a  nonnnl  notniion,  that  is,  a  solution  containiu'^  nil  the  essential  ingredients  of  plant-food,  incluiliug  potassium 
ns  chloride.  The  plnnt  in  I.a  was  nearly  3J  feet  high.  The  solution  in  II.  was  the  same  as  normal  solution  in  I.  and  La,  except  that 
l)Otassium  was  omitted  in  the  jar  II.  The  plant  was  scarcely  3  inches  hi^b.  The  jar  II.3  commenced  as  II.,  that  is,  without  potassium, 
but  potassium  chloride  was  afterwards  added.  VI.  contained  the  normal  solution,  except  that  sodium  was  substituted  for  potassium.  IX.,  X.,  XI., 
and  III.,  same  as  I.,  except  that  IX.  contained  no  lime,  X.  no  chlorine,  and  XI.  no  nitrogen,  and  III.  had  nitrate  instead  of  chloride  of  potassium. 


weighing,  air-dry,  4,786-fold  the  weight  of  the 
seed,  and  bearing  7'J6  ripe  and  108  imperfect 
seeds.  And  Dr.  Knop  used  to  delight  in  showing 
his  friends  a  young  oak-tree,  very  small  indeed, 
but  the  growth  of  which  had  been  norma!,  though 


Tliis  is  answered  in  Dr.  Nobbe's  experiments. 
The  engraving  (Fig.  4.'5),  with  the  explanations, 
shows  that  in  the  normal  solution  the  buckwheat 
was  vigorous  and  healthy,  and  grew  to  be  nearly 
8.^  feet  higli.    Another  i)lant  (11.),  grown  under 


SAND    (CULTURE. 


137 


precisely  the  same  circumstances,  except  that  no 
potash  was  sujiplied,  led  a  starvino;  and  sickly 
life,  and  attained  a  height  of  scarcely  3  inches. 
Without  potash  no  full  development  was  possible. 
When  tins  was  added  later  (in  II.3),  the  plant 
revived,  pushed  out  with  some  vigour,  but  was 
unable  to  overtake  its  better-fed  neighbours.  Nor 
did  the  plants  grow  well  in  lack  of  either  lime 
(IX.),  or  chlorine  (X.),  or  nitrogen  (XI.).  .  .  . 
These  are  the  results,  not  of  single,  but  of  many 
repeated  trials.  Dr.  Nobbe  made,  in  this  case, 
a  number  of  different  series  of  experiments,  each 


acid,  and  some  compound  of  nitrogen.  Besides 
these,  chlorine,  and  perhaps  silica,  are  sometimes, 
if  not  always,  indispensable  to  complete  develop- 
ment. If  any  one  of  these  essential  ingredient i 
be  lacking,  the  plant  will  suffer  in  growth  and 
development." 

The  results  of  these  experiments,  wliich  should 
be  clearly  stated,  and  wliich  should  be  especially 
remembered,  are  that — 1st.  No  agricultural  plant 
can  grow  without  an  abundant  supply,  in  an 
available  and  appropriate  form,  of  each  of  the 
essential  ingredients  of  plant-food.    2nd.  Of  thesej 


Fig.  44. — ExPEBiMEirr  with  Buckwheat  and  Oats  grown  in  Barren  Sand,  and  supplied  with 

DIFFERENT  FERTILISING  INGREDIENTS. 


corresponding  to  the  numbers  I.,  II.,  &c.  There 
were,  for  instance,  several  of  series  I.,  some  larger, 
and  others  smaller.  From  these,  I.  and  I.«  were 
selected  as  of  average  size  and  development.  So 
II.,  III.,  &c.,  were  each  selected  as  fair  average 
samples  of  the  plants  of  those  series.  The  selected 
plants  were  photographed,  and  the  result  is  shown 
in  the  picture. 

"IMany  such  series  of  experiments  have  been 
carried  on  with  various  plants  by  Nobbe  and 
numerous  other  investigators,  and  they  all  agree 
in  this  one  general  conclusion.  No  agricultural 
plant  can  attain  full  growth  without  a  sufficient 
supply  through  its  roots  from  the  soil  of  potash, 
lime,    magnesia,    iron,  phosphoric  acid,    sulphuric 


potassium  is  necessary  to  the  formation  of  starch 
in  the  chlorophyll  grains  of  the  leaf.  3rd.  No 
other  ingredient  can  fulfil  the  office  of  potassium 
in  the  plant.  The  same  is  also  known  to  be  true 
of  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid,  and  each  of  the 
other  essential  ingi-edients.  Each  has  its  o^vn 
work,  which  no  other  can  perform. 

The  practical  application  of  these  principles 
as  to  the  chief  office  of  fertilisers  may  be  stated 
as  follows : — Crops  can  no  better  grow  wthout 
a  sufficient  supply  of  each  of  these  essential 
elements  in  the  soil  than  could  the  plants  in  the 
solution.  In  removing  crops  from  our  land  we 
cany  away  great  quantities  of  plant-food.  By 
continued   cropping   the  available  supply   of    one 


138 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


or  more  of  the  essential  inf]fre(lients  becomes  too 
small  for  profitable  production,  unless  by  some 
means  they  are  replaced.  The  ones  most  generally 
deficient  are  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid,  and  potash. 
The  chief  use  of  manure  is  to  supply  these  lacking 
materials.  Stable  manure  is  a  complete  fertiliser, 
as  it  furnishes  all  the  ingredients  of  plant-food, 
and  improves  the  land  besides.  Superphosphates, 
bone  manure,  guanos,  potash  salts,  and  other  like 
artificial  fertilisers  are  valuable  chiefly  for  their 
nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid,  and  potash.  In  their 
use  we  should  first  learn  what  materials  the  plant 
needs,  and  then  select  the  fertilisers  which  furnish 
these  in  the  largest  quantity,  best  form,  and  at  the 
lowest  cost.  The  needs  of  a  given  soil  can  be  best 
learned  by  experience  and  experiment.     The  only 


as  Professor  Atwater  saj's,  "  several  solutions 
were  prepared  by  dissolving  the  proper  chemical 
salts  in  water.  One  of  these  contained  all  the 
materials  which  plants  require  for  their  food  from 
the  soil.  This  '  normal  solution '  was  the  same 
as  was  used  in  the  experiments  in  '  water-culture,* 
previously  described,  and  was  applied  to  No.  V. 
of  each  series.  Another  solution,  containing  the 
same  ingredients,  except  that  nitrogen  was 
omitted,  was  used  to  water  the  plants  in  No. 
IV.  A  solution,  with  everything  but  phosphoric 
acid,  was  applied  to  No.  III.  of  each  series. 
Potash  was  in  like  manner  omitted  from  No. 
II.  Finally,  each  No.  I.  received  only  rain-water. 
The  plants  came  up  and  grew.  Those  supplied 
with  the  complete  fertiliser,  No.  V.,  were  healthy. 


Dry   Weight  of    Plants  Grown   in  Barken   Sand,   Fertilised  with   Different   Solutions. 


BucrwiiEAT. 

I. 

n. 

n.. 

IT. 

V. 

Il 

1 

Number  of  plants         ...    25 
Average  height.    Cen-  '^  '  „. 

timeters*     >     ■^" 

Weight  of  seed.  Gramst     1  -2 
Weight  of  straw      „            4-9 
Weight  of  roots      „            4-6 

2.5 

CO 

13 
14-1 
6-6 

24 

GO 

4-4 
8-7 
2-4 

24 

30 

0  9 
2-9 
4-6 

24 

Gl 

20-4 
2.5-4 
5-4 

Oats. 

I. 

1 

1 

IL 

m. 

IV. 

V. 

II 

|i2 

II 

11 
o  " 
i=5   ■■ 

Number  of  plants 

Average  height.    Cen- ] 

timeters*      J 

AVcight  of  seed.  Gramsf 
"Weight  of  straw      „ 
Weight  of  roots       „ 

20 

0-3 
1-8 
2-3 

2.3 

55 

4-5 
14-9 

77 

24 

50 

1-3 
11-4 
4-6 

27 

39 

1  3 
5-5 
3-9 

27 

61 

4-2 
34 '5 
17-3 

2^  Centimeters  =  abuut  1  incli.         t  1  Gr. 


safe  guarantee  for  the  composition  of  commercial 
fertilisers  is  in  chemical  analysis. 

In  applying  artificial  manures  to  grass  land 
some  discrimination  is  necessary  to  avoid  loss. 
On  heavy  land,  the  soil  of  which  is  close  and 
retentive,  they  should  be  applied  before  or  soon 
after  Christmas,  if  the  weather  is  suiLable,  because 
such  soil  is  longer  in  absorbing  them ;  but  on  light, 
naturally  dry  land  they  should  be  applied  in  the 
early  spring,  and  in  all  cases  in  damp  weather; 
this  la.st  consideration  applies  in  a  special  manner 
to  guanos. 

The  second  experiment  (Fig.  41)  was  made  in 
barren  sand,  and  with  buckwheat  as  before.  Ten 
wooden  boxes,  each  one  foot  square,  were  filled 
with  the  sand,  and  arranged  in  two  rows  of  five 
each,  the  boxes  in  each  row  being  numbered  I., 
II.,  III.,  IV.,  V.  In  the  first  row  buckwheat  was 
sown,  and  in  the  second  oats.  "  To  fertilise  these," 


did  well,  and  gave  a  fair  crop.  Where  potash  was 
omitted.  No.  II. ,  the  plants  were  about  as  tall, 
but  thinner,  and  the  yield  of  seed  was  only  about 
half  as  large.  Without  phosphoric  acid.  No.  III., 
the  plants  looked  about  as  well,  but  the  amount 
of  seed  was  extremely  small.  AVhere  nitrogen 
was  left  out,  everything  else  being  supplied,  the 
plants  were  stunted,  spindling,  and  sickly.  They 
yielded  almost  no  seed,  and  were  in  fact  no 
better  than  those  which  had  nothing  but  rain- 
water. 

"  When  the  plants  were  ripe  they  were  har- 
vested, the  roots  being  freed  from  sand  by  careful 
washing,  and  the  different  parts  measured  and 
weighed.  The  picture  represents  buckwheat  plants 
of  average  size  from  each  lot.  The  table  above 
gives  the  measurements  and  air-dry  weights  of 
both  buckwheat  and  oats. 

"  Tills   sand  evidently  needed  a  com2)lete  fcr- 


THE    APPLICATION    OF    IMANFKES. 


139 


tiliser.  The  omission  of  o.irli  one  of  tlie  move  im- 
])(n-taiit  int^redieuts  of  plant-food  brought  the  yield 
down,  but  in  very  unequal  proportions.  In  lack  of 
potash,  everything  else  being  supplied,  the  crop 
suffered  badly.  Leaving  out  phosphoric  acid 
injured  it  still  more;  while  without  nitrogen, 
even  though  everything  else  was  furnished,  the 
growth  was  no  better  than  with  rain-water.  This 
soil  could  supply  considerable  potash  and  some 
phosphoric  acid,  but  its  stock  of  available  nitrogen 
was  extremely  low. 

"  It  is,  we  believe,  a  principle  of  military 
science  that  a  fortification  is  no  stronger  than  its 
weakest  point.  The  crop  cannot  rise  above  the 
level  of  the  lowest  element  in  the  food-supply.  If 
all  come  up  to  the  required  standaixl,  and  other 
conditions  are  favourable,  a  good  yield  is  certain  ; 
but  if  any  one  falls  below  this  standard,  the 
crop  must  fall  with  it.  Now  this  food-supply 
varies  in  different  soils.  It  varies  not  only  as 
a  whole,  but  in  its  different  parts.  Sometimes 
one  element,  sometimes  several,  may  be  lacking. 
A  soil  may  have  a  proper  texture,  amount  of 
moisture,  and  a  full  supply  of  everything  the 
crop  needs,  except  phosphoric  acid,  for  examj)le. 
Add  phosphate  in  available  forms,  and  the  yield 
will  be  bountiful. 

"If  we  have  made  our  meaning  clear,  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  main  point  in  economical  manuring 
must  be  to  economise  what  the  soil  can  supply, 
and  to  add  what  it  cannot.  The  proper  use  of 
special  fertilisers  is  to  fill  up  these  deficiencies, 
to  bring  the  food-supply  into  equilibrium.  As 
Mr.  Lawes  says,  '  soils  were  meant  to  be 
exhausted ; '  that  is,  the  material  they  furnish 
was  meant  to  be  used.  The  point  is  to  utilise 
it  most  economically,  and  add  what  is  needed 
to  bring  the  most  largely  and  permanently  pro- 
fitable results." 

There  are  several  valualile  facts  brought  out 
in  these  experiments,  the  chief  of  which  is  that 
highly  satisfactory  results  were  obtained  by  the 
ajiplication  of  a  fertiliser  which  contained  all  the 
elements  necessary  to  the  growth  of  the  plant. 
The  next  fact  is  that  a  soil  which  lacks  nitrogen, 
or  the  means  of  obtaining  it,  as  supplied  by  de- 
caying organic  matter,  must  have  it  supplied  by 
artificial  means,  if  a  full  crop  is  to  be  obtained. 
They  prove,  further,  that  if  all  the  elements  except 
one  be  supplied,  the  lack  of  that  one  will  imperil 
the  crop.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  ascertain, 
21 


by  analysis  of  the  suit,  or  by  carefully  conducted 
experiments  with  manures,  in  what  element  or 
elements  the  soil  is  most  deficient,  and  then  to 
supply  these  more  abundantly  than  those  in  which 
the  soil  is  already  rich  enough  for  all  practical  pur- 
poses. There  can  be  no  doubt  that  many  farmers 
waste  money  in  one  or  both  of  two  ways — either  in 
supplying  elements  of  plant-food  in  which  the  soil 
abounds,  or  in  not  supplying  in  sufficient  quantity 
those  in  which  it  is  deficient.  And  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  in  an  over-supply  of  manure, 
not  only  is  the  surplus  more  or  less  thrown  away, 
but  the  crop  will  be  smaller  than  if  a  proper 
quantity  be  supplied  to  it.  Crof)s  cannot  be  in- 
definitely increased  in  quantity — there  is  a  limit 
beyond  wliich  nature  cannot  be  induced  to  go. 

Use  op  Lime. 
Mr.  Falconer  King  writes  as  follows  on  the 
use   and  abuse  of   lime   in   agriculture  : — "  It   is 
an  old,  and  to  a  certain  extent  a  true  saying,  that 

'  Jluc-h  lime  and  no  manure 
Will  make  both  farm  and  farmer  poor.' 

The  converse,  however,  is  also  true,  and  is  worthy 
of  remembrance  by  those  who  are  desirous  of 
making  the  most  of  their  farms.  If  much  lime 
and  no  manure  make  poor  farmers,  it  is  no  less 
true  that  much  manure  and  no  lime  will  have 
precisely  the  same  effect.  It  appears  to  me, 
however,  that  the  majority  of  Scotch  farmers  err 
in  this  matter  neither  by  liming  their  land  too 
liberally  nor  yet  too  scantily,  but  if  they  err  at 
all  in  the  operation  of  applying  lime  it  is  by 
doing  so  at  an  unseasonable  time,  or  by  relying 
too  much  upon  lime  to  the  exclusion  of  othe.- 
manure.  This  last-named  error,  however,  if  it 
ever  is  committed  in  the  present  day,  is  by  no 
means  a  common  one,  at  all  events  with  the  better 
class  of  farmers. 

"  In  considering  the  part  played  by  lime  in 
agricultural  operations  it  should  always  be  re- 
membered that  that  substance  acts  in  the  soil  in 
two  perfectly  distinct  and  separate  ways.  First, 
lime  acts  as  a  manure  by  supplying  necessary 
calcareous  food  directly  to  the  plant ;  and  second, 
it  acts  by  supplying  food  indirectly  to  the  plant, 
either  by  unlocking  the  storehouses  of  plant-food 
already  existing  in  the  soil,  or  by  converting 
useless  or  even  deleterious  ingredients  thereof 
into  substances  useful,  or  at  all  events  harmless, 
to  vegetation. 


140 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


"  Lime,  as  is  well  known,  is  required  directly 
by  all  cultivated  plants  as  food,  and  tlierefure 
a  soil  which  is  totally  devoid  of  lime  is  simply 
ban-en,  and  the  obvious  remedy  by  which  to  ren- 
der such  a  soil  fertile  would  be,  of  couvse,  a  dose 
of  lime.  Such  a  case  as  this,  however,  is  extremely 
rare.  Of  all  the  suspicious  soils  which  I  have 
analysed,  I  cannot  recall  one  to  mind  which  was 
proved  to  owe  its  barrenness  to  being  completely 
devoid  of  lime. 

"  In  most  cases,  therefore,  in  which  lime  acts 
beneficially  when  applied  to  the  soil,  it  does  so 
either  by  supplying  food  to  the  crop  indirectly, 
or  by  destroying  some  noxious  constituent  already 
existing  in  the  soil. 

"  The  plant-food  which  lime  supplies  indirectly 
may  be  divided  into  two  classes — first,  mineral  or 
inorganic,  and  secondly,  vegetable  or  organic. 

"  The  principal  members  of  the  first  class  seem 
to  be  silica  and  potash.  These  substances,  how- 
ever, it  should  be  borne  in  mind,  are  not  in  any 
way  contributed  to  the  soil  by  the  lime — they 
are  merely  changed  by  its  action  from  their  hard, 
stony,  insoluble  nature  into  a  condition  in  which 
they  are  available  to  plants  as  food.  These  two 
substances,  silica  and  potash,  are  found  in  greater 
or  less  proportion  in  almost  all  fertile  soils,  but 
in  some  roils  they  exist  princijially  in  an  insoluble 
or  locked-up  condition,  if  I  may  use  the  expression, 
and  are  therefore  of  no  use  as  plant-food  until 
they  have  been  set  free,  either  by  the  action  of 
lime  or  by  some  other  suitable  agent. 

"The  principal  member  of  the  second  or 
vegetable  class  of  food  materials  which  lime 
prejMrcs  for  the  use  of  plants  is  nitrogen.  Now 
this  substance  nitrogen,  as  is  well  known,  is  an 
indispensable  and  most  valuable  ingredient  of 
plant-food,  and  therefore  any  substance  which 
can  apply  it  to  plants  in  a  readily  available  form 
is  an  agent  of  very  great  utility.  This  office  is 
performed,  and  performed  very  satisfactorily,  liy 
lime.  The  lime  does  not,  indeed,  add  or  contri- 
bute nitrogen  any  more  than  it  adds  potash  to 
soils,  but  it  converts  the  nitrogen,  which,  though 
it  already  exists  in  the  soils,  is  present  in  a 
comparatively  inert  state,  into  a  form  in  which 
it  is  easily  assimilated  by  plants.  In  these 
dilTcrcnt  ways,  therefore,  may  lime  be  used  with 
great  benefit,  viz.,  on  soils  which  contain  a  large 
quantity  of  undccomposcd  mineral  matter,  and  on 
soils  which  contain  an  excess  of  vcsetable  matter. 


"  Lime,  however,  is  useful  in  another  way,  and 
that  is  l)y  destroying  substances  hurtful  to  vegeta- 
tion, such  as,  for  example,  certain  compounds  of 
iron  and  certain  acids,  which  are  alleged  to  be 
the  cause  of  the  peculiar  evil  known  as  sourness. 
A  soil,  it  is  well  known,  may  contain  all  the  in- 
gredients necessary  for  supporting  plant  life,  and 
yet  be  infertile,  in  consequence  of  containing  some 
deleterious  or  poisonous  ingredient.  Lime  may 
act,  therefore,  very  beneficially  on  some  soils,  not 
by  providing  an  increased  supply  of  plant-food, 
but  merely  by  neutralising  or  destroying  some 
such  hurtful  substance  which  may  be  present. 

"  In  all  the  instances  I  have  mentioned,  lime, 
we  have  seen,  acts  beneficially ;  and  it  now  remains 
for  me,  before  concluding  this  short  note,  to 
point  out,  in  a  very  few  words,  how  lime  may 
act  prejudicially — so  act,  indeed,  that  its  con- 
tinued ai)plication  may  not  only  be  useless,  but 
actually  be  hurtful.  It  is  an  old  idea  that  lime 
is  a  very  exhausting  substance,  and  that  its 
continued  and  extensive  use  must  sooner  or  later 
greatly  impoverish  a  soil,  or  even  reduce  it  to 
perfect  sterility.  This  idea  is  not  altogether 
erroneous,  but  it  is  only  true  in  a  certain  sense. 

"  I  don't  mean,  of  coui'se,  to  assert  that  a  soil 
may  not  be  over-limed.  Such  an  occurrence, 
although  not,  I  should  think,  by  any  means  a 
common  one,  is  not  impossible.  It  can  be  done; 
and  the  immediate  effect  of  over-liming  is  to  cause 
a  great  diminution  in  the  amount  of  the  organic 
constituents  of  the  soil,  thereby  rendering  grain 
crops  grown  on  it  uncertain.  When  I  say, 
however,  that  there  need  not  be  much  fear  of 
rendering  a  soil  sterile  by  means  of  lime,  I  refer 
to  the  impossibility  of  destroying  the  natural  or 
mineral  constituents  of  a  soil,  sucli  as  potash, 
silica,  phosphoric  acid,  sulphuric  acid,  &c.  When 
lime  is  added  to  the  soil,  it  does  not  eliminate  or 
destroy  these  substances ;  it  merely  effects  certain 
changes  by  bringing  some  of  them  into  a  more 
valuable  condition;  so  that  as  long  as  we  do 
not  remove,  by  injudicious  cropping  or  by  some 
similar  method,  these  valuable  constituents  of 
plant-food  from  our  soils,  we  may  apply  lime  as 
freely  as  is  deemed  necessary  without  incurring 
any  danger  of  thereby  rendering  them  sterile — 
at  least,  of  doing  so  by  exhausting  the  mineral 
food  elements.  The  principal  evil  to  be  appre- 
hended from  over-liming  is  too  great  a  destmction 
of    organic   matter,    which,    as    I    have    already 


THE    USE    AND    ABUSE    OF    LIME. 


Ml 


pointed  out^  unsuits  the  soil  for  the  growth  of 
g;rain  crops.  It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind 
that  lime  almost  always  produces  the  most  pro- 
fitable and  marked  effect  on  new  land,  or  on  land 
^vhich  has  not  been  fully  exposed  to  the  air,  or 
on  such  land  as  is  rich  in  organic  remains,  as, 
for  example,  on  peaty  or  boggy  land,  and  that 
it  may  be  of  very  little  use  if  applied  alone  to 
arable  land  which  has  just  been  cropped.  The 
greatest  mistake,  though,  which  I  have  ever  seen 
committed  in  connection  with  the  employment 
of  lime  is  that  of  mixing  it  with  manure  before 
application.  In  these  days  of  enlightenment  it  is 
almost  incredible  that  such  an  egregious  error  as 
this  should  be  committed,  and  yet  I  myself  have 
actually  seen  the  perpetration  of  this  species  of 
absolutely  inexcusable  wastry.  When  farm-yard 
manure,  at  least  after  it  has  been  kept  for  some 
time,  is  so  treated  with  lime  it  is  almost  entirely 
destroyed,  and  the  value  of  many  other  manures, 
by  similar  treatment,  would  be  very  mucli  lessened. 
Lime  should  never  be  allowed  to  come  in  contact 
with  the  manure  at  all ;  and  if  it  could  be  arranged 
conveniently,  these  two  substances  should  be 
applied  to  the  land  at  different  times. 

"  As  I  have  been  frequently  asked  to  give 
an  opinion  as  to  the  value  of  waste  products 
containing  lime,  such  as  the  so-called  gas  lime 
and  the  refuse  lime  from .  paper-works,  it  may 
be  of  some  use  if  I  state  here  that  none  of  these 
substances  are  of  any  great  value,  except  for  the 
lime  which  they  contain;  and  I  should  say,  fui-ther, 
that  neither  of  these  substances  should  on  any 
account  be  used  for  agricultural  purposes  in  their 
fresh  state.  Gas  lime,  when  it  is  newly  made, 
contains  certain  compounds  of  suljjhur  which  are 
positively  inimical  to  plant  life ;  and  much  the 
same  may  be  said  of  the  waste  lime  from  paper- 
mills,  which,  when  it  is  new,  is  apt  to  contain 
some  caustic  soda,  a  substance  which  may  seriously 
injure  a  plant,  and  even  destroy  entirely  the 
vitality  of  seeds.  By  sufficient  weathering,  how- 
ever, the  noxious  constituents  of  both  of  these 
substances  may  be  rendered  quite  harmless,  and 
either  or  both  of  them  may  then  be  safely  used 
as  a  means  of  applying  lime  to  the  soil.'" 

In  many  old  pastures  mosses  are  formidable 
enemies  to  the  farmer.  They  are  to  be  found 
thriving  more  or  less  in  almost  all  situations 
and  in  every  description  of  soil,  but  more  par- 
ticularly are  they  to  be  found  in  all  their  luxuriance 


on  moist,  inferior  soils.  Where  it  is  inconveninet 
or  undesirable  to  plough  up  and  crop  land  thus 
overrun  with  coarse  grass  and  moss,  something 
may  be  done  to  eradicate  them  by  going  over 
the  surface  with  sharp,  close-teethed  harrows, 
crossing  and  re-crossing  till  the  moss  is  thoroughly 
scratched  up  ;  clean  off  the  rubbish,  and  thereafter 
apply  a  good  top-dressing  of  lime  or  lime  compost. 
Unquestionably,  pure  lime  is  preferable,  and  put 
on  as  hot  as  it  can  be  conveniently  applied,  at 
the  rate  of  from  five  to  six  tons  per  imperial 
acre.  The  month  of  February  and  up  to  the 
middle  of  ]\Iareh  would  seem  to  be  the  best 
time  for  this  operation.  After  the  lime  has  got 
a  good  shower  of  rain,  brush  or  chain  harrow  it 
well  into  the  ground,  removing  all  rubbish  gathered 
up  by  the  harrows,  refuse  of  the  lime,  &c.  In 
about  a  month  afterwards,  and  not  later  than 
the  middle  of  April,  sow  a  mixture  of  the  best 
permanent  grass  seeds,  at  the  rate  of  from  twenty 
to  thirty  pounds  per  acre,  which  can  be  obtained 
mixed  and  ready,  and  suitable  to  the  nature  of 
the  soil,  from  the  seedsman  with  whom  you  are 
in  the  habit  of  dealing.  If  there  be  any  tufts 
or  tussocks  of  coarse  grass,  it  would  be  well  to 
root  them  out.  Brush  harrow  again,  and  finish 
up  by  rolling  with  a  heavy  roller. 

Improvement  of  Grass  Land. 

The  improvement  of  grass  land — not  alone 
of  land  that  has  been  drained,  but  also  of  other 
land  that  has  not  required  it — is  a  subject  of 
deep  interest  and  importance.  While  arable  land 
is,  as  a  rale,  fairly  well  attended  to  A^-ith  periodical 
dressings  of  manure  of  one  kind  or  another, 
and  is  commonly  cleared  from  weeds  more  or 
less  thoroughly  once  at  all  events  in  the  course 
of  the  rotation,  grass  land  is  too  generally  left 
to  take  care  of  itself;  and  tliis  wide-spread 
neglect,  being  the  rule  rather  than  the  excep- 
tion, is  a  matter  which  causes  but  little  surprise. 
Though  it  is,  no  doubt,  true  that  there  is 
some  grass  land  in  our  best  districts  which,  so 
far  as  manuring  with  anything  beyond  what  the 
cattle  leave  upon  it  in  grazing,  may  safely  be  left 
to  take  care  of  itself — land  which  is  naturally 
so  rich  in  all  the  elements  of  plant  nutrition  that 
to  manure  it  at  all  in  an  artificial  manner  would 
do  more  harm  than  good,  so  long  as  it  is  kept 
for  grazing  puii")oses — such  land  is  very  scarce, 
and  is  found  only  in  the  most  favoured  localities. 


112 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  traism  that  the  great 
bulk  of  our  frrass  laud  not  ouly  needs  improv- 
ing, but  would  pay  well  for  it;  and  in  \-iew 
of  the  prices  which  the  jiroducts  of  arable  and 
of  grass  land  relatively  bear  to  each  other,  and 
which  they  are  likely  to  bear  for  a  long  time 
to  come,  it  may  be  said  that  the  neglect  of  our 
grass  land  cannot  with  impuuity  be  suffered  to 
go  on  much  longer.  Dairy-farming,  in  conjunction 
with  the  rearing  of  young  stock  and  the  fattening 
of  cattle  and  sheep  for  the  butcher,  is,  beyond  a 
probability,  the  most  profitable  occupation  which 
the  English  farmer  can  follow,  wherever  the  land 
is  adapted  to  it. 

The  finest  dairy  land  is  undoubtedly,  for  the 
most  part,  confined  to  the  alluvial  deposits,  form- 
ing rich,  slightly  undulating  flats,  which  have  in 
the  course  of  ages  accumulated  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  existing  or  former  outlets  of  our  tidal 
rivers,  formed  in  some  instances  by  rivers  which 
have  long  ago  dried  up  or  have  been  diverted 
into  some  different  direction.  The  slow  upheaval 
or  subsidence  of  the  earth's  cnist  in  some  localities 
has  caused,  and  is  still  causing,  these  diversions 
in  the  flow  of  rivers.  Next  to  the  alluvial  soils, 
the  best  natural  pastures  are  found  on  the 
carboniferous  or  mountain  limestone  formations, 
and  especially  in  the  adjacent  valleys  where  beds 
of  drift-gravel,  jiartly  composed  of  the  debris 
of  these  formations,  are  commonly  found.  These 
last,  however,  may  almost  be  regarded  in  the 
light  of  alluvial  soils,  the  chief  difference  being 
that,  instead  of  by  river  action  extending  for  a 
long  distance,  they  have  been  formed  by  rills  and 
streamlets,  in  the  periods  of  heavy  rain,  ninning 
down  the  hill  and  mountain  sides,  carrying  with 
them  to  the  valley  below  the  particles  of  rock 
which  are  continually  becoming  detached  by 
atmosj)hcric  agency,  by  dews  and  rains,  by  frosts 
and  snows.  The  Valley  of  the  Dove,  which  for  a 
long  distance  separates  Deibyshire  from  Stafford- 
shire, is  a  well-known  instance  of  this  nature, 
and  it  has  long  been  famous  for  its  dairy 
productions. 

In  the  Valley  of  the  Dcnvcnt,  in  Derbyshire, 
and  those  of  the  Wharfe  and  Ribble,  in  Yorkshire, 
and  in  other  parts  of  England,  mainly  in  the 
northern  counties,  the  same  sort  of  thing  is  found. 
In  Ireland,  also,  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
flat  countiy  is  overlaid  by  these  drifts,  on  which 
grow  an  abundance  of  sweet,  nutritious,  wholesome 


grasses,  well  .suited  to  stock  of  all  kinds,  to  pasture 
and  to  meadow  alike,  to  dairy  purjxises  and  to 
fattening,  as  well  as  to  the  growth  of  oats  and 
tumips.  Better  districts  than  these  need  not  be 
desired  for  the  pui-poscs  of  dairy-farming.  A  cool 
and  humid  climate;  soil  of  excellent  quality,  sound 
and  healthy,  and  seldom  in  want  of  artificial 
draining;  grasses  of  the  best  description,  tender, 
succulent,  nourishing — these  qualities  stamp  any 
district  where  they  are  found  with  a  high  order 
of  merit  in  the  domain  of  dairy-farming. 

The  late  Sir  H.  M.  Thompson,  from  whom  \\e 
have  previously  quoted,  wrote  so  well  and  wisely 
"  On  the  Management  of  Grass  Land,"  that  we 
cannot  do  better  than  quote  verbatim  from  the 
able  paper  which  he  contributed  in  187:i  to  the 
Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society : — "  It 
may  seem  a  work  of  supererogation  to  make  sug- 
gestions for  the  improvement  of  pastures  which 
already  produce  great  results,  but  the  holders 
of  first-class  land  may  learn  something  by  ob- 
serving the  practice  of  those  skilful  and  ex- 
perienced graziers  who  find  it  worth  their  while 
to  give  extreme  prices  for  the  occupation  of  land. 
In  order  to  reimburse  themselves  it  is  necessary 
that  every  yard  of  land  should  be  productive, 
and  the  greatest  care  is  taken  to  mow  the  thistles 
whilst  still  young  and  succulent,  in  which  state 
they  are  (when  mown)  readily  eaten  by  all  kinds 
of  stock.  Coarse  patches  of  grass,  too,  are 
occasionally  switched  over  with  the  scythe,  or, 
if  necessaiy,  an  old  horse  is  tethered  in  the  worst 
places,  until  they  are  cropped  down  sufficiently 
to  be  again  grazed  regularly  by  the  feeding  stock. 
The  loss  of  grass  caused  by  neglecting  to  mow 
thistles  and  other  large  weeds  would  never  be 
permitted  if  farmers  would  oxAj  consider  how 
largely  the  fertility  of  the  soil  is  taxed  to  nourish 
these  intniders,  and  how  cheaply  they  may  be 
kept  down.  An  old  man  and  a  hard-worn  scythe, 
neither  of  them  fit  for  regidar  work,  will  keep  a 
large  acreage  of  grass  free  from  this  constant 
source  of  loss.* 

*  Jlr.  Thompson,  of  Barnane,  Tipperary,  whose  pxporicnce 
■with  the  thistle-pest  is  a  long  one,  and  whose  habits  of 
observation  and  reasoning  are  singularly  close  and  accurate, 
never  commences  his  "  thistle-har\'est,"  as  he  terms  it,  before 
the  month  of  August.  He  has  found  cutting  thistles  thus 
late  in  the  season  the  most  promising  way  of  eradicating 
tliem.  By  this  period  many  of  them  liave  already  come  to 
seed,  and  others  will  perfect  it  after  they  are  cut,  but  he  does 
not  mind  the   seeding;    he  says  thistles,   at  all  events   on 


THE    mrROVElMENT    OF    GRASS    LAND. 


143 


"In  addition  to  these  presevvative  measures, 
something-  may  he  done  to  increase  the  produce 
on  even  the  best  land.  I£  the  question  be  asked 
why  such  and  such  a  field  is  wortli  more  to  the 
occupier  than  the  adjoining  ones,  the  reply  will 
frequently  be  that  the  field  in  question  grows  early 
and  late,  and  even  the  most  unobservant  are 
occasionally  struck  with  the  brilUant  green  o£ 
some  favoured  fields,  or  portions  of  fields,  when 
the  rest  are  all  brown.  But  a  closer  inspection 
will  show  that  even  the  brown  pastures  have 
green  patches  in  them.  Wherever  the  droppings 
of  cattle  have  fallen  in  spring  the  grass  is  green 
in  autumn,  even  after  a  moderate  amount  of 
frost  and  biting  winds ;  showing  that  it  is  not 
the  fault  of  the  soil  or  climate  that  the  grass  is 
not  still  fresh  and  succulent,  but  that  want  of 
couchtion  produces  a  feeble  vitality,  easily  affected 
by  cold,  which  stops  the  gro\\i;h  of  the  herbage 
much  earlier  in  the  winter  than  is  at  all  necessary. 
There  are  also  patches  of  land  in  most  pastures 
where  the  stock  do  not  like  the  grass,  the 
deficiency  in  this  case  not  being  in  bulk  but  in 
quality  of  herbage.  Unless  this  is  caused  by 
defective  drainage,  a  dressing  of  the  mixture  to 
be  subsequently  described  will  generally  restore 
the  quality  and  cause  those  neglected  jiarts  to  be 
as  well  eaten  as  the  rest. 

"  I  have  ventured  to  define  first-class  grass 
land  as  that  which  will  produce  twenty  imperial 
stone  of  meat  per  acre  without  artificial  assistance. 
Next  in  order  must  be  placed  the  land  which  will 
produce  about  the  same  quantity  of  beef  and 
mutton,  with  the  aid  of  a  moderate  allowance  of 
cake  or  com.  This  quality  of  land  may  be  found, 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  in  almost  all  parts 
of  the  country,  with  the  exception  of  the  cJialk, 

grass  land,  are.  if  at  all,  propagated  to  a  much  smaller  extent 
by  means  of  seed  than  most  people  think.  This  ma}'  sound 
strange  to  some,  hut  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  on  his  farm 
of  4,000  acres  the  number  of  thistles  is  diminishing  year 
by  year.  .  Pulling  them  up  by  the  roots  is  probably  the 
surest  way  of  destroying  them,  if  persevered  in ;  but  as  this 
method  involves  a  considerable  outlay  of  both  time  and 
money,  it  is  seldom  followed.  A  third  method,  strongly 
believed  in  by  some  farmers,  is  to  mow  the  thistles  twice 
a  year,  say  early  in  June  and  again  in  August  or  September. 
One  advantage  of  this  system  is  that  the  young  thistles,  when 
sun-killed  a  little  after  being  cut,  are  readily  eaten  by  cattle 
and  sheep  ;  the}'  spring  up  again  after  the  first  cutting,  and 
are  again  cut  whilst  young  and  tender,  and  again  eaten 
by  stock  as  before,  so  that  nothing  is  wasted.  The  young 
farmer  may  try  one  or  all  of  those  methods,  as  he  thinks 
proper.     [Ed.] 


the  light  sands,  and  the  strong  clays.  The 
practice  of  giving  artificial  food  to  cattle  at  grass 
is  rapidly  gaining  ground.  It  is  already  apparent 
that  9d.  a  lb.  for  beef  and  mutton  will  produce 
a  perfect  revolution  in  the  management  both  of 
live  stock  and  of  grazing  land,  and  the  advan- 
tages of  the  improved  system  are  such  that  it 
may  be  safely  expected  to  outlive  any  reasonable 
decline  in  the  price  of  meat.  The  easiest  kind 
of  food  to  give  in  the  field  is  linseed  or  cotton- 
cake.  The  mixture  I  prefer  to  any  other  is  linseed 
and  decorticated  cotton-cake  in  equal  quantities. 
Bean-meal,  too,  moistened  and  rolled  into  balls, 
is  easily  given  and  very  effective.  Many  other 
kinds  of  feeding-stuffs,  either  singly  or  in  com- 
bination, will  recommend  themselves,  according  to 
their  relative  prices  in  the  market.  Where  mixed 
linseed  and  cotton-cake  are  given,  the  cost  of  the 
mixture,  at  present  jiriees,  would  be  about  Is.  4d. 
per  stone ;  and  su])posing  it  to  be  unnecessaiy  to 
commence  its  use  during  the  first  ten  weeks  of 
the  grazing  season,  whilst  the  grass  is  at  its  best, 
if  5  lbs.  be  given  daily  to  each  fattening  bullock 
at  the  commencement  of  the  last  ten  weeks, 
increasing  the  allowance  to  6  lbs.,  and  for  the 
last  few  weeks  to  7  lbs.  per  day,  averaging  6  lbs. 
for  the  whole  ten  weeks,  the  cost  of  the  artificial 
food  would  be  40s.  per  head.  If  the  land  will 
eaiTy  a  beast  per  acre,  this  will  add  40s.  to  the 
farmer's  expenses,  and  reduce  correspondingly  the 
value  of  the  land  when  compared  with  that  which 
will  fatten  the  same  number  of  beasts  without 
artificial  aid.  Hence,  if  the  very  best  grass  land 
be  supposed  to  be  worth  a  rent  of  £5  per  acre, 
the  land  which  requires  cake  for  finishing  the 
beasts  ought  not  to  be  rented  at  more  than  £3 
per  acre.  These  general  figures  will,  of  course, 
require  adapting  to  each  individual  case  to  suit 
the  great  variety  of  qualities  of  land  and  other 
modifying  circumstances.. 

"One  of  the  advantages  of  giving  cake  to  finish 
beasts  which,  on  the  unassisted  grass,  would 
come  out  in  October  only  half  beef,  is  that  the 
grazier  is  thus  enabled  to  send  his  beasts  to  the 
butcher  at  full  prices  instead  of  fattening  them 
in  the  yards  at  great  cost,  or  of  selling  them 
as  store  beasts  when  many  others  are  doing  the 
same,  and  the  markets  are  crowded  and  depressed. 
In  cases  where  farmers  occupy  land  not  well 
suited  for  the  growth  of  roots,  and  do  not  attempt 
to  fatten  beasts  in  the  winter,  but  give  cake  in 


114 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


the  straw-yards  to  improve  the  manure,  and  hring 
out  their  beasts  in  sjjring  in  a  forward  state, 
it  often  answers  well  to  give  cake  in  the  early 
part  of  the  grazing  season,  and  so  push  on  their 
cattle  as  to  get  them  to  market  in  June  and 
July,  when  beef  is  the  dearest,  to  be  followed 
by  younger  beasts  to  eat  up  the  rough  grass  in 
the  autumn  and  early  winter.  This  is  excellent 
practice,  as  there  is  no  time  when  cattle  make 
such  rapid  improvement,  and  when  the  expense 
of  attending  them  is  so  light,  as  when  they  are 
having  cake  or  com  on  a  good  pasture.  The 
grazier,  too,  who  has  fat  cattle  in  June  has  the 
command  of  the  market,  and  is  to  a  great  extent 
independent  of  the  season,  as,  should  the  weather 
be  droughty  and  his  stock  heavy,  he  can  at  any 
time  lighten  his  pastures  by  draughting  a  few 
forward  beasts  for  sale. 

"Another  advantage  which  arises  from  giving 
artificial  food  to  grazing  cattle  is  that  the  pastures 
themselves  are  gradually  improved,  until  land  that 
is  only  fit  for  rearing  store  cattle  becomes  capable 
of  fattening  stock  with  a  moderate  amount  of 
help  toward  the  end  of  the  season. 

"  Hitherto  I  have  spoken  of  good  land  only, 
but,  unfortunately,  the  larger  portion  of  the 
pasture  land  of  the  United  Kingdom  may  be 
classed  either  as  moderate  or  inferior.  I  will  not 
attempt  to  describe  the  various  gradations  by 
which  land  descends  from  the  highest  quality  to 
that  which  requires  some  acres  to  keep  a  j-carling 
steer,  and  which  was  once  described  by  a  dis- 
heartened occupier  as  of  that  kind  on  which  the 
grass  only  began  to  grow  on  Midsummer  Eve 
and  gave  up  growing  on  ]\Iidsummer  Day.  The 
various  shades  of  land  worth  from  40s.  per  acre 
downwards  require  vciy  similar  measures  for  their 
improvement,  and,  before  making  any  special 
suggestions  respecting  them,  it  is  necessary  to 
declare  open  war  against  the  time-honoured  fal- 
lacies that  pasture  land  can  be  profitably  occupied 
by  leaving  it  to  itself,  and  that  a  farmer  consults 
liis  own  interests  by  allowing  the  arable  land 
to  rob  the  grass.  Any  one  who  mows  his  grass 
•without  return  robs  his  land  quickly,  and  he  who 
pastures  it  Avithout  return  robs  it  slowly ;  but 
the  process  is  sure  as  well  as  slow,  and,  when 
persevered  in  long  enough,  produces  the  splendid 
variety  of  thistles,  ragwort,  scabious,  and  other 
llowering  weeds,  very  charming  to  a  botanist  in 
July,  but  extremely  disheartening  to  the  hungry 


cattle  who  are  doomed  to  wander  amongst  them 
seeking  for  grass. 

"  Since  the  days  of  Jethro  Tull,  there  have 
been  two  recognised  methods  of  keeping  up  the 
fertility  of  land,  viz.,  either  manuring  at  short 
intervals,  or  thorough  disintegration  produced  by 
frequent  stirrings  of  the  soil.  It  cannot  be  too 
strongly  urged  that  as  grass  land  is  necessarily 
deprived  of  the  advantage  received  by  arable  land 
from  frequent  exposure  to  the  atmosphere,*  it 
ought  to  be  furnished  in  some  way  with  the 
minerals  required  to  produce  good  crops  of  nu- 
tritive herbage.  The  use  of  artificial  manures  has 
given  the  grass-land  farmer  complete  command 
over  the  supply  of  nitrogen,  but  a  perfect  re- 
storation of  the  mineral  ingredients  removed  by 
grazing,  and  still  more  by  mowing,  cannot  be 
effected  without  an  occasional  application  of  farm- 
yard manure,  or  of  compost  in  which  farm-yard 
manure  holds  an  important  part;  so  that  it  would 
really  be  better  practice,  so  far  as  farm-yard  dung 
is  concerned,  to  let  the  grass  starve  the  arable 
land  than  the  arable  land  starve  the  grass,  since 
the  arable  land  can  receive  its  mineral  supply  from 
other  sources,  viz.,  deep  cultivation  and  thorough 
aeration.  The  slovenly  management  of  grass  land 
which  a  few  years  ago  was  general,  and  is  still 
too  common,  would  never  have  been  seen  if  the 
quality  of  grass  could  be  appraised  as  easily  and 
certainly  as  that  of  com.  But  it  is  notorious 
that  even  the  most  experienced  farmers  and 
graziers  can  only  distinguish  between  good,  mo- 
derate, and  bad ;  no  man  living  can  distinguish 
by  the  eye  the  sulitle  difference  in  the  quality 
of  the  herbage  which  makes  one  veiy  good  field 
worth  £1  an  acre  more  rent  than  another  very 
good  field,  or  one  bad  field  worth  less  than 
another  equally  bad-looking  field.  So  long  as 
a  grass  field  grows  about  the  usual  quantity  of 
grass,  and  the  cattle  eat  it,  the  occupier  is  too 
apt  to  rest  content  with  the  good  or  bad  reputation 
earned  by  particular  fields,  without  any  attempt 
to  alter  it  for  the  better,  or  even  to  ascertain 
whether  it  is  not  gradually  getting  woi-se. 

"  In  early  life  I  learnt  a  lesson  on  this  point 
which   I  have  never  forgotten.      A  neighliouring 


•  It  is  to  te  hoped  that  a  stoam  imph^mcnt  will  hcfore 
loni»  bo  devised  that  will  produce  a  thoroufjh  disturhanco 
of  the  eulisoil  without  material  injury  to  the  grass-sward 
ahove.  A\'e  think  such  an  implement  would  do  great  good 
to  many  pastures.     [En.] 


THE  TREATMENT  OF  GRASS  LAND. 


145 


geutleman  mowed  about  fifty  acres  of  his  park 
annually,  and,  not  being  a  farmer,  he  believed 
that  grass  was  grass,  and  made  equally  good  hay 
whether  he  went  to  the  expense  of  manuring  it 
or  not.  He  was  also  remarkably  indifferent  on 
the  subject  of  quantity,  saying  that  he  kept  a 
fixed  number  of  horses  and  cows,  and  if  in  a 
good  season  he  had  a  large  crop,  they  ate  it  all, 
and  in  a  bad  season  they  made  it  do ;  so  that 
he  stuck  to  his  system  as  long  as  he  lived,  and 
the  land  got  no  manure  but  what  the  horses  and 
cows  made.  I  was  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
this  land,  and  much'  interested  in  watching  the 
result.  The  produce  grew  gradually  less — not  year 
by  year,  or  the  owner  would  have  taken  the  alarm  ; 
but  each  droughty  year  that  came  produced  a 
worse  crop  than  the  preceding  dry  season,  until 
I  have  seen  the  produce  of  fifty  acres  carried 
home  in  nineteen  cart-loads !  The  quality,  too, 
had  fallen  off  quite  as  much  as  the  quantity. 
In  one  part  of  the  park  where  the  land  was  light, 
one  kind  of  grass  {Arena  Jlavesceiis)  had  taken 
almost  exclusive  possession  of  the  land,  and 
neither  cattle  nor  sheep  would  graze  on  this 
portion,  except  in  the  most  desultory  way ;  a 
mouthful  here  and  another  five  yards  further  on, 
picked  up  on  the  move,  showed  what  they  thought 
of  the  system ;  and  even  the  hay  was  sorted  over 
rather  than  eaten  by  the  cows,  a  large  portion 
being  deliberately  rejected  and  trodden  under 
foot.  This  is  an  instructive  instance,  showing 
that  the  produce  of  grass  land  restored  to  it 
annually,  less  the  value  abstracted  from  it  by 
the  animals  fed  on  it,  will  not,  when  continued 
for  a  length  of  time,  prevent  ordinaiy  grass  land 
from  gradual  but  steady  deterioration.  It  also 
shows  how  much  more  rapidly  light  land  de- 
teriorates than  that  which  is  stronger.  The  park 
in  question,  after  being  mown  for  many  years, 
was  certainly  not  worth  more  to  let  than  20s. 
per  acre  on  the  lighter,  and  3  Us.  on  the  stronger 
land;  but  after  ten  years'"  continuous  pasturing, 
with  occasional  manurings  and  top-dressings,  it 
became  worth  50s.  per  acre  all  round. 

"  Having  endeavoured  to  lay  it  down  as  an 
established  fact  that  no  grass  land  will  maintain 
itself  unimpaired  without  the  farmer's  aid,  I  will 
venture  to  prescribe  a  mode  of  treatment  which 
aims  higher  than  mere  maintenance : — 

"  On  first-rate  grass  land  there  is  comparatively 
little   to   be   done.      Deep   alluvial    soils   contain 


such  store  of  the  elements  of  plant  growth,  and 
are  for  the  most  part  so  easily  jienetrated  by  the 
roots  of  the  grasses,  that  many  years'"  successive 
pasturing  seems  to  produce  but  little  change  in 
the  quality  of  the  herbage.  But  even  here  there 
are  gradations  of  goodness.  If  the  occupier  care- 
fully scrutinises  his  fields  in  early  sj^ring,  he  will 
fiud  backward  patches,  and  in  early  autumn  places 
that  turn  brown  before  the  rest.  These  evidently 
want  helping  up ;  and  in  midsummer  he  will 
generally  meet  with  places  more  or  less  avoided 
by  the  cattle  when  making  their  regular  grazing 
rounds.  In  all  these  cases  a  slight  dressing  of 
the  mixture  hereafter  mentioned  may  be  put  on 
at  any  time,  being  perfectly  harmless  to  the 
cattle  if  taken  up  with  their  food.  No  dressing, 
however,  should  ever  be  apjilied  in  droughty 
weather.  Where  a  piece  has  grown  coarse  from 
not  being  eaten,  it  should  be  switched  over  with 
the  scythe,  in  order  that  the  tillage  may  quickly 
reach  the  roots  of  the  grass.  In  this  way  the 
land  may  be  kept  up  to  its  full  producing  power. 

"  There  is  in  the  country  a  large  quantity  of 
grass  land  which  is  not  considered  feeding  land, 
but  yet  will  fatten  young  heifers  or  small  Irish 
beasts  if  the  occujpier  is  not  in  a  hurry,  and  does 
not  put  them  too  thick  on  the  ground.  This 
kind  of  land  is  the  most  inviting  to  the  improver ; 
and  if  the  occupier  cannot  screw  up  his  courage 
to  face  the  whole  at  once,  he  should  till  ten 
acres  well  rather  than  twenty  in  a  half-and-half 
way.  Let  him  give  a  sufficient  dressing  to  change 
the  character  of  the  herbage  at  once,  so  that  he 
may  have  one  field  at  least  on  which  he  can 
finish  off  his  forward  beasts.  Mr.  Lawes,  on 
his  experimental  grass-plots  at  Rothamstead,  first 
taught  the  world  that  on  a  piece  of  old  jjasture, 
neither  very  good  nor  very  bad,  different  kinds 
of  tillage,  repeated  on  the  same  ground  for  a  few 
successive  years,  will  produce  as  many  different 
kinds  of  crop  as  there  are  kinds  of  tillage  used, 
the  character  of  the  plants  in  the  different  plots 
varying  as  much  as  the  quantity  and  quality  of 
the  produce.  It  is  quite  safe  to  assert  that  any 
occupier  may,  if  he  pleases,  convert  his  gi-ass 
into  feeding  land ;  and  though  it  will  not  always 
pay  to  do  so,  there  are  very  many  thousand  acres 
on  which  it  will  pay  well  at  the  present  price 
of  meat.  If  any  one  wishes  to  satisfy  himself 
whether  what  he  has  done  in  the  way  of  im- 
provement is  in  the  right  direction,  and  whether 


146 


DAIRY    FAR.MIXCf. 


lie  has  can-iod  it  far  enou;4h,  let  liim  walcli  his 
cattle  when  they  are  g-razing.  If  tlioy  take  the 
grass  as  it  comes,  heartily  and  contentedly,  merely 
rejecting  piled  portions,  so  that  they  are  quickly 
satisfied  and  lie  down  to  rest,  the  occupier  may 
he  sure  he  is  on  the  right  tack,  and  may  leave 
well  alone;  hut  if  they  i)ick  one  bit  and  leave 
another,  take  the  top  off  one  kind  of  plant  and 
nibble  a  few  leaves  off  another,  he  may  bo  equally 
sure  that  the  pasture  is  unpalatable  to  the  cattle,  and 
that  wathout  change  they  will  not  give  a  satisfactory 
account  of  tliemselves  at  tlie  end  of  the  season. 

"  The  three  worst  kinds  of  pastures  are 
generally  sujjjwsed  to  be  those  on  light  saiulit, 
on  strong  clcii/s,  and  on  black  peaty  soils.  The 
light  sands  I  give  up  to  the  plough,  unless  in 
parks  or  ornamental  grounds,  where  it  is  important 
to  preserve  the  turf;  ammoniacal  dressings  will 
produce  a  sudden  appearance  of  improvement  on 
light  sandy  land,  but  the  effect  is  not  lasting,  and 
the  dry  benty  grasses  soon  re-assume  their  sway. 
A  mixed  toji-drcssing  will,  for  a  time,  incvease  the 
clovers,  but  a  heavy  dressing  of  compost,  contain- 
ing road-scrapings  or  any  other  tolerably  strong 
soil,*  is  the  most  permanently  useful.  Improving 
pasture  on  really  light  sand  is,  however,  one  of 
the  most  thankless  and  ceaseless  of  agricultural 
operations,  and  ought  to  be  the  next  task  for 
Sisyphus,  if  ever  his  rolling  stone  should  wear  out. 

"  The  strong  clays  are  much  more  promising. 
Most  clay  contains  an  abundant  supply  of  the 
minerals  which  make  a  soil  fei'tile,  but  they  are 
in  a  crude  state,  and  require  air  to  make  them  fit 
for  plant-food. t     The  cracks  caused  by  drought 

»  The  chief  fault  of  light  sainly  land  is  that  it  lacks 
consistency,  density,  and  power  of  retaining  moisture  in  a 
dry  season.  On  such  land,  a  heavy  dressing  of  strong  clay, 
wherever  possible,  has  a  most  beneficial  effect;  it  improves 
the  texture  of  the  sandy  soil,  gives  it  the  power  of  retaining 
moisture,  and  eontrihutes  many  valuable  elements  of  plant- 
food  in  which  it  was  before  deficient.  By  this  means,  sandy 
may  be  made  into  good  pastui-e  land.  It  is,  if  well  d(jne, 
a  permanent  improvement.     [Kd.] 

t  Clay  soils  are  valuable  for  the  alkalies  they  contain  ; 
these  are  present  in  them  in  an  insoluble  state,  and  only 
become  soluble,  or  fitted  to  be  food  for  plants,  when  they 
have  been  chemically  acted  upon  by  carbonic  acid  and  oxygen 
dissolved  in  water,  and  when  they  have  been  chemically  and 
mechanically  disintegrated  by  draining,  by  the  processes  of 
cultivation,  by  atmospheric  influences,  and  by  changes  of 
tompcratiiro.  Their  natural  impervious  density  is  their  chief 
fault;  this  may  be  greatly  modified  by  draining,  by  cultivation, 
and  by  burning  a  considerable  portion  of  the  surface  and 
mixing  it  with  the  remainder,     [l^n.] 


and  worm-holes  partially  effjct  tliis,  but  the 
mineral  supply  from  clay  land  that  has  long  been 
in  pasture  is  not  sufTicient  to  suppm-t  heas'y  crops, 
and  it  should  be  a  fundamental  maxim  with  all 
clay-land  farmers  that  their  grass  should  never 
remain  long  without  a  dressing  of  farm-yard 
manure.  Even  the  poorest,  worst  made  manure, 
which  is  little  better  than  straw,  is  of  great  value, 
as  it  furnishes  the  requisite  minerals,  and,  though 
deficient  in  ammonia,  that  can  be  supplied  in 
soot,  nitrate  of  soda,  guano,  &c.  The  grass  grown 
on  clay  is  wholesome  and  nutritive,  unless  the 
drainage  is  defective  or  the  land  has  been  robbed ; 
and  witli  a  little  extra  tillage  clay  pastures  may 
be  made  to  get  moderate-sized  beasts  fit  for 
market,  especially  if  helped  with  cake  or  corn 
in  the  latter  end  of  summer.  All  tillage  should 
be  applied  to  strong  land  pastures  early  in  winter. 
IMany  weeks  are  required  to  wash  in  the  variou  ■ 
mineral  salts,  and,  from  the  retentive  character 
of  the  soil,  there  is  no  fear  of  their  wasliing  out 
again.  All  operations  on  clay  land  require  more 
time  than  on  lighter  soil ;  soluble  matters  make 
their  way  more  slowly  down,  and  plants  extend 
their  roots  with  greater  difficulty.  It  is,  there- 
fore, a  great  object  to  put  on  farm-yard  manm-e, 
compost,  and  even  mineral  applications,  soon  after 
the  grass  is  eaten  bare  in  autumn,  so  as  to  have 
the  full  benefit  of  the  winter  rains.  The  roots  oi 
grass  are  always  growing  when  the  thcrmometc. 
is  above  freezing-point ;  and  if  by  means  of  tillage 
applied  in  early  winter  the  roots  of  the  grass 
strengthen  and  extend  themselves  before  the 
growing  season  arrives,  a  good  foundation  is 
laid  for  the  increased  development  above  ground 
whicli  is  sure  to  follow.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  application  of  tillage  be  delayed  till  March  or 
April,  and  a  droughty  spring  follow,  the  api)li- 
cation  loses  great  part  of  its  cffeet  for  that 
season. 

"Wheie  grass  on  clay  is  very  unproductive, 
it  sometimes  becomes  a  question  whether  it  would 
be  better  to  plough  it  out  and  relay  it.  In  such  a 
case,  much  ought  to  de])end  on  whether  the  form 
of  the  land  can  be  much  improv<'d  by  taking 
it  out,  whether  high  ridges  require  levelling, 
awkward  water-courses  filling  up,  old  banks  re- 
moving, &c.  This  is  landlord's  work,  and  requires 
both  time  and  money  to  do  it  well.  Those  who 
set  about  it  deliberately,  knowing  the  dilficulty 
of  restoring  the  fertility  of  the  old  ridges  after 


TOP-DRESSING. 


147 


ploughing  clown,  and  prepared  to  go  on  paying 
until  the  object  is  accomplished,  will  ultimately 
reap  their  reward ;  but  tenant-farmers  or  landlords 
who  do  not  mean  to  do  it  thoroughly  would  be 
wise  to  confine  themselves  to  making  the  best  of 
the  old  turf.  If  properly  drained,  it  will  yield 
an  immediate  return  for  all  tillnge  bestowed  upon 
it;  and,  on  the  whole,  I  incline  to  the  opinion 
that  grass  on  clay,  being  let  low,  will  generally 
pay  an  improving  farmer  better  than  any  other 
kind  of  pasture  land. 

"  The  third  kind  of  inferior  jiiisture  mentioned 
above  is  that  on  black  peaty  soils.  "Where  the 
depth  of  peat  is  considerable,  or  where  it  lies  on 
white  or  yellow  sand,  it  is  very  unpromising ;  but 
even  in  these  cases  I  have  seen  instances  where 
nitrate  of  soda  or  soot  had  a  striking  effect,  and 
made  the  cattle  eat  the  rough  herbage  greedily. 
The  varieties  of  peaty  soils  are  so  numerous,  and 
the  results  of  applying  tillage  differ  so  widely, 
that  it  is  generally  advisable  to  try  it  experi- 
mentally in  the  first  instance,  putting  a  heavy 
dressing  of  the  tillage  intended  to  be  used  on  a 
small  portion  of  land.  Where  the  peat  lies  upon 
clay  it  can  always  be  made  good  land  if  the 
situation  is  such  as  to  admit  of  efficient  drainage. 
Should  the  thickness  of  peat  be  inconsiderable, 
so  that  the  roots  of  the  grass  can  reach  the  clay, 
a  dressing  of  the  tillage  already  mentioned  will 
almost  always  succeed  in  making  black  land  very 
useful  for  rearing  young  stock,  with  which  it 
seems  to  agree  remarkably  well.  Should  a  few 
acres  be  contiguous  to  a  feeding  pasture  on  higher 
land,  I  have  found  it  answer  well  to  let  even 
fattening  cattle  have  the  run  of  the  whole.  They 
highly  relish  the  variety  of  herbage  thus  afforded 
them,  and  in  dry  seasons  the  black  land  pasture 
will  often  keep  its  colour  and  freshness  when  the 
other  burns.  Should  there  be  three  or  more  feet 
of  peat  upon  the  clay,  it  answers  best  to  break 
it  up,  and  give  the  land  a  substantial  dressing 
of  clay  before  laying  it  down  again,  either  by 
throwing  it  over  the  land  from  trenches,  as 
practised  in  some  of  the  Eastern  counties,  or,  if 
too  deep  for  spade-work,  then  by  carting  it  from 
pits.  When  this  expense  has  been  incurred,  it 
will  probably  become  doubtful  whether  to  lay  it 
down  again  to  grass  or  to  keep  it  under  the 
plough,  for  which,  after  claying,  it  is  extremely 
well  suited. 

"  Frequent  mention  has  been  made  of  a  mixed 


top-dressing  which  has  been  found  to  be  a  valuable 
application  to  grass  land.     It  has  been  gradually 
arrived  at,  after  many  trials  and  modifications,  and 
consists  of  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid,  and  potash. 
These  substances  may  be  supplied  in  the  form  in 
which   they   can    be    most    readily   and    cheaply 
obtained   at   the   time   ar.d   place  required.     The 
nitrogen  may  be  furnished  in  guano,  soot,  nitrate 
of  soda,  or  in  the  more  specific  form  of  muriate  or 
suljjhate  of  ammonia.     The  phosphoric   acid  may 
be  obtained  from  bones,  mineral   superphosphate, 
or  some  of  the  poorer  guanos.     The  potash  simi- 
larly   may   be    applied    in   the   form    of    kainite, 
sulphate  of  potash,  &e.     The  particular  substances 
I  am  employing  this  season    (187^)    are    nitrate 
of  soda,  mineral  superphosphate,  and  kainite,  in 
the   following  proportions  : — 1  cwt.  of   nitrate   of 
soda,  li  cwt.  of  mineral  superphosphate,  and  3  cwt. 
of  kainite  per  acre  for  pasture.     At  present  prices 
this  costs  about  42s.  per  acre.     For  mowing  land, 
where  no  manure  is  used,   I  should  add  to   the 
above  quantities  i  cwt.  of  nitrate  of  soda,  making 
the  whole  outlay  about  50s.  per  acre.     Where  land 
is    annually  mown,  a    dressing   of   this   manurial 
value  is  required  every  year  to  prevent  deteriora- 
tion, except   in   exceptional    eases,  such   as   deep 
alluvial  laud,  water-side  meadows  subject  to  flood- 
ing, &e.   The  best  practice  is,  no  doubt,  to  manure 
mowing    land     regularly    with    good    farm -yard 
manure;  but  in  the  numerous  instances  in  which 
this  cannot  be  done,  the  meadow  may  be  maintained 
in  full  productiveness  by  a  good  manuring  once 
in  three  or  four  years,  and  a  dressing  of  the  above 
mixture  in  the  intermediate  seasons.     For  pastures 
it  cannot  be  contended    that   a   dressing   of  this 
character  is  required  year  by  year,  but  after  lajang 
do\vn  a  field  to  permanent  grass,  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  till  hard  for  three  or  four  years,  in 
order  to  keep  it  steadily  progressive;    and  when 
glass    land    has     been    long    neglected,    and    ia 
thoroughly    ovit    of    condition,    one    dressing   will 
not  suffice.     It  requires  following  up  for  two  or 
three  successive  years  before  the  traces    of   long 
neglect  will  be  completely  obliterated." 

The  foregoing  is  written  mainly  from  a 
o-razier's  pomt  of  view  as  to  the  manner  of 
treating  grass  land,  but  it  applies  equally  to 
dairy-farming.  The  land,  in  fact,  which  is  well 
adapted  to  fattening  cattle  is,  as  a  rule,  equally 
suitable  to  the  production  of  milk.  Dairy-cows 
will,  of  course,  milk  fairly  well  on  land  that  will 


148 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


hardly  fatten  stock,  and  such  land  is  commonly 
used  for  dairy  jmrposes ;  but  it  is  none  the  less 
true,  on  that  account,  that  the  better  the  land,  the 
greater  will  be  the  production  of  milk.  Still,  it 
must  be  admitted  that  of  two  kinds  of  pasture 
land,  equally  strong',  sound,  healthy,  and  excel- 
lent, the  one  is,  for  some  reason  or  other  not  at 
present  well  understood,  peculiarly  well  adapted 
for  fattening,  whilst  the  other's  speciality  is  the 
production  of  a  maximum  quantity  of  milk.  This 
singular  difference  between  them  is,  however, 
seldom  a  very  marked  one,  though  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  it  really  exists  in  some  eases.  But 
this  cannot  be  interpreted  into  an  argument 
against  the  policy  of  imjiroving  all  grass  .land 
that  needs  improvement — rather  the  contrary ;  for 
most  dairy-farmers  fatten  a  few  cattle,  and  it  is 
a  simple  matter  to  fatten  on  those  fields  which, 
rightly  or  wrongly,  are  sujiposed  to  be  better  for 
that  purpose  than  for  any  other,  and  to  devote  the 
remainder  to  dairying.  Both  these  sorts  of  land 
will  commonly  be  found  on  the  same  farm,  often 
in  adjoining  fields ;  and  the  practical  issue  of  the 
matter  is  that  such  land  is  interchangeable  as  to 
either  of  these  uses — that  is,  the  land  which  is 
found  excellent  for  fattening  will  be  found  equally 
so  for  dairying,  and  the  better  condition  the  land 
is  in,  the  better  adapted  it  is  for  either  purpose. 

"  Nothing  is  so  cheap  as  land "  is  an  argu- 
ment used  by  some  farmers  against  going  to  the 
expense  of  improving  pastures  either  for  grazing 
or  dairying.  Whether  or  not  this  is  true  as  to 
some  kinds  of  land,  or  as  to  land  which  is  held  at  a 
low  rent,  the  argument  does  not  interfere  with  the 
soundness  of  our  position  as  to  the  improvement 
of  grass  land.  The  root  of  the  argument  lies  in 
the  fact  that  many  farmers  are  afraid  to  improve 
their  land  lest  they  be  called  on  by  the  landlord, 
after  a  time,  to  pay  an  increase  of  rent  commen- 
surate with  those  improvements.  This  has  often 
been  done,  and  it  has  made  tenant-farmers  very 
cautious  how  they  imjirove  their  farms.  But 
where  a  man  can  repose  confidence  in  his  landlord 
— and  the  majority  of  landlords  merit  this  confi- 
dence— where  he  feels  conscious  that  he  is  secure 
against  being  raised  in  rent  on  the  basis  of  his 
own  improvements,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
money  judiciously  laid  out  in  the  improvement 
of  grass  land  will  pay  the  farmer  well.  Let  us 
admit  that  nothing  is  so  cheap  as  land,  and  it 
follows  that,  as   land  is  limited  in  quantity,  the 


thing  next  in  cheapness  is  to  improve  that  land. 
"VMien  a  man  can  feel  sure  of  reaping  the  reward 
of  his  improvements,  he  is  more  than  merely 
justified  in  making  them ;  for  by  those  very 
improvements  he  practically  extends  the  area  of 
his  farm,  he  increases  its  stock-carrying  capacity, 
he  improves  the  quality  as  well  as  increases  the 
quantity  of  his  productions,  and  he  benefits  not 
hinif^clf  only,  but  also  the  nation  at  large. 

FAinr-YAUD    Maxuiie. 

Farm-yard  manure,  strictly  sjieaking,  is  the 
residue  of  various  kinds  of  vegetable  productions, 
either  as  forage  or  as  corn,  which  are  used  as 
food  and  litter  by  the  animals  in  the  farm-yard. 
The  animal  system  uses  up  a  portion  of  these, 
and  the  remainder  is  ejected  in  the  form  of  liquid 
and  solid  excreta.  The  quantity  and  quality  of 
the  manure  will  vary  in  obedience  to  the  kinds 
of  food  consumed,  and  the  method  of  consuming 
it.  If  much  forage  be  used  as  food,  and  litter 
as  bedding,  along  with  a  large  projiortion  of  roots 
or  other  green  food,  and  with  little  or  no  corn 
or  cake,  the  quantity  of  manure  produced  w-ill 
be  large,  but  it  will  be  poor  in  quality,  and  its 
actual  worth  will  not  as  a  rule  exceed  5s.  per  ton. 
But  if  a  large  quantity  of  com  or  cake,  especially 
decorticated  cotton-cake,  be  consumed  along  with 
the  forage,  instead  of  roots  and  other  green 
food,  the  manure  will  be  less  in  quantity,  but 
very  much  better  in  quality;  the  more  concen- 
trated the  food,  the  richer  the  manure  and  the  less 
of  it.  Again,  the  conditions  under  which  the 
fuod  and  litter  are  used  will  materially  influence 
the  quality  of  the  manure;  thus,  if  they  are  given 
to  the  cattle  in  open  yards  or  courts,  a  large 
quantity  of  rain-water  falls  on  the  manure,  and 
if  this  rain-water  be  not  absorbed  by  an  adequate 
quantity  of  dry  litter  it  must  pass  through  and 
away  from  it,  and  in  passing  it  dissolves  and 
carries  away  a  large  portion  of  the  soluble  and 
more  valuable  elements  of  the  manure,  thus  re- 
ducing the  quality  of  it;  and  the  bulk  of  this 
liquid  is  only  too  commonly  allowed  to  run 
away  to  Waste.  It  is,  however,  in  some  cases 
collected  in  tanks,  to  be  afterwards  carted  out 
on  the  land  in  barrels  or  liquid-manure  carts  ;  but 
it  is  commonly  so  much  diluted  with  water  that  it 
is  scarcely  worth  the  expense  of  carting  out ;  the 
cheapest  and  simplest  way  of  dealing  with  it  is 
to  allow  it  to  run  over  the  hvnd  by  the  aid  of 


TlIK   TRODUCTION   OF   MANURE. 


149 


sluices  cut  in  the  surface  and  so  arranged  as  to  dis- 
tribute it  equally.  The  best  system  is  to  have 
covered  yards  to  protect  the  manure  as  well  as  the 
cattle  from  rain  and  snow.  Wiiere  the  cattle 
are  kept  in  boxes  or  stalls,  they  of  course  are 
protected,  but  if  the  manure  is  taken  out  from 
them  and  put  in  heaps  in  an  open  yard,  and 
there  exposed  to  the  inclemencies  of  the  weather, 
all  the  evils  incidental  to  open  yards  are  present,  so 
far  as  the  manure  is  concerned;  and  under  this 
system  it  would  always  pay  the  farmer  to  have 
his  manure-heaps  shedded  over. 

In  box-feeding,  the  manure  commonly  remains 
where  it  is  made  until  it  is  wanted  for  use  on 
the  land  ;  but  in  box-feeding  there  is  a  great  waste 
of  space,  and  a  large  quantity  of  litter,  of  which  a 
better  use  ought  to  be  made,  is  trodden  under  foot 
by  the  cattle.  The  most  modern  method  is  that 
practised  by  ilr.  Mechi,  of  Tij)tree;  all  his 
animals  are  fed  under  cover,  on  sparred  floors, 
and  the  excreta  fall  down  between  the  spars 
into  chambers  or  cellars  beneath,  from  which  they 
are  removed  whenever  expedient.  A  similar 
system  is  followed  by  American  farmers,  who  place 
dry  earth,  sawdust,  leaves  of  trees,  dried  weeds, 
refuse  litter,  or  anything  else  that  will  answer 
the  purpose,  on  the  floors  of  the  cellars  to  absorb 
the  liquid  portion  of  the  excreta,  and  to  augment 
the  quantity  of  solid  manure.  Yet  on  either  of 
these  systems,  the  simplest  plan  is  to  conduct 
the  liquid  manure  over  the  surface  of  some  con- 
tiguous field  of  meadow  land ;  and  the  manure 
cellars  need  to  be  so  arranged  that  ready  access 
to  them  can  be  obtained  by  the  carts  which 
w^ill  convey  the  manure  away.  To  this  end 
the  buildings,  wherever  it  is  possible,  are  best 
built  on  sloping  land,  in  which  case  it  is  a  simple 
matter  to  cut  out  a  roadway  to  the  manure  cellars. 
But  if  no  sloping  land  is  available,  incline  planes 
are  constnicted,  and  up  these  not  only  do  the  cattle 
go  to  their  stalls  on  the  first  floor,  but  at  harvest- 
time  the  cart-loads  of  hay  go  up  also  and  enter  the 
building  by  the  large  door  seen  in  Fig.  45.  This 
figure  represents  the  exterior  view  of  a  dairy-bam 
belonging  to  ^Ir.  Merriam,  of  Cherry  Brook  Farm, 
Weston,  Massachusetts ;  and  the  diagrams  given 
in  Figs.  4(3,  47,  and  48  represent  respectively 
the  basement  and  first  and  second  floors  of  the 
building. 

The  engravings  mentioned  represent  what  is 
considered  a  favourable  specimen  of  an  improved 


American  dairy-barn.  These  American  barns  are 
usually  built  of  w'ood,  with  stone  basements, 
and,  from  personal  inspection  of  barns  similar 
to  that  in  the  accompanying  engraving,  we  can 
speak  to  the  comfort  and  convenience  secured 
in  this  arrangement.  Another  and  still  more 
modern  American  barn  is  illustrated  and  described 
in  the  section  on  Dairy  Homesteads,  page  87. 

A  knowledge  of  chemistry  and  physiology  is 
not  needed  to  enable  us  to  comprehend  that  the 
quality  and  quantity  of  dung  voided  by  any 
description  of  fattening  stock  or  milk-cows  is 
the  balance  between  the  food  consumed  and  that 
portion  of  it  which  is  retained  in  their  bodies 
as  flesh,  fat,  &e.,  or  withdrawn  in  the  form  of 
milk,  perspiration,  respiration,  &e.  The  dung 
is  therefore  inferior  to  the  food,  from  a  fertilising 
point  of  view,  just  in  proportion  to  the  substances 
extracted  from  the  food  by  the  animal  economy ; 
but  it  is  improved  in  form  as  food  for  plants  by 
ha\ang  been  consumed  by  animals — they  prepare 
it  for  the  plants,  which  in  turn  again  prepare  it  for 
the  animals.  A  four-year-old  beast  extracts  from 
the  food  given  him  only  those  substances  which  go 
to  increase  the  soft  portions  of  his  body,  and  to 
maintain  the  various  processes  of  which  his  life 
is  made  up ;  but  a  young  beast  not  only  does 
both  these,  but  also  extracts  what  is  required 
for  developing  the  bone;  hence  the  dung  of  a 
mature  animal  is  more  valuable  than  that  of 
a  young  one,  just  in  proportion  to  the  amount 
of  matter  which  the  young  one  keeps  to  build 
up  the  bony  and  muscular  structure  of  his 
frame.  It  follows,  consequently,  that  the  quan- 
tity of  manure  produced  on  a  farm  will  depend 
on  the  quantity  of  food  growni  and  consumed  on 
it,  and  on  the  quantity  of  feeding-stufEs  purchased 
to  supplement  and  improve  the  food  produced 
on  the  farm  itself  ;  and  that  the  quality  of  the 
manure  will  in  like  manner  depend  on  the  kind 
of  stock  kept,  and  on  the  kind  of  food  purchased 
in  addition  to  that  produced. 

The  management  of  farm-yard  manure  may 
be  said  to  be,  next  to  the  management  of  stock, 
one  of  the  most  important  departments  of  farm 
practice,  and  it  is  unfortunately  one  in  which 
there  is  a  disastrous  amount  of  waste  on  the  great 
majority  of  farms.  Science  has  striven  for  a 
long  time  to  impress  this  important  fiiet  on  the 
agricultural  mind,  but  still  the  waste  is  permitted 
to  go   on   in  too  many  places.      It   is,  howevei'. 


150 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


true  that  of  late  years  a  great  improvement  has 
taken  place  in  the  construction  of  farm-builil- 
ings,  the  preservation  of  manure  in  these  cases 
having  had  the  attention  devoted  to  it  that  it 
merits,  but  in  most  of  the  older  farmsteads  there 
is  still  a  deplorable  want  of  such  accommodation. 
The  bare  fact  that  about  30  in.  of  rain  fall 
annually  over  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  ought 
long  ago  to  have  suggested  the  necessity  of  jiro- 
tccting  the  manure-heap  from  such  deluges.  The 
first  want  of  the  present  day,  then,  where  they  are 
not  already  provided,  we  may  take  to  be  covered 
yards.  About  this  there  is  not  the  slightest  room 
to  doubt,  for  a  loss  of  manure  is  equivalent  to  a 
diminished   produce.      The  great  reason  why  we 


water,  or  it  runs  away  to  waste,  unless  there 
liappens  to  be  a  field  adjacent  on  which  it  can 
be  made  to  run  at  will.  Covered  yards  remove  to 
a  great  extent  the  dilliculties  connected  with  farm- 
yanl  manure,  and  the  liquid  portion  of  it  becomes 
a  less  didicult  problem,  because  it  is  almost  wholly 
soaked  up  by  the  solid,  and  is  not,  as  in  the  case 
of  open  yards,  increased  in  quantity  and  equally 
decreased  in  quality  by  the  adJition  of  unlimited 
rain-water.  Covered  yards,  however,  on  most 
daiiy-farms  can  only  be  made  available  for  young 
stock — dairy-cows,  unless  ban'en,  will  be  out  of 
place  in  them,  because  they  gore  each  other,  and 
so  bring  on  abortion. 

Farm-yard    manure,    owing    to    its    complex 


1.^.1 


^If^-''"'"  "^ 


%r 


m^^~^^^ 


Fig.  45. — AiiERiCAK  D.\inT  Ears  (Extehioh  View). 


always  find  good  crops  in  connection  with  box  or 
covered-yard  feeding  lies  in  the  simple  fact  that  the 
manure  produced  is  richer,  and  its  strength  is  not 
washed  away  by  dripping  rains  into  the  drains  and 
streams,  and  the  liquid  manure  is  absorbed  by  the 
litter  in  the  boxes  or  yards,  and  does  not  flow  into 
the  nearest  horse-pond,  as  is  only  too  commonly 
the  case  in  stall-feeding.  In  box-feeding,  good 
farmers  not  uncommonly  consider  that  if  they 
have  the  manure  as  clear  profit  they  have  done 
well,  and  this  is  no  unsubstantial  profit  where 
much  cake  and  corn  are  used  in  the  feeding.  In 
this  method  the  manure  has  the  great  advantage 
of  remaining  under  cover  all  the  time,  but  in 
stall-feeding  the  solid  manure  has  to  be  removed 
daily,  commonly  to  an  uncovered  manure-pit, 
while  the  liquid  manure  is  cither  conducted  to 
a    tank,    where   it   becomes   highly  diluted    with 


nature,  to  the  variety  and  quantity  of  valuable  in- 
gredients it  contains,  all  necessary  to  plant-life, 
and  because  its  mechanical  effects  are  valuable 
along  with  its  manurial  properties,  is  justly  taken 
as  the  tyjie  of  a  perfect  general  manure,  and  as 
such  no  reasonable  care  and  trouble  should  be 
spared  in  its  production  first  and  in  its  manage- 
ment afterwards.  The  farmer  cannot  always 
be  held  responsible  for  the  good  or  inferior  quality 
of  the  actual  manure,  as  produced,  since  this  is 
influenced  so  much  by  the  nature  and  age 
of  the  stock  that  produces  it  and  the  kind  of 
food  they  have  to  eat,  and  by  the  nature  of  the 
buildings  he  has  at  command  ;  but  he  can  and 
should  take  care  that  the  straw  and  dung  get 
properly  mixed,  as  well  as  the  manure  of  different 
kinds  of  stock,  so  as  to  secure  a  uniform  descrip- 
tion  of   manure.     If   he  stall-feeds,   and    uses   a 


THE    TREATMENT    OP    MANFRE. 


151 


quantity  of  litter  as  bedding,  lie  should  talce 
care  that  the  litter  from  behind  his  cattle,  and  the 
manure  which  is  very  imperfectly  mixed  with  it 
at  the  time,  should  be  well  trodden  down  and 
thoroughly  amalgamated  iu  the  j'ard  to  which  they 
are  taken.  AVheu  there  are  only  open  yards  or 
sheds,  he  should  prevent  all  the  water  he  can  from 
pouring  down  on  the  manure,  washing  out  its 
goodness  only  to  waste  it,  and  to  this  end  the  roofs 
of  the  sheds  should  be  properly  spouted.  No  straw 
should  be  spread  in  the  yards  beyond  what  is 
required  to  keep  the  beasts  moderately  dry,  and  the 
black  liquid  which  oozes  from  the  manure  should  be 
thrown  over  it  that  it  may  be  re-absorbed.  The 
manure  from  the  stables  should  not  be  thrown  in  a 
place  by  itself,  but  scattered  over  the  other,  for  it 
differs  in  such  a  way  in  its  nature,  from  that  pro- 
duced by  the  cattle,  as  to  materially  affect  the 
crops  to  which  it  is  applied.  The  manure-heap 
must  not  be  allowed  to  get  too  dry,  especially 
if  a  large  part  of  it  consists  of  horse-manure,  or 
a  white  mould  will  be  found  in  parts  of  it  when  it 
comes  to  be  forked  over ;  this  should  be  j^revented 
by  timely  moistening  with  liquid  manure. 

Due  regard  must  be  jiaid  to  the  time  when 
the  manure  will  be  required  for  use ;  if  it  is 
carted  into  a  heap  in  the  corner  of  a  field,  and 
intended  to  remain  there  some  months,  precautious 
must  be  taken  to  exclude  the  air  and  prevent 
fermentation.  In  this  case  dig  out  a  bed  in  the 
soil,  some  12  or  18  inches  deep,  at  the  bottom 
of  which  put  some  kind  of  refuse  which,  by 
soaking  up  any  waste  liquid,  will  in  time  become 
valuable ;  here  build  up  the  heap  in  an  oblong 
shape  to  the  height  of  5  feet  or  so — carting 
while  you  can  each  successive  new  load  over 
those  previously  deposited,  so  as  to  compress 
the  mass.  When  up  to  the  height,  round  the  top 
slightly  so  as  to  allow  rain-water  to  run  off, 
trim  the  sides  of  long  straws,  and  spread  the 
soil  pireviously  dug  out  for  the  bed  over  the  top 
of  the  heap  in  a  layer  of  a  few  inches.  This  \\Till 
prevent  the  escape  of  volatile  gases.  Gyjisum 
so  applied  will  also  arrest  these  gases  either  on 
the  heap  or  scattered  on  the  stable  floors,  and 
will  yield  them  up  to  the  land  afterwards.  A 
month  before  the  heap  will  be  required  it  should 
be  once,  or  perhaps  twice,  turned  over,  which 
will  cause,  by  admission  of  air,  fermentation 
and  decay,  so  that  it  will  cut  with  a  spade. 
When    manure  -  heaps    are    requii-ed    for    almof-t 


immediate    use,    they    should    not    be    so    com- 
pressed,  but    only   well    forked    about    and   mixed, 


TK 


hr 


G 

J 


Fig.  46.— American  Daust  Barn  (Cell.ie). 
A,  14  granite  posts ;    C,  cistei-n ;  E,  bull-yard  j  H,  shed ;  P,  P,  P,  P, 
peus  :  R,  K,  R,  R,  root-bins ;   W,  watei'-trough ;   F,  entrauce  to 
cellar ;  G,  entrauce  to  manure  cellar. 


Fig.  47. — American  Dairy  Barn  (First  Floor). 
A,  A,  A,  stalls;  P,  P,  P,  pens;  C,  C,  C,  calf-pens;  U, 
O,  osen  tie-ups ;   H,  horje-stalls ;  V,   bins ;    S,   sheds ;   M,  milk- 
room  ;  T,  7  traps  ;  U,  stairs ;  V,  water-trough. 


Fig.  48.— .American  Dairy  Barn  (Second  Floor). 

V,   ventiliitors  :  T,   trap-doors ;   N,  water-tank ;  S,   scales ;    B,  beam ; 

L,  4  bins. 

for  air    should  be  admitted  at  once,  to  promote 
decomposition. 

Liquid  manure  is  thought  too  little  about, 
and  is  often  allowed  to  run  to  waste.  Its  effects 
are   often  disappointing,  because  when  applied  it 


152 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


has  Lcen  in  most  cases  so  diluted  with  rain  and 
other  water  as  to  be  rendered  powerless  for  o^ood. 
Tiie  drains  from  all  buildings  should  run  into 
one  tank,  which  should  be  completely  protected 
from  surface  water,  and  from  thence  the  liquid 
manure  can  be  carted,  or  conducted  by  ])ij)es  or 
other  means,  on  to  the  pastures  or  wherever  it 
is  required. 

The  custom  of  makins:  large  heaps  of  manure 
cut  in  the  fields  is  going  out  of  fashion.  IMauy 
farmers  have  covered  sheds  for  it,  where  it 
commonly  remains  until  it  is  wanted,  and  it  is 
afterwards  generally  spread  on  arable  land  in  tlie 
autumn  and  ploughed  under  at  once ;  on  cIuvlm-- 
root,  which  is  about  to  be  broken  up  for  wheat, 
it  is  spread  in  August,  and  on  grass  land  it 
is  spread  at  almost  any  period  except  summer; 
on  most  kinds  of  meadow  land  it  is  generally, 
and  with  truth,  supposed  that  there  is  a  better 
crop  of  hay  if  the  manure  is  applied  in  the 
previous  autumn  rather  than  in  the  spring  of 
the  year  in  which  the  crop  is  grown.  Except  on 
a  very  light  and  open  soil,  it  is  always  a  good 
plan,  providing  the  weather  is  suitable,  to  get  out 
the  manure  on  meadow  land  as  soon  as  the  hay- 
crop  is  gathered  in ;  on  very  light,  open  soils  this 
is  not  to  be  recommended,  but  the  heavier  soils 
possess  the  faculty  of  absorbing  the  manure,  and 
in  their  case  the  roots  of  the  plants  can  make 
use  of  it  at  any  time  that  will  best  promote 
their  fertility.  But  where  it  is  still  the  custom  to 
keep  manure-heaps  out  in  the  fields  or  in  open 
yards,  it  should  be  remembered  that  there 
will  be  a  serious  loss  of  the  volatile  elements  of 
the  manure,  unless  something  is  done  to  prevent 
their  escape.  Gypsum  and  oil  of  vitriol  (sulphuric 
acid),  having  a  strong  affinity  for  fugitive  alka- 
lies, are  very  useful  chemieo-agricultural  detectives, 
and  they  may  with  great  advantage  be  used  to 
arrest  any  such  fugitives  as  are  trying  to  escape. 
Ammonia,  or,  rather,  carbonate  of  ammonia — the 
form  in  which  ammonia  escapes  from  a  manure- 
heap — has  the  projicrty  of  decomposing  sulphate 
of  lime  (gypsum)  in  a  considerable  degree.  The 
chemical  action  which  takes  place  results  in  the 
formation  of  carbonate  of  lime  and  su]j)hate  of 
ammonia,  the  ammonia  being  thus  converted  into  a 
fixed,  whereas  it  was  previously  a  volatile  salt,  ex- 
tremely liable  to  evaporation.  .But  the  chemical 
action  which  takes  place  is  very  weak,  and  there  is 
a  limit  to  the  absorjjtion  of  ammonia  by  sulphate 


of  lime ;  and  if  all  the  ammonia  is  to  be  absorbed, 
a  considerable  quantity  of  sulphate  of  lime  must 
be  used  on  the  manure-heap.  A  more  effective 
plan  is  to  sjirinkle  the  manure-heap  occasional!}'' 
witli  diluted  oil  of  vitriol ;  this  will  effectually  fix 
the  ammonia,  converting  it  into  sulphate  of  ammo- 
nia. As  most  sulphates,  nitrates,  and  phosphates 
are  freely  soluble  in  water,  it  is  necessary  to  be 
sparing  rather  than  profuse  in  using  the  diluted 
acid;  it  is  expedient  not  to  saturate  the  heap, 
but  simply  to  moisten  the  surface  occasionally,  and 
it  is  equally  necessary  to  keep,  if  possible,  the 
heap  from  being  saturated  with  rain-water.  It 
is  not  difficult  to  ascertain  when  the  heap  wants 
a  fresh  moistening — when  the  fumes  of  ammonia 
are  again  escaping,  that  is.  If  a  small  piece  of 
red  litmus  paper,  moistened,  be  held  close  to  the 
heap,  it  will  almost  immediately  turn  blue  if  any 
ammoniacal  vapours  are  being  evolved ;  but  as 
long  as  the  surface  of  the  heap  is  kept  in  an  acid 
state,  by  sprinkling  diluted  acid  over  it,  no  volatile 
ammonia  can  jDossibly  be  given  off  and  escape 
in  the  form  of  vapour.  It  must,  however,  be 
remembered  that  the  very  elements  which  you 
have  been  trying  to  arrest  at  the  top  will  escape  at 
the  bottom,  if  the  heap  is  exposed  to  deluges  of 
rain-water. 

It  is  always  true  policy  on  a  farmer's  part  as  well 
to  augment  the  quantity  as  to  conserve  the  quality 
of  the  manure  produced  on  his  farm.  Leaves  of 
trees,  coarse  grass,  unripe  thistles,  nettles,  charlock, 
the  roots  of  couch-grass,  peat-soil,  burnt  clay,  and 
any  products  of  the  farm,  all  serve  to  increase 
the  bulk  of  the  manure-heap,  and  if  they  are 
well  dried  to  start  with  they  will  absorb  the 
volatile  and  liquid  portions  of  it;  indeed,  he 
cannot  easily  attach  too  much  importance  to 
this  part  of  the  farm  economy.  It  must  ever 
be  borne  in  mind  that  farm-yard  manure  and  lime 
should  never  be  applied  together  on  land,  for 
the  lime  has  a  destructive  iulluence  over  the 
valuable  elements  of  the  manure;  thus,  it  drives 
off  all  the  ammonia,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
precious  constituents.  If  it  is  desired  to  apply 
both  lime  and  farm-yard  manure  to  the  growth 
of  any  one  crop,  an  interval  of  two  or  three 
months  should  be  allowed  to  occur  between  the 
dressings. 

It  has  been,  and  still  is  in  some  ]ilaces,  the 
custom  to  make  largo  compost-heaps  of  the  scour- 
ings  of  ponds  and  ditches,  of  road-scra2)ings,  of  the 


COMPOST. 


153 


puvplus  soil  which  is  loft  over  in  draining  land,  and 
in  levelling  old  banks  and  fences — of  any  kind 
of  refuse,  in  fact,  that  was  capable  of  being 
imjjroved  by  mixing  with  lime  or  dnng.  These 
are  turned  over  one  or  more  times  at  intervals  of 
a  month  or  two,  and  are  sometimes  carted  con- 
siderable distances  to  the  meadows,  where  they  are 
spread,  chain  harrowed,  and  the  stones  picked  care- 
fully in  order  that  they  may  not  interfere  with 
the  knives  of  the  mowing-machine.  It  is,  however, 
now  beginning  to  be  thought  that  these  composts 
are  not  worth  the  labour  expended  on  them, 
that  it  is  more  economical  to  apply  a  small 
dressing  of  good  artificial  manures,  and  that  any 
coarse  soil  that  has  to  be  removed  is  better 
applied  with  as  little  labour  as  possible  upon  the 
nearest  pasture  land  that  it  would  be  likely  to 
do  any  good  to.  But  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
a  good  large  compost-heap,  consisting  of  lime 
and  soil  well  amalgamated  together,  is  a  very 
useful  piece  of  supjjlemeutary  manure,  and  a  good 
dressing  of  it  has  an  excellent  effect  on  meadow 
land  that  has  been  long  accustomed  to  no  other 
than  farm-yard  manure,  or  to  pasture  land  that 
has  received  no  dressings  of  manure  at  all ;  it  is 
a  change  of  system  which  gives  a  fillip)  to  the 
land,  and  the  effect  of  it  is  commonly  scon  for 
years  in  the  greatly  improved  quality  of  the 
herbage.  The  question  of  expense  with  regard 
to  it  is  a  matter  which  must  always  be  left  to 
the  farmer's  own  judgment,  and  in  this  he  will 


bo  governed  by  the  price  of  labour  in  the 
district. 

Unlike  farm-yard  manure,  compost  is  injured 
by  being  put  under  cover.  It  has  everything  to 
gain  and  little  or  nothing  to  lose  by  contact  with 
air  and  rain.  Under  cover  it  deteriorates ;  exposed 
to  the  atmosphere  it  improves.  The  more  exposure 
it  receives,  the  better  it  is,  for  tw^o  reasons :  in 
the  first  place,  the  stuff  of  which  compost  is 
usually  made  has  generally  been  excluded  for  a 
long  time  from  the  air,  and,  jjartly  in  consequence 
of  this,  it  has  great  facilities  for  absorbing  from 
the  air  those  valuable  properties  of  which  it  stands 
so  much  in  need.  And  in  order  that  it  may  the 
more  freely  absorb  these,  it  is  expedient  that  it  be 
frequently  turned  over  with  a  shovel,  so  that  all 
of  it  may  in  turn  be  well  exposed  to  the  air. 

At  the  same  time,  it  must  be  remembered  that 
even  farm-yard  manure  may  be  injured  by  being 
too  long  under  cover,  unless  it  is  kept  moist 
enough.  ^Manure  that  contains  much  litter  is  of 
course  the  m.ost  liable  to  become  too  dry  under 
cover ;  and  it  needs  to  be  well  moistened  now  and 
again  with  liquid  manure,  if  any  of  it  is  at  hand, 
and  with  water  if  it  is  not,  but  only  moistened — 
not  saturated  through  and  through. 

Anyway,  compost-heajDs  are  very  useful ; 
whether  or  not  they  pay  is  another  matter ;  but 
in  any  case  it  is  unwise  to  reject,  on  grounds 
which  are  merely  conjectural,  the  use  of  any- 
thing which  may  be  available  as  a  manure. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

FouAGK  Plants  and  "Weeds. 


The  Cabbage  Tribe— Kohl-Rabl— Turnips— Swedes— Rape— Mustard— Leguminous  Plants  -CIOTers-Luccmc— Sainfoin— Vetches,  or 
Tares— Trefoils— Lupins— Furze,  or  Gorse-I'eas— Umbelliferous  Plants— Carrots  and  Parsnips— Milfoil  and  Chicory-  Comfrey  - 
Plantain— Mangold— Buckwheat— Grasses:  Thoir  Character  and  Usefulness— Cat's-tail— Me  vdow  Fox-tail— Floating  Fox-tail - 
Slender  Fox-tail— Sweet-scented  Vernal  Grass— Bent  Grass— Yellow  Oat  Grass— Downy  Oat  Grass— Wild  Oat— False  Oat  Grass- 
Meadow  Soft  Grass— Creeping  or  Bearded  Soft  Grass— Rough  Cock'sfoot  Grass— Meadow  Grasses— Quaking  Grass— Fescue 
Grasses- Brome  Grasses— Crested  Dog's-tail  Grass— Couch  Grass— Rye  Grasses— Poisonous  Rye  Grass— Other  Weed  Gra.'ises— 

Mixtures— Analyses— Diseases— Smut— Bunt— Rust— Mildew— Ergot— Parasitic  Grasses- Iceland  Moss  and 

Irish  Moss— Seeds  and  their  Adulteration. 


i^lf^ 


shall    consiilcr    the   varimis 
forao-e  plants  iindor  tlie  heads 
of  tlie  natural  orders  to  which 
they  respectively  belong,  as 
t  ";.     J      we  believe  this  method  will 
s,'         be  found  advantageous  to  the 
reader  acquainted  with  the  outlines  of 
classification,  while  it  will  in  no  way 
comi)lieate  the    subject    for   the   non- 
botanical  reader.     A    natural   order  is 
simply  an  assemblage  of  plants  grouped 
~'^  together  on  account  of  the  many  bo- 

ta.nical  characters  they  possess  in  common,  and 
the  general  characters  of  the  natural  order  per- 
tain in  most  cases  to  all  the  plants  included  in 
it.  The  botanical  name  of  a  plant  consists  of 
two  words;  the  first  is  the  generic  name,  and 
refers  to  the  sub-group,  or  genns  of  the  order 
to  which  the  plant  belongs;  the  second  is  the 
specific  name,  and  indicates,  when  there  are  more 
plants  than  one  in  the  genus,  which  particidar 
plant  or  species  is  referred  to.  Thus,  the  prim- 
rose. Primula  vulgaris,  and  the  cowslip.  Primula 
vfris,  are  both  species  of  the  genus  Primula,  and 
Primula  itself  is  one  of  a  number  of  genera  which 
constitute  the  order  Primulacea.  An  order  then 
is  made  up  of  genera,  and  a  genus  of  species. 
Occasionally  a  species  is  divided  into  several 
varieties,  and  sometimes  a  genus  only  contains  a 
single  species. 

Passing  midcr  view  a  list  of  natural  orders 
systematically  arranged,  the  first  to  attract  our 
attention,  as  being  of  agricultural  importance, 
is  the  one  named  Crucifer^.  The  fruit  of  this 
onler    may   be    either   long,    as    in    the   mustard, 


cal)l)age,  and  gillyfiower  (Fig.  49),  or  short,  as 
in  the  common  weed,  shepherd's  purse.  In  cither 
case  a  thin  membrane  will  be  exposed  to  view 
when  the  two  valves  of  the  fruit  open,  and  it 
is  to  the  margins  of  this  membrane  that  the 
seeds  on  each  side  are  attached.  The  arrange- 
ment of  the  leaves  in  plants  of  this  order  is  a  Her- 
niate, first  one  on  one  side  of  the  stem,  then  another 
at  a  different  level  on  the  other  side.  There  are 
no  stipules  and  no  bracts.  Stipules  are  small 
leaves  at  or  near  the  base  of  the  leaf-stalk,  or 
petiole,  as  Been  in  the  rose-leaf 
(Fig.  50,  st) ;  bracts  are  similar 
small  leaves  on  the  flower-stalk. 

The  plants  of  this  order  are 
distinguished  by  their  pungent, 
stimulating,  arul  sometimes  acrid 
properties,  but  none  of  them  are 
poisonous.  They  are  anti-scorbutic, 
hence  the  desire  of  people,  such 
as  sailors,  who  have  for  a  long 
l)eriod  subsisted  on  salt  meat, 
and  rendered  themselves  liable 
to  scurvy,  to  obtain  vegetables 
yielded  by  this  order.  The  Cruci- 
FER.E  contain  notable  quantities 
of  sulphur  and  nitrogen,  and 
these,  in  union  with  other  ele- 
ments present,  foiin,  amongst 
other  products,  a  peculiar  volatile  acrid  oil,  to 
which  the  stimulating  properties  of  the  order  are 
due.  The  disgusting  odour  which  arises  from 
decaying  heaps  of  cabbages  and  tm-nips  is  due, 
in  great  part,  to  the  formation  of  sulphuretted 
hydrogen  and  ammonia. 


Fig.  49.— The  Fritt 
(Siliqua)  of  the 

GiLLYFLOWEB. 


Plate    I.-LEGUMINOUS    PLANTS. 


l.—Trifo/imii.  prateiise  (Conunon  Red  or  Broad-k':ived  Clover).  5.—(Ji>'Ariii-fii!i  mtini  (Suiiifniii), 


2.    -TrifiiUiim  iritens  (Dutch  Clover). 
3   -Tri'foliiiiii  iiirarniitinii  (Crimson  Clover). 
Trifoliuiii  hiihridum  (Alsike  Clover). 


(>.—.M.:dk;i;io  liipiitlmt  (liUck  Medick). 
7. — Lupin  111  (tlhns  (Lti|iin,  blue  variety). 
I  8. — Vkia  aiitiva  (Vetch). 


CRUCIFERS    AND    LEGUMINOUS    PLANTS. 


155 


Among  crucifers,  the  cabbage,  Brassica  ole- 
racen,  is  used  as  a  cattle-food,  especially  in  autumn 
and  winter.  Analysis  No.  8  refers  to  this  plant. 
The  inner  and  vouno^er  leaves  contain  much  more 


'^'  Fig.  50.— Leaf  of  Rose. 

water  than  the  older  outside  leaves,  and  on  the  whole 
this  vegetable  may  be  considered  more  nutritious 
than  the  turnip.  Savoys,  Brussels  sprouts,  Scotch 
kale,  and  red  cabbage  are  all  varieties  of  the 
common  cabbage ;  so  are  the  eauliilower  and  broc- 
coli, in  both  of  which  a  large  number  of  very 
imperfect  flowers  are  crowded  together  to  form 
the  white  heads  so  much  relished  at  our  tables. 
The  kohl-rabi  is  a  variety  in  which  the  stem 
is  enlarged  into  a  fleshy  turnip-like  knob  above 
ground. 

The  turnip,  Brassica  rapa,  is  a  widely  culti- 
vated crucifer,  and  is  a  food  mneh  relished  by 
cattle  and  sheep.  The  peculiar  flavour  of  the 
root,  which  is  especially  noticeable  in  a  "strong'" 
turnip,  is  due  to  the  presence  of  a  pungent  essen- 
tial oil.  As  will  be  seen  from  the  analysis  (No.  1), 
the  root  is  very  watery,  and  contains  biit  little 
nourishment,  so  that  if  an  animal  tried  to  get 
fat  on  turnips  alone,  it  would  have  to  pass  a 
large  quantity  of  unnecessary  water  through  its 
stomach.  The  Swedish  turnip,  or  swede,  is  speci- 
fically distinct  from  the  turnip,  and  is  believed 
to  have  sprung  from  Brassica  campestris ;  it  is 
rather  more  nutritious,  and  contains  less  water 
than  the  common  turnijj  (Anal.  No.  2).  The 
rape,  Brassica  napus,  is  valuable  both  as  green 
fodder  and  for  ploughing  in  as  a  green  manure ; 
its  seeds  (rape  and  colza)  are  crushed  for  oil, 
and  the  residue,  consisting  chiefly  of  the  seed- 
coats,  is  made  up  into  cake,  and  used  as  cattle- 
food,  and  as  a  fertiliser.  An  analysis  (No.  5ii) 
of  rape-cake  is  given. 

White  mustard,  Sinapis  alba,  the  leaves  of 
which  are  used  as  a  salad ;  black  mustard, 
23 


vO\.-i. 


Sinapis  tiigra,  the  ground  seeds  of  which  form  a 
condiment ;  and  the  troublesome  weed  called  char- 
lock, Sinapis  arvensis,  are  closely  allied  to  the 
foregoing  plants  of  the  genus  Brassica.  White 
mustard  is  eaten  off  as  a  green  crop,  and  ploughed 
in  as  a  green  manure. 

The  radish,  horse-radish,  sea-kale,  cress,  water- 
cress, Jack-by-the-hedge,  shepherd's  purse,  wall- 
flower, and  stock  are  all  familiar  crucifers. 

The  natural  order  Leguminosjj;  is  the  one 
to  which  the  pulses  (peas,  beans,  &c.)  and  the 
clovers  belong.  Its  botanical 
characters  are  very  definite,  so 
that  it  is  easy  to  determine 
whether  or  not  a  given  plant 
belongs  to  this  order.  Thus, 
the  corolla  consists  of  five 
petals,  which  are  of  three  dif- 
ferent sizes;  theirarrangement 

will  be  understood  bv  reference  ^'S-  b1--I'apihonaceou3 

,  ,,       »  ,,  Corolla  of  the  Pea. 

to  the  corolla  or  the  pea,  as  re- 
presented in  Figs.  51  and  b'l.  At  the  top  is  seen 
the  largest  petal,  called  the  standard ;  below  and  en- 
closed by  the  standard  are  two  side  petals  both  alike, 
termed  the  toings ;  these  latter  jiartly  overlap  the 
two  smallest  petals,  which  are  joined  together  to 
form  the  keel.  Every  British  leguminous  plant  has 
its  corolla  built  up  on  this  tyjie.  After  fertili- 
sation, the  pistil  develops  into  the  fruit,  which 
is  a  pod,  or  legume.  In  Fig.  53  is  shown  the 
legume  of  the  pea,  with  the  flower-stalk  and  calyx 
still  remaining.    The  pod  of  the  leguminous  plants 


"KiXS 


Fig.  52.— Separate  Parts  of  the  Corolla  of  the  Pea. 

resembles  that  of  the  crucifers  in  opening  by  a 
pair  of  valves,  but  the  two  differ  in  that  the  cruci- 
ferous pod  has  a  thin  partition  down  the  middle, 
while  the  leguminous  pod  has  not.  The  foliage 
leaves  are  furnished  with  stipules,  and  are  alter- 


156 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


h 


:^  / 


yA 


nate.  Tlie  leaves,  again,  instead  of  being  simjile, 
are  usually  compound ;  that  is,  each  leaf  consists 
of  several  distinct  pieces  called  leajlets,  as  is  seen 
in  the  tcrnate  leaf  of  the  clover,  and 
the  pinnale  leaf  of  the  pea  or  la- 
burnum. Frequently  the  leaves  are 
converted  into  tendrils,  which  enable 
weak  climbing  stems  to  obtain 
support  from  more  substantial  struc- 
tures. In  the  representation  of  the 
pea.  Fig.  54,  wc  see  a  pinnate  leaf 
with  the  upper  leaflets  transformed 
into  tendrils,  at  the  base  of  the  leaf- 
stalks are  two  large  stipules  which 
meet  round  the  slem,  and  the  pe- 
duncle bears  a  flower  and  a  fruit. 

The  Leguminos^  yield  more  sub- 
stances of  general  use  than,  perhaps, 
any  other  order.  The  farinaceous 
seeds  are  highly  nutritious,  and  the 
herbage  affords  a  superior  fodder. 

The  clovers,  or  trefoils,  belong  to 
the  genus  Trifulium,  which  includes 
some  eighteen  or  twenty  species,  and 
derives  its  name  from  the  fact  that 
each  leaf  is  divided  into  three  leaf- 
lets. The  part  commonly  called  the 
blossom  will  be  seen,  on  examination,  to  consist 
really  of  a  large  number  of  small  flowers  crowded 
together  into  one  head  on  the  receptacle.  The  fruit 
is  a  short,  unjointed,  nearly  straight  pod  containing 
from  one  to  four  seeds.  Not  more  than  six  or  seven 
species  are  under  cultivation  as  forage  plants. 

White,  Dutch,  or  Honeysuckle  Clover,  Tri- 
foliuni  repens  (Plate  1,  Fig.  2).  The  large  globose 
head  of  white,  rarely  pinkish  flowers  at  once  dis- 
tinguishes this  plant  from  its  allies;  the  lower 
flowers  of  the  head  are  often  to  be  seen  brown 
and  withered,  while  the  upper  ones  are  still  in 
their  prime.  The  longish  pod  contains  four  to 
six  small  seeds.  The  green  leaflets  have  usually 
a  horse-shoe  mai'k  near  the  base,  and  the  crecj)iiig 
stem  sends  down  fibrous  roots  at  the  joints.  The 
plant  should  find  a  place  in  all  pastures,  as  it 
bears  grazing  well,  and  quickly  springs  up  again. 
Too  much  of  it,  however,  is  said  to  have  a  scouring 
effect  on  cattle.  Two  analyses  are  given,  one  of 
white  clover  in  blossom  (No.  9),  the  other  of  hay 
made  from  white  clover  (No.  2S). 

Common  Red,  Purple,  or  Broad-leaved  Clover, 
Trifolium  prateme  CPlate  1,  Fig.  1),  is  one  of  the 


Fig.  r)3.— Fruit 
OF  THE  Pea. 


most  valuable  clovers.  Its  hai-d,  somewhat  woody 
root  suj)])orts  a  stem  growing  from  12  to  18 
inches  high,  and  the  oval  leaflets  have  a  hoi-se- 
shoe  mark  in  the  middle.  The  jiod  contains 
one  seed,  puqde  in  colour,  and  rather  large  for  a 
clover  seed.  This  plant  is  chiefly  used  for  alter- 
nate husbandry.  There  are  many  varieties  of  it 
peculiar  to  different  countries,  the  plant  appearing 
to  vary  according  to  soil  and  climate.  Two  ana- 
lyses of  the  green  plant  are  given,  and  one  of  the 
hay  (Nos.  10,  11,  29).  A  variety  called  True  Cow 
Grass  Clover,  or  Perennial  Red  Clover,  Trifolium 
pratense  perenne,  is  much  in  favour  just  now ; 
it  only  differs  from  the  common  red  clover  in 
being,  according  to  some  growers,  more  lasting, 
and  therefore  preferable  in  seeds  for  several  years^ 
lay,  and  for  permanent  pasture. 

Hybrid  or  Alsike  Clover,  Trifolium  Jij/hridiim 
(Plate  1,  Fig.  4),  is  a  smooth  perennial  plant  with 
hollow  stems  and   filsrous  roots.    The  flowers  are 


Fig.  54.— The  Pea. 


partly  white  and  partly  pinkish,  and  are  arranged 
in  loose  heads  on  long  stalks,  so  that  the  plant  has 
an  appearance  intermediate  between  that  of  white 
clover  and  common  red  clover.  The  pod  is  short, 
and  contains  a  couple  of  dark  little  seeds.      Alsike 


Plate    2. -LEGUMINOUS     PLANTS     AND     WEEDS. 


X.—Trif^Jiiim  mi 'limn  (Mejiilow  (Jlover,  or  Zigzag  Trefoil). 

2.—Ti'i/otui„i  proi-niiiheiis  (Hon  Trefoil). 

3. — Mciliiiiijo  sntiru  (Lucerne). 

4. — Lotus  coriiicuhUim  (]Jir(l's-foot  Trefoil). 

5. — AnthyHis  vulnerariu,  (Kidney  Vetch). 


r,.-Siini/iii.sorl>,i  uffii'iniil'ix  (Biiruet). 
7.  -Ackillia  uiVhMUmi  (Milfoil). 
S.-P/07I ('/.;.,  I.,„.-~:'.ir,  (Kill-grass). 
'X—Rlmin,  ..  .//,'  (Yellow  Kiittle). 

la.—Euph.  Kyebright). 


CLOVERS    AND    THEIR    ALLIES. 


157 


possesses  the  useful  property  of  yielding  abundant 
crops  on  "  clover  sick"  soils.  Two  analyses  of  the 
green  plant  and  one  of  the  hay  are  given  (Nos.  12, 
13,  30). 

Crimson,  Scarlet,  Caraation,  or  Italian  Clover, 
Trifolium  incarnatum  (Plate  1,  Fig.  3),  is  readily 
known  by  its  elongated,  velvet-like,  crimson  head 
of  flowers.  As  it  is  particularly  addicted  to  lime- 
stone soils,  it  can  be  gro\vn  to  far  greater  ad- 
vantage on  such  than  on  any  other  kind.  Sown 
in  autumn,  it  is  ready  for  cutting  or  eating  down 
in  the  following  May.  It  may  be  either  grown 
alone  or  with  Italian  rye-grass.  As  a  green 
fodder,  cattle  and  sheep  eat  it  eagerly.  (Ana- 
lyses Nos.  14,  31.) 

Other  clovers  occasionally  grown  are  the  Zig- 
zag Trefoil,  or  Meadow  Clover,  Trifolium  medium 
(Plate  2,  Fig.  1),  with  rather  rigid  leaflets,  and 
heads  of  flowers  of  a  rose-purple  colour ;  and  the 
Lesser  Yellow  Trefoil,  or  Yellow  Suckling  Clover, 
Trifolium  minus,  which  much  resembles  Medicago 
lujmlina  (Plate  1,  Fig.  6),  differing  from  the  latter, 
however,  in  that  its  leaflets  are  heart-shaped  with 
the  narrow  parts  joined  to  the  leaf-stalk,  and  in 
having  the  florets  less  densely  crowded  on  the  recep- 
tacle. The  Hop  Clover,  or  Hop  Trefoil,  Trifolium 
procumbens  (Plate  2,  Fig.  2),  is  sometimes  included 
in  mixtures.  Its  flower-head  is  rather  larger  than 
that  of  M.  lupulina,  and  its  colour  is  a  pale  yellow. 
As  the  largest  petal  of  each  floret  is  bent  back 
at  its  free  extremity,  the  whole  head  has  a  hop- 
like appearance. 

From  a  botanical  point  of  view,  only  those 
plants  which  belong  to  the  genus  Trifolium  are 
properly  termed  clovers,  or  trefoils.  There  are, 
however,  many  other  useful  leguminous  plants 
which  the  farmer  includes  under  the  general 
name  of  clover.  The  cliief  of  these  we  proceed 
to  notice  : — 

The  genus  Mcdicago  resembles  Trifolium  in 
that  each  of  its  leaves  consists  of  three  leaflets. 
But  the  little  flowers  are  arranged  in  short 
racemes,  that  is,  a  number  of  short-stalked  florets 
is  given  off  from  each  side  of  a  common  flower- 
stalk,  the  resulting  structure  appearing  not  un- 
like a  small  clover-head.  Again,  the  unjointed 
pod  of  Medicago  is  spiral,  while  the  pod  of  Tri- 
folium is  nearly  straight.  Two  important  plants, 
black  medick  and  lucerne,  belong  to  this  genus. 

Black  Medick,  or  Nonsuch,  Medicago  lupulina 
Plate  1,  Fig.  6),  is  a  pretty  little  plant,  considered 


by  some  writers  to  be  identical  with  the  shamrock 
of  Ireland.  As  a  wild  British  plant  it  is  common 
in  fields  and  waste  places.  The  root  is  tapering 
and  fibrous,  the  stem  much  branched.  Black 
medick  is  so  called  from  the  black  colour  of 
the  seed-vessel,  or  pod,  which  is  coiled  into  a 
kidney-shaped  spiral,  and  has  a  net-work  on  its 
outer  surface.  The  pod  contains  only  one  seed. 
As  the  plant  is  an  annual  or  biennial,  it  is  not 
suited  to  permanent  pasture,  and  is  always  best 
grown  in  connection  with  rye-grass  or  sainfoin. 
Analyses  of  the  hay  and  of  the  green  plant  are 
quoted  (Nos.   15,  32). 

Lucerne,  or  Purple  Medick,  Medicago  safica 
(Plate  2,  Fig.  3),  has  an  erect  stem,  bluish-purple 
flowers  arranged  in  open  racemes,  and  the  pods 
twisted  two  or  three  times.  It  is  rather  later 
than  most  of  the  so-called  clovers,  as  it  does 
not  flower  till  June  or  July;  it  is  a  plant  of 
vigorous  growth,  and  attains  a  height  of  2  feet 
or  more.  If  not  eaten  down,  it  may  be  cut 
several  times  during  the  season  for  green  food. 
The  analyses  (Nos.  16,  17,  33)  indicate  that  it 
may  be  used  to  better  advantage  as  a  green  food 
than  in  the  form  of  hay,  the  amount  of  indi- 
gestible fibre  in  the  latter  being  one-third  of 
the  entire  weight.  This  plant  deserves  more 
attention  than  it  has  hitherto  received  from 
growers,  for,  in  addition  to  the  qualities  already 
mentioned,  it  is  of  long  duration,  and,  being 
very  deep-rooted,  is  eminently  suited  to  with- 
stand long  droughts.  Partly  on  account  of  this 
last-named  property  it  is  extensively  cultivated 
in  India. 

Sainfoin,  Onohrychis  sativa  (Plate  1,  Fig.  5), 
has  pinnate  leaves,  each  leaf  consisting  of  an  odd 
number  of  leaflets,  there  being  a  solitary  leaflet 
at  the  end.  There  are  no  tendrils.  The  beau- 
tiful pink  flowers  are  arranged  in  elegant  racemes, 
and  the  solitary  seeds  are  contained  in  flat, 
wrinkled,  one-jointed  pods.  Sainfoin  is  a  peren- 
nial, it  has  an  upright  stem  about  2  feet  high, 
and  a  rather  woody  root  penetrating  deeply  into 
the  ground.  It  grows  on  all  good  soils,  and 
has  the  additional  merit  of  producing  excellent 
crops  on  dry  limestone  soils,  a  property  it  owes 
to  its  long  roots.     (Analyses  18  and  34.) 

In  connection  with  sainfoin,  mention  may  be 
made  of  the  Burnet,  Sanguisorba  officinalis  [Fote- 
rium  officinale),  (Plate  2,  Fig.  6),  which  is  a  plant 
belonging  to  the  rose-family,  differing,  however. 


158 


DAUIY    FARMING. 


frnm  most  plants  in  that  order  by  possessing  no 
petals.  Its  height  varies  from  6  to  IS  inches, 
and  it  was  formerly  recommended  for  growth 
with  sainfoin  and  lucerne,  but  as  it  has  j)roved 
to  be  a  coarse  and  somewhat  useless  plant, 
the  practice  is  discontinued,  and  care  should  be 
taken  that  neither  its  seeds  nor  those  of  its  ally, 
the  Salad  Burnet,  Foterium  sangiihorha,  are  in- 
troduced with  clover-seed. 

The  Vetch,  or  Tare,  Ticia  safiva  (Plate  1, 
Fig.  8),  has  pinnate  leaves,  which  differ  from 
those  of  sainfoin  in  consisting  of  an  even  number 
of  leaflets,  and  in  having  the  upper  leaflets  trans- 
formed into  tendrils.  The  plant  is  an  annual, 
it  has  pale  pui-ple  flowers  which  produce  straight 
unjointed  hairy  pods  containing  four  to  ten  seeds, 
the  pods  being  not  unlike  those  of  the  sweet  pea, 
but  rather  smaller.  It  has  a  stout  trailing  or 
climbing  stem.  Vetches  have  long  constituted 
a  favourite  crop,  and  an  American  writer  states 
that  "  there  is  no  green  food  of  any  variety  so 
well  relished  by  horses  as  vetches,  and  none  which 
has  such  a  purifying  effect,  lucerne  being  no  ex- 
ception.^' Analyses  of  the  green  plant  and  of  the 
hay  are  quoted  below  (Nos.  19  and  35).  There 
are  ten  or  twelve  species  of  wld  vetch,  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  being  Vicia  Cracca,  which  bears 
fine  racemes  of  blue  flowers. 

The  Kidney  Vetch,  or  Ladies'  Fingers,  An- 
tliyllis  vulneraria  (Plate  2,  Fig.  5),  has  pinnate 
leaves  with  unequal  leaflets,  a  terminal  leaflet 
being  present.  Notwithstanding  that  it  is  much 
relished  by  sheep  and  cattle,  and  that  it  succeeds 
well  on  limestone  soils,  it  is  very  rarely  cultivated. 

In  the  genus  Lofus  the  yellow  flowers  are 
arranged  in  an  umbel,  that  is,  several  short-stalked 
flowers  all  sjiring  from  one  level,  as  in  the  cowslip. 
Each  leaf  consists  of  three  leaflets,  as  in  Trifolian 
and  Medicago,  and  has  large  leaf-like  stipules  at 
the  base  of  the  leaf-stalk.  The  pod  is  nearly 
straight,  and  is  many-seeded.  The  two  follow- 
ing species  are  perennials. 

The  Common  Bird's-foot  Trefoil,  Lotus  conncii- 
latus  (Plate  2,  Fig.  4),  is  an  elegant  little  plant, 
in  which  the  yellow  flowers  are  crimson  before 
expanding.  It  may  be  seen  in  flower  almost 
any  time  between  May  and  September  on  grassy 
banks  and  in  dry  pastures.  The  smooth  stem 
lies  on  the  ground,  and  the  height  of  the  plant 
is  from  6  to  12  inches.  It  is  very  nutritious, 
is  well  liked  by  cattle,  and  admirably  suited  for 


growing  on  elevated  soils  of  too  poor  a  character 
to  suit  the  ordinary  clovers. 

The  Greater  Bird's-foot  Trefoil,  Lotui  major, 
is  very  like  the  foregoing,  differing  from  it  chiefly 
in  its  larger  more  numerous  flowers  of  duller 
hue,  and  in  its  erect  stem.  It  thrives  best  on 
somewhat  peaty  soils. 

Tlie  ^lelilot,  McJilolua  offw'uudh,  is  rarely 
<;r(iwn  as  a  forage  crop ;  it  is  odorifei'ous  \vhcn 
dry,  and  sweetens  hay. 

Tlie  Lupins,  belonging  to  the  genus  Lupinm 
(Plate  1,  Fig.  7),  include  several  varieties  with 
difTerently  coloured  flowers.  They  are  not  much 
cultivated  in  England,  but  the  yellow  lupin  is  ex- 
tensively grown  on  the  Continent,  where  it  is  used 
both  as  a  forage  plant  and  as  a  green  manure. 
(Analysis  No.  20.)  It  must  be  .stated  with  regard 
to  the  lupin  that,  quite  recently  at  Namslau, 
and  various  other  places  in  Germany,  hundreds  of 
sheep  have  been  poisoned  by  eating  the  plant. 
The  cause  of  these  fatal  effects  has  not  yet  been 
fully  determined,  but  two  suspicious  facts  are 
known :  first,  that  the  lupin  contains  an  active 
bitter  poisonous  principle  closely  allied  to  the 
poisonous  alkaloid  of  the  water-hemlock;  and, 
secondly,  that  the  plant  is  extremely  liable  to  the 
attacks  of  a  fungus  which  produces  a  hard  dark- 
coloured  structure  somewhat  like  that  which 
accompanies  ergot  of  rye,  and  which,  like  this 
latter,  may  have  injurious  effects  on  animals 
j)artaking  of  it. 

The  Furze,  ^Miin,  or  Gorse,  Vlex  Europftim,  is 
a  prickly  shrub  Avith  deep  yellow  blossoms,  and 
it  grows  where  little  else  will.  It  can  be  raised 
from  the  seed  on  any  waste  land  available,  but 
transplanting  may  prove  fatal  to  the  plant.  Furze 
is  recommended  on  account  of  its  yielding  a 
nutritious  green  food  for  horses  and  cattle  in  the 
winter,  forming  at  that  season  an  agreeable  change 
in  diet  from  hay,  and  from  such  roots  as  turnips 
and  carrots.  On  account  of  the  prickles  it  is,  of 
course,  necessary  to  bruise  furze  before  supplying 
it  to  cattle,  and  this  may  be  done  either  in  a 
furze-breaking  machine,  or  by  hand  with  a  mallet. 
(Analysis  No.  21.) 

Besides  those  leguminous  plants  which  ai-e 
used  either  as  green  fodder  or  liay,  there  are  others 
which  are  grown  chiefly  for  their  valuable  seeds. 
The  pea,  P/.-siim  sa/irnw,  affords  in  its  green  unripe 
seeds  a  fresh  vegetable  for  the  table,  while  from 
the    ripe   seeds    are    obtained    pea-meal    and   the 


UMBELLIFEROUS    PLANTS. 


159 


split  peas  used  in  soups  and  as  cattle-food;  it 
is  sometimes  grown  as  a  fodder  crop,  the  pea- 
straw,  of  which  the  composition  is  shown  in 
analysis  No.  36,  serving  as  a  nutritious  adjunct 
in  chaff.  The  lentil,  which  is  the  seed  of  Ervum 
lens,  is  imported  into  Britain  from  southern  Europe 
and  Egypt,  and  is  used  by  millers  in  the  com- 
position of  meals  for  cattle-food.  "  llevalenta," 
"  Ervalenta,"  and  other  widely  advertised  pre- 
parations contain  lentil  meal,  generally  mixed 
with  the  flour  of  barley  or  some  other  grain  ;  they 
are  sold  at  many  times  their  real  value.  A  glance 
at  the  analyses  (Nos.  53,  54',  55)  of  these  legu- 
minous seeds  will  show  their  high  value  as 
nutrients. 

The  seeds  of  the  laburnum-tree,  an  ornamental 
leguminous  plant,  are  poisonous. 

The  natural  order  Umbellifer.?5  is  charac- 
terised by  pi'oducing  its  flowers  in  umbels  (Fig.  55), 
and  by  the  leaves  being  usually  much  divided ;  the 
leaf-stalk  at  its  base  sheaths  the  stem,  which  is 
hollow.  Harmless  weeds  belonging  to  the  order 
are  the  hedge-parsley,  and  cow-parsnip ;  more 
objectionable  are  such  poisonous  plants  as  the 
hemlock,  fool's  parsley,  and  the  water-dropwort. 
The  hemlock,  Coniiim  macidatum,  is  at  once  known 
by  its  j^olished  stem,  covered  with  brownish-red 
spots,  and  by  the  unpleasant  odour  of  mice 
emitted  by  the  stem  when  bruised.  It  usually 
grows  in  hedges  and  waste  jjlaces,  attaining  a 
height  of  from  3  to  4  feet.  The  fool's  parsley, 
JEtJinm  Cynapiam,  is  another  denizen  of  waste 
places,  and  grows  from  1  to  2  feet  high.  It  is 
very  poisonous,  and  is  known  by  its  three  narrow 
bracts  which  grow  towards  one  side  at  the  base  of 
each  little  umbel  and  point  downwards.  The 
water-dropwort,  (Enanthe  crocata,  contains  a 
dangerous  poison ;  it  grows  in  marshes  and  on 
the  banks  of  rivers  and  ditches,  its  height  vary- 
ing from  3  to  5  feet.  Its  flowers  are  white,  as 
are  those  of  the  hemlock  and  fool's  parsley.  The 
well-known  herb  parsley,  Petroseliiinm  safivum,  is 
sometimes  sparingly  introduced  into  pastures,  as  it 
is  believed  to  produce  a  beneficial  medicinal  effect 
on  sheep.  It  is  a  biennial,  and  produces  umbels 
of  light  yellow  flowers  in  July.  Parsley  is  dis- 
tinguished by  its  pleasant  odour,  and  by  the 
extreme  tips  of  its  leaf-segments  being  white. 
The  most  interesting  umbellifers  to  the  farmer, 
however,  are  undoubtedly  the  carrot  and  parsnip, 
both    of    which   are   cultivated   for   the    sake    of 


their  succulent  tap-roots,  which  yield  an  accept- 
able supply  of  juicy  food  in  the  winter.  The 
wild  carrot,  Bancns  carol  a,  has  a  pungent  odour 
and  disagreeable  taste,  but  it  has  been  much  im- 
proved by  cultivation.  Carrots,  unlike  parsnips, 
contain  no  starch;  analyses  of  two  varieties  are 
given  (Nos.  3,  4).  The  parsnip  is  a  cultivated 
form  of  the  wild  parsnip,  Pasfi.iiaca  sntiva  ;  its 
root  contains  a  good  deal  of  starch  and  some  sugar. 
The    composition    of    the    parsnip    is    shown    in 


Fig.  55.  — Compound  Umbel  of  the  Chervil. 

analysis  No.  5.     The  carrot  has  a  white  blossom, 
the  parsnip  a  yellow  one. 

The  CoiiposiTjE,  although  it  is  the  largest 
natural  order,  including  a  greater  number  of  plants 
than  any  other,  is  yet  of  far  less  service  to  man 
than  such  orders  as  Gramineee,  Le/jnmiiiosa',,  and 
Crnciferae.  The  order  is  distinguished  by  the 
extraordinary  character  of  its  infloresence,  which  is 
easily  examined  in  the  daisy,  where  the  so-called 
flower  will  be  seen  to  be  made  up  of  a  large 
number  of  very  small  florets.  The  order  includes 
many  well-known  plants,  such  as  the  lettuce,  dan- 
delion, tansy,  sowthistle,  hawkweed,  nipplewort, 
thistle,  corn  blue-bottle,  groundsel,  chamomile,  and 


160 


DAIRY    FARML\(i. 


everlastings.      Two   cmly  require   notice    here,  tlie 
milfoil  and  the  cliieory. 

Milfoil,  or  Yarrow,  Achillea  Millefolinni  (Plate 
2,  Fig.  7),  is  a  plant  which  occurs  in  most 
pastures  and  on  roadsides,  especially  on  poor  soils. 
It  has  very  much  divided  leaves,  and  the  flowers, 
though  usually  white,  vary  from  that  colour  to  pink 
and  red  ;  this  frequently  occurs  on  one  and  the 
same  plant.  It  possesses  astringent  properties, 
and  is  eaten  in  moderate  quantity  by  sheep,  rather 
perhaps  as  a  condiment  than  for  any  direct  nutritive 
value  it  may  possess.  ^Milfoil  is  usually  recom- 
mended to  be  sown  on  light  sandy  soils,  railway 
cuttings  and  embankments,  because  of  the  creei)- 
ing  fibrous  character  of  its  roots,  which  serve 
admirably  to  bind  loose  soils  together.  The 
])lant  is  perennial,  and  grows  to  the  height  of 
about   1  foot. 

Wild  Chicory,  or  Succory,  Cichorium  Intj/ljiis 
(Fig.  50),  has  blue  flowers,  the  heads  being  given 
off  from  the  stem  in 
l^airs.  It  is  a  deep- 
rooted  perennial, flower- 
ing from  June  to 
August.  Chicory  is 
used  on  the  Continent 
both  as  a  forage  plant 
and  as  a  salad,  but  it 
has  found  little  favour 
in  Britain.  Cattle  are 
fond  of  the  foliage,  but 
it  is  said  to  give  an 
unpleasant  flavour  to 
their  milk.  The  root, 
dried  and  ground, forms 
the  chicory  which  is 
frequently  mixed  with 
coffee. 

The  natural  order 
BoRAGiNACEJE  requires 
a  passing  note,  as  it  includes  the  prickly  comfrey, 
Si/mj)lijftnm  anperrimum.  Common  wild  plants  be- 
longing to  the  order  are  the  borage,  forget-me-not, 
hound's  tongue,  lungwort,  and  gromwell.  There 
are  two  native  British  species  of  comfrey,  the 
common  comfrey,  Sj/mpJij/him  officinale  (Fig.  57), 
and  the  tuberous-rootedconifrey,  S.  inberosmii.  The 
common  comfrey  grows  by  river-sides,  and  its  leaves 
were  formerly  boiled  for  food  by  the  poorer  peoi)le. 
The  prickly  comfrey,  which  attains  a  height  of 
5  feet,  is  rather  larger  than  the  common  comfro\'  : 


it    has  much  rougher  leaves,  and  its   flowers  are 
more  variable    in  colour — dull   white,  reddish,  or 


Fig.  50.— Chicory. 


Fig.  57.— The  Common  Comfrey. 

l)lue ;  their  form  is  apparent  from  Fig.  58.  A 
native  of  the  Caucasus,  it  was  introduced  into 
Britain  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  as 
an  ornamental  plant,  and  has  only  been  grown  as 
a  forage  plant  within  recent  years.  It  is  raised 
from  the"  roots  in  this  country,  as  the  seeds  do 
not  appear  to  arrive  at  perfection.  The  plant  is 
of  such  rapid  growth  that  it  may  be  cut  for  green 
fodder  at  least  four  times  in  the  season.  Il  has 
about  the  same  feeding  value  as 
green  mustard,  or  mangold,  or 
turnip-tops,  and  is  recommended 
to  dairy-farmers  as  a  change  of 
food  for  their  cattle.  Being  a  very 
deep-rooted  plant,  it  is  far  less 
liable  than  plants  of  more  super- 
ficial growth  to  be  affected  by 
drought,  and  it  is  therefore  Ijeiiig 
cultivated  in  India.  Another  jioint 
in  its  favour  is  its  enormous 
yield,  which  in  the  green  state  is  said  to  be 
upwards   of    SO   tons   jier   acr.^j    or   from    two    to 


Fig.  58  —  Fi-OWER 
OF  Comfrey. 


]\rANGOLD— BEET-ROOT— BUCKWHEAT. 


161 


tliroc  times  tli(?  yield  o£  lucerne.  It  comes  in 
earlier  than  other  crops,  and  lasts  loug-er,  and  its 
cultivation  requires  hut  little  care  after  the  root- 
euttinj^s  are  once  planted,  as  it  is  a  perennial. 
Cattle,  sheep,  and  especially  horses,  although  they 
prefer  other  food,  soon  acquire  a  taste  for  it  in  the 
green  state;  when  dried  it  makes  an  excellent  sub- 
stitute for  hay  to  mix  with  straw  for  chaff-cutting'. 
Prickly  comfrey  is  at  present  cultivated  in  parts 
of  England,  Ireland,  France,  and  India,  and  its 
introduction  into  California  for  the  poultry  yards 
has  been  suggested,  as  fowls  are  very  fond  of  it. 
The  analysis  No.  22  refers  to  a  freshly-gathered 
plant. 

Common  Plantain,  or  Rib-grass,  Pliinlai/o  liiii- 
ceolata  (Plate  2,  Fig.  8),  belongs  to  the  natural 
order  Plantagine.e,  and  is  not  a  true  grass.  It 
has  narrow  leaves  tapering  at  both  ends,  and  with 
prominent  parallel  veins.  The  flowers  are  small, 
and  without  stalks,  and  are  closely  arranged  on 
an  elongated  axis.  The  fruit  is  a  nutlet  contain- 
ing a  seed,  and  the  long  clusters  of  these  nutlets, 
forming  the  "  bobtails "  of  which  canaries  and 
other  birds  are  so  fond,  constitute  familiar  objects 
in  summer  in  meadows  and  cultivated  fields.  The 
leaves  are  piroduced  early  in  the  season,  and  are 
then  eaten  by  horses  and  cattle ;  but  it  is  rather 
for  the  binding  action  which  this  plant,  like  the 
milfoil,  exerts  on  loose  soils,  than  as  a  forage  plant, 
that  it  is  introduced  into  seed  mixtures.  Owing  to 
the  low-lying  and  spreading  habit  of  its  leaves, 
however,  the  jilant  often  takes  up  much  more 
room  than  it  is  worth  ;  this  property  manifests 
itself  especially  on  lawns,  where  the  rib-grass  is 
nothing  but  a  nuisance.  The  Greater  Plantain, 
Planfago  major,  has  broader  leaves  than  the  rib- 
grass,  and  its  long  spikes  of  nutlets  are  much 
sought  after  by  birds. 

The  Mangold,  or  jMangel  Wurzel,  Beta  i-iil/jaris, 
belongs  to  the  Goose-foot  order,  CHEXOPODiACEiE, 
which  includes  the  beet,  spinach,  good  King 
Henry,  and  various  common  weeds  to  which  the 
name  of  goose-foot  is  applied.  The  root  of  the 
mangold,  of  which  an  analysis  (No.  6)  is  given, 
affords  a  supply  of  winter  food  ;  it  wall  be  seen 
from  its  composition  that  it  contains  less  water 
than  the  turnip.  The  garden-beet  used  in  salads, 
and  the  sugar-beet  which  is  cultivated,  especially 
in  France,  for  sugar-manufacture,  are  simply  other 
varieties  of  Beta  vnlgaris,  the  mangold  itself  being 
the  field-beet.     The  beet-root  (analysis  No.  7)  and 


mangold  owe  their  sweet  taste  to  the  large  amount 
of  sugar  they  contain. 

The  order  Polygoxace.e,  known  by  its  mem- 
branous sheathing  stipules  and  three-comerod 
fruits    (Fig.    GO),    includes,    in    addition    to    the 


common  weeds  called  docks  (Fig.  59)  and  sorrels, 
the  rhubarb  plant,  of  which  the  leaf-stalks  are 
eaten  at  the  table,  and  the  buckwheat.  Polygonum 
Fagopi/rnm  (Fig.  61),  which  is  an  annual  of  quick 
growth  and  easy  cultivation.  It  is  grown  for 
green  fodder,  and  its  starch}^  seeds 
(analysis  No.  56),  which  resemble 
those  of  the  cereals  in  composi- 
tion, are  used  for  feeding  jioultry 
and  for  making  meal. 

The  flowers  of   Chenopodiacea 
and  Poljigonacea  have   no   corolla,   and    therefore 
easily  escape  notice. 

The  natural  order  Grajiixe^  is  of  much 
greater  importance  to  man  than  any  other  family 
of  plants.  All  our  cereals — wheat,  barley,  oats, 
ryC)  maize,  rice,  millet,  dari,  and  canary-seed — are 


fiO— FitriT   OF 
Buckwheat. 


1(13 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


true  pasture  grasses ;  the  succulent  sugar-eaue  and 
the  lofty  bamboo  alike  belong  to  this  order.  Rice 
alone  furnishes  more  food  to  the  human  race 
than  any  other  one  species,  and  probably  nine- 
tenths  of  the  plants  in  an  (irdiiiary  natural  jiasturc 
are  true  grasses. 

Before  giving  a  brief  account  of  the  most 
important  pasture  grasses  it  will  be  necessary  to 
say  a  few  words  on  the  structure  of  the  grass-jilant 
and  its  flower,  and  to  indicate  the  means  of  dis- 
tinguishing between  the  true  grasses  and  certain 
far  less  valuable  plants  which  bear  a  close  resem- 
blance to  them. 

All  grasses  have  filirous  roots,  which  are 
frequently   given   off  from    cree]iiug  underground 


Fig.  Gl. — Buckwheat. 

stems.  The  parts  above  ground  consist  of  ascend- 
ing axes,  or  stems,  called  cnlins,  and  these  produce 
the  leaves  and  flowers.  The  leaves  are  always 
entire  and  usually  strap-shaped,  tapering,  however, 
towards  the  upper  end.  If  the  base  of  the  leaf  be 
examined,  it  will  l)e  seen  to  form  a  sheath  around 
the  culm,  the  sheath  being  not  entire  but  split 
down  lengthwise  in  front.  At  the  place  where 
the  leaf  springs  from  the  stem,  the  latter  will 
be  seen  to  be  swollen,  and  this  swollen  part 
is  called  a  joint.  By  cutting  across  the  stem 
it  will  be  found  to  be  hollow,  excepting  at  the 
joint,  where  it  is  solid.  Most  of  these  details  will 
be  best  understood  by  examining  a  living  speci- 
men, nevertheless  they  are  represented  in  Fig.  G3, 
which  illustrates  the  culms  of  the  rye-plant.  If 
the  leaf  be  bent  back  from  the  culm,  there  will  be 
seen  at  the  top  of  the  leaf-sheath,  and  between  the 
leaf  and  the  culm,  a  small  membranous  projection, 
which  is  apparently  a  continuation  of  the  lining 
(if  the  sheath.     This  structure  is  called  a  Ihjnle, 


and  attention  is  drawn  to  it  because,  as  it  varies  in 
size  and  shape  in  difi'erent  grasses,  it  will  in  some 
eases  be  found  of  use  in  discriminating  between 
grasses  which  closely  resemble  each  other.  lu 
Fig.  G:5,  /  is  the 
ligule  of  the  mil- 
let-grass. 

It  is,  however, 
in  the  inflor- 
escence that  the 
most  striking 
peculiarities  of 
grasses  are  ap- 
parent, and  they 
may  be  illus- 
trated by  re- 
ference to  the 
accompanying 
woodeut(Fig.t)4). 
An  examination 
of  a  wheat-ear  in 
flower  will  show 
it  to  consist  of 
a  number  of  dis- 
tinct structures 
arranged  in  rows 
lengthwise  on  the 
upper  part  of  the 
stem  or  axis  (Fig. 
66).  The  entire 
ear  is  called  a 
gji'ike  ;  let  the 
spike  be  broken 
through  at  the 
middle,  and  let 
one  of  the  struc- 
tures already  re- 
ferred to  be  taken 
from  the  bottom 
of  the  upper  part. 
This  structure  is 
a  single  spikelef, 
and  it  will  be 
noticed  that  it  is 
attached  broadside  to  the  axis,  as  is  the  ease 
in  most  grasses  —  rye-grass,  however,  forming 
an  exception.  This  spikelet  should  be  care- 
fully taken  to  pieces,  proceeding  regularly  from 
the  outer  and  lowest  parts  inwards.  Two  dry, 
scaly  leaves  nearly  opposite  to  each  other  are 
first  removed  ;  these  are  the  oulcr  ghtmes.     Inside 


Fig.  62. 


Plate    3.— PASTURE     GRASSES. 

:lomt:ruta  (Rough  Cock's-foot). 
'!  f  Amiiial  Sleadow-grass). 

-Mlootb    Mi'.-1.1..M-|,T113.«). 

lyh  Me.iilow  gniss). 
nitloUuin  (Darnel). 


9. —  /■  'loop's  Fescue). 

10— (  /•!  (Dog's-tail). 

II.      /,.',■./,«  ;...•.„„.■  (Knglish  Pvyt-  l 
'         l.flium  ilalicam  (Italian  Kye-, 


STRICTURK    OF    GRASSES. 


1G3 


Fig.  63.— LiGULE  OK  Millet,  /. 


are  three  to  five  little  Jlorets  alternately  arrau-'-ed 
on  opijosite  sides  of  the  axis  of  the  spikelet.  Let 
one  of  these  florets  be  taken  from  about  the  middle 
and  dissected  just  as  the  spikelet  has  been.     The 

outermost  and 
Lowest      scaly 
leaf  which  ap- 
pears   to    en- 
velop the  inner 
parts  is  called 
the    fioicerhig 
^///'///p;opposite 
to  this,  but  at 
a  little  higher 
level,    is     an- 
other scalylcaf 
calledthey;r^/<V 
notice  that  the 
edg-es    of    the 
flowering 
i;lume  overlaji 
the     pale     to 
some     extent. 
The  flowering 
glume    in   many  grasses  bears    a   bristle,  or  aim, 
which  springs  from  its  back  or  summit.    By  laying 
apart  the  flowering  glume  and  pale,  the  contents 
of  the  space  between  them  are  exposed  to  view. 
At  the  very  bottom  of  the  cavity,  and  lying  one 
against  the  flowering  glume  and  the  other  against 
the  pale,  are  two  very  small 
scales,  or  lodicnles,  rejire- 
senting  perhaj)S  the  calyx 
and     corolla    of     ordinary 
flowers.      Next     are     seen 
the     lower    ends    of    the 
filaments  of  t/iree  stamens; 
and  lastly,  nestling  snugly 
in  the  very  middle  of  the 
cavity    is  the   ovary,    sur- 
mounted    by     two      short 
styles  with  feathery  stig- 
This    is    shown    in 
64,    which,    it    must 
be    understood,    is    not    a 
dissection     of     the    entire 
spikelet,    but    represents  below   the  outer  glumes 
of   the    spikelet,  and   shows  above  the  details  of 
only  one  of   the  several   florets  which   the  outer 
glumes  enclose.    After  fertilisation  the  little  ovary 
develops  into  the  (/rain  of  wheat,  which  is  the  true 
24 


fig.    64.— The   Two    Outer  mas. 
Glumes    op    a    Spikelet   p- 
AND     THE    Parts    op    a        e 
Single  Floret  op  Wheat. 

(Oliver. ) 


friiii  (if  the  ])laut,  termed  by  botanists  a  cur/jop.sis. 

In  some  cases,  as  in  barley,  the  grain  when    riiie 

remains   firmly  enclosed   by 

the  scale-leaves ;  this  is  not 

the  ease  in  wheat.     In  some 

grasses,  between    the    outer 

glumes    and    the    flowering 

glume  of  the  lowest  floret, 

one    or    more    scale-leaves, 

called    emptji    glumes,    con- 
sidered to  represent    barren 

Jlorets,   are    inserted.      Such 

emjjty     glumes     may     also 

occur  above  the    uppermost 

jierfect  floret.    An  example 

of  the  former  case  is  afforded 

by  sweet  vernal  grass  (Fig. 

06),   in    which    the    entire 

spikelet    consists    of,    first, 

two  outer  glumes,  then  two 

awned  empty  glumes  repre- 
senting  two  barren  florets, 

and    lastly  a    perfect    floret 

with    its    flowering     glume 

and  pale,  but  with  no  loJ'i- 

enles,  only  tiro  stamens,  and 

the  pistil  surmounted  by  two 
feathery  stigmas. 

The  foregoing  descrip- 
tions of  the  spikelets  of  ^^^-  '^'^'■ 
wheat  and  vernal  grass  will 
give  the  reader  a  general  idea  of  the  structure 
of  the  flowers  of  grasses.  The  actual  dissec- 
tion of  spikelets  of  various  gi'asses  by  the  aid 
of  a  penknife,  a  mounted  needle,  and  a  mag- 
nifying glass,  is  strongly  re- 
commended, when  the  minor 
characters  which  enable 
botanists  to  classify  grasses 
will  be  brought  into  view. 

The  manner  in  which 
the  anthers  are  attached  to 
the  filaments  will  also  be 
seen  from  the  woodcuts. 
As  the  anthers  can  swing 
freely  about  their  point  of 
attachment  they  are  said  to 
be  versatile.  The  anthers  ^'| 
and  feathery  stigmas  are 
usually  to  bo  seen  protruding  from  the  spikelets 
at  the  time  of  flowering.     ]\Iost  grasses  have  t/tree 


-Cn.MpouND  Spike 
op  Wheat. 


Dissected  Spike- 
let OP  Vernal  Grass. 


104 


D.VIEY    PARMIXG. 


stamens,   but  the   rire-plant    has    si.r,  :\m\    sweet  envelope   to  h.-eome  hrown   ami    memhranons ;    a 

vernal  gras.«,  as  we  have  remarked,  onl}- //^o.     The  good   idea  will    then  be  obtained  of  the   kind  of 

tloweriug  o-lume  and  ])ale  are  nearly  always  present,  flower  met  with  in  rushes,  and  it  will  be  evident 

but  in  fox-tail  grass  there  is  no  pale.     Lodieules  that  it  is  quite  unlike  a  grass  ilower. 
again,  of  whieh   the  number  is  usually  two,  are  The    sedges    (Fig.    G7)    belong   to    the   order 

absent    in  sweet  vernal,  fox-tail,   and  mat  gra.'^s,  Cypf.iuce.t:,  and  are  generally  found  accompanying 

while  the  feather-grass  has  three.  rushes.     They  ai)parently  have  a  close  resemblance 

The  inflorescence  of  grasses  may  be  despril)ed  to  grasses,  but  are  easily  distinguished  from  them 


either  as  n/Acafe, 
when  the  spikelets 
are  arranged  close 
against  the  axis 
in  the  form  of  a 
spike,  as  in  fox -tail 
(Plate  3,  Fig.  2), 
or  it  is  a  panicle, 
in  which  case  the 
spikelets  spread  out 
on  little  branches, 
as  in  the  smooth 
meadow  -  grass 
(Plate  3,  Fig.  7). 
There  are  various 
intermediate 
forms,  as  sweet 
vernal  grass  (Plate 
3,  Fig.  3). 

There  are  two 
groups  of  plants 
which  may  be,  and 
not  unfrequently 
are,  mistaken  for 
grasses ;  these  are 
the  rushes  and 
sedges.  The  rushes 
belong  to  the  order 
JUNCACE.J),  and 
grow  in  moist 
meadows  and  by 
the    sides    of    streams    and    ponds;    in    the 


Fig.  67.— The  Sedge  (Carex),  with  its  Vnperground  Stem  akd  Rootlets. 


by  the  characters 
contrasted  in  the 
table  below.*  The 
sedges,  then,  may 
be  distinguished 
by  their  angular 
solid  stems,  entire 
leaf-sheaths,  and 
the  absence  of 
ligules.  Both 
rushes  and  sedges 
are  worthless  from 
a  nutritive  point 
of  view ;  indeed, 
cattle  seldom  touch 
them  on  account  of 
their  brittle  cha- 
racter, which  isdue 
to  the  presence  of 
an  unusually  large 
amount  of  silica. 
If  these  jilants 
make  their  ajipe.ir- 
ance  in  a  meadow, 
a  defective  state 
of  drainage  is  pro- 
bably the  cause. 

The      t  e  r  m 
"  grasses,"  as  used 
by  the  farmer,  in- 
cludes    not    only 
uminous  plants,   so  that 


the      gramineous   but    al 

stem   is   solid   and    tapers    to    a    point,   and   the      clovers,  vetches,  sainfoin,  lucerne,  and  even  other 
flowers    are    produced    in    heads    on    the    side    of      green  crops   may  be  embraced  by  the  term  in  an 


the  stem,  and  are  quite  different  in  their  strni 
ture  from  those  of  gras.ses.  Tlio  reader  is,  of 
course,  familiar  with  a  tulip  flower;  its  protective 
envelope  consists  of  three  outer  leaves  and  Ihrce 
inner  leaves  all  like  petals,  while  inside  are  six 
stamens  and  the  pistil.  Imagine  such  a  flower 
to  be  greatly  reduced  in  size,  so  as  to  be  not  much 
larger  than  a  pin's  head,  and  at  the  same  time 
suppose  the  six  petal-like  leaves  of  the  ])rotective 


agricultural  sense,  when  reference  is  made  to  the 
artificial  grasses.  In  a  botanical  sense,  the  true 
gras.ses  belong  exclusively  to  the  order  Gramineoe. 


. 

Ci,y>CYacf(r. 

Graniincir, 

stem    ... 

(  .\nc:iilar 
"(Solid 

.     Round. 

.     Tsually  hoUov 

Leaf-shciith    , 

..     Entiro            

,.     Split.  " 

Anther 

Entire  at  the  ends    ., 

.     Notched  at  tin 

?  ends. 

Lisule  .. 

..     Absent           

, .     Present. 

TIMOTHY    GRASS    AND    FOX-TAIL. 


1G5 


In  the  following  account  of  the  true  grasfies, 
the  object  iu  view  has  been  to  give  a  brief  notice 
of  all  those  which  are  usually  cultivated.  In 
addition  to  this,  the  reader's  attention  has  been 
directed  to  some  of  the  more  commonly  occurring 
"  weed-g-rasses,"  grasses,  that  is,  which,  from  an 
agricultural  point  of  view,  must  be  looked  upon  as 
worthless,  and  which  the  cultivator,  when  he  is 
able  to  recognise  them,  would  find  it  advantageous 
to  exterminate,  and  replace  by  more  valuable 
species.  No  attempt  at  a  botanical  classification 
of  the  grasses  has  been  made,  but  those  mentioned 
are  given  in  the  order  in  which  they  occur  in  Sir 
J.  D.  Hooker's  "Flora  of  the  British  Islands." 
Some  grasses  are  unfortunately  burdened  with 
a  superfluity  of  common  names,  so  that  much 
confusion  results.  We  therefore  recommend  the 
reader  to  familiarise  himself  with  the  botanical 
names,  as  these  more  usually  have  a  definite  and 
unvarving  application,  which  is  the  same  in  all 
countries.  "Where  not  otherwise  stated,  it  is  to 
be  understood  that  the  undermentioned  grasses  are 
perennials. 

Cat's-tail  or  Timothy  Grass,  Plilfinn  pratense 
(Plate  3,  Fig.  1).  Root  fibrous,  slightly  creeping. 
Stem  18  inches  to  3  feet  high  in  Britain,  but 
frequently  4  feet  in  America.  Flowers  from 
June  to  August.  The  spikelets  are  one-flowered, 
and  arranged  in  a  spicate  manner.  This  grass, 
although  well  known  to  the  British  grower,  is 
far  more  extensively  cultivated  in  the  United 
States,  where  it  was  introduced  from  Britain, 
nearly  a  century  ago,  by  Mr.  Timothy  Hanson, 
and  for  this  reason  it  is  called  Timothy  grass. 
It  thrives  most  luxuriantly  on  clay  lands,  peaty 
soils,  improved  moors,  alluvial  flats,  and  estuarine 
warp  lands,  but  is  not  suited  either  to  very  stiff 
clays  or  to  chalk  soils.  If  grown  on  light  dry 
soils  its  roots  have  a  tendency  to  become  bulbous. 
As  cat's-tail  is  a  late  species  yielding  comparatively 
little  aftermath,  it  is  better  adapted  for  grazing  or 
pasture  land  than  for  the  meadow.  If  intended 
for  hay,  however,  it  may  be  fed  on  till  late  in 
spring  without  prejudice  to  the  crop.  Analyses 
(Nos.  23,  37)  are  quoted  of  the  grass  and  the  hay, 
in  both  of  which  forms  it  is  eagerly  eaten  by  all 
kinds  of  stock. 

Meadow  Fox-tail  Grass,  Alojjecurns  praienus 
(Plate  3,  Fig.  2).  Root  fibrous;  height  of  stem, 
J  to  3  feet.  Flowers  from  April  to  June, 
ripening    its    seeds    from    June   to    August.     The 


one-flowered  spikelets  are  arranged  iu  cylindrical 
spike-like  panicles  tapering  at  each  end.  The 
leaves  springing  from  the  lower  part  of  the  stem 
are  long,  broad,  soft,  and  of  full  green  colour. 
Fox-tail  is  one  of  our  earliest  grasses,  and  forms  a 
principal  part  of  the  herbage  in  many  rich  pastures, 
yielding  an  abundant  aftermath.  It  labours, 
however,  under  the  disadvantage  of  not  attaining 
its  full  productive  power  till  the  third  or  fourth 
year  after  sowing,  and  it  is,  therefore,  not  suitable 
for  alternate  husbandry.  It  flourishes  best  on 
stiff  soils,  its  produce  on  a  clayey  loam  being 
nearly  double  that  on  a  sandy  soil.  No.  38  is  an 
analysis  of  the  hay  of  fox-tail. 

Fox-tail  and  cat's-tail  are  frequently  confused 
the  one  with  the  other.  They  differ  botanically 
thus : — Fox-tail  has  an  awn  projecting  from  the 
middle  or  base  of  the  flowering  glume,  but  the 
floret  contains  no  pale ;  cat's-tail  has  no  awn  from 
the  flowering  glume,  but  a  pale  is  present.  But, 
setting  aside  botanical  characters,  it  must  be 
remembered  that  these  two  grasses  flower  at  dif- 
ferent periods;  fox-tail  has  nearly  done  flowering 
when  the  first  inflorescences  of  cat's-tail  appear. 
The  most  useful  distinction,  however,  for  the 
general  observer  is  afforded  by  the  appearance  of 
the  cylindrical  spike-like  flower-heads.  That  of 
fox-tail  is  slender,  soft,  and  Bilkij ,  whereas  in 
cat's-tail  it  is  usually  longer,  stouter,  and  bristly. 
^ye  have  the  two  grasses  lying  before  us  as  we 
write,  and  feel  sure  that  if  the  silky  inflorescence 
of  fox-tail  be  once  contrasted  with  the  bristly  one 
of  cat's-tail,  the  distinction  will  not  be  forgotten. 
Two  other  grasses  in  the  genus  Alopecurns 
are  Floating  Fox-tail,  A.  genicidatus,  and  Slender 
or  Field  Fox-tail,  A.  agrestU,  both  of  which  are 
bad  grasses  shunned  by  the  farmer.  Float- 
ing fox-tail  grows  from  6  to  12  inches  high, 
and  its  stem  is  Lent  at  the  joints,  so  that  it  is 
easily  distinguished  from  meadow  fox-tail.  Animals 
dislike  it,  and  fortunately  its  yield  is  small.  It 
grows  chiefly  in  the  vicinity  of  ponds  and  streams 
on  clay  soils,  and  may  sometimes  be  seen  floating 
on  the  surface  of  a  pond  ;  on  dry  soils  it  becomes 
stunted  in  growth.  It  flowers  in  June  and  July. 
Slender  fox-tail,  or,  as  it  is  also  called,  black-bent, 
is  distinguished  by  having  a  more  slender  inflores- 
cence than  meadow  fox-tail ;  in  blaek-bent,  again, 
the  ligule  is  long,  whereas  it  is  short  and  obtuse 
in  meadow  fox-tail.  Black-bent  is  an  inferior 
grass  growing  naturally  on  poor  soils ;    in  wheat 


166 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


fiolils  it  is  a  trouljlesome  weed  difllcult  to  eradicate, 
and  is  known  in  some  localities  as  "  hunger-weed." 
Partridges  and  jjheasants  are  said  to  be  fond  of 
the  seed,  which  ripens  in  August.  Floating 
fox-tail  and  black-bent  ai'e  best  got  rid  of  by 
drainage  and  liberal  api3lication  of  manure. 

Sweet-scented  Vernal  Grass,  Anthoxanthnm, 
odoratum  (Plate  3,  Fig.  3).  Root  fibrous  but 
not  creeping,  stem  12  to  15  inches  high.  Panicle 
oblong,  consisting  of  a  series  of  minor  panicles 
each  with  four  or  five  spikelets.  Florets 
three  in  a  spikelet,  the  two  lower  ones  being 
barren.  Flowers  in  May,  and  ripens  its  seeds  in 
June.  Each  floret  contains  only  two  stamens, 
instead  of  three  as  in  other  grasses.  This  is  the 
grass  which  imparts  the  pleasant  fragrance  to  a 
new-mown  hay-field,  the  odour  being  due  to  the 
presence  of  benzoic  acid.  Hence  it  is  always 
recommended  in  mixtures  for  parks  and  pleasure- 
grounds,  as  the  fragrance  is  very  noticeable  during 
the  time  the  seeds  are  ripening.  It  is  hardly 
adapted  for  close-cut  lawr  s,  as  its  leaves  are  some- 
what broad  and  spreading,  and  therefore  unsightly. 
If  the  lower  end  of  the  culm  of  this  grass  be 
drawn  through  the  closed  teeth,  a  lavender-like 
flavour  identical  with  the  odour  of  the  grass  will 
at  once  be  noticed.  Cattle  do  not  appear  to  be 
particularly  fond  of  sweet  vernal,  but  its  seeds 
are  introduced  into  all  mixtures,  if  only  with  the 
object  of  producing  fragrant  grass  and  sweet- 
smelling  hay.  Nevertheless,  it  grows  extensively 
in  the  sheej)-grazing  districts  of  the  South  Downs, 
and  as  it  is  said  to  improve  the  flavour  of  mutton, 
it  is  considered  an  essential  ingredient  in  sheep- 
pastures.  Sweet  vernal  is  less  productive  than 
cock's-foot,  fox-tail,  and  other  useful  grasses,  but 
it  is  ready  for  grazing  very  early,  and  the  after- 
math, though  sj)arse,  contains  more  nourishment 
than  the  flowering  crop.  The  leaves  of  this  grass 
are  of  a  light  green  coloui',  and  somewhat  hairy  on 
both  sides,  and  the  leaf-sheath  is  roughish  when 
felt  from  below  upwards.  Sweet  vernal  will  grow 
on  most  soils,  but  thrives  best  on  deep  moist  land. 
Analysis  No.  39  shows  the  composition  of  the 
hay. 

Common  or  Creeping-rooted  Bent-grass,  Purj)le 
Bent,  Quick-grass,  Fine  Bent-grass,  Agroslu 
vulgaris  (Plate  3,  Fig.  4),  has  rather  a  tufted 
growth,  and  grows  everywhere,  preferring  dry 
soils.  Cattle  and  sheep  will  eat  it,  but  it  can 
only  be  looked  upon  as  a  weed-grass. 


Marsh  Bent-grass,  or  Creeping  Fiorin,  Jgroslis 
alba,  variety  stolonifera,  has  fibrous  creeping 
roots,  and  attains  a  height  of  about  2  feet.  The 
flowers  appear  in  July,  and  the  panicle  is  then 
spreading,  but  afterwards  compact.  The  florets 
are  awnless,  and  the  leaves  rough.  The  nutritious 
qualities  of  this  grass  are  inferior,  and  it  is  only 
recommended  for  permanent  pastures  because  its 
herbage  appears  early  in  spring  and  lasts  far 
into  autumn.  It  is  best  grown  on  peaty  soils  or 
irrigated  meadows ;  on  light  dry  soils  its  small 
wiry  underground  stems  make  it  as  trouble- 
some as  couch-grass,  and  it  is  then  called 
"  squiteh."  It  is  similar  in  appearance  to  the  fore- 
going grass,  but  in  Agrostis  vulgaris  the  leaf- 
sheaths  are  miooth,  the  ligules  short  and  obtuse, 
whereas  A.  alba  has  rough  sheaths  and  long  acute 
ligules. 

Tufted  Hair-grass,  Alra  cwipifosa  (Plate  4, 
Fig.  1),  is  a  not  uncommon  weed-grass,  with  strong, 
fibrous,  deej^ly  penetrating  roots,  long  flat  leaves, 
and  stems  often  4  feet  high.  It  flowers  in  July 
and  August.  It  usually  occurs  in  large  tufts 
or  hassocks  on  damp  and  marshy  soils.  Being 
coarse  and  wiry  it  is  seldom  eaten ;  it  affords  cover 
for  game.  Grey  Hair-grass,  Aira  canescens, 
has  a  denser  panicle  than  A.  ccespitosa,  and  is 
only  about  6  or  8  inches  high.  Silver  Hair- 
grass,  Aira  earyophyllea,  has  an  elegant  shining 
spreading  panicle  with  its  branches  dividing  into 
threes.  It  has  very  scanty  herbage,  and  grows 
on  sandy  fields  and  hill-sides,  flowers  in  June, 
and  soon  after  withers  up.  The  Hair-grasses 
are  useless  to  the  farmer. 

Yellow  or  Golden  Oat-grass,  Arena  farescens 
(Plate  4,  Fig.  2),  has  fibrous  slightly  creeping 
roots,  smooth  stems  1  to  E  feet  high,  with 
sjireading,  erect,  much-branched  panicles  com- 
posed of  spikelets  containing  each  two  or  three 
florets,  the  individual  florets  being  smaller  than 
those  of  any  other  oat-grass.  It  is  a  late  species, 
flowering  in  July  and  ripening  its  seed  in  August. 
The  yellow  'colour  of  the  stem  and  the  bright 
golden  cluster  of  flowers  seem  to  distinguish  it. 
Yellow  oat-grass,  though  it  is  a  weak  plant,  is 
recommended  in  mixtures  for  dry  limestone  soils, 
and  good  light  soils  generally,  on  which  it  yields 
a  quantity  of  fine  herbage,  of  which  cattle  are 
fond.     No.  40  is  an  analysis  of   the  hay. 

Hairy  or  Downy  Oat-grass,  Arena  pubescens, 
has  somewhat  creeping  roots,  stems  1   to  2   feet 


1.     .lira  canpHom  (Uau--grass). 
%—Avena  Jtaccscens  (Yellow  Oat-grass). 
'A.—AiThnMhrriim  armareum  (False  Oat-grass) 
1.     in.h-ns  laiiatus  (-Meadow  Soft-grass). 


Plate   4.-WEED    GRASSES    AND     PARASITES. 


5.— Brim  media  (Quaking-grass). 
G.—Jirumus  «.</)«•  (Roiigli  Brome-grass). 
7.—£romus  ercctus  (I'liright  Brome-gi-ass). 
X.—Jirumut  sUritis  (Barren  Brome-giass). 
lS.—Cu3Quta  minor  (Dodder). 


9.—Bromii.i  mollit  (Soft  Brome-grass). 
10. —Trilicujii  reptns  (Couch-grass). 
U.—Clatnccps  purpurea  (Krgot,  on  grass). 
1-i- — Orobanvlie  minor  (Broom-rai)e). 


SOFT    GRASS    AiSID    COCK'S-FOOT. 


167 


high,  erect  nearly  simple  panicles,  and  flowers 
in  June.  This  is  a  sweet  hardy  grass  only  em- 
ployed on  shallow  limestone  soils  unsuited  to  the 
superior  kinds.  It  grows  in  solitary  culms  with 
a  scanty  hairy  herbage.  On  rich  soils  the  hairs 
practically  disappear.  To  distinguish  between  this 
and  the  foregoing — iuA-jjidescem  the  ligule  is  Ion// 
and  acute,  in  A.  flax^escens  very  short  and  obtuse. 

The  Wild  Oat,  Arena  fatua,  is  a  common  weed 
in  corn-fields,  and  attains  a  height  of  2  to  3 
feet.  It  is  said  to  be  the  wild  form  of  the 
cultivated  oat,  which  it  much  resembles.  The 
spikelets  are  three-flowered  with  very  long  awns, 
and  the  awned  fruits  so  closely  resemble  artificial 
flies  as  to  be  successfully  used  by  anglers  as  sub- 
stitutes. 

False  Oat-grass,  or  Common  Oat-like  Grass, 
Arrhenathernm  avenaceum  [Avena  elatior),  (Plate 
4,  Fig.  3),  is  a  fibrous  rooted  weed-grass,  common 
in  hedges,  and  on  roadsides  and  dry  soils,  attain- 
ing sometimes  a  height  of  3  feet,  and  flowering 
from  May  to  July.  It  produces  a  quantity  of 
bitter-tasted  herbage,  not  liked  by  cattle,  and 
containing  only  a  small  proportion  of  nutritive 
matter.  Its  composition  is  shown  in  analysis  No. 
41.  Another  species,  Arr/ienatherum  bulbosum,  is 
distinguished  by  its  tuberous  roots,  and  the  paler 
colour  of  its  foliage  ;  it  is  really  a  mere  variety. 

Soft-grass,  also  called  Meadow  Soft-grass,  Woolly 
Soft-grass,  or  Yorkshire  Fog,  Ifolcus  lanatus 
(Plate  4,  Fig.  4),  is  a  plant  with  fibrous  roots 
and  downy  leaves,  and  grows  from  1  to  3  feet 
high,  flowering  from  ilay  to  July.  It  grows 
naturally  on  poor  light  soils,  and  thrives  on  peaty 
soils ;  it  is  very  productive  and  easy  to  cultivate, 
but  almost  worthless,  whether  as  hay  or  pasture  ; 
indeed,  it  has  been  recommended  to  sprinkle  the 
hay  with  salt  to  make  it  palatable. 

Creeping  or  Bearded  Soft-grass,  Holcus  mollis, 
has  fewer  culms,  broader  leaves,  looser  panicles,  and 
longer  awns,  and  is  much  less  frequent  than 
H.  lanatus,  preferring  hedges  and  copses.  It 
flowers  in  July.  On  account  of  its  strong  creeping 
roots,  it  is  useful  on  railway  embankments  and 
sandy  slopes.  These  soft  grasses,  especially  //. 
lanatus,  sometimes  occur  to  an  alarming  extent  in 
meadows  and  pastures ;  when  this  is  the  case, 
no  pains  should  be  spared  to  exterminate  them 
so  as  to  make  room  for  better  ones. 

Rough  Cock's-foot  Grass,  Dacti/lis  glomerata 
(Plate  3,  Fig.  5).     Fibrous,   somewhat  spreading 


roots,  rough  stems  growing  2  to  3  feet  high. 
Flowers  from  June  to  August.  A  glance  at  the 
coloured  sketch  will  at  once  enable  the  reader  to 
recognise  this  grass  whenever  he  sees  it,  as  there 
is  no  other  grass  so  similar  to  it  in  general  ap- 
pearance as  to  be  likely  to  be  mistaken  for  it.  As 
it  thrives  well  under  the  shade  and  drippings  of 
trees,  it  has  in  America  received  the  name  of 
"  Orchard  grass."  It  will  grow  on  all  kinds  of 
soil,  a  damp  soil  with  dry  subsoil,  allowing  fret, 
growth  to  its  roots,  appearing  to  suit  it  best. 
Cock's-foot  is  really  a  most  excellent  grass,  as  will 
be  seen  from  the  analysis  (No  42)  of  its  hay,  the 
only  precaution  required  being  not  to  let  it  grow 
too  old  before  cutting,  as  it  then  becomes  wiry  and 
tough.  It.  is  of  rapid  growth,  forming  unsightly 
tufts,  and  should  enter  into  all  mixtures  of  seeds 
for  permanent  pasture,  where  the  regular  cropping 
of  sheep  and  cattle  will  ensure  its  being  constantly 
consumed  while  young  and  juicy.  The  Secre- 
tary of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Agriculture 
■writes : — "  This  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  and 
widely  known  of  all  the  pasture  grasses.  It  is 
common  to  every  country  in  Europe,  to  the  north 
of  Africa,  and  to  Asia,  as  well  as  America.  Its 
-culture  was  introduced  into  England  from  Virginia 
in  1764.  It  forms  one  of  the  most  common 
grasses  of  English  natural  pastures  on  rich,  deep, 
moist  soils.  It  became,  soon  after  its  introduc- 
tion into  England,  an  object  of  special  agricultural 
interest  among  cattle-feeders,  having  been  found 
to  be  exceedingly  palatable  to  stock  of  all  kinds. 
Its  rapidity  of  growth,  the  luxuriance  of  its  after- 
math, and  its  power  of  enduring  the  cropping  of 
cattle,  commend  it  highly  to  the  farmer's  care, 
especially  as  a  pasture  grass.  As  it  blossoms 
earlier  than  timothy  and  about  the  time  of  red 
clover,  it  makes  an  admirable  mixture  with 
that  plant  to  cut  in  the  blossom  and  cure  for 
hay.  As  a  pasture  grass  it  should  be  fed  close, 
both  to  prevent  its  forming  thick  tufts  and  to 
prevent  its  running  to  seed,  when  it  loses  a 
large  proportion  of  its  nutritious  matter  and 
becomes  hard  and  wiry.  All  kinds  of  stock  eat 
it  greedily  when  green."  Cock's-foot  grows  wild 
on  most  roadsides,  and  if  the  young  stem  is 
drawn  between  the  closed  teeth,  its  sweet  juicy 
character  will  be  perceived. 

The  genus  Pod,  includes  the  so-called  meadow- 
grasses,  always  noticeable  in  a  hay-field  at  the 
time    of     flowering    by    their    elegant    panicles. 


168 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Their  genoral  luiiiit  will  Le  ajiparriit  on  ivforrinji;' 
to  the  sketches  of  the  three  species  represented 
in  Plate  3.  We  shall  briefly  notice  the  more 
important  meadow-grasses,  and  then  point  out  how 
to  distinguisli  between  them. 

Annual  Meadow-grass,  Poa  annua  (Plate  3, 
Fig.  6).  This  little  grass  only  attains  a  height 
of  6  to  10  inches.  It  grows  almost  everywhere, 
and  may  be  seen  in  flower  any  time  between  April 
and  September.  It  is  about  the  only  flowering 
plant  which  grows  naturally  in  the  squalid  courts 
and  lanes  of  crowded  cities,  springing  up  from 
the  earth  between  paving  stones.  Being  an  annual, 
it  is,  of  course,  unsuited  to  permanent  pasture, 
and  even  for  one  year's  lay  it  is  never  intentionally 
included  in  seed  mixtures,  on  account  of  its  meagre 
produce.  Nevertheless,  as  the  plant  will  spring 
up,  produce  its  flower,  and  ripen  its  seeds  within 
a  period  of  six  or  eight  weeks,  the  annual  meadow- 
grass  is  naturally  widely  disseminated,  and  may 
be  found  in  all  pastures.  An  analysis  of  its  hay 
is  given  (No.  43). 

Smooth-stalked  Meadow-grass,  Poa  prafennis 
(Plate  3,  Fig.  7) .  Root  creeping,  and  forming 
numerous  horizontal  offshoots;  stem  smooth,  round, 
1  to  2  feet  high  ;  leaves  broad,  upper  leaf  shorter 
than  its  sheath ;  spikelets  oblong,  with  four 
or  five  florets  in  each.  Flowers  from  end  of 
]\Iay  to  July.  This  grass  occurs  plentifully  in 
all  dry  meadows,  and  is  of  a  bright  green  colour 
in  early  spring.  As  a  pasture  grass  it  is  considered 
of  medium  quality,  but  as  its  patch-like  mode  of 
growth  enables  it  to  overcome  other  grasses,  it 
is  not  in  high  favour  with  the  farmer.  It  is 
noted  for  early  yield,  and  should  be  cut  while  in 
flower  if  intended  for  hay,  as  if  left  till  the  seeds 
are  ripe,  a  considerable  loss  in  feeding  value 
results.  This  grass  is  rather  liable  to  attacks  of 
rust.  No.  44'  is  an  analysis  of  the  hay.  In  the 
United  States  of  America,  Poa  pralcnsis  is  called 
"  Kentucky  blue  grass." 

Flat-stalked  Meadow-grass,  Poa  cowj^rcssa ,  also 
has  a  creeping  root,  but  its  stem  is  somewhat 
flattened,  and  the  upper  leaf  is  as  long  as  its 
sheath.  It  is  called  "  June  grass "  in  America, 
and  is  of  little  importance. 

Rough-stalked  Meadow-grass,  Poa  frivialls 
(Plate  3,  Fig.  8).  Fibrous  root;  rough  stem, 
IS  inches  to  2  feet  high.  Flowers  in  June, 
and  ripens  its  seeds  during  second  half  of 
July.     The   ovale    spikelets   contain  three  florets. 


It  thrives  best  in  low  (Lunj)  situations,  such  as 
heavy  clays,  and  the  moist  fertile  loams  of  irrigatetl 
mcadow.s,  and  constitutes  a  considerable  part  of 
river-side  grass.  It  prefers  sheltered  situations,  as 
it  cannot  withstand  the  sun's  heat,  and  dies  off  dry 
exposed  soils  in  four  or  five  years.  It  therefore 
grows  best  in  mixtures  of  upright  grasses,  as 
fescues  and  rye-grasses.  As  it  contains  most 
nutrient  matter  when  the  seeds  are  ripe,  it  should 
not  be  cut  till  then ;  a  loss  of  about  one-quarter 
is  sustained  by  cutting  in  flower.  Cattle,  horses, 
and  sheep  are  very  partial  to  it,  and  it  yields  a  fair 
aftermath.  It  is  quite  unsuited  to  upland  pastures. 
Analysis  No.  45  shows  the  composition  of  the  hay. 

Wood  Aleadow-grass,  Poa  nemoralls,  has 
fibrous,  somewhat  creeping  roots,  and  smooth 
stems  18  inches  to  3  feet  high.  Leaves  long 
and  narrow.  The  panicle  is  loose  and  rather  one- 
sided, and  the  spikelets  contain  usually  three 
or  four  florets.  It  flowers  in  June  and  July,  the 
seeds  being  ripe  early  in  August.  This  is  a 
common  grass  in  woods;  it  lies  thicker  on  the 
ground  than  P.  trlrlalin  or  P.  jijra(f(?;(«/.>,  and  forms 
a  good  close  sward  under  trees,  and  is  therefore  suit- 
able for  lawns.  The  leaves,  which  are  of  a  light 
green  colour,  are  somewhat  intertwined  below, 
thus  producing  a  dense  growth  which  enables 
this  grass  to  displace  weeds  of  one  or  two  years' 
duration.  Rough  meadow-grass  shows  a  pre- 
ference for  limestone  soils,  and  is  susceptible  to 
rust.  It  produces  a  fine  succulent  nutritious 
herbage,  and  may  be  relied  upon  for  early  spring 
growth. 

As  P.  pralensli,  P.  fririalh,  and  P.  nemoralh 
are  all  of  common  occurrence,  it  is  very  useful  to  be 
able  to  distinguish  each  from  the  other  two.  The 
reader  will  already  have  gleaned  certain  general 
distinctive  characters ;  in  addition  to  these,  how- 
ever, some  very  practical  distinctions  are  based  on 
the  form  of  the  ligule  :  in  P.  pralensis  the  ligule 
is  ohinac  but  prominent,  in  P.  trivialis  it  is  long 
a.MApuinfcfl,,a,x\A  in  P.  nemornlis  so  very  short  as  to 
be  practically  absent.  As  the  application  of  these 
tests  only  requires  the  bending  of  the  leaf  away 
from  the  stem  so  as  to  bring  the  ligule  into  view, 
they  will  be  found  far  more  generally  useful 
than  the  truly  botanical  distinctions  founded  on 
minute  differences  in  the  structure  of  the  florets. 

Floating  Sweet-grass,  Water-grass,  ]\Ianiia- 
grass,  Glyceria  fnilans.  Root-stock  stout,  widely 
creeping.      Stems     about    3     feet      high,    leaves 


FESCUE    GRASSES. 


IG'J 


narrow.  Distinguislietl  by  its  slender  sliglitly 
spreadint^  panicle,  and  long  linear  spikelets  con- 
taining from  six  to  twelve  florets.  Flowers  from 
June  to  August.  This  is  essentially  a  water-grass, 
and  is  readily  eaten  by  cattle  and  sheep.  As  it 
grows  naturally  by  the  water-side,  it  is  well 
adapted  for  irrigated  grounds  and  moist  situations, 
as  in  the  Fen  country,  for  example.  Its  herbage 
is  succulent  and  abundant.  Floating  sweet-grass 
is  cultivated  in  Germany  for  its  seeds,  which  are 
sold  under  the  name  of  manna-seeds,  and  used 
in  soups  and  gruels.  Another  botanical  name  for 
this  grass  is  Poajliiifans. 

Water  Meadow-grass,  or  Reedy  "Water-grass, 
Glycena  aqiuitiea,  grows  under  similar  condi- 
tions to  G.  Jluitans,  but  has  a  very  creei)ing  root 
and  a  stem  4  to  6  feet  high.  It  yields  an 
immense  bulk  of  coarse  nutritious  herbage, 
forming  in  marshy  localities  rich  summer  pasture, 
and  yielding  winter  fodder.  Also  called  Fua 
aqiiafica. 

Quaking  Grass,  Briza  media  (Plate  4,  Fig. 
5),  will  be  at  once  recognised  from  the  sketch. 
This  elegant  grass  is  commonly  met  with  in  poor 
pastures,  but  is  of  no  agricultural  value,  its  her- 
bage being  extremely  scanty.  To  get  rid  of  it 
seeds  of  superior  grasses  should  be  sown,  as  in  their 
presence  the  quaking  grass  disappears.  As  it 
frequently  occurs  in  hay,  an  analysis  (No.  46) 
is  quoted.  Other  names  for  it  are  Maiden's- 
hair,  Lady's-hair,  Cow-quakes.  Its  height  is  6 
to  18  inches,  and  it  flowers  in  June.  The 
Lesser  Quaking  Grass,  Briza  minor,  is  a  smaller 
variety,  while  Briza  maxima,  an  annual,  is  a 
fine  handsome  species  with  very  large  spikelets, 
introduced  into  our  flower-gardens  from  Southern 
Europe. 

The  Fescue  Grasses,  belonging  to  the  genus 
Festnca,  have,  especially  just  before  flowering,  a 
habit  very  similar  to  that  of  grasses  of  the  genus 
Poa.  As  a  rule,  the  two  genera  may  be  distin- 
guished from  each  other  thus  :  in  Poa  the  florets 
are  not  awned,  whereas  in  Feshica  the  florets  are 
awned  from  the  summit  of  the  flowering 
glume. 

Sheep's  Fescue,  Festnca  oviiia  (Plate  3,  Fig. 
9) .  Roots  fibrous ;  stem  erect,  angular,  3  to 
1;J  inches  high.  Panicle  upright,  compact  up 
to  the  time  of  flowering.  Spikelets  alternately 
arranged,  and  containing  from  four  to  six  florets 
with    short    awns.       Flowers    in   June    and    July. 


This,  the  best  known  fescue,  is  a  great  favourite 
with  sheep.  It  forms  the  chief  natural  grass  in 
the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  in  the  mountains  of 
Wales,  and  in  hilly  districts  generally,  especially 
on  thin  limestone  soils  of  rocky  uplands,  as  for 
example  the  carboniferous  limestone  of  Derbyshire. 
It  yields  a  sweet  nutritious  herbage ;  the  leaves 
are  of  a  dark  green  colour,  and  grow  in  tufts,  and 
as  they  ai-e  very  narrow  or  bristle- shaped,  the 
herbage  has  a  wiry  appearance.  Notwithstanding 
its  excellent  properties  as  a  pasture-grass,  sheep's 
fescue  cannot  be  recommended  for  the  hay-field 
on  account  of  the  smallness  of  its  produce.  Pro- 
bably a  variety  of  F.  ovina  is  the  Narrow-leaved 
Sheep's  Fescue,  F.  tenuifolia,  distinguished  by  its 
less  tufted  mode  of  growth,  its  long,  slender,  light 
green  leaves,  and  its  looser  panicle  without  awns. 

Hard  Fescue,  Festuca  diiriusmila,  differs  from 
F.  ovina  in  having  somewhat  creeping  roots,  and 
the  culm  just  under  the  panicle  round  and  smooth, 
while  in  F.  ovina  it  is  usually  angular  and 
roughish ;  again,  the  upper  leaf  of  hard  fescue 
is  smooth  on  the  outer  surface,  that  of  sheep's 
feseue  being  rough.  It  grows  in  moist  hilly 
places,  and  is  a  capital  grass  under  cultivation. 
The  composition  of  its  hay  is  given  in  analysis 
No.  47.  Closely  allied  to  hard  fescue  is  the  Red 
Fescue,  Fesfuca  rubra,  which  is  rather  taller  in 
growth,  attaining  a  height  of  2  feet  or  more,  and 
its  spikelets  have  a  reddish  tinge.  It  is  very 
suitable  for  loose  dry  soils. 

Meadow  Fescue,  Fesluca  praiensis.  Root 
fibrous ;  stem  smooth,  round,  and  1  to  2  feet 
high.  The  leaves  are  flat,  not  bristle-shaped, 
like  those  of  F.  ovina.  The  panicle  is  nearly 
upright,  rather  loose,  and  the  spikelets  each 
contain  five  to  six  florets.  This  is  a  large- 
growing  grass,  but  its  leaves  are  tender  and 
juicy.  It  does  not  grow  in  tufts  like  F.  ovina,  nor 
does  it  thrive  on  dry  soils,  but  luxuriates  in  rich 
well-drained  clayey  loams,  and  is  therefore  emi- 
nently suited  for  moist  river-side  meadows.  As  an 
early  and  productive  grass  it  is  recommended  both 
for  permanent  pasture  and  alternate  husbandry. 
It  yields  an  abundant  supply  of  herbage  quite 
as  early  as  meadow  fox-tail,  and  is  superior  to  the 
latter  in  nutritive  projierties.  For  hay,  it  should 
be  cut  in  flower,  as  it  loses  much  by  being  left  till 
the  seed  is  ripe. 

Spiked  or  Darnel-leaved  Feseue,  Festnca  loliacea, 
is  very  similar    in    appearance  to  Lolinni  pereniie 


170 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


(Plate  3,  Fig.  U),  Imt  the  leaves  of  tlie  former 
are  finer  or  more  bristly  than  those  of  the  latter, 
and  each  s])ikelet  has  two  outer  glumes  (the  usual 
number),  whereas  the  spikelet  of  L.  perenne  has 
only  one  outer  glume,  as  will  be  mentioned  when 
treating  of  that  grass.      F.  loliacea  has  no  awn. 

Tall  Fescue,  Fasluca  elalior,  also  has  flat  leaves, 
and  it  is  distinguished  from  the  other  fescues  men- 
tioned by  its  greater  size,  its  height  varying  from 
iJ  to  5  or  ()  feet. 

The  foregoing  fescues  are  all  useful  nutritious 
grasses,  and  will  usually  be  found  iu  natural 
pastures  on  soils  suitable  to  each  kind. 

The  genus  Bromus  includes  a  number  of  sjjecies 
which  are  quite  useless  from  an  agricultural  ])oint 
of  view,  and  attention  is  therefore  drawn  to  them 
to  enable  the  grower  to  identify  them  where  they 
occur,  and  to  use  means  for  their  extirpation,  as  the 
ground  which  they  occupy  may  be  much  better 
filled  by  more  profitable  species.  The  four  com- 
monest brome-grasses  are  Bromus  asjjer,  B.  creel n^, 
B.  sterilin,  and  B.  mnllis. 

Rough  Erome-grass,  Bromus  a.ipcr  (Plate 
4,  Fig.  0),  attains  a  height  of  4  to  G  feet,  and 
grows  chiefly  in  woods  and  copses.  It  is  an 
annual,  and  flowers  from  June  to  August.  The 
awns  are  short.  Upright  Brome-grass,  Bromus 
erect  us  (Plate  4,  Fig.  7),  grows  to  a  height  of 
2  to  3  feet,  and  occurs  in  sandy  fields  and  waste 
places  on  dry  soils.  It  is  a  perennial,  flower- 
ing at  the  same  time  as  B.  asper,  which  it  re- 
sembles in  having  short  awns,  but  its  spikelets 
are  usually  of  a  darker  colour.  Barren  Brome- 
grass,  Bromus  sicrills  (Plate  4,  Fig.  8),  unfor- 
tunately belies  its  name,  for  it  is  productive  of 
a  large  number  of  seeds  which  get  scattered  and 
serve  to  reproduce  this  undesirable  grass.  It  is 
from  1  to  2  feet  high,  and  is  a  common  weed- 
grass  in  fields.  Like  B.  asper,  it  is  an  annual, 
flowering  from  June  to  August.  In  outward 
appearance,  also,  it  is  like  B.  asper,  but  differs 
from  it  in  its  ten/  long  awns.  Soft  Brome-grass, 
Bromus  mollis  (Plate  4,  Fig.  9),  is  pcrhai)s  the 
commonest  of  the  brome-grasses.  Its  height 
varies  from  6  ihches  to  2  feet,  and  it  is  abun- 
dant on  roadsides  and  mai-gins  of  fields.  It  is 
an  annunl  or  biennial,  and  flowers  from  May  to 
June  or  July.  The  spikelets  are  shaped  like  a 
lance-head,  and  the  awns  project  a  little  beyond 
tiiem.  Smooth  Rye  Brome-grass,  Bromus  secalhius, 
is  an  annual,  and  closely  resembles  B.  mollis,  but 


differs  in  that  the  florets  are  rather  more  spreading 
in  the  spikelet.  B.  secalinus,  again,  is  of  larger 
growth  than  B.  mollis,  and  in  the  former  the  awns 
arc  shorter  than  the  florets,  whereas  in  the  latter  they 
are  as  long  as  the  florets.  The  rye  brome-grass  is 
a  troublesome  weed  in  wheat  and  rye  fields,  and 
it  should  be  destroyed  early  in  the  season,  when  it 
is  easily  distinguished  by  the  different  appearance 
of  its  foliage  from  that  of  the  young  crop.  This 
])lant  is  the  so-called  "cheat"  of  the  United  States 
corn-fields.  Its  seeds,  when  they  get  mixed  with 
wheat  or  rye,  make  the  bread  produced  from  them 
very  unpalatable. 

Crested  Dog's-tail  Grass,  Cj/nosurus  cris/n/us 
(Plate  3,  Fig.  10).  Root  fibrous.  Smooth 
upright  stem,  bearing  usually  five  leaves  with 
smooth  sheaths.  The  leaves  are  short,  rather 
narrow,  and  tapering.  It  grows  to  a  height  of 
I  or  2  feet,  and  flowers  in  June  and  July.  The 
interrupted  spike-like  panicle,  as  represented  in  the 
sketch,  suffices  for  the  detection  of  this  grass.  It 
grows  naturally  on  dry  pastures,  but  will  thrive 
well  in  damp  tenacious  soils  or  in  irrigated  meadows. 
As  its  foliage  is  not  coarse,  and  as  it  does  not 
grow  in  tufts,  it  is  useful  for  lawns  and  other 
swards  kept  under  by  the  scythe.  Dog's-tail  is 
juicy  and  soft  at  the  time  of  flowering,  and  for 
hay  (analysis  No.  48)  should  be  cut  then,  as  it 
contains  far  more  nourishment  at  this  stage  than 
later  on.  Owing  to  its  short  and  somewhat  fine 
herbage  it  is  not  a  heavy  crop.  Cattle,  sheep,  and 
deer  are  very  fond  of  it,  but  they  will  not  eat 
the  culms,  and  these,  brown  and  withered,  may 
often  be  seen  standing  erect  late  in  the  autumn, 
and  forming  "  the  bents  so  brown  ;"  they  afford 
useful  material  in  the  manufacture  of  straw- 
plat. 

To  the  genus  Trilicum  belongs  the  troublesome 
weed  called  couch  or  twitch  grass,  but  this  is  more 
than  compensated  for  by  its  including  that 
most  useful  grass,  the  wheat -plant.  A  closely 
allied  genus  is  Lolium,  to  which  the  rye-grasses 
belong.  Trilicum  differs  from  Lolium  in  the 
following  particulars :  in  Trilicum,  as  in  most 
genera  of  grasses,  there  are  fioo  outer  glumes  to  the 
spikelet,  whereas  in  Lolium  there  is  only  one, 
and  that  one  occurs  on  the  side  away  from  the 
axis,  as  may  be  seen  by  examining  the  spikelets 
of  any  rye-grass.  Furthermore,  the  .spikelets  iu 
Trilicum  are  fixed  broadside  to  the  axis,  as  may 
be  seen  in  a  wheat  car;    in  Lolium,  on  the  other 


COUCH-GRASS    AND    RYE-GRASS. 


171 


liaiid,  the  spikelets  are  fixed  t'diji'irise  to  the 
axis. 

Coueh-o-i-ass,  Triticiim  repeiis  (Plate  4,  Fig'. 
10),  is  a  very  variable  j)laiit,  with  stems  grow- 
ing from  1  to  4  feet  high,  and  flowering  from 
June  to  August.  This  grass,  owing  to  its  creeping 
habit,  can  only  be  looked  upon  as  a  pest,  more 
cspeeiully  in  arable  "land,  where  its  straggling 
underground  stems,  ramifying  in  every  direction 
in  the  loose  soil,  offer  serious  obstacles  to  cultiva- 
tion, and,  what  is  worse,  the  fragments  into 
which  the  plough  or  spade  breaks  up  the  pros- 
trate stem  will  themselves  become  independent 
centres  of  growth,  and  thus  spread  the  nuisance. 
Animals  only  eat  the  herbage  when  it  is  quite 
young,  but  they  are  very  fond  of  the  creeping 
stem,  which  is  juicy  and  sweet,  and  contains  about 
three  times  as  much  nutrient  matter  as  the  por- 
tions above  ground.  In  Italy  these  underground 
stems  are  collected,  washed,  and  sold  as  food  for 
horses.  The  Sea  Wheat  Grass,  TrUicum  junceum, 
and  the  Dog-wheat  or  Bearded  Wheat  Grass,  T. 
caninum,  which  is  awned,  are  much  rarer  species 
than  couch-grass. 

Common  Rye-grass,  Lolium  perenne  (Plate  3, 
Fig.  11),  has  fibrous  roots,  and  smooth  stems 
growing  to  a  height  of  18  inches  or  2  feet.  It 
flowers  in  ^lay  and  June.  Any  one  unacquainted 
with  this  grass  would  be  able  to  identify  it  imme- 
diately by  means  of  the  coloured  sketch ;  observe 
that  there  are  no  awns.  Rye-grass  is  liable  to 
great  variation,  there  being  as  many  as  sixty  or 
seventy  varieties.  Examples  are  the  Devon  Eaver 
grass,  Lolium  Bevotiiensis,  and  Pacey's  variety, 
L.  perenne  Pacei/annm,  which  is  an  intermediate 
variety  as  regards  size,  and  sends  up  a  large  bulk 
of  good  herbage  after  hay-harvest.  L.  perenne 
semperrirens  is  a  very  green  rye-grass  that  keeps 
its  colour  well.  Analyses  of  rye-grass  and  its  hay 
are  given  (Nos.  24,  49). 

Italian  Rye-grass,  Lolium  ifalicum  (Plate  3, 
Fig.  12),  should  perhaps  be  considered  as  only  a 
variety  of  L.  perenne,  which  it  closely  resembles, 
but  is  taller,  has  longer  flower  spikes,  and  is 
furnished  with  aivns,  whereas  L.  perenne  is  awnless. 
L.  italiemn  is  an  early  grass,  and  its  yield  when 
grown  on  sewage-dressed  land  is  extremely  large. 
As  it  is  not  always  to  be  relied  upon  as  a  peren- 
nial, it  is  best  adapted  for  alternate  husbandry. 
Analyses  Nos.  25  and  50  refer  to  this  grass. 

The   two    foregoing   rye-grasses   are   excellent 


forage  plants,  and  are  generally  grown  witli  clo\cr 
or  sainfoin  as  spring  crops.  Common  rj-e-grass 
on  loamy  soils  forms  a  close  turf,  and  Italian 
rye-grass  can  frequently  be  cut  three  times  in  a 
summer. 

Darnel,  Poison  or  Bearded  Darnel,  Jjolium 
temulentum  (Plate  3,  Fig.  13),  is  a  much  less 
desirable  grass  than  its  congeners.  It  is  very 
much  like  L.  itulicum,  but  differs  from  that  and 
from  L.  perenne  in  the  fact  that  the  solitary  outer 
glume  is  longer  than  the  spikelet  to  which  it 
belongs,  and  further  from  L.  perenne  in  that  it 
is  awned.  Darnel  is  a  noxious  weed,  and  poisonous 
properties  are  attributed  to  it;  its  seeds  mixed 
with  cereals  cause  vomiting  and  intoxication  in 
animals  eating  them.  It  is  found  chiefly  in 
cultivated  fields,  and  foreign  seeds,  notably  flax, 
usually  contain  darnel  seed.  Fortunately  this 
grass  is  not  very  plentiful  in  Britain,  and  it  is 
needless  to  add  that  where  it  is  observed  growing 
it  should  be  effectually  eradicated.  It  is,  how. 
ever,  quite  a  pest  in  some  of  the  Californian 
corn-districts,  where  it  is  termed  "cheat,''  the 
same  name  being  given  to  Bromus  secalinus  on 
the  east  side  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

The  Barley-grasses,  belonging  to  the  genus 
Hordeum,  and  bearing  a  close  resemblance  to 
the  cereal  barley,  which  is  also  included  in  this 
genus,  are  rather  commonly  met  with,  especially 
on  gravelly  roadsides.  They  are  never  cultivated, 
and  are  therefore  to  be  regarded  as  weed-grasses, 
the  long  brittle  awns  of  the  inflorescence  piercing 
the  skin,  or  irritating  the  intestines  of  animals 
which  eat  them.  Grasses  of  the  genera  Slipa  and 
Calamagrosfis  are  objectionable  for  a  similar  reason. 

Many  of  the  foregoing  details,  such  as  height 
and  time  of  flowering,  can  only  be  taken  as 
approximately  true,  as  they  vary  according  to 
climate,  soil,  season,  and  so  on.  Mixtures  of  seeds 
might,  perhaps,  have  been  looked  for  here,  but 
as  local  variations  in  soils  are  so  common  we  could 
hardly  have  hoped  to  have  constructed  lists  which 
would  have  been  capable  of  general  application. 
Indeed,  since  the  time  when  Mr.  A.  C.  Wheeler, 
the  head  of  the  Gloucester  firm  of  seed-growers, 
first  directed  attention  to  the  geological  characters 
of  soils  as  a  guide  to  the  composition  of  the 
grass-seed  mixture  fittest  for  them,  seed-merchants 
have  been  bestowing  more  and  more  attention  in 
this  direction,  and  have,  as  the  result  of  accumu- 
lated experience,  not  only  been  able  to  construct 


n-2 


DAIUV    FARMING. 


general  taljles,  Imt  are  aMo,  wlu'ii  funiisliwl 
with  full  particulars,  to  "prescribe"  mixtures  I'or 
exceptional  soils. 

Here  we  may  conveniently  introduce  a 


List  of  C'lltivated  Gkasses. 


jtgrostii  stolon i/cra     ... 
A  lofccurits  pyateuttia  . . . 
AiUhoxtttithtim  odoratum 
Arena  JUtvcseem 
A  vena  p  itbesccns 
i'ynonurus  cri»tatu$     ... 
Daclylis  glomcrata 
Fcntiica  duriusciila 
Fcstuea  elatior 
Featuca  hettrophyUu   .  . 
Festucu  loliacea 
Fesluca  ovina 
Festnca  pratensis 
Fcstuea  rubra 
Fesluca  tenuifolia 
Glyceria  aquatica 
Glyceria  Jluitans 
Lolinm  Devoniensii 
Lolium  italicum 
Lolium  Faceyanum     ... 
Lolium  perenne 
Lolium  sempervirrns  ... 
F/ih'um  pratense 
Poa  ncmoralis 
Foa  prutensis 
Foa  trivialis 


Cieepiii";  Bent-grass 
Meadow  Fox-tail, 
Sweet  Vernal. 
Yellow  Oat-gi-ass. 
Hairy  Oat-giass. 
Crested  Dog's-tail. 
Rough  Cock  s-foot. 
Hard  Fescue. 
Tall  Fcseue. 
Various-leaved  Fescue. 
Darnel-leaved  Fescue. 
Sheep's  Fescue. 
Meadow  Fescue. 
Ked  Fescue. 
Fine-leaved  Fescue. 
Water  Meadow-grass. 
Floating  Sweet  gra.-  s. 
Devon  Eaver  grass. 
Italian  Rye-gi-ass. 
Pacej-'s  Rye-grass. 
Common  Rye-grass. 
Evergreen  Rye-grass. 
Timothy,  or  Cat's-tail 
Wood  Meadow-grass. 
Smooth-stalked  Meadow-grass. 
Rough-stalked  Meadow-grass. 


It  will  l)c  noticed  that  the  fescues,  rye-f^rasses, 
awl  meadow-grasses  furnish  »more  than  half 
till'  whole  number.  Other  genera,  again,  are 
totally  unrepresented  —  A/ra,  llolcus,  Briza, 
Bromus,  TrUicum,  Ilordeum. 

How  often  have  we  seen  a  farmer  strolling 
contentedly  through  his  mciidows  just  before 
hay-harvest,  and  gazing  complacently  at  the  big 
crop  he  would  shortly  gather  in  !  A  Mg  crop, 
ti-uly,  and  yet  we  have  felt  sorry  when  a  walk 
through  the  meadows  has  convinced  us  that  more 
than  half  of  it  would  consist  of  quaking,  brome, 
and  soft  grasses,  with  others  equally  undesirable. 
And  as  we  have  looked  at  the  great  quantity, 
and  thought  of  the  jioor  quality,  we  have  at 
the  same  time  thought  how  much  it  would  be  to 
the  advantage  of  the  farmer  to  make  himself 
ac(juaiuted  with  the  grasses,  so  that  he  miglit 
be  able  to  repress  the  bad  species  in  favour  of 
the  good. 

Before  leaving  the  Gramhiecc.  we  desire  to 
call  attention  to  a  few  other  analyses  of  products 
yielded  by  this  very  useful  order.  No.  51  is 
an  analysis  of  ordinary'    meadow-hay    of    average 


quality.  No.  27  snows  the  composition  of  green 
rye  (the  cereal,  Secale  cereale,  a  jjlant  distinct 
from  rye-grass),  and  No.  iQ>  that  of  green  maize 
(Indian  corn,  Zea  Mais),  which  will  not  perfect 
itself  in  so  cold  a  climate  as  that  of  Britain,  but  is 
largely  cultivated  in  the  United  States  of  America  ; 
they  both  alford  green  fodder.  Analyses  are  also 
quoted  of  the  following  cereals,  which  are  all  more 
or  less  used  by  millers  in  the  ])reparation  of  various 
kinds  of  meal  for  stock-feeding  :  wheat,  barley, 
rye,  maize,  millet,  dari,  rice,  and  tlu'  nutritious 
oatmeal  (Nos.  o7  to  GJ). 

Unfortunately,  the  grasses  and  cei'cals  are 
subject  to  serious  diseases,  which  arise  from  the 
plants  becoming  infested  with  the  spores  or  germs 
of  certain  parasitic  fungi.  These  spores  germinate 
in  the  plant  and  send  out  in  all  directions  fine 
branches  or  tubes  called  Iii/pha,  which  break 
through  the  walls  of  the  cells  constituting  the 
tissue  of  the  plant,  and  derive  their  nourishment 
from  the  material  which  the  plant  had  olitaiiied  for 


its  own  use.  As  a  consequence  the  ])lant  sickens 
and  the  parts  attacked  become  rotten,  the  fungus 
meanwhile  luxuriating  in  the  destruction  and  decay 
which  it  has  effected,  and  producing  fresh  crops  of 
spores  which  bj' vario\is  agencies  are  transmitted  to 
ncighljouring   healthy   ]ilants,  and   these    in    their 


DISEASES    OF    PLANTS. 


17J 


Fig.  G9.— Sectkin  through 

OV.\RY     OF     M.IIZE,    AT- 
TACKED BY  Smut. 

immediately  lieueath. 


% 


turn  become  also  tlio  prey  of  disease.  These  fui)<;'al 
diseases  are  known  by  such  names  as  smut,  Ijiuit , 
rust,  mildew,  and  ergot.  Some  attack  one  part  of  a 
plant,  others  another. 

Smut  attacks  the  younti' 
seed,  and  sometimes  it  de- 
stroys the  glumes  as  well. 
It  is  indicated  by  masses 
of  dark-coloured  dust  (the 
spores)  emerging  from  the 
iuHoreseenee,  and  perhaps 
from  that  jiortion  of  the  stem 
Barley,  rye,  wheat,  and  es- 
pecially oats  are  attacked  by  smut,  wild  grasses  being 
less  liable.  In  warmer  countries,  maize  and  millet 
suffer,  swellings  us  large  as  a  turnip  being  some- 
times produced  in  the  former  (Figs.  (58  and  09). 

The  bunt,  brand,  or  pepper-brand  infests  all 
kinds  of  wheat,  spelt  being  less  liable  to  attack 
than  other  sorts,  and  winter  wheat 
less  than  spring  wheat.  This  fun- 
gus, like  smut,  attacks  the  young 
seed,  which  it  destroys  and  re- 
places by  a  black  greasy  sub- 
stance of  disagreeable  odour. 
Fig.s.  70  and  71.^ 

Rust  and  mildew  attack  chiefly 
the  leaves  and  stems,  and  not 
often  the  seads,  so  that  the  injury 
rests  chiefly  in  the  very  bad  quality 
of  the  straw ;  nevertheless,  the 
grains  suffer  to  some  extent.  Rust 
is  first  indicated  by  blotches  of 
browh  rust-coloured  dust  breaking 
out  on  the  surface  of  the  jjlant. 
Certain  spnres  are  then  produced 
which  get  transferred  to  the  bar- 
berry plant,  on  the  leaves  of  which 
another  stage  in  the  life-history 
of  the  fungus  is  completed,  re- 
sulting in  the  production  of  a 
new  set  of  spores  which  can  only 
germinate  on  wheat  or  some  similar 
plant.  This  disease  usually  attacks 
wheat,  barley,  and  oats ;  it  is 
Fig.  70.— Bunt  less  frequent  in  rye  and  pasture- 
grasses.  Mildew  forms  a  delicate 
web-like  covering  on  the  green  leaves  of  clovers, 
turnips,  mangolds,  &c. 

Ergot,  or  ergot  of  rye,  as  it  is  frequently  called, 
is  a  disease  more  to  be  dreaded  than  those  already 


\\ 


mentioned,  for  not  only  does  it  involve  practically 
the  destruction  of  the  grass  it  infests,  but  it  also 
produces  a  substance  which  is  in  itself  highly 
dangerous,  and  which,  if  taken  internally,  is 
capable  of  producing  abortion  in  cows  and  mares. 
A  case  is  on  record  of  a  Shropshire  cattle-breeder 
having  lost  £1,^00  in  three 
years  from  this  cause.  This 
disease  attacks  the  young 
ovary,  or  seed-vessel,  which 
becomes  at  first  enclosed  by 
a  soft  mass  of  hyphse-tissue. 
This  is  accompanied  by  a  lioney- 
like  secretion,  and  followed  by 
the  conversion  of  the  entire 
ovary  into  a  hard  blackish 
mass,  similar  in  shape  to  the 
rye-grain  but  much  lengthened.  Fig-  71-— Bunted  Grain 
It  is  to  this  hard  bluish-black  "'' ^V"'^^^  (™'«'-^^''')- 
substance  that  the  name  of  "ergot"  is  popularly 
given,  and  the  representation  of  an  ergotised  grass 
at  this  stage  is  seen  in  Plate  4,  Fig.  11.  Where 
rye-bread  is  used,  the  ergot  sometimes  gets  ground 
up  with  the  rye-grains  in  the  preparation  of  the 
flour,  and  very  disastrous,  sometimes  fatal,  results 
have  ensued  to  the  people  who  have  eaten  it, 
gangrenous  diseases  being  the  usual  consequence. 
Ergot  attacks  a  great  many  grasses  and  cereals, 
rye  being  notably  subject  to  its  ravages.  The 
cultivated  grasses  which  most  frequently  become 
ergotised  are  timothy  grass  {P /ileum  pratense), 
fox-tail  [Alojieeurns  pratemis),  tall  fescue 
{Fcstnca  elatior),  floating  sweet-grass  {Gli/ceria 
Jiuilans),  rye-grass  {Loliiuii  perennc).  Of  weed- 
grasses,  those  most  liable  to  attacks  of  ergot  are 
soft  brome-grass  [B ramus  mollii),  meadow  brome 
{B.  pmtensis),  couch-grass  [Triticum  rejiens),  and 
wall  barley-grass  {Hordenm  murimim)  .* 

We  may  here  refer  to  certain  flowering-plants 
which  are  more  or  less  parasitic  on  forage  crojjs, 
and  the  rise  or  spread  of  which  the  cultivator 
should  do  his  best  to  check.  Those  we  have 
selected  are  the  dodder,  broom-rape,  yellow-rattle, 
and  eye-bright. 

Clover  Dodder,  Cnscufa  minor  (Plate  4,  Fig. 
13),  is  a  j)lant  belonging  to  the  order  Convol- 
vur.ACE.i;,  which  includes  the  well-known  bind- 
weed,  or  field  convolvuh  s    Convolmlns  arvensis. 

*  See  an  article  on  "  The  (Jronth  of  Erfjot,"  by  Professor 
Henry  Tanner,  in  the  Live  Hlock  Jouriuil,  October  31,  1879, 
page  317. 


174 


DAIRY     FARMING. 


Till'  (jdddcr  ni;iy  Keconie  a  seriuus  post  in  clovor- 
fields,  wliere  it  usually  obtains  a  footing'  through 
its  small  seeds  having  been  sown  with  those  of 
the  clover.  The  dodder-seed  germinates  in  the 
ground  and  the  young  shoot  trailing  over  a  clover 
stem  develops  small  sucking  rootlets  which  ))ene- 
trate  into  the  tissue  of  the  hoat,  and  enable  the 
])arasite  to  abstract  nutriment  from  the  clover  to 
a.ssist  in  its  own  growth.  Like  all  truly  parasitic 
plants,  dodder  contains  no  green  colouring  matter, 
its  colour  being  pale  yellow  to  whitish,  except 
towards  the  tips  of  the  stems,  where  it  is  pinkish. 
It  can  easily  be  discerned  from  a  distance  in  a 
clover-field  by  the  light-coloured  patches  it  pro- 
duces. The  stem  of  the  dodder  will  encircle 
that  of  the  clover  many  times,  and  is  not  easy 
to  detach.  Usually  the  interlacing  stems  of  the 
parasite  are  seen  at  the  surface,  the  heads  of  flowers 
being  underneath ;  the  whole  plant  has  a  faint 
aromatic  odour.  If  a  mass  of  dodder  be  stripped 
away  by  hand  from  the  ground,  the  hands  will 
become  sticky,  owing  to  a  moist  adhesive  matter 
on  the  surface  of  the  dodder,  and  the  ground 
which  is  thus  exposed  will  be  seen  to  have  every 
trace  of  clover  on  it  destroyed.  Other  species 
of  dodder  attack  the  flax-plant  and  the  stinging- 
nettle. 

Broom-rape,  Orohanclie  M/'iior  (Plate  4,  Fig. 
12),  is  a  yellowisb-brown  plant  parasitic  on  the 
roots  of  clover.  It  is  stated  that  the  seeds  of 
this  plant  remain  dormant  in  the  soil  until  they 
come  in  contact  with  the  roots  of  the  plant  on 
which  the  parasite  preys,  when  they  at  once 
germinate.  The  minute  irregularly-shaped  seeds 
get  introduced  in  imperfectly-cleaned  clover-seed. 
The  height  of  the  broom-rape  plant  varies  from 
0  inches  to  2  feet.  Other  species  are  parasitic  on 
the  roots  of  broom,  furze,  and  milfoil. 

Yellow-rattle,  It/iinaiil/iiis  Crlsla-rjaUi  (Plate 
2,  Fig.  {)),  and  I'Jye-bright,  Euphrasia  officinalis 
(Plate  2,  Fig.  10),  both  belong  to  the  order 
SciiOPHULARiACE/E,  which  includes  such  wild  plants 
and  weeds  as  toad-flax,  snap-dragon,  figwort,  fox- 
glove, speedwell,  brooklime,  liartsia,  and  cow-wheat, 
most  of  which  are  characterised  by  the  irregular 
form  of  the  corolla,  as  in  the  snap-dragon.  Roth 
yellow-rattle  and  eye-bright  have  the  reputation 
of  being  parasitic  on  the  roots  of  grasses;  they 
are  not,  however,  completely  parasitic,  as  they  con- 
tain green  colouring  matter,  and  therefore  dilTcr 
from    dodder    and    broom-rape.      They    generally 


occur  in  jioor  jiastures,  and  their  presence  is  a 
sure  indication  of  bad  soil.  To  get  rid  of  them 
the  land  should  be  well  cleaned  and  manured. 
The  yellow-rattle  is  called  horse-penny  in  some 
districts.  The  louse-wort  and  cow-wheat  are 
similar  partial  parasites  belonging  to  the  same 
natural  Older. 

Of  non-flowering  jilants,  two  may  be  mentioned 
as  being  used  for  cattle-food — Iceland  moss  and 
Irish  moss.  They  are  unfortunately  named,  as 
neither  of  them  is  really  a  moss.  The  true  mosses, 
indeed,  are  quite  valueless  to  the  stock-feeder, 
and  when  they  occur  in  a  pasture  a  wholesome 
ajiplication  of  the  brush-harrow,  followed  by  a 
course  of  good  manure,  will  be  found  useful  for 
effecting  their  eradication. 

Iceland  moss,  Cefraria  islandiea,  is  really  a 
lichen,  one  of  that  class  of  curious,  many-coloured 
vegetable  growths  seen  on  rocks,  old  walls,  tree- 
trunks,  &c.  It  grows  plentifully  in  cold  regions, 
upon  otherwise  barren  rocks,  and  occurs  in  the 
mountainous  districts  of  Britain.  The  reindeer 
subsists  largely  on  Iceland  moss,  the  bitter 
taste  of  which  disappears  after  soaking  in  a 
weak  solution  of  carbonate  of  soda.  Its  per- 
centage composition  is : 


Water 
Albuminoids 
Lichen-starch 
Lichen-acids,  &c. 
Crude  filjre... 
Ash 


10-0 
8-7 

700 
6-3 
3-5 
lo 

innn 


Irish  moss,  Chondnis  crispus,  is  a  sea-weeJ 
occurring  plentifully  on  our  rocky  coasts.  It  is 
used  both  as  human  food  and  as  cattle-food,  and 
consists  chiefly  of  a  gummy  substance  which  forms 
a  stiff  paste  with  boiling  water.  Its  composition, 
as  sold,  is  : 


Water 

Albuminoids  

Carbo-hydiates  (mucilage,  ic.) 

Crude  fibre... 

Ash 


18-8 
9-4 

00  i 
2-2 

14-2 

1000 


The  important  subject  of  seeds,  with  their 
adulterations,  deserves  more  than  the  passing  note 
we  are  able  to  give  it.  The  old  practice  of  saving 
seeds  from  his  own  crop  is  now  seldom  adopted  by 
the  farmer,  as  he  finds  it  more  to  his  advantasje  to 


COMPOSITION    OF    FEEDING-STUFFS. 


17i; 


ROOTS. 

GREEN    FODDER. 

1        1        2 

3 

4 

a 

6 

7 

8 

» 

10     1     11 

1? 

13 

14 

. 

^ 

Bed  Clover. 

Alsike. 

t* 

T3 

1 

O 

o 

§ 

li 

1 

1 

of 

'la 

ll 

li 

—  i 
ll 

1^  s 

5 

^•= 

Water          

920 

8D-0 

85-0 

87-0 

86-3 

88-0 

81-5 

89-0 

80-5 

83-0 

78-0 

85-0 

82-0 

81-5 

Albuminoids         

1-1 

1-1 

1-4 

1-2 

1-6 

1-1 

1-0 

1-5 

3-5 

3-3 

3-2 

3-3 

3-3 

2-7 

Carbo-hydrates    

5-3 

7-9 

10-8 

9-6 

10-2 

9-1 

15-4 

5-8 

7-2 

7-0 

9-5 

5-1 

6-3 

7-3 

Fat      

01 

0-2 

0-2  • 

0-2 

0-2 

0-1 

0-1 

0-5 

0-8 

0-7 

0-8 

0-6 

0-6 

0-7 

Crude  Fibre          

0-8 

0-9 

1-7 

r2 

1-0 

0-9 

1-3 

2-0 

6-0 

4-5 

6-8 

4-5 

6-0 

0-2 

Ash     

07 

0-6 

0-9 

0-8 

0-7 

0-8 

0-7 

1-2 

2-0 

1-0 

1-7 

1-5 

1-8 

16 

100-0 

100-0 

loo-o 

100-0 

100-0 

100-0 

100-0 

100-0 

1000 

100-0       100-0 

100-0 

1000 

100-0 

GREEN    FODDER  (continued). 


15 

16      1      17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

23 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

Lucerne. 

■s . 

•Si 

"Sa 

S 
> 

i 

A    GO 

II 

Si 

on 

Young. 

In  ear'y 
blossom. 

6 

Water     

800 

810 

71-0 

80-0 

84-0 

85-3 

53-0 

89-2 

70-0 

70-0 

73-4 

82-2 

70-0 

3-5 

4-5 

4-5 

3-2 

2-4 

3-1 

6-3 

1-4 

3-4 

3-6 

3-6 

1-2 

3-3 

Carbo-hydraies         

8-2 

7-2 

9-2 

8-2 

6-4 

6-6 

20-1 

6-2 

13-3 

12-8 

12-1 

10-3 

Fat          

0-8 

0-6 

0-8 

0-6 

0-4 

0-3 

1-1 



11 

10 

10 

Crude  Fibre     

60 

5-0 

9-5 

6-5 

5-4 

3-5 

11-9 

1-8 

80 

10-6 

7-1 

4-7 

Ash         

1-5 
1000 

1-7 

20 

1-5 

1-4 

1-2 

1-3 

1-4 

2-2 

20 

2-8 

11 

1-6 

100-0 

1000 

100-0 

1000 

100-0 

100-0 

100-0 

100-0 

100-0 

1000 

100-0 

1000 

28 

u 

O 

s 

29 

5 

M 

30 

5 

31 

'32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

37 

3S 

39 

40 

41 

1 
O 

S 
I 

42 

43 

44 

45 

46 

•i 

1 

n 

1 

o 

l> 

1 

£ 

1 

1 

i 

•3 

e 
1 

S3 

0  i 

Smooth  Mea- 
dow-grass. 

Rough  Meadow- 

0 

i 

Water 

16-5 

160 

ifi-n 

16-7 

16-7 

160 

16-7 

16-7 

16-7 

14-3 

14-3 

14-3 

14-3 

14-3 

14-3 

14-3 

14-3 

H-3 

14-3 

14-3 

12-3 

15-0 

12-2 

14-6 

14-4 

13-3 

14-2 

11-3 

9-7 

10-6 

8-9 

6-4 

11-1 

11-6 

33-9 

3S-2 

3«-7 

32-6 

33-2 

27-9 

34-2 

32-S 

34-2 

45-8 

37  0 

37-3 

40-4 

32-6 

380 

'44-4 

36-8 

344 

40-2 

3-5 

2-2 

3-3 

30 

3-3 

2-5 

2-5 

2-5 

2-6 

3-0 

2-4 

2-9 

2-2 

2-7 

2-6 

2-9 

2-3 

3-2 

26 

25-6 

260 

27-0 

30-4 

26-2 

330 

27-1 

25-5 

•J5-2 

22-7 

29-0 

31-2 

30-8 

29-4 

28-9 

23-9 

32-6 

32-6 

30-3 

Ash       

6-0 

5-3 

6-0 

5-1 

60 

6-2 

6-2 

8-3 

7-0 

4-3  '      6-7 

5-4 

5-9 

9-9 

4-6 

21       51 

7-1       7-4 

100-0 

1000 

1000 

100-0    100-0 

1000 

100-0 

100-0 

lOO-O 

100-0    100-0 

100-0 

100-0 

100-0    100-0 

1 

100-0  1 100-0  1 100-0    100.0 

HATS   (continu  d). 

SEEDS  AND  CEREALS. 

47 

48 

49 

50 

51 

52 

53 

54 

55 

56 

57 

58 

69 

60 

61 

62 

63 

64 

■a 

5 
s 

W 

it 
1 

0 

i 

■^1 

If 

1 

i 

n 

S 

1 

■5 

>> 

■3 

s 

1 

a 

8 

'A 

0 

W 

1-1 

II 

7-6 

14-3 

n 

Hi 

Water 

14-3 

14-3 

14-3 

14-3 

143 

140 

145 

13-4 

145 

14  6 

130 

14  5 

139 

12-2 

14-6 

5-0 

Albuminoids 

10-4 

9-3 

10-2 

11-2 

9-7 

30-7 

22-4 

23  0 

24  0 

13  2 

110 

6  2 

10-5 

9-0 

133 

7  5 

34-6 

45-3 

36-1 

40-6 

41-2 

33-5 

513 

52  3 

4!I0 

63  6 

69  0 

Fat                   

n 

2-8 

2-7 

3-2 

2-3 

10-2 

2-3 

•^3 

26 

34 

12 

13 

16 

50 

30 

Crude  Fibre 

33-2 

2-Z-6 

30-2 

22  9 

26-3 

8-1 

6-3 

55 

69 

21 

2  6 

08 

23 

50 

35 

3-1 

09 

3-7 

Ash        

4-7 

5-3 

6-3 
100-0 

7-8 
100-0 

6-2 
100-0 

9-9 
100-0 

30 
1000 

29 

30 

23 

17 
1000 

11 

16 

20 
1000 

16 
100  0 

100-0 

100-0 

1000 

100-0 

1000 

100  0 

1000 

1000 

1000 

100-0 

17G 


DAIRY    FAU.MING. 


piircliase  from  seed-merchants,  and  there  are  many 
reasons  why  tliis  should  be  so.  Thus,  it  would 
scarcely  pay  the  farmer  to  set  up  the  various 
mechanical  contrivances  by  which  seeds  are  cleaned, 
nor  would  he,  as  a  rule,  be  able  easily  to  command 
the  services  of  a  person  well  acquainted  with 
the  various  impurities  which  different  sami)k'S 
of  seeds  usually  contain.  Further,  as  the  seed- 
merchant  works  on  a  large  scale,  the  expenses 
are  less  than  they  otherwise  would  be,  and  the 
seeds  proportionately  cheaper.  Adulteration  of 
seeds  is  either  accidental,  intentional,  or  both.  Of 
the  two,  the  accidental  adulteration  is  usually  the 
more  injurious;  it  occurs  in  imperfectly  cleaned 
samples,  so  that  what  is  sold  as  a  samj)le  of  the 
seed  required  contains,  in  addition  to  the  seeds 
themselves,  small  sticks  and  stones,  and  seeds  of 
other  plants,  usually  of  ordinary  weeds,  or  perhaps, 
what  is  far  worse,  the  seeds  of  such  filants  as 
dodder,  broom-riij)e,  yellow-rattle,  darnel,  and  even 
ergot  of  rye,  which  from  its  appearance  is  often 
mistaken  for  mice-dung.  Intentional  adultera- 
tion is  punishable  by  law,  and  is  usually  effected 
by  introducing  into  the  sample  for  the  sake  of  the 
extra  weight  other  valueless  seeds  which  may  or 
may  not  have  been  "  killed  "  by  heating  them.  Of 
course,  if  the  added  seed  has  first  been  killed, 
far  less  harm  is  done  to  the  crop  than  would  other- 
wise have  been  the  case;  it  would  suffer  in  quantity 
rather  than  in  quality.  The  best  protection  which 
tlie  grower  has  is  to  obtain  his  seed  from  a 
thoroughly  trustworthy  firm,  and  at  the  same  time 
not  to  be  too  close-fisted,  for  lad  seed  is  dear  at  any 
price. 

Explanation  of  tiik  Analyses. 

All  plants  contain  water,  more  especially  in  the 
green  state;  after  being  air-dried  they  are  found 
to  have  lost  the  greater  portion  of  this  water. 
Albuminoids  are  bodies  rich  in  nitrogen,  and  when 
they  occur  in  food-stuffs  they  are  the  only  mate- 
rials which  play  the  part  of  Jh'sli-formers.  Albu- 
men (or  white  of  cg\^),  casein  (the  nitrogenous 
compound  in  milk  and  cheese),  and  gluten  (the 


sticky  clastic  substance  contained  in  wheat)  may 
be  taken  as  examples  of  albuminoids.  Carbo- 
hi/drates  contain  carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxj'gen, 
the  two  latter  being  present  in  the  proportion  in 
which  they  occur  in  water;  in  food-stuffs  carbo- 
hydrates primarily  perform  the  function  of  heat- 
i/ircrs,  and  they  are  usually  i)resent  in  the  form 
of  some  modification  of  starch  or  sugar.  Thus, 
in  a  grain  of  wheat,  or  in  a  potato,  the  chief 
carbo-hydrate  is  starch,  in  beet-root  it  is  sugar. 
Fat,  also,  is  a  compound  of  carbon,  hydrogen,  and 
oxygen,  but  the  oxygen  is  present  in  a  smaller  pro- 
portion than  that  in  which  it  occurs  in  the  carbo- 
hydrates. Like  these  latter,  fat  assumes  the  function 
of  a  heat-giver  in  the  animal  body.  In  the  analyses 
given  on  the  preceding  page,  small  quantities  of  wax 
and  green  colouring  matter  are  included  under  the 
head  of  fat.  Crude  fibre  is  chiefly  composed  of  a 
carbo-hydrate  called  cellulose,  and  the  fibre  being 
indigestible  has  no  direct  value  as  a  food-stuff.  The 
ash,  or  mineral  residue,  is  that  which  is  left  behind 
after  the  plant  is  burnt  in  the  air ;  it  consists 
of  inorganic  compounds  such  as  potash,  lime, 
magnesia,  and  silica,  which  the  plant  derived  from 
the  soil.  The  value  of  a  plant  as  a  food-stuff  must 
be  estimated  from  the  amount  of  albuminoids, 
or  flesh-formers,  and  of  carbo-hydrates,  or  heat- 
givers,  present ;  fat,  also,  when  it  occurs,  should  be 
taken  into  consideration.  As  an  illustration  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  analyses  should  be  read, 
let  us  take,  say,  Xo.  37,  the  hay  of  timothy  grass. 
^Ye  learn  from  it  that,  on  an  average,  100  lbs.  of 
this  hay  would  contain  Hj'u  His.  of  water,  9i'u  lbs. 
of  albuminoids,  45  j^  lbs.  of  carbo-hydrates,  ;3  lbs.  of 
fat,  -l-l^s  lbs.  of  indigestible  fibre,  aiul  -I-tV  lbs.  of 
ash.  It  may  be  mentioned  here  that  recent  in- 
vestigations show  that  the  percentage  of  albu- 
minoids given  in  the  analyses  of  the  roots  (Nos. 
1  to  7)  are  somewhat  above  the  truth.  For  about 
one-half  of  the  foregoing  analyses  we  have  to 
thank  Professor  A.  11.  Ciuireh;  most  of  the  others 
are  quoted  after  Professor  l'',niil  Wolff,  of  Hohen- 
heim,  and  some  of  them  a]ipear  in  an  English  form 
for  the  first  time.  W.  F. 


Difference  in  Tal 


CHAPTER      XIII. 

Hay-makixg. 

between   Good   and   Bad   Hay— Time   of   Cutting— Mowing  Maciiines— Hay-makers— Hay-loadcrs— Barns   and 
Stacks— Artiiicial  Curing  of  Hay— Curing  in  Trenches. 


,  t'O  the  dairy-farmer  It  is  always 
a  matter  of  great  importance 
that  the  hay-crop  be  well 
secured,  free  from  rain  and 
well  made ;  and  the  hay- 
harvest  in  a  fickle  climate 
^^^■^  like  that   of   England    is   a 

i  '^VJ^  ])eiiod  of  considerable  anxiety  and 
actiMtj.  Most  dairy-farmers  depend 
to  a  large  extent  on  the  hay-crop  for 
the  wintering  of  stock,  and  some  de- 
I)?nd  wholly  on  it ;  hence  it  is  very  desirable  that 
the  crop  be  harvested  in  good  condition.  Hay 
that  is  well-harvested,  cut  at  the  proper  time, 
and  neither  under  nor  over  dried,  is  very  nearly 
as  valuable  as  its  equivalent  quantity  of  green 
and  succulent  grass;  while  badly-harvested  hay, 
cut  much  too  young  or  too  old,  sunburnt  with 
too  much  exposure,  or  badly  weathered  by 
showers  of  rain,  is  so  much  reduced  in  value 
as  to  be  no  better,  and  sometimes  worse,  than 
so  much  straw.  And  in  wintering  stock  on 
hay  of  this  kind,  it  is  necessary  to  use  a  quantity 
of  corn  to  make  up  for  the  nutritive  properties 
of  which  the  hay  was  defirived  by  improper  or 
unlucky  harvesting.  This  corn  is  so  much  dead 
loss  to  the  farmer,  for  with  good  hay  he  would 
have  done  just  as  well  without  it.  There  is  some 
ground,  therefore,  for  the  anxiety  and  energy  that 
are  brought  into  play  on  a  dairy-farm  at  the  time 
of  hay-harvest.  There  is  plenty  c  f  excuse  for  the 
laj'ing  aside,  for  the  time  being,  of  all  other  farm 
operations  that  can  possibly  afford  to  wait,  and 
for  directing  all  the  available  force  toward  saving 
the  all-important  hay-crop  in  the  best  possible 
condition.     IVhen  this  is  done,  the  farmer  always 


feels  as  if  a  weight  had  been  removed  from  his 
mind.  There  is  some  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
whether  or  not  well-made  hay  is  equal  to  the 
grass  from  which  it  was  made  in  outritious 
properties  and  in  general  usefulness  to  stock. 
The  grass  must,  as  a  matter  of  course,  be  pre- 
served in  some  way  for  use  in  winter ;  it  cannot 
in  this  climate  be  left  on  the  land  and  consumed 
ill  situ  through  the  whole  of  the  year.  If  it 
were  so  left,  it  would  not  only  become  faded 
and  weather-beaten,  the  nutritive  properties 
having  mostly  gone  back  to  the  roots ;  but 
the  cattle  could  not  safely  remain  out  of  doors 
to  eat  it.  Green  grass  is,  of  course,  the  most 
nearly  perfect  food  for  dairy-cows,  and  it 
becomes  a  matter  of  importance  that  winter 
forage  should  differ  from  it  as  little  as  may  be, 
that  it  should  not  suffer  in  feeding  value,  and 
that  it  should  be  very  nearly  as  palatable  as 
the  grass  was  at  the  time  of  cutting  it.  When 
the  summer's  sun  is  hot  enough  and  not  too 
hot,  when  the  grass  is  cut  at  the  right  stage 
of  growth,  when  the  hay  is  carefully  and  in- 
telligently made,  and  when  there  is  no  rain 
about,  aU  the  valuable  properties  of  the  grass 
are  secured  in  the  hay,  and  water  only  is  given 
off  in  the  drying.  Even  the  colour,  the  sweet 
taste,  and  the  pleasant  smell  are  retained,  the 
two  latter  improved  and  the  former  not  much 
reduced;  and  the  solid  constituents  remain  in 
much  the  same  state  of  combination  as  they 
were  in  the  grass. 

Time  of  Cutting. — The  time  to  cut  meadow- 
grass  is  when  the  complexion  of  the  field 
Ijer/ins  to  wear  a  brownish  tinge.  At  this  stage 
the  bulk  of  the   grasses  are  flowering,  and  some 


17'=l 


DAiKv   FAinrixo. 


of  the  earliest  ones  have  gone  to  seed.  N'cry 
heavy  crops  should  be  cut  earlier ,  than  this, 
particularly  sewag;*  grass,  or  they  will  become 
laid  and  rotten  in  the  bottom.  Clover  should 
be  cut  when  the  majority  of  the  heads  are 
in  blossom,  for  if  it  stands  till  it  has  done 
fliiweriii"?  the  woody  fibre  increases  and  the 
nutritive  qualities  decrease  in  proportion.  All 
grass  and  clover  should,  in  fact,  be  cut  a  little 
under  rather  than  over  ripe,  as  at  this  staj^e 
they  contain  a  considerable  quantity  of  suyar, 
gum,  mucilage,  albuminous  and  other  soluble 
compounds,  which  are  all  liable  to  be  washed 
out  by  repeated  or  long-continued  showers  of 
rain,  and  ])articularly  so  after  the  hay  is  partly 
made.  While  the  grass  is  still  newly  cut  and 
fresh,  a  coating  of  waxy  or  oily  matter  is  found 
on  the  epidermis,  giving  it  a  waterproof  cover- 
ing and  protecting  it  from  injury  by  rain ;  this 
protection  remains  so  long  as  the  grass  is  fresh 
and  uiibruised,  but  when  it  has  been  turned 
and  knocked  about  repeatedly,  the  fibres  are 
more  or  less  bruised  or  broken,  the  cell-walls 
are  lacerated,  and  the  juices  containing  the  soluble 
constituents  begin  to  ooze  out  and  escape,  un- 
less the  drying  proceeds  pretty  rapidly,  sealing 
them  up  in  the  stems  and  leaves.  If  rain 
falls  at  this  period  the  drying  is 
cliecked,  the  escape  of  the  compounds 
is  promoted,  and  fermentation  sets  in, 
during  which  the  two  most  valuable 
properties  of  the  hay  are  destroyed,  viz., 
albumen  and  sugar.  So  in  showery 
weather  it  is  atlvisable  to  leave  the 
grass  or  half-made  hay  quite  alone;  for 
stirring  them  during  rain,  and  when 
there  is  no  certainty  of  getting  them 
dried  and  made  up  into  cocks  in  good 
condition,  does  much  more  harm  than 
good.  To  make  up  into  cocks  hay  that 
is  wet  with  rain-water  is  the  surest 
way  to  spoil  the  hay,  and  until  the 
rain  ceases  and  the  wet  can  be  got  out 
of  it,  it  is  best  to  leave  it  quite  alone. 
The  stirring  bruises  the  hay  all  the  more — a 
result  that  is  easily  attained  when  it  is  full  of 
rain-water  —  and  cocking  it  up  wet  only  pro- 
motes fermentation,  so  that  no  good  whatever, 
but  great  harm,  comes  of  messing  about  among 
it  ill  wet  weather. 

The  following  analyses  by  Ur.  Voolckor  ilius'- 


trate  the  mischief  which  is  done  to  hay  by  rain 
and  improper  making : 

Average  Compusitios  op  Goon  Ci.oveuhav. 

Moisture  ...         16G0 

•Nitrogenous  substances         ...         ...         ...         15'81 

Non-nitrogenous  substances 60'00 

Mineral  matter  (;ish) ...         ...  7'.59 

10000 

CloVEK-HAY   INJIUED  BY  RaIS,   AND  BAI>LY  MADE. 

Jloisturc            ...          ...          ...          ...          ...  20-4o 

tNitrogenous  organic  matter ...         ...         ...  8o0 

Non-nitrogenous  substances ...         ...         ...  6427 

Mineral  matter  (ash) 6-78 

10000 

There  is  no  good  whatever  in  stirring  hay  about 
when  even  the  atmosphere  is  such  that  no  drying 
will  take  place.  It  is  not  enough  that  it  is 
not  raining  and  that  the  hay  has  no  rain-water 
in  it,  for  if  the  atmosphere  be  damp  no  moisture 
will  evaporate  from  the  hay,  consequently  no 
drying  is  going  on,  and  the  hay  is  far  better 
left  alone  without  the  bruising  it  gets  in  stirring 
and  knocking  about.  It  is  sun,  or  wind,  or  dry 
air,  or  all  these  together  that  do  the  drying;  and, 
however  valuable  it  may  be  with  them,  stirring 
is  absolutely  worthless  without  them. 

Mow  ill  ff    Macliiiii's.  —  The    invention    of    the 


Fig.  72.— MowiNu  ilACHiNE. 

mowing-machine,  and  its  general  adoption  through- 
out the  country,  have  completely  changed  the 
features  of  hay-making.  In  Fig.  72  we  give  an 
illustration  of  a  two-horse  grass-mower,  by  means 
of   which   8  or   10    acres    of    grass    may    be  con- 

•  Containing  nitrogen        ...       2*.^2 
t  Containing  nitrogen         ..       r36 


HAY-MAKING. 


179 


veniently  mown   in   oue  day,  ono    mau    and    two 
horses   only   boing'  omj)loyt'd ;   it'  more  is   wanted 


Fig.  73.- Sharpening  Knii'e. 

to  be  cutj  a  change  o£  horses  will  be  necessary, 
and  the  driver  will  want  attending  to  with 
sharpened  knives  and  other  requisites.  By  far 
the  best  method  of  sharpening  mower-knives 
is  seen  in  Fig.  73.  A  fine  grindstone  running 
in  water  will  do  the  blades  much  less  harm 
than  file-sharpening  will,  for  the  stone  does  not 
destroy  the  tempering  of  the  knife, 
and  when  a  treadle  is  attached  to 
the  grindstone,  one  mau  will 
sharpen  a  knife  in  a  very  short 
time.  The  three  chief  things  to  he 
attended  to  in  using  a  grass-mower 
are  sharpening,  oiling,  and  driving ; 
the  rest  will  then  take  care  of  itself. 
A  good  machine  is  an  immense  ad- 
vantage to  a  farmer,  if  he  has  a 
careful  man  to  drive  it,  or  if  he  drives 
it  himself;  by  setting  to  work  at 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  several 
acres  may  be  cut  before  the  heat  of 
the  day  comes  on,  and  without  op- 
pressing either  man  or  horses ;  the 
gi'ass  is  down  ready  for  the  morning's  sun,  and  both 
man  and  horses,  after  an  hour's  rest,  are  at  liberty 
for  other  work;  or,  when  the  weather  is  settled, 
a  large  acreage  can  be  cut  by  relays  of  horses. 
A  spell  of  fine  weather  is  made  the  utmost  use 
26 


of,  and  the  harvest  is  over  in  a  very  short  time; 
or,  if  the  weatlier  is  unsettled,  the  grass  can  be 
left  standing  till  there  is  better  jiromise,  and 
then  be  quickly  mown.  It  is  difficult  to  say 
whether  a  mower  is  of  most  striking  value  in 
a  settled  or  in  an  unsettled  time  of  weather ;  in 
the  latter  case  a  few  fine  days  can  be  made 
the  best  use  of,  and  in  the  former  the  harvest 
is  quickly  over.  Anyway,  no  farmer  who  cuts 
10  acres  of  grass  ought  to  be  without  a  mower, 
unless  he  can  always  depend  on  having  the 
mowing  done  by  a  neighbour  at  a  moderate  cost ; 
and  for  small  farms  a  one-horse  will  be  found 
preferable  to  a  two-horse  machine. 

Haij-malcers. — Grass  that  is  cut  by  machine  lies 
in  good  form  for  drying,  and  it  may  be  left  so 
until  next  day  if  there  is  other  work  to  do;  and, 
indeed,  as  a  rule  it  .is  as  well  left  until  next  day, 
unless  the  weather  is  unusually  hot,  and  there  is 
a  danger  of  its  being  sunburnt.  It  is  difficult 
to  shake  out  machine  swathes  by  hand  or  with 
a  fork,  when  they  want  tedding,  simjjly  because 
they  are  so  much  spread  over  the  land  ;  and  to  do 
the  work  well  a  tedding-machine,  or  hay-maker 
(Fig.  74),  is  required.  However  valuable  a  mower 
may  be,  a  tedder  is  hardly  less  so ;  and,  indeed, 
the  latter  is  almost  a  necessary  sequel  to  the 
former.  The  forward  motion  for  tedding,  and  the 
backward  for  turning,  are  each  useful  time  after 
time  in  the  hay,  and  the   hay-maker  is    a   most 


Fig.  74. — Hat-maker. 

valuable  machine ;  it  will  do  all  that  is  required  in 
settled  weather  to  make  the  hay  dry  enough  for 
stacking,  and  it  is  a  good  plan  to  keep  it  going 
all  day,  repeatedly  stirring  the  hay  about,  now 
shaking  it  out  and  now  turning  it,  mixing  it  well 


180 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


up  tofijether,  leavin<T  it  so  light  on  the  <j;r(iiiml  that 
sun  auJ  wind  can  get  freely  into  it,  and  making  it 


Fig.    75.— HOHSE-RAKE. 

better  and  quicker  than  can  be  done  by  hand.  In 
very  hot  weather  the  hay-maker  is  particularly 
valuable;  the  hay  requires  to  be  constantly  kept 
stirring,  so  that  the  sun  may  not  scorch  a  portion" 
of  it  while  the  rest  is  still  under-made.  Sunburnt 
hay  is  deprived  of  no  small 
portion  of  its  nutritive  pro- 
perties, and  it  does  not  con- 
tain enough  moisture;  the 
only  way  to  prevent  this  is 
to  stir  it  about  as  often  as 
possible,  and  for  this  purpose 
the  tedder  is  uncommonly 
useful. 

Horse-rakes.  —  In  good 
weather  the  hay  will  not  re- 
quire    touching     at    all     by 

liaiul.      The  mower  cuts  it;  

the     tedder    stirs    it    about, 

leaving  it  light  on  the  Held ;  _ 

the  sun  and  wind  dry  it,  and 

it  is  ready  for  stacking.     At 

this  stage  a  horse-rake  (Fig. 

75)  will  be  found  a  most  useful   inqilciiicnt,  doing 

the  work  of  si.\  or  eight  men,  who  are  thus  set  at 

liberty  for  carting  and  stacking.    A  horse-rake  with 

four-feel-six  wheels  will  collect  the  hay  into  rows 


that  are  quite  thick  cninigh  to  cart  from,  leaving 
the  ground  much  cleaner  than  would  be  done  by 
hand,  and  in  long 
hay  leaving  it  so 
clean  that  it  will 
require  no  raking 
afterwards ;  in  short 
hay  it  will  gene- 
rally be  found  neces- 
sary to  rake  the 
ground  after  the 
"  putting  -  in  "  is 
done,  but  this  the 
horse-rake  will  do, 
crossing  the  direc- 
tion taken  before 
and  raking  perfectly 
clean.  A  boy  riding 
and  a  light  horse 
will  do  a  large 
amount  of  work  in 
a  veiy  short  time 
with  one  of  these 
self-acting  horse- 
rakes,  and  a  farmer  with  20  acres  of  hay  will 
always  be  repaid  in  a  short  time  the  capital  laid 
out  in  buying  one  of  them. 

Hay-loaders. — For  large  farms  the  hay-loader 
(Fig.  76)  is  a  very  valuable  implement.     In  con- 


struction it  is  not  unlike  a  liay-makcr  :  a  revolving 
frame  with  curvetl  teeth  places  the  hay  on  an  end- 
less web,  which  conveys  it  to  the  top  of  the  load; 
the  horses  arc  kept  g^ing,  and  the  wheels  of  both 


HAY-LOADER    AT    WORK. 


181 


wa<2jgon  and  luadcr  are  astride  tlie  row  (if  hay; 
the  machine  is  easily  and  qnickly  attached  to  and 
disengaged  from  any  kind  of  harvesting  cart  or 
waggon,  and  it  takes  up  the  hay  as  cleanly  as  a 
fork ;  it  will  raise  a  ton  of  hay  from  the  wind- 
row in  live  minutes,  and  it  requires  no  exti-a 
men  or  horses  to  work  it;  it  will  work  satis- 
factorily on  all  fairly  level  and  even  land,  and 
it  can  be  used  to  gather  loose  grain-crops 
with  equal  facility.  These  are  the  advantages 
claimed  for  it.     Fig.  77  shows  the  loader  at  work. 


and  in  wliieli  good  seasons  for  securing  crops  are 
the  exception  and  bad  ones  the  rule,  it  is  a  great 
advantage  to  be  able  to  avoid  rick-making. 
^^^lere  there  is  a  hay-barn  the  hay  can  be 
secured  load  after  load  as  it  gets  ready,  but 
where  stacks  are  made  it  must  either  be  made  up 
into  "  tramp-cocks,"  where  it  can  remain  until 
there  is  sufficient  to  begin  and  finish  a  rick,  or  a 
rick-cloth  must  be  put  up,  as  in  Fig.  78,  with  the 
poles  stuck  in  cart-wheels  or  in  the  ground ;  and 
if  neither  of  these  precautions  is  adopted  there  is 


Fig.  77.— Hay-loader  at  AYork. 


These  four  machines — the  mower,  the  tedder, 
the  raker,  and  the  loader — costing  no  more  than 
two  middling  horses,  are  an  excellent  invest- 
ment for  a  farmer  who  cuts  50  or  60  acres  of 
meadow-grass;  and  even  on  small  farms,  a  one- 
horse  mower,  with  a  small  tedder  and  horse-rake, 
will  pay  excellent  interest  on  the  outlay,  enabling 
the  farmer  to  do  more  work  in  less  time  and 
with  fewer  hands  than  could  be  done  under 
the  old-fashioned  system  of  hay-making. 

Hay-hams. — One  of  the  most  useful  of  modern 
farm  equipments  is  the  hay-barn,  which  is  simply 
a  permanent  shed  for  the  storage  of  hay  or  of 
corn.     lu  a  climate  whose  fickleness  is  proverbial. 


danger  of  the  rick  being  deluged  while  it  is  still  at 
the  width,  in  which  case  there  is  great  trouble  to 
get  it  dry  again.  But  a  rick-cloth  does  not  remove 
the  necessity  of  aftenvards  roofing  and  thatching 
the  rick,  and  the  former  of  these  is  a  tedious,  the 
latter  an  exj)ensive  operation ;  it  is  at  best  a  pro- 
tection against  rain  whilst  the  rick  is  being  made, 
and  can  in  no  sense  be  regarded  as  more  than 
temporary,  whereas  a  hay-bam  provides  all  the 
advantages  of  the  rick-cloth,  with  various  addi- 
tional ones,  and  it  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
a  permanent  protection  against  bad  weather. 
Where  there  is  a  good  hay-barn,  several  cart-loads 
can  be  hastily  drawn  in  under  it,  if  the  weather  is 


IS'Z 


DAIKV    FARMING. 


threatening  and  there  is  hay  dry  in  the  field,  and 
tliey  can  be  inihjaded  at  leisure  when  the  rain  is 
falling'.  A  hay-barn  admits  of  the  hay  being  got  a 
little  softer,  because  it  can  be  stored  away  a  load  or 
two  at  a  time,  and  so  settle  quietly  down,  cooling 


Fig.  78.— Hay-stack  and  Rickcloth. 

as  it  settles;  but  if  hay  is  got  too  soft,  and  put 
into  a  rick  which  is  begun  and  completed  in  a 
couple  of  days  or  so,  the  excess  of  moisture  causes 
far  more  "sweating"  than  is  good  for  the  hay.  In 
many  cases  the  ricks  have  had  to  be  hastily  cut  to 
prevent  firing,  and  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  for 
hay-rieks  to  be  destroyed  by  spontaneous  combus- 
tion, which  comes  of  the  heating  and  sweating. 
Hay-barns,  too,  are  very  useful  for  a  variety 
of  purposes  when 
there  is  s^Jare  room 
in  them ;  for  the 
storage  of  carts  and 
implements,  and  in 
sj)nng-time  they  are 
])articularly  useful 
as  lambing  -  sheds, 
for  by  that  time 
the  bulk  of  the 
hay  is  generally 
eaten . 

Hay  -  barns     are 
constructed  in  many 

different  ways  and  of  a  great  variety  of  materials. 
They  may  be  run  up  at  a  very  moderate  cost  on  i)oles 
stuck  in  the  ground,  surmounted  by  a  light  frame- 
work which  is  covered  over  with  asphalted  cloth ; 
and  a  straeture  of  this  kind  will  ans-wer  every  pur- 
pose required  of  a  hay-barn,  while  it  will  last  a 
long  period  if  it  is  smeared  over  w  ith  boiled  u-as- 


tar  every  second  year,  to  preserve  it  against  the 
damp.  They  are  also  commonly  built  in  a  sub- 
stantial manner  on  brick  or  stone  or  iron  pillars, 
and  roofed  wth  tile  or  slate,  and  in  many  cases 
the  bleak  side  of  the  barn  will  be  entirely  built  in 
with  wall,  the  front  only  being  open  and 
standing  on  pillars.  The  most  recent, 
and,  on  the  whole,  the  most  ajijjroved 
>=,  and  satisfactory  kind  are  built  Avholly  of 

iron,  as  seen  in  Fig.  79,  or  the  barn  may 
be  a  single  rather  than  a  double  one ;  the 
j)^^^  are  of  east-iron,  standing  on  and 
strongly  bolted  to  large  slabs  of  stone 
that  stand  a  foot  or  two  out  of  the  ground 
and  dip  a  foot  or  two  into  it,  and  the 
roof  is  of  corrugated  and  galvanised 
sheet-iron,  well  braced  and  bolted,  and 
firmly  attached  to  the  pillars.  Such  a 
barn  as  this,  erected  at  a  moderate  cost, 
will  hold  an  enormous  quantity  of  hay 
or  corn,  and  it  will  be  noticed  that  the 
carts  or  Avaggons  may  be  drawn  in  and  un- 
loaded under  cover,  part  of  the  barn  being  filled 
up  at  a  time.  The  hay-barn  in  the  cut  has 
a  raised  floor,  whose  object  is  to  keep  the  hay 
off  the  damp  ground.  The  best  kind  of  floor 
is  stone  or  asphalte,  well  laid  down. 

If  the  hay  is  got  hurriedly  on  account  of  the 
weather,  and  rather  soft,  it  is  a  simple  matter  to 
leave  a  sort  of  chimney  here  and  there  in  it  to  allow 


Fig.  79.— lEON  Hay-babn. 

the  heat  and  steam  to  escape ;  this  is  simply  done 
by  filling  a  sack  with  hay,  setting  it  upright 
on  the  ground,  building  the  hay  round  it,  and 
drawing  it  up  as  the  hay-mow  rises;  or  it  may 
be  done  by  nailing  strijis  of  wood  on  three  jioles 
that  iire  ])laced  in  a  triangular  form,  reaching 
from  the  bottom  to  the    top,    aud    remaining  in 


HORSE-FORKS. 


183 


the    mow.       Either   of    these     methods    is    very 
simple  and  very  effectual. 

Horse-forks. — Another  valuable,  and   time  as 
well  as  lahour  saving  equipment  of  modern  days. 


Ui^Mi^^l'l/— ^^ 


Fig.  80.— Horse- FORK. 

is  the  horse-fork,  or  elevator.  Of  these  implements 
there  is  an  endless  variety,  but  one  principle  is 
common  to  all  of  them,  viz.,  the  employment  of 
horse-power  by  means  of  rojses  and  pulleys.  In 
Fig.  80  is  sho^vn  one  of  the  most  effective  of  these 
tools,  and  also  the  method  by  which  it  is  emploj'ed 
inside  a  building.  Two  parallel  and  stout  spars 
of  wood,  some  6  or  8  inches  apart,  and  leaving 
a  clear  space  between  them  all  along,  are  sus- 
pended from  and  well  braeed  to  the  ridge-tree 
of  the  barn.  The  fork  is  suspended  from  a 
carriage  which  nins  on  four  wheels,  a  ;  one  end 
of  the  rojse  is  fast,  and  the  other  runs  over 
pulleys,  B,  passing  do\vn  to  the  ground,  where 
it  runs  under  a  third  pulley  and  is  attached  to 
the  horse.     Tlie  fork  with  its  load  is  easily  sent 


along  the  whole  length  of  the  building,  and  the 
load  is  dropped  wherever  it  is  wanted  by  pulling 
the  rope  c,  which  forces  the  forks  asunder.  The 
general  arrangement  of  this  simple  but  effective 
machinery  inside  a  hay-barn  is  seen  in  Fig.  81. 
By  means  of  it  a  cart-load  of  hay  can  be  unloaded 


at  three  grabs  and  in  aljout  five  minutes,  saving 
the  toilsome  labour  of  pitching  by  hand,  and 
doing  the  work  with  fewer  hands  and  in  much 
less  time. 

Another   kind   of  horse-fork    is    made  to  nm 
on  one  spar  only,  which  is  not  rigid,  but  merely 


1     Rk   ON  l-RVMEWORk 


suspended  from  the  ridge-tree.  In  this  case  the 
four  small  wheels  which  carry  the  fork  run  on  the 
one  spar  instead  of  two,  clasping  it,  so  to  speak, 
turned  inwards  instead  of  outwards  on  the  frame 
to  which  they  and  the  fork  are  attached,  and 
leaving  a  space  between  each  pair,  so  as  to  clear 
the  iron  bolts  by  which  the  spar  is  suspended. 
This  principle  will  answer  instead  of  the  fore- 
going one  inside  a  barn,  while  it  admits  of  being 
arranged  to  serve  for  stacking  outside,  as  seen 
in  Fig.  82 ;  and  the  framework  that  carries  the 
fork-equipment  will  answer  well  to  sustain  a 
rick-cloth  in  showery  weather. 

Yet  another  kind,  made  by  Mr.  Wright,  of 
Cardiff,  used  for  stacking  only,  and  not  applicable 
to  the  inside  of  a  barn,  is  attached  to  a  pole  and 
suspended  from  a  boom,  as  seen  in  Fig.  83.     The 


Kg.  83. — HoRSE-PORK  ON  Pole. 

boom  works  freely  either  to  the  right  or  left, 
dropping  its  load  in  almost  any  desired  place  on 
a  moderately  big  stack.  The  fork  is  adapted  for 
hay,  straw,  chaff,  or  even  com  in  sheaf,  and  it 
will  unload  a  two-hoi-se  waggon,  elevating  the 
load  to  a  height  of  30  feet  or  so,  in  from  five  to 


184 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


ten  minutes.  One  or  ntlicr  of  tlicsi'  im))lem('nfs, 
aeeoi'ilin<T  to  requirement  and  taste,  will  Ije  found 
of  great  service  to  the  dairy-farmer  iu  the  Ini.sy 
time  of  harvest. 

Artijicial  Jlaij-mnhiitg. — The  artificial  dryin<j 
of  hay  in  a  treacherous  climate  like  that  of 
Britain  is  a  question  full  of  importance  to 
farmers.  It  not  uncommonly  lia])|)ens  that  the 
cro])  is  made  almost  completely  worthless,  and  it 
is  frequently  <i^reatly  injured,  Ly  continuous  wet 
weather  in  harvest-time.  In  such  cases  the  farmer 
is  utterly  helpless,  and  all  he  can  do  is  to  stand 
by  and  see  the  mi.sehief  done,  being'  pow^erless  to 
prevent  it.  But  the  pi-oblem  of  saving  the  hay-crop 
in  a  wet  season  by  means  of  artificial  heat  a]ipears 
to    have    been    solved    bv  Mr.   Gil)})s,   of    Gilwell 


one  dircctiiin,  llien  in  another,  the  combination  of 
the  two  movements  being  such  that  it  causes  the 
"•rass  to  pa.ss  along  from  the  end  at  which  it  is 
fed  to  that  at  which  it  is  delivered  in  a  dry  con- 
dition. The  third  movement  is  very  novel  and 
curious  in  its  action.  The  tines  are  not  (ixed  on 
the  shaft,  but  the  'boss'  which  carries  them, 
and  which  is  connected  to  the  shaft,  has  a  certain 
amount  of  play  given  to  it ;  hence,  when  the 
tines  are  lifted  by  the  revolutions  of  the  cranks, 
they  finish  oif  with  a  diagonal  action,  which  gives 
a  movement  in  the  direction  of  the  delivery  end 
of  the  machine,  and  this  causes  the  grass  to  move 
along  the  table  towards  that  end. 

"  The   result    of    these  three    actions    is   that 
srass   fed    in   at    one   end    in   the   most   tangled 


Fig.  84.— Artikicial  Hay  maker. 


Park,  Essex,  after  many  years'  patient  study  and 
experiment.  In  Fig.  84  we  give  a  woodcut  of 
the  harvester,  and  the  following  description  of  it 
i.s  by  Mr.  R.  S.  Burn  :— 

"  When  examining  Mr.  Gibbs'  latest  form  of 
machine  for  hay-drying,  I  was  struck  with  the 
way  in  which  it  opens  uj)  the  grass  so  as  to  present 
every  part  of  every  fibre  thoroughly  to  the  dry 
air.  This  is  done  by  a  combination  of  movements, 
capable  of  adjustment  as  to  speed  and  angle.  The 
first  movement  is  effected  by  tines  placed  upon 
a  horizontal  cranked  shaft,  very  much  after  the 
fashion  of  the  three-throw  pump.  The  tines  are 
placed  at  intervals  on  the  shaft.  The  second 
motion  is  the  '  reciprocating,'  applied  to  the 
table  on  which  the  grass  rests,  and  along  which 
it  moves  while  being  subjected  to  the  dry  air; 
while,  therefore,  the  grass  is  tedded  liy  the  tines, 
it  is  at  the  same  time  moved   altcrnatolv,  first  in 


and  matted  condition,  or  wet,  half-made  hay, 
comes  out  at  the  delivery  end  quite  loose  and 
fipened  up.  The  action  of  the  tines  is  pecu-. 
liarly  delicate  and  yet  forcible,  and  the  extreme 
simplicity  of  the  mechanical  movements  and  fit- 
tings is  the  best  feature  of  the  apparatus.  There 
is  nothing  of  importance  to  go  wrong ;  any 
labourer  can  work  it,  adjust  its  parts,  and  repair 
them  instantly." 

During  the  tossiug  about  the  hay  is  exposed 
to  a  current  of  heated  air,  produced  from  coke, 
which  quickly  drives  off  the  moisture,  and  the 
effect  of  this  artificial  drying  is  to  restore  quality 
to  hay  which  has  been  partly  spoilt  by  the  rain. 
The  colour  of  good  hay  is  preserved  and  the 
odour  maintained  when  freshly-cut  grass  is  used; 
and  these  qualities  are  brought  back  in  some 
measure  when  they  have  been  lost  by  oveiTnuch 
exposure    to    wet.     The    fan   of    the  furnace   and 


ENSILAGE. 


]S5 


the  maoliineiy  ci£  the  (hyer  are  di-iveii  by  an 
engine;  the  rest  of  the  arranirement  is  elearly 
enouo-h  seen  in  the  iUustration.  The  quantity 
of  hay  that  this  machine  will  make  in  a  day 
depends  on  the  degree  of  wetness  in  the  hay; 
it  is,  as  a  rule,  better  to  let  the  hay  be  partly 
made  in  the  field  and  to  finish  it  off  iu  the 
machine,  if  this  can  be  done  in  the  wet  weather, 
during  which  the  machine  is  valuable;  and  of 
this  half-made  hay  the  machine  will  get  through 
a  load  an  hour,  while  freshly-cut  grass  would  take 
a  longer  time.  The  machine  is  not  designed 
to  supereede  the  ordinary  method  of  hay-making 
in  good  weather,  but  to  continue  the  work  when 
the  weather  is  such  that  it  is  impossible  to  save 
the  hay  in  the  usual  way.  The  inventor  has 
received  many  testimonials  as  to  the  efficiency 
of  his  machine  fi'om  practical  agriculturists  iu 
this  and  other  countries.  We  have  seen  Mr. 
Gibbs  put  green  grass,  and  afterwards  badly- 
weathered  and  thoroughly-wetted  hay,  into  his 
machine ;  the  former  came  out  sweet-smelling, 
well-made  green  hay,  and  the  latter  a  tolerable 
article,  very  much  improved  in  the  process,  which 
lasted  some  four  or  five  minutes.  The  invention 
is  clearly  one  of  great  value  and  merit. 

Ensildf/e. — The  following  very  curious  system 
of  storing  green  fodder  is  of  Hungarian  origin, 
and  was  introduced  to  the  notice  of  British 
farmei-s  by  Professor  Wriglitson,  in  an  article 
contributed  to  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agri- 
cultural Society  in  the  year  1S7J-.  The  system 
consists  in  cramming  the  green  food,  of  what- 
ever description,  tightly  down  into  deep  and  wide 
trenches  that  have  been  dug  in  the  ground,  and 
the  wetter  the  fodder  is  the  better  its  packing 
and  preservation;  when  cut  out  in  winter  it  is 
found  to  be  a  rich  brown  colour,  very  palatable 


to  stock,  and  it  is  known  under  the  unattractive 
name  of  "  sour  hay."  In  this  way  various  kind;; 
ol  green  forage  may  be  preserved  for  winter 
use. 

In  France  the  system  has  been  somewhat  ex- 
tensively practised  for  several  years.  It  is  there 
known  by  the  term  "  ensilage,"  which  means, 
literally,  in  a  pit  or  trench ;  but  the  word  is  now 
understood  to  mean  also  green  fodder  that  has 
been  preserved  in  a  pit  or  trench.  Green  maize  is 
put  through  a  chaff-cutter  and  cut  into  half-inch 
lengths,  in  which  form  it  is  found  to  pack  better 
and  closer  ;  the  air  is  exeludal  more  satisfactorily, 
and  the  preservation  of  the  fodder  thereby  secured. 
Pits  are  dug  in  the  ground,  the  perpendicular  sides 
walled  and  the  inside  cemented  to  exclirde  the  air, 
while  rain  and  the  water  in  the  soil  are  kept  out 
of  it,  the  one  by  a  roof  and  the  other  by  drains. 
In  some  eases  a  building  is  j^ut  uj)  purpcjsely  for 
ensilage,  with  the  walls  well  cemented.  The  main 
requirement  is  the  exclusion  of  air,  the  next  the 
exclusion  of  extraneous  water ;  yet  the  forage  can- 
not contain  too  much  moisture  of  its  own.  As 
the  j)reservation  of  the  fodder  is  generally  more  or 
less  defective  round  the  outsides,  it  is  probable 
that  a  circular  trench  or  building  would  be  the 
most  suitable  form,  presenting  the  least  area  of 
outside ;  and  it  should  be  as  large  as  may  be  con- 
sistent with  convenience  and  economy  in  practice. 
In  using  the  ensilage  a  portion  is  taken  out  of  the 
pit  each  day  for  the  next  day's  use ;  and,  however 
cold  it  may  be  when  taken  out,  it  becomes  in 
twelve  or  fifteen  hours'  time  quite  warm  with 
active  fermentation.  After  twenty-four  hours' 
exposure  to  the  air  it  will  have  passed  the  proper 
limit  of  fermentation,  and  will  then  rapidly  spoil. 
While  iu  the  pit  the  fermentation  is  very  slow ; 
exposure  to  the  air  stimulates  it. 


CHAPTER     XIV. 

Milk. 

Varying  Qualities  of  Milk— As  shown  in  Different  Breeds  of  Cattle— Anatomy  of  the  JIanimal  Glands— Physiology  of  Milk 
Secretion— Pliysical  Properties  of  Milk— Its  Various  Constituents— Butter— Milk-Sugar— Other  Con- 
stituents—Influences bearing  on  the  Secretion  of  Milk. 


I'^N  clairy-farmin<ij  one  promi- 
^  iient  fact  must  always  be 
borne  in  mind :  that  some 
breeds  of  cows  are  sjiecially 
adajited  to  butter,  and 
others  to  cheese  produc- 
tion. And  this  holds  good  not  only 
in  reference  to  different  breeds,  but 
also  to  different  animals  of  the  same 
breed.  Every  one  who  has  paid  at- 
tention to  cheese  and  butter  making 
is  aware  that  certain  cows  in  a  herd  are  much 
better  "  butter-cows  ■"  than  the  rest ;  and  this 
is  seen  not  only  in  the  quantity  of  butter  their 
milk  will  yield,  but  also  in  the  readiness  with 
which  the  cream  is  churned.  Some  breeds, 
indeed  —  the  Ayrsliires,  for  example,  and,  in  a 
somewhat  less  pronounced  degree,  the  Short- 
horns —  are  well  adapted  to  the  production  of 
either  cheese  or  butter,  as  may  be  desired;  and 
yet  in  these  breeds  there  will  be  a  difference, 
as  between  one  animal  and  another,  with 
regard  to  special  adaptation  to  the  one  pur- 
pose or  to  the  other,  as  the  case  may  be. 
Speaking  in  general  terms,  both  the  quantity 
of  milk  given  and  its  special  features  will 
bear  a  given  relation  to  the  tyi>e  of  the  breed. 
Left  in  a  state  of  nature,  or  when  not  bred  and 
trained  for  the  production  of  milk,  we  find  that 
cows  are  unable  to  do  much  more,  so  far  as 
milk  is  concerned,  than  support  their  own 
calves ;  and  wherever  we  find  a  breed  of  cows 
celebrated  either  for  quantity  or  for  quality  of 
milk,  we  may  conclude  justly  that  its  reputation 
in  this  respect  is  chiefly  owing  to  the  skill 
which  man  has  brought  to  bear,  one  generation 
after  another,  with  a  view  to  secure  the  sort  of 
animal    most    useful    to    him.       In   a   ereater   or 


lesser  degree,  and  with  varying  success,  all 
dairy-farmers  seek  to  do  this.  Locality  and 
soil,  no  doubt,  have  a  great  influence  on  the 
result,  but  the  art  of  man  has  a  greater,  though 
he  cannot  entirely  overrule  those  influences 
that  are  not  his  own.  In  speaking  of  a 
breed  of  cows,  as  adapted  to  dairy  uses,  it  is 
unfair  to  take  exceptional  individuals  of  that 
breed  and  hold  them  up  as  an  illustration  of 
the  type;  this  may  only  be  done  when  we  wish 
to  show  the  highest  capability  of  a  specimen 
animal  j)roduced  by  the  breed,  or  when  we  give 
an  illustration  of  the  end  we  wish  to  attain. 
Such  an  animal,  indeed,  is,  at  the  present  time 
especially,  a  practical  expression  of  the  average 
ojiinions  of  the  best  breeders  as  to  the  qualities 
they  consider  are  best  fitted  to  the  end  they  have 
in  view ;  but  as  yet  there  are  few,  if  any,  breeds 
whose  special  characteristics  do  not  fluctuate 
more  or  less  in  different  individuals  of  the  breed. 

In  respect  of  some  breeds  of  cattle,  as,  for 
instance,  the  Scotch  Polled  or  the  Hcrofords, 
the  object  of  several  generations  of  breeders 
appears  to  have  been  less  the  production  of  milk 
than  of  beef,  and  perhaps  more  the  quality  of 
the  beef  than  the  highest  form  of  symmetry 
in  the  animal.  In  other  cases,  of  which  the 
Ayrsliires  are  the  best  example  we  have  in 
the  British  Islands,  the  object  has  been  to  pro- 
duce a  breed  of  cows  whose  reputation  rests 
chiefly  on  the  large  quantity  of  milk  they  give, 
the  production  of  beef  having  been  an  extrinsic 
consideration.  And  yet  again,  other  brei^ds, 
of  which  the  Alderneys  may  be  taken  as  the 
liighest  type  in  this  or  any  other  eoimtry, 
have  been  bred  with  a  view  to  quality  of  milk 
rather  than  quantity,  and  beef  has  been  at  most 
a  secondary  consideration.      Once  more,  the  Short- 


MILK    OF    DIFFERENT    RACES. 


187 


horns  present  to  us  an  embodiment  of  the  best 
results  yet  attained  in  combining  symmetry, 
size,  beef,  and  milk  in  one  breed ;  and  yet 
the  Shorthorns  are  apt  to  swerve  too  much  in 
the  direction  of  one  or  two  of  these  quaHfica- 
tious,  leaving  the  others  more  or  less  in  the 
background,  if  the  breeding  is  not  carefully 
watched  and  undue  tendencies  immediately  check- 
mated. 

For  her  size,  the  Ayrshire  cow  is  com- 
monly considered,  in  districts  where  she  is  well 
known,  to  be  the  highest  embodiment  of  great 
milking  powers ;  and  though,  on  account  of 
the  smaller  average  size  of  the  cream-globules 
in  it  (Fig.  85),  her  milk  is  not  so  well  adapted 
as  that  of  the  Alderney  to  butter-making,  it  is 
not  because  it  is  really  poor  in  fats,  but  because 
the  cream-globules,  being  as  a  rule  smaller, 
separate  less  readily  from  the  milk.  For 
this  reason  the  milk  of  the  Ayrshire  cow 
is  especially  adapted  to  cheese-making,  be- 
cause the  butter  is  the  more  perfectly 
enclosed  in  the  curd ;  the  milk  of  the  j° 
Alderney,  on  the  contrary,  is  especially 
adapted  to  butter-making,  because  the  cream- 
globules,  being  larger,  rise  the  more  readily 
to  the  surface  of  the  milk,  and  the  cream 
is  the  more  easily  churned  into  butter  (Fig. 
86).  And  the  Ayrshire  cow  presents  the 
wedge-like  form  which  is  by  many  considered 
to  be  the  most  conducive  to  milk-production — 
that  is,  her  hind-quarters  are  spacious,  deep, 
and  well  developed,  while  her  fore-end  is  lighter, 
finer,  thinner,  and  narrower.  Her  udder  and 
teats,  too,  present  us  with  another  peculiarity, 
which  may  or  may  not  be  indicative  of  deep 
milking  properties :  the  udder  is  attached  to  a 
larger  portion  of  the  surface  of  the  abdomen — 
that  is,  it  spreads  further  forward  and  backward, 
is  held  up  flatter  and  closer  to  the  body,  and 
is  less  of  a  pendent  form  than  in  most  other 
breeds;  the  teats  have  a  close  affinity  to  the 
udder  in  form,  being  rather  short  and  stumpy, 
and  set  wide  apart — less  pronounced,  in  fact,  and 
more  as  if-  they  were  an  after-thought  than 
those  of  other  kinds  of  cows.  It  is  not  to  be 
desired  either  that  the  udder-glands  should  stretch 
along  the  belly  too  far,  or  that  the  teats  should 
be  very  flat  and  short,  for  in  the  latter  case  it 
is  very  diflScult  to  milk  them  by  hand;  but 
spreading  rather  tlmn  pendent  teats  and  udders 
27 


are  peculiarities  of  true-bred  Ayrshires,  and, 
within  bounds,  it  is  better  they  should  be  as  they 
are  in  general  form. 

If  we  take  the  Alderneys  as  a  type  dif- 
fering in  these  respects  from  the  Ayrshires, 
we  find  their  teats  and  udders  preserving  the 
same  affinity  to  each  other  in  form  and  struc- 
ture, but  they  are  both  much  more  elongated 
and  pendent,  and  when  full  of  milk  are  more 
prominent  and  obvious  for  the  size  of  the  cattle. 
The  udder-glands  are  elongated  rather  than  flat- 
tened, pointing  downwards  rather  than  spread- 
ing forwards,  and  the  teats  are  cone-shaped 
rather  than  short  and  flat.  These  characters 
are,  in  fact,  common  to  many — to  most  — 
breeds ;  while  in  some,  the  Shorthorns,  for  ex- 
ample, the   form    and   shape    of    the    udder   and 


Fig.  85.— Ayrshike  Milk.  Fig.  86.— Jersey  Milk. 

teats,  and  the  relative  size  of  the  latter,  may 
be  regarded  as  intermediate  between  the  types 
we  have  mentioned.  The  elongation  of  both 
teats  and  udder,  and  the  size  of  the  former, 
will  generally  be  found  to  increase  the  longer 
the  cow  is  in  milk,  so  that  short  teats,  which  at 
first  are  difficult  to  milk,  will  improve  in  this 
respect.  J.  P.  S. 

Anatomy  of  the  Mammal  Gland. 

The  female  animal  of  the  bovine  species 
secretes  in  the  mammal  glands,  which  we  call 
"  udder,"  the  milk  intended  for  the  nourishment 
of  its  young. 

The  udder  of  the  cow  consists  of  two  lon- 
gitudinal glands,  which  lie  alongside  each  other, 
separated  by  a  fibrous  partition.  Each  of  these 
glands  has  two  outlets,  but  sometimes  also  three, 
in  which  case  the  third  and  hindmost  is  small,  and 
rarely  of  any  milk-producing  capacity.     The  usual 


188 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


division  of  the  iidiler  into  four  quarters*  is  not 
strictly  correct,  thouo-h  the  four  teats  are  indepen- 
dent of  each  other,  forming  as  it  were  four(li\isions 
of  tlie  uddei,  for  ducts  and  blood-vessels  run  from 
the  foremost  part  of  the  udder  to  the  other  ex- 
tremity, and  vice  verm.  The  outer  skin  of  the 
animal  covers  also  the  udder,  only  that  it  is  thinner 
and  softer  there,  and  especially  at  the  base  of  the 
teats  it  is  very  fltie  and  jjeeuliarly  elastic. 

The  degree  of  fineness  of  the  skin  on  the  udder 
is  in  direct  relation  to  the  structure  of  the  other 
skin  and  to  the  individuality  of  the  animal.  Also, 
the  iuiir  on  the  udder  gives  us  a  clue  as  to  the 
condition  of  the  animal.  Cows  with  thick,  coarse 
skin  have  also 
stifT,  coarse,  and 
long  hair  on  the 
udder ;  while 
with  fine  skin 
the  hair  is 
scarce,  soft,  and 
lustrous.  The 
teats  are  hair- 
less. 

The  udder 
is  not  merely 
covered  with 
the  general  skin 
of  the  body, 
but  underlying 
it  there  is  a 
strong  layer  of 
connective  tis- 
sue, from  which 

elastic  fibres  ramify  in  the  substance  of  the  glands, 
and  serve  to  give  the  parts  solidity.  Ligaments 
connect  the  upper  part  of  the  glands  with  the 
muscles  of  the  l)elly.  The  fil)rous  partition,  which 
lias  been  already  mentioned,  is  called  the  Ligamen- 
ium  suspensorium  mammarum,  and  is  the  most  im- 
])ortant  structure  to  hold  the  mammal  glands  in 
thei  r  position .  1 1  descends  between  the  two  glands, 
and  is  united  by  numerous  fibres  with  the  layer 
of  connective  tissue  afore-mentioned,  and  consists 
])rincipally  of  bundles  of  elastic  fibres  interwoven 
like  network,  and  inlaid  with  thickened  connective 

*  The  division  into  fourquartors  is,  however, -very  useful  in 
a  pructiciil  sense  ;  und  us  tliere  are  four  sejiarate  milk-eistc^in.s, 
and  sometimes  even  six — thouf];h  the  two  hindermost  in  tliese 
cases  are  imperfectly  developed,  and  give  no  milk — the  old 
arrangement  will  be  adliered  to.     [Kii.] 


Fig.  87.— Udder  of  a  t'ow 


a  Arteria  pudenda  estema. 

b  Vena  pudenda  externa. 

e  Coutiuuatiou  of  art.  pud.  ext. 


tissue.  Eaeli  of  the  mammal  glands,  when  deprived 
of  its  natural  covering-s,  represents  a  greyish-red 
substance  of  9  to  20  inches  in  length,  6  to  \i 
inches  in  depth,  and  -l  to  8  inches  in  breadth  during 
the  period  of  milking.  Fat  is  attached  to  it, 
especially  at  the  two  extremities,  otherwise  it  lies 
mostly  on  the  connective  tissue-covering  of  the 
glands. 

The  teats  are  grown  on  to  the  lower  part  of  the 
udder,  and  consist  of  two  parts,  the  basis  and  the 
nipple.  The  length  of  the  teats  is  very  variable  j 
and  we  can  only  say  that  generally  older  and 
better  milkers  have  larger  teats  than  younger 
and  inferior.  The  nipple  of  calves  not  yet  in  ges- 
tation is  small, 
and  the  basis 
not  apparent  ; 
only  continued 
irritation,  occa- 
sioned by  milk- 
ing or  sucking, 
fully  develops 
the  organ. 
Sinus,  or  milk- 
eistems,  we  call 
the  four  cavi- 
ties, 'one  of 
which  is  placed 
in  each  gland, 
just  above  each 
teat.  The  canal 
which  runs 
through  the 
teat  and  fur- 
nishes an  egress  for  the  milk  is  in  direct  com- 
munication with  the  sinus,  and  into  the  latter 
open  also  numerous  fine  ducts,  which,  coming  from 
the  different  parts  of  the  gland,  collect  the  milk 
which  is  formed  there. 

The  place  where  the  sinus  ends  and  the  canal 
of  the  teat  begins  is  marked  by  a  deep  indenture, 
and  from  there  to  the  end  of  the  canal  the  latter 
is  surrounded  by  muscles.  The  end  of  the  canal 
is  closed  by  a  separate  muscle.  The  size  of 
the  sinus  is  not  in  correlation  to  the  milk- 
productiveness  of  the  animal,  as  a  small  sinus 
is  often  supplemented  by  many  and  large  milk- 
ducts. 

Fig.  87 1  gives  a  view  of  the  a]>pearancc  of  the 

+  Krom  Fiirstenberg,  "  Die  Jlilehdriisen  der  Kuh." 


Lymphatic  gland. 
.  Vena  subcutanea  abdominis. 
Lymphatics. 


PHYSIOLOGY    OF    MILK. 


189 


udder  of  a  cow  after  the  skin  is  taken  off  it.  The 
vessels  are  shown  very  carefully  injected,  and 
exposed  so  as  to  show  each  material  portion  of 
the  udder  in  situ. 

The  large  milk-ducts  which  open  in  the  cistern 
fjet  smaller  the  further  they  are  from  the  latter ; 
they  also  branch  off  in  all  directions,  and  every 
branch  gets  narrower  until  it  can  only  be  dis- 
tinguished by  a  microscope.  The  organisation  of 
the  gland  which  contains  these  duets  vnW  be  found 
the  following,  when  looked  at  through  a  micro- 
scope : — Light-coloured  stripes  surround  pieces 
of  reddish-grey  gland  and  send  smaller  threads 
into  the  mass  to  surround  smaller  particles  of 
it.  The  latter  are  the  small  flaps,  the  former  the 
large  flaps,  and  the  stripes  consist  of  bundles  of 
connective  tissue,  vessels,  and  fat.  In  animals 
that  are  nourished  very  highly  there  is  much 
fat  in  this  place,  which  exercises  sometimes  a 
pressure  on  the  gland,  and  either  hinders  or 
stops  the  secretion  of  milk.  We  know  such 
udders  by  their,  at  first  sight,  promising  size,  but 
they  feel  hard  and  give  little  milk;  they  are 
called  "  flesh  udders." 

The  arteries  and  veins  of  the  udder  are 
very  large.  The  arterial  blood  comes  into  the 
udder  from  the  arteria  pudenda  externa,  which 
descends  from  the  sexual  parts  with  the  vena 
pudenda  externa.  This  artery  passes  along  the 
upper  part,  and  sends  a  small  branch  to  the  back 
part  of  the  glands.  An  inch  farther  forward 
there  are  two  large  branches,  the  arter-mammm 
posticce,  which  supply  the  after  part  of  the 
glands,  and  in  the  middle  we  find  another  large 
branch,  the  art-mammm  interna,  which  spreads 
on  the  inner  side  of  the  gland.  A  smaller  artery 
gives  blood  to  the  middle  part  of  the  gland, 
and  in  the  fore  part  of  the  gland  the  art-mammae 
anterior  does  the  same.  The  principal  artery 
now  leaves  the  udder  and  goes  towards  the 
navel,  but  it  has  become  very  small  by  this 
time. 

The  principal  veins  which  bring  the  blood 
again  out  of  the  udder  are  the  vena  pudenda 
externa  and  the  vena  suhcutanea  ahdominis. 
Their  branches  correspond  with  the  above-men- 
tioned arteries,  and  are  called  vcnce  mammae  j5o«- 
ticai,  vena  mammae  interna,  and  venm  mamma 
anferiores.  The  first  and  last  send  branches  to 
and  form  a  network  around  the  fore  and  hind 
teats.      The    exterior    of    this    network    lies    im- 


mediately under  the  skin,  the  interior  on  the 
membrane  of  the  canal  leading  out  of  the  milk- 
cistern.  The  lymphatics  accompany  the  veins 
in  their  branchings,  and  during  the  periods  of 
lactation  are  filled  with  lymph.  Each  gland 
is  provided  with  a  nerve  coming  from  the  loins, 
which  corresponds  in  its  branchings,  generally 
speaking,  with  the  veins  and  arteries. 

The  development  of  the  mammal  gland 
begins  already  in  the  fifth  week  of  the  foetus, 
when  the  latter  is  not  quite  1  inches  long. 
We  may  see  at  this  period  four  small  rounded 
protuberances,  which  are  separated  by  a  hardly 
discernible  cavity.  Later  on  we  find  in  these 
little  warts  the  traces  of  a  fine  duct,  and  the 
warts  develop  themselves  into  teats.  At  the 
time  of  birth  the  udder  consists  of  a  larger  or 
smaller  quantity  of  fatty  tissue,  which  contains 
already  a  few  ducts  surrounded  by  a  little  gland 
substance. 

The  development  of  the  gland  begins  from 
the  canal  in  the  teats.  The  new  milk-ducts,  or 
canals,  are  formed  by  new  branches  sprouting  in 
all  directions  from  those  already  existing.  The 
ends  of  these  canals  divide  at  last  into  many 
small  cells,  and  this  process  is  repeated  until 
the  udder  has  stopped  growing. 

The  secretion  of  milk  is  generally  possible 
when  the  animal  is  two  years  old ;  but  when 
the  udder  is  irritated  sooner  the  animal  may 
give  milk  soon  after  the  first  year  of  its  life. 
Such  cases  are,  of  course,  exceptional,  but  they 
have  been  repeatedly  observed.  Fiirstenberg 
has  often  tried  successfully  having  heifers 
milked  by  the  hand  or  sucked  by  a  calf,  when 
they  would  not  conceive  because  they  were  too 
fat  and  highly  fed.  After  some  time  milk 
appeared,  and  through  its  secretion  the  fat  of 
the  animal  decreased  and  conception  followed. 

Also  male  and  castrated  animals  can  give, 
under  certain  conditions,  milk  not  differing  in 
composition  from  the  milk  of  the  female  animal. 
Especially  he-goats  and  oxen  give  a  little  milk 
when  the  teats  are  irritated  regularly  by  the 
hand  or  by  sucking. 

Physiology   of  Milk    Secretion. 

It  is  not  yet  ascertained  how  milk  is  formed. 
Two  hypotheses  of  this  physiological  process 
are  very  far  apart  as   yet,   and   neither   of   them 


190 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


shows  us  more  than  the  way  in  which  it  mi<jht 
be  produced.  One  of  these  hypotheses  is  culled 
the  theory  of  fransudation,  the  other  the  theory  of 
mcfiimorp/io.iis.  The  first  assumes  a  simple  filter- 
ing of  the  constituents  of  milk  from  the  blood 
throug'h  the  gland,  and  a  turning  them  into  milk 
by  this  process;  the  second  that  milk  is  formed  in 
the  gland  by  the  decomposition  of  the  cells  of  that 
organ.  It  will  be  necessary  to  state  in  short  the 
reasons  which  both  parties  bring  forward. 

The  theory  of  metamorphosis  assumes  that 
all  feeding  experiments  of  milch-eows  have  re- 
sulted in  the  observation  that  with  the  food 
we  can  influence  the  composition  of  milk  only 
to  a  very  small  degree,  while  it  is  just  the 
opposite  with  blood,  therefore  no  transudation 
is  possible.  The  colustrum-cells,  which  appear 
before  and  after  the  birth  and  in  some  diseases, 
are  gland-cells,  which  are  in  an  incipient  state 
of  decomposition,  and  are  secreted  in  such  eases 
without  having  advanced  so  far  in  it  as  to 
be  simple  milk-globules.  Therefore  one  might 
conclude  that  the  formation  of  milk  is  in  its 
usual  and  normal  state  a  decomposition  of  gland- 
cells.  In  the  blood  the  salts  of  sodium  prevail, 
in  the  gland  those  of  potassium,  therefore  milk 
is  formed  by  liquefaction  of  the  latter.  Also, 
one  may  say  that  the  life  and  health  of  the 
sucking-oalf  would  be  continually  endangered 
if  milk  was  formed  direct  out  of  blood,  as  the 
composition  of  blood  is  subject  to  great  changes. 
Casein  is  explained  to  be  a  modification  of  ordi- 
nary cell  albumen,  which  is  decomposed.  Butter 
is  said  to  be  partly  formed  by  direct  transudation 
of  fat  out  of  the  blood,  partly  by  a  fatty  metamor- 
phosis of  albumen  in  the  gland.  Milk-sugar  may 
be  partly  derived  from  the  sugar  in  the  blood  or 
by  the  decomposition  of  fats  and  albumen. 

The  opposite  theory,  that  of  transudation,  is 
little  studied  as  yet ;  the  origin  of  casein  it  explains 
as  being  the  serum  albumen  of  the  blood,  changed 
by  a  ferment  which  exists  in  the  gland. 

It  may  be  said  that  both  these  hypotheses 
are  impossibilities  if  considered  to  their  full 
extent;  their  combination  alone  affords  explana- 
tions which  are  at  all  satisfying  to  the  present 
state  of  science.  Milk  is  not  formed  by  transuda- 
tion nor  by  metamorphosis  exclusively ;  both 
processes  must  be  certainly  called  in  requisition, 
but  to  assign  to  each  of  them  the  part  which 
it  has  to  perform  is  as  yet  impossible. 


PiiYsic.vL   Properties   of    Milk. 

The  boiling-point  of  milk  is  only  a  small 
fraction  of  a  degree  higher  than  that  of  water; 
the  freezing-point  as  much  lower.  Its  capacity 
of  heat  is  a  little  smaller  than  that  of  water ; 
about  like  0-817  to  1.  Of  course  the  capacity 
changes  according  to  the  composition.  Milk 
contracts  until  it  reaches  its  freezing-point,  and 
expands  strongly  in  the  moment  of  congelation. 
Its  power  of  expansion  is  no  constant  quantity  ; 
it  varies  according  to  the  amount  of  solids  in 
the  milk. 

Below  50"  the  consistence  of  milk  gets  more 
viscous,  and  the  more  so  the  lower  the  tem- 
perature is.  At  the  same  time,  its  powers  of 
cohesion  and  adhesion  are  augmented  in  the  same 
degree. 

The  specific  gravity  of  milk  at  59°  varies 
between  1"0;J7  and  1'035,  but  in  general,  excep- 
tional cases  excluded,  only  between  1'028  and 
1'034.  Milk  which  is  out  of  the  first  mentioned 
limits  may  be  taken  as  either  adulterated  or 
diseased.  An  experiment  made  with  233  cows 
of  different  breeds,  in  different  countries,  had 
the  following  result : — 


Over 

1-034      ... 

2 

per  cent. 

Between 

1-034  and 

1-033 

...        10 

„ 

,, 

1-033     „ 

1-032 

19 

„ 

,j 

1-032     „ 

1-031 

...       24 

,j 

J, 

1-031     „ 

1-030 

...       28 

„ 

,, 

1030     „ 

1029 

...       10 

„ 

„ 

1-029     „ 

1-028 

5 

„ 

Under 

1-028     ... 

2 

„ 

Under  normal  conditions  the  average  specific 
gravity  of  milk  obtained  from  a  number  of  cows 
will  be  1-030  to  1-031. 

The  Composition  of  ^Iii.k. 

The  milk  of  cows,  as  well  as  of  all  other  mam- 
malia, consists  of  water,  butter,  casein,  albumen, 
milk-sugar,  and  mineral  substances. 

The  average  percentage  is  the  following : — 


"Wafer             

87-2.5 

per  cent. 

Butter 

3-50 

Casein 

3-flO 

Albumen        

0-40 

Milk-sugar     

4-60 

Mineral  substances    ... 

0-75 

CHEMISTRY    OF    MILK. 


391 


The  limits  of  variation  in  the  composition 
of  pure  milk  are  considerable,  as  will  be  seen  in 
the  followinfj  table  : — • 


Water            

83-6.5  to  9000 

per  cent. 

Butter           

1-SO  „      5-20 

Casein           

3-00  „      5-00 

Albumen 

0-30  „     0-5.5 

Milk-sugar 

3-00  „      ,5-.50 

Mineral  substances  ... 

0-70  „      0-80 

Casein  is  a  member  of  the  group  albumen, 
about  which  so  little  is  yet  known.  Voeleker 
found  its  composition  to  be  the  following- : — 


Carbon 
Hydrogen... 
Nitrogen  ... 
Oxygen 
Sulphur     ... 
Phosphorus 


53  57 
7-14 
15-41 
22-03 
1-11 
0-74 


Casein  is  not  in  solution  in  the  milk,  but 
is  swelled  up  by  its  absorption  of  water  into 
a  kind  of  very  thin  jelly.  This  may  be  proved 
by  putting  milk  in  a  dialysator,  when  the 
casein  does  not  pass  the  membrane,  as  it  would 
do  if  it  were  dissolved. 

Casein,  not  soluble  in  water  and  highly-diluted 
salt  solution,  is  soluble  in  diluted  hydrochloric 
acid  and  carbonate  of  soda.  Acetic  acid  pre- 
cipitates casein,  but  dissolves  it  again  when  more 
of  it  is  added.  Casein  is  not  precipitated  on 
boiling,  but  this  is  the  case  when  rennet  is 
added  at  a  certain  temi^erature. 

The  coagulation  of  casein  is  observed  in  three 
modifications  : — 

(a)  The  natural  coagulation  by  acidity  of 
the  milk  and  by  the  influence  of  rennet ; 

(fi)   The  precipitation  with  aeidtj ;  and 

(c)   Mechanical  precipitation. 

The  first  form  may  be  .  observed  when  milk 
stands  until  it  gets  sour,  when  the  milk-sugar 
(lactine)  is  changed  slowly  to  lactic  acid,  which 
changes  the  neutra,l  phosphate  in  the  milk  into 
acid  phosphates,  and  forms  alkaline  salts  at  the 
same  time.  As  soon  as  a  certain  quantity  of 
acid  phosphates  has  formed,  which  is  in  direct 
relation  to  the  quantity  of  neutral  phosphate, 
the  casein  is  coagulated,  because  the  acid  phos- 
phate influences  the  alkali  of  the  casein. 
This  also  proves  that  the  casein  is  an  alkali- 
albuminate. 


The  formation  of  lactic  acid  out  of  milk-sugar 
is  explained  by  the  following  formula : — 

C„H,,0„  (Milk-sugar)  -|-  II^O  fWatcr)  =  CjHeOj  (lactic  acitl). 

For  some  time  before  the  coagulation  of 
the  casein  begins  by  natural  acidity  the  milk 
cannot  bear  the  slightest  addition  of  any  acid, 
nor  boiling,  without  coagulating  immediately. 
In  a  higher  temperature  less  lactic  acid  is  neces- 
sary to  coagulate  the  milk,  or  "  curdle  it,^-"  as  we 
say  in  practice. 

The  coagulation  by  rennet  belongs  also  to 
the  first  modification,  as.  before  mentioned,  as 
with  both  rennet  and  lactic  acid  the  casein  is 
precipitated  in  the  milk  in  a  jelly,  which  contracts 
very  soon  and  emits  a  greenish  fluid,  the  serum, 
or  whey.  The  rennet  only  acts  under  a  certain 
temperature ;  the  more  rennet  is  added  and  the 
higher  the  temperature  the  quicker  it  acts,  but 
the  temperature  must  be  kept  between  compara- 
tively narrow  limits^  as  otherwise  rennet  does 
not  act  properly. 

The  second  modification  (^)  or  kind  of 
coagulation  occurs  through  acids,  with  the 
exception  of  lactic  acid.  Other  acids  —  for 
instance,  diluted  hydrochloric  acid  and  acetic, 
acid — do  not  coagulate  casein  in  a  compact 
jelly,  but  in  flakes,  which  sink  to  the  bottom 
after  some  time.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that 
such  casein  is  not  fit  to  be  iised  for  making- 
cheese. 

The  third  modification  (c)  of  coagulation 
is  caused  by  different  agents ;  for  instance, 
neutral  phosphate  of  soda,  neutral  carbonate 
of  soda,  jnd  others,  which  precipitate  milk 
though  they  dissolve  casein.  The  addition  o£ 
any  of  these  agents  forms  a  strong  precij^ita- 
tion  of  phosphate  of  calcium,  which  makes 
the  casein  and  butter  fall  to  the  bottom. 
In  this  case  the  casein  has  not  been  made  in- 
soluble, because  water  will  wash  it  out  of  the 
precipitate. 

The  real  coagulation  of  casein  by  rennet  and 
acid  makes  the  casein  insoluble,  or,  more  accu- 
rately, takes  away  its  power  to  absorb  a  large 
quantity  of  water  and  to  swell  up  like  a  gelatinous 
substance.  The  butter  is  enclosed  in  all  cases  of 
coagulation  or  precipitation  of  milk  by  the  shrink- 
ing casein,  and  in  the  sei-um  (whey)  are  left  the 
soluble  constituents  of  milk  :  albumen,  milk-sugar, 
and  mineral  substances. 


192 


DAIKY    FARMING. 


Albumen. 
Colustrum,  and  also  diseased  milk,  are  p;enerally 
richer  in  albumen  than  ordinary  milk.     The  com- 
position of  albumen  is  tlie  following  : — 

Carbon 535  per  cent. 

Hydrogen  70         „ 

Nitrogen  '         15-5    .     ,, 

Oxygen 224 

Sulphur 1-6         „ 

1000 

Tlie  albumen  of  milk  is  taken  as  identica 
with  the  albumen  of  the  blood  serum ;  it  coagu- 
l.ites  at  161°  to  163°.  Carbonic,  acetic,  phos- 
pborio,  and  tartaric  acids  do  not  precipitate 
allmmen.  It  is  soluble  in  water,  diluted  acids, 
dilutwl  carbonate  of  soda,  and  common  salt. 

The  existence  of  Lacfoproteine  has  often  been 
affirmed  and  denied.  After  casein  and  albumen 
are  precipitated  and  the  pure  w]i?y  filtered  off, 
we  may  cause  another  precipitation  by  tannic 
acid.  This  is  lactoproteine,  an  albumen  which 
is  still  little  known. 

Butter. 

Butter,  the  fatty  substance  of  milk,  is  not 
in  solution  in  the  milk,  but  exists  in  shape  of 
tiny  drops,  or  globules,  which  are  suspended 
in  the  serum.  In  I  lb.  of  milk,  containing 
4  per  cent,  of  butter,  about  40,000  millions  of 
globules  must  be  contained.  After  being  churned, 
butter  is  a  yellowish,  salve-like  mass  of  about 
0'92  specific  gravity,  which  gets  crummy  under 
50°  ;  over  this  limit  pasty,  at  68°  soft,  and  at 
about  97°  it  melts,  while  at  about  73°  it  gets 
hard  again  if  cooled.  The  melting  and  solidify- 
ing points  are  variable,  like  the  composition  and 
specific  gravity.  Butter  consists  of  the  trigly- 
cerides of  the  following  fatty  acids  : — 
Butyric  acid 


Caproio 
Caprylic    , , 
Capric        „ 
Myristinc  acid 
Palmitic      „ 
Stearic        „ 
Butinic        ,, 
Oleic 


Volatile  fatty  acids. 


Real  fatty  acids. 


In  their  combination  with  glycerine  they  must 
be  classified  as  follows  : — 

Myristine 
Palmitine 
Stearino 
Butino 


ButjTine 
Caproine 
Capryline 
Caprinine 
Oleine 


As  fluid  fats. 


Myristine  and  butine  are  only  present  in 
a  very  small  percentage;  under  the  fluid  fats 
oleine  predominates  very  considerably;  so  the 
butter  consists  pnncip.ally  of  palmitine,  stearine, 
and  oleine. 

Fresh  butter  contains  in 


Solid  fat 
Fluid    ... 


Winter.    Summer. 

60  40     per  cent. 

40  eo       „ 


Yoelcker  says  butter  contains 

Solid  triglycerids 68   per  cent. 

Oleine  30         „ 

Triglycerids  of  the  volatile  fatty 

acids  and  of  caprinic  acid     ...       2         ,, 
100 

Butter  becomes  changed  in  condition  when 
we  keep  it  some  time;  we  then  call  it  rancid. 
It  is  impossible  in  practice  to  get  butter  free 
from  casein,  albumen,  and  milk-sugar.  These 
substances  decompose  sooner  or  later,  and  con- 
taminate firstly  the  oleine  and  the  triglycerides 
of  the  volatile  fatty  acids.  The  products  of 
the  decomposition  of  these  fats  can  then  be  smelt. 

The  aggregate  of  the  butter  is  fluid  in  fresh 
milk,  as  Soxhlet  has  proved.  The  globules  in  fresh 
milk  and  cream  are  rounded  in  form,  which 
proves  that  the  fat  is  fluid  and  milk  is  an  emul- 
sion. A  still  better  proof  is  that  frozen  milk 
shows  a  different  state  of  the  globules.  They 
lose  their  brightness,  become  granulated,  and 
show  under  the  microscope  the  same  apjiearance 
as  those  which  have  been  churned  for  some  time. 
AVe  see  from  this  that  the  fat  of  milk  gets  solid 
by  violent  mechanical  movement  or  in  a  tempera- 
ture of  about  25°.  Butter  globules  in  cold 
milk  may  be  cooled  down  to  this  temperature 
without  getting  solid,  though  the  point  of 
solidification  of  butter  is  73°.  We  have  several 
examples  in  physics  analogous  to  this,  and  its 
cause  is  the  resistance  of  very  small,  isolated 
particles  against  freezing.  Intensity  of  cold  or 
agitation  influences  the  solidification  of  the 
globules  unequally,  for  globules  of  smaller  size 
are  less  affected  by  both,  so  that  we  can  explain 
why  it  is  that  in  buttermilk  we  always  find 
the    smaller   jrlobules    left    and    not    turned    into 


CHEMISTRY    OP    MILK. 


193 


butter.  AVe  stoj)  eliuiiiin<;'  wlion  most  of  the 
fat  has  been  sohdihetl,  as  we  should  spoil  this 
and  beat  it  soft  a<jain  if  we  continued  the  move- 
ment still  longer. 

It  is  still  impossible  to  decide  absolutely 
whether  the  milk-fvlobules  are  covered  by  a  kind 
of  skin  or  not,  though  this  question  has  been 
discussed  and  experimented  on  for  many  years. 
Some  think  the  milk-globules  are  cells  which  liave 
fallen  off  from  the  membranes  of  the  follicles, 
and  are  consequently  covered  by  a  membrane ; 
othere  believe  they  are  covered  by  a  layer  of 
casein,  condensed  by  attraction.  Another  view 
of  the  case  is  that  the  globules  have  a  covering 
of  serum,  condensed  by  attraction.  Numbers  of 
other  theories  have  arisen  and  fallen  again,  and 
only  two  are  maintained  with  some  amount  of 
probability  until  now.  We  may  say,  either  the 
milk-globules  are  cells  and  have  a  membrane,  or 
they  are  drops  of  fat  round  which  local  attrac- 
tion has  formed  a  kind  of  halo  of  condensed  serum. 
It  would  take  too  much  space  to  go  more  into 
all  the  pros  and  cons  here,  therefore  these  state- 
ments may  suffice,  as  we  cannot  pronounce  with 
absolute  certainty  on  the  matter. 

MiLK-SDGAR  {lactiiie,  lactose). 

Milk-sugar  has  been  found  in  milk  as  far  back 
as  1G19.  Its  chemical  formula  is  C12H22O11+  H2O, 
and  its  composition  the  following  : — 


1780;    its  chemical  formula  is  CsHoOs,  and  con- 
sists of — 


Carbon        

Hydrogen  ... 

Oxygen       

Water  (crystallisation) 


400 
61 

48-9 

5-0 

100-0 


The  colourless,  glassy,  four-sided  prisms  of 
the  rhombic  system  are  hard,  not  easily  soluble 
in  water  and  alcohol,  grate  like  sand  between 
the  teeth,  and  are  unaltered  in  dry  air.  At  298° 
to  .316^  they  emit  the  crystallising  water,  and 
lactocaramel  is  formed.  The  specific  gravity  is 
1*543  to  l'54r8.  Milk-sugar  reduces  alcalic  copper 
solutions.  In  milk  the  milk-sugar  is  in  solution, 
and  very  apt  to  turn  into 

Lactic  Acid. 

It  is  not  yet  known  what  gives  the  impulse 
to  its  formation,  but  it  seems  to  be  a  chemical 
ferment  of  casein.      Lactic  a«id  was  detected  in 


Carbon 
Hydrogen. 
Oxygen     . 


4000 
6-67 
53-33 


Lactic  acid  exists  also  as  a  product  of  sour 
fermentation  of  other  kinds  of  sugar ;  for  instance, 
in  sour  cucumbers,  &c.  It  is  a  colourless,  syrup- 
like, very  sour,  non-volatile  fluid,  which  dissolves 
in  water,  alcohol,  and  ether,  1-215  specific  gravity, 
and  is  decomposed  at  29S°.  It  is  quite  beyond 
doubt  that  the  foiTnation  of  lactic  acid  is  the 
reason  for  the  spontaneous  coagulation  of  milk,  as 
if  we  take  the  milk-sugar  out  of  the  milk  in  a 
dialysator,  it  coagulates  only  after  a  considerable 
time,  when  general  decomposition  has  begun  by 
the  decomposition  of  the  fats. 

The  Mineral  Substances  (Ash,  Salts). 

The  ashes  of  milk  are  identical  with  those 
of  plants,  and  without  doubt  the  composition 
of  the  plant  ashes  is  of  important  influence,  as 
the  analyses  of  milk  ashes  show  considerable 
difference.  Experiments  have  proved  that  food 
rich  in  potash  augmented  the  percentage  of  potash 
in  the  ashes  of  milk. 

An  average  of  many  analyses  shows  the  com- 
position of  milk  ashes  to  be  the  following : — 


Phosphoric  acid 

28 

31  per  cent. 

Chlorine         

16 

34 

Oxide  of  calcium 

27 

00         „ 

Oxide  of  potassium  ... 

17 

34         „ 

Oxide  of  sodium 

10 

00         „ 

Oxide  of  magnesium 

4 

07 

Oxide  of  iron 

0 

62         „ 

103 

68 

Oxygen  deducted 

3 
inn 

68 
no 

This  table  shows  that  the  ashes  consist  prin- 
cipally of  phosphoric  salts. 

Gases. 

If  milk  just  from  the  cow  is  filled  in  a 
bottle  and  tightly  corked,  so  that  no  air  is  left 
in  it,  a  little  gas  will  soon  collect  at  the  surface 
and  make  the  bottle  look  as  if  it  had  not  been 
perfectly  filled. 


194 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


These  gnses  are  coniposeil  as  f()ll(i\vs  : — 


Oxygen... 
Carbonic  acid 
Nitrogen 


009  to  01  per  cent. 
7-4    „  7-6 
0-7    „  0-8 


ITrka. 


There  ean  be  no  doubt  as  to  urea  being  a 
rcn^ular  part  of  milk,  but  to  a  very  small  extent — 
about  0"007  per  cent.  Diseased  milk  contains 
considerably  more  of  it,  especially  when  the 
gland  has  been  affected  by  inflammation,  when 
the  milk,  even  for  years  afterwards,  contains  urea 
in  abnormal  quantities. 

Creatine,  creatinine,  leucine,  and  tyrosine 
have  been  found  in  milk,  but  they  must  not  be 
regarded  as  among  its  constituents.  Their  presence 
is  only  sporadic,  and  caused  by  j^remature  decom- 
position of  the  proteids  of  milk. 

Iodide  has  been  found  in  milk,  but  proved 
to  come  fi-om  food  containing  that  element.  In 
the  same  way  other  substances  which  are  absorbed 
by  the  blood  can  pass  into  the  milk. 

Colouring  stuffs  and  etheric  oils  are  also 
to  be  found  in  milk.  Green  food  visibly  affects 
the  colour  of  milk  and  butter,  and  aromatic 
food  gives  also  an  aromatic  smell  or  taste  to  both. 

Influences  Bearing  on  Milk  Secretion. 

IndividuaJili). — The  individuality  of  the  animal 
has  a  most  important  influence  on  the  quantity 
and  quality  of  milk.  This  will  be  easily  under- 
stood when  we  think  of  the  formation  of  milk  as 
an  action  of  secreting  organs.  An  animal  whose 
organs  of  circulation  and  vesicular  system  are  well 
developed,  so  that  circulation  and  assimilation  are 
not  hindered,  must  show  a  higher  secreting  action, 
under  similar  conditions,  than  an  animal  who  is 
deficient  in  these  organs ;  and  a  mammary  gland 
which  is  perfectly  developed  in  all  its  parts 
•  Diust  secrete  more  milk  than  one  which  is  smaller 
or  stunted  in  gro\\th.  On  the  other  side,  an 
animal  whose  constitution  shows  a  strong  pro- 
pensity for  the  production  of  fat  and  flesh  must 
give  less  milk,  and  practice  proves  that  in  such 
cases  we  may  not  reckon  on  a  large  yield  of  milk. 
Further,  the  general  state  of  health  and  the 
pathological  condition  of  the  udder  are  in  direct 
relation  to  the  secretion  of  milk,  and  we  may 
remind  the  reader  of  the  decrease  in  milk  whicli 


accompanies  every  disease,  and  also  of  the  morbid 
augmentation  of  milk-secretion — the  hijperplasis 
-of  the  mammal  gland. 

Of  course,  it  is  not  the  quantity  alone  which 
must  be  valued  in  the  dairy  ;  the  quality  is  of 
great  importance,  as  with  a  great  quantity  of  very 
watery  milk  we  are  not  always  better  off. 

The  digestive  a.s.<imilation  of  the  animal  is 
in  intimate  connection  with  this  question.  Let 
us  take,  for  instance,  two  cows,  of  which  one  re- 
quires proportionally  more  food  to  su]>ply  material 
for  the  ph^'siologieal  functions  of  the  body; 
we  must  prefer  the  other,  even  if  she  gives 
no  more  milk  than  the  first,  as  she  wants  less 
food.  But  this  question  frequently  apjiears  in 
practice  with  a  much  wider  margin  between 
the  two  animals  in  question,  and  heavy  eaters, 
who  want  much  food  for  their  large  bodies,  are 
very  often  poor  milkers. 

On  the  Continent  we  expect  a  good  cow  to 
give  four  to  five  times  her  live  weight  in 
milk  per  year,  or,  on  the  average,  5  to  7  litres 
daily. 

Breed. — It  has  often  been  both  denied  and 
affirmed  that  breed  and  milk-production  stand 
in  constant  relation  to  each  other.  Practice, 
however,  affirms  that  this  relation  exists  so  far, 
at  all  events,  as  quality  of  milk  is  concerned. 
We  have  two  prominent  examples  furnishing 
proofs  of  this  that  cannot  be  overthrown,  how- 
ever ingeniously  a  contrary  theoiy  may  be  built 
up.  The  Dutch  breed,  or,  as  they  are  wrongly 
called  in  America,  Holstein  cattle,  give  us  a 
permanent  example  of  milk  deficient  in  fats, 
and  the  Jerseys  give  us  an  also  permanent 
example  of  very  rich  milk.  These  instances 
show  clearly  enough  that  breed  is  in  direct  re- 
lation to  milk-production ;  but  it  must  not  be 
overlooked  that  this  relation  consists  only  in  the 
handing  down,  from  llie  2}aren(s  of  a  disposillon, 
and  that  this  disposition  can  be  influenced,  or 
even  annulled,  by  breeding,  feeding,  rearing, 
state  of  health,  development  of  the  organs,  as 
well  as  by  other  causes.  If  we  speak  of  the  in- 
fluence of  breed  on  milk-production  we  must 
acknowledge  this  to  be  the  case,  but  always  sub- 
ordinate it  to  the  individual  influences  which  cause 
the  exceptions  to  the  rule. 

Period  of  Lactation. — We  underetand  the 
period  of  lactation  to  be  the  time  beginning 
directly  before   or   after  parturition,  and    ending 


COLUSTRUM. 


195 


fi^enerallj'  some  time  befure  the  folldwini;-  parturi- 
tion. The  quantity  as  well  as  quality  of  the  milk 
nnilergoes  eonsiderable  changes  during  this  time. 
The  largest  quantity  is  secreted  during  the  first 
month ;  after  that  the  yield  goes  down  somewhat, 
but  remains  for  about  two  and  a  half  months  pretty 
stationary.  It  then  gets  less  and  less  during  the 
next  six  months,  until  the  secretion  is  quite  dried 
up.  Of  course,  this  rule  applies  only  to  the  average 
mileh-eows,  and  is  greatly  influenced  by  the  in- 
dividual properties  of  the  animals.  Many  cows 
remain  dry  much  longer  than  the  desirable  six 
or  eight  weeks,  during  which  the  extra  nourish- 
ment required  by  the  foetus  ought  not  to  be 
lessened  l)y  milk-secretion ;  but  when  cows  remain 
dry  for  three  or  four  months  it  is  a  great  loss 
to  the  farmer,  and  considerably  diminishes  the 
value  of  the  cows.  Some  animals  never  stop 
giving  milk  up  to  the  day  of  calving,  when  a 
fresh  flow  of  it  begins. 

The  composition,  condition,  colour,  taste,  and 
smell  of  the  milk  that  a  cow  gives  for  several 
days  after  calving  differ  greatly  from  that 
which  she  gives  later  on.  It  is  usually  of  a 
deep  yellow  colour,  and  is  peculiarly  luscious  and 
unctuous,  the  latter  owing  to  an  excess  of  albu- 
men. Rennet  does  not  coagulate  it,  but  boiling 
does.  The  specific  gravity  is  I'OJG  to  IM)(i5. 
Colustrum  contains,  besides  the  milk-globules,  other 
particles,  consisting,  according  to  the  researches 
of  FUrstenberg,  of  pieces  of  membrane  and  clusters 
of  cells,  which  he  takes  for  milk-globules  in  a 
state  of  transition,  i.e.,  not  perfectly  formed  yet 
(Fig.  88) .  These  cells  contain  a  granulous  substance 


88. — Colustrum. 


and  fluid  in  which  one  or  more  drops  of  fat  are 
suspended.  Fiirstenberg  has  observed  these 
clusters  in  all  grades  of  their  decay,  or  rather 
their   falling  into  milk-globules,   and   has  found 


this  process  further  advanced  the  more  remote 
the  day  of  parturition  was.  Colustmm  changes 
in  composition  almost  from  hour  to  hour;  samples 
taken  from  six  cows  showed  the  following  extremes 
directly  after  the  birth  : — • 

Dry  matter       loO  to  38-4  per  cent. 

Amonsst  this : 


Butter. 
2-7  to  8-5 


Milk-sufrar. 
0-0  to  2-9 


Albumen. 
4-1  to  15-5 


Casein. 
7-3  to  11-2 


Ashe?, 
2-5  to  3-3 


In  the  cremometer  colustrum  shows  up  to 
50  per  cent,  of  a  creamy  matter,  which  consists, 
however,  only  to  a  very  small  extent  of  fatty 
matter.  In  general  we  may  say  that  the  changes 
in  colustrum  proceed  in  the  following  manner  : — 
The  solids,  which  are  very  considerable  in  the  first 
hours,  become  normal  in  quantity  during  the  next 
five  to  eight  days.  The  proportion  of  fat,  which 
usually  ajipears  only  a  little  higher  or  lower  a  few 
hours  after  calving,  is  quickly  reduced  to  its  normal 
position.  Milk-sugar  is  found  at  first  in  onl^' 
very  small  quantities,  but  has  reached  its  normal 
height  in  three  to  five  hours.  Albumen  is  some- 
times found  up  to  15  per  cent,  in  the  first  day, 
and  in  eight  to  fourteen  days  it  has  fallen  to  the 
usual  percentage.  On  the  average  the  colustrum 
of  the  first  day  contains  : — • 


Water  ... 
Butter  ... 
Milk-sugar 
Casein  ... 
Albumen 
Ashes    . . . 


Solids 
Water 


78-7  per  cent. 
4-0         „ 
I -.5         „ 
7-3 


1000 

21-3 
78-7 
100-0 


Colustram  has  a  purgative  influence  on  the 
intestines  of  the  calf,  and  this  has  been  for  a 
long  time  the  reason  of  its  being  thought  un- 
healthy ;  but  it  is  not  only  the  best  medium  for 
clearing  the  intestines  of  the  excrements  collected 
there  during  foetal  life,  but  for  the  newly-born 
calf  it  is  also  a  noui'ishment  of  the  highest 
physiological  importance.  If  colustrum  is  an 
excellent  nourishment  for  the  calf,  it  is,  on  the 
other  hand,  very  dangerous  in  the  dairy,  as  it 
promotes  all  kinds  of  irregularities,  particularly  in 
the  process  of  curing  or  ripening  of  cheese.  Milk 
should  never  be  used  for  cheese-making  until  the 
fifth  day  after  calving,  and  even  then  it  is  not 
always  safe.  11.  L.  de  K. 


CHAPTER      XV. 


Cheese-makixo. 


Matters   affecting   the   Production   of   Milk— Land— Herbage— Water— Watering-places  — Shelter  — Points   in   the    Manufaplure   of 

Cheese— Decomposition— Cooling— Cleanliness— Temperature— Rennet— Cutting  the  Curd— Getting  out  the  Whey— (Jrinding  Curd 

.  y  —Salting— Ripening— Acid  in   Cheese-making— Its  Benefits— Evils  of   too  much  Acid— Summary  of 

^*'^    ^v$il  '7  t'le  Question,  and  of  the  Effects  of  Acidity  in  Ripening  Cheese. 

f[K^~T  seems,  with  regard  to  many  well   known  to  our  oldest  eheesr-niakers.     It 

tilings,  to  be  a  prinei])le  in  on  aceount  of  these  undetermined  elements  that 

the   human   mind  to  jiraisc  it  is  difficult  in  many  eases  to  produce  a  satisfac- 

the  past   at  the  expense  of  tory  cheese,  and  the  difficulty  is  not  by  any  means 

the  present.     We  are  never  wholly  removed,  but  only  reduced,  by  skimming 


tired  of  referring  to  the 
"  good  old  times,"  and  of  wishing 
that  they  were  with  ns  again  or  that 
fhey  had  never  left  us.  We  assume 
that  times  are  worse  now  than  they  were 
in  the  perifid  to  which  we  vaguely  refer 
as  "  our  forefathers'  daj-s  ;  "  and  it  is  more  than 
probable  that  future  generations  will  speak  much 
in  the  same  strain.  So  it  is  the  opinion  of  many 
people  thiit  English  cheese  now-a-days  is  not  as  good 
as  it  was  in  the  olden  times — say  a  century  ago  ; 
and  the  opinion  is  in  the  main  sound,  though  it  does 
not  admit  of  proof,  for  if  our  cheese  has  gone  down 
the  hill  in  quality  within  the  recollection  of  those 
who  are  living,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  it  is  worse 
now  than  it  was  in  the  days  of  those  who  are  dead. 
In  any  case  we  may  allow  that  if  J'lnglish  cheese 
has  not  actually  gone  worse  it  has  relativel}'  done 
so,  for  American  cheese  is  certainly  much  better 
on  the  average  now  than  it  was  twenty  years  ago, 
and  it  therefore  follows  that  our  own  suffers  more 
in  comparison  with  it  now  than  it  did  at  that 
period.  What  is  called  "  higli-i'arming,"  whether 
it  consists  of  feeding  the  land  with  artificial  manures 
or  the  animals  with  artificial  foods,  has,  without 


a  portion  of  the  cream  off  the  milk.     It  is  some- 
thing like  bleeding  a  patient  who  has  a  fever ! 

Anyway,  cheese-making  in  these  times  is  an  art 
that  is  practised  in  a  perfect  manner  by  very  few 
persons.  If  one  in  a  hundred  makes  a  perfect 
cheese,  the  ninety-and-nine  make  one  which  is 
more  or  less  imperfect.  And  still  cheese-making  is 
not  a  complicated  art ;  success  in  it  dejiends  less  on 
a  mastery  of  seientifie  formulte  than  on  watchful- 
ness, care,  industry,  dexterity,  cleanliness,  and 
attention  to  details.  There  is  a  great  difference 
in  jieople.  A  few  persons  seem  to  aciiuire  by 
intuition  a  mastery  over  technical  details  which 
science  has  been  years  in  demonstrating.  In  the 
domain  of  cheese-making  these  will  generally  be 
women ;  they  hit  upon  one  scientific  truth  after 
another  l)y  a  jn-ocess  of  reasoning  which  neither  they 
nor  any  one  else  can  explain,  but  which  is  correct 
nevertheless,  and  fhey  do  the  right  thing  at  the 
right  time,  without  caring  to  inquire  into  the  why 
and  wherefore  of  it.  J'^xpcrience  is  a  valuable  thing 
in  cheese-making,  but  it  will  not  make  any  one  a 
first-class  cheese-maker  who  does  not  possess  natural 
or  acquired  habits  of  scrupidous  cleanliness,  patient 
industry,  dexterity,  and  unflagging  attention  to  de- 
tails of  manawment.    Natural  intellisrence  and  ac- 


doubt,   changed   the  character  of  the  herljage  on 

which  the  cows  are  chiefly  fed  in  the  period  during  quireil  knowledge  are  equally  of  no  avail  when  they 

which  milk  is  most  plentiful,  and  this,  in  its  turn,  are  found  in  connection  with  lazy,  dirty,  slovenly, 

has  changed  the  character  of  the  milk.     What  this  and    careless    habits.       The    truth    must    not   be 

change  of  character  in  the  milk  consists  of  is  not  blinked  that  downright  hard  work  cannot  be  wholly 

yet  made  clear,  but  that  it  has  taken  place  is  a  fact  dispensed  willi   in  cheese-making,  whether  labour- 


LAND    AND    HERB.UiE. 


197 


s:ivino- appliances  Ijc  used  or  not:  such  tMjiiipmcnt 
only  lessens  the  amount  of  it,  not  wholly  removes 
it.  This  cannot  be  too  often  impressed  on  the 
notice  of  those  who  are  en<?aged  in  cheese- makinti^, 
for  it  seems  to  be  one  of  those  things  in  which  the 
need  for  tuition  is  perennial.  Books  on  cheese- 
making  will  not  alone  make  people  good  cheese- 
makers,  and  they  cannot  impart  those  essential 
(qualities  to  which  allusion  has  been  made;  they  do 
not  till  the  place  of  practical  experience,  nor  will 
they  supply  natural  intelligence  where  it  is  lacking. 
But  they  are  designed  to  aid  those  who  have  in(piir- 
ing  minds,  and  who  are  desirous  of  profiting  by  the 
experience  of  others,  and  they  do  it  in  this  wise  : 
by  placing  befoi'e  them  a  record  of  results  arrived 
at  by  scientific  and  practical  men,  by  describing 
to  them  the  systems  followed  in  different  dis- 
tricts and  countries,  by  warning  them  against 
mistakes  which  others  have  fallen  into,  and  by 
explaining  the  best  and  most  successful  methods 
as  adapted  to  the  ever-varying  conditions  of  piro- 
duction,  of  soil,  and  of  climate. 

It  was  erstwhile  the  practice  for  dairymaids 
to  "  change  place "  from  one  farm-house  to 
another  without  any  inlsglving  as  to  whether 
they  would  succeed  as  well  in  the  new  situation 
as  they  did  in  the  old.  By  taking  the  same 
amount  of  pains  they  were  fairly  certain  of  making 
good  cheese  in  all  places  alike,  making  due  allow- 
ance for  differences  in  the  character  of  the  land  ; 
and  their  masters  and  mistresses  were  equally 
confident  of  the  result.  As  a  matter  of  course, 
all  dairymaids  did  not  make  equally  good  cheese 
then  any  more  than  they  do  now,  perhaps ;  but 
one  who  made  good  cheese  at  any  one  farm  was 
confidently  expected  to  make  good  cheese  at 
any  other  farm,  and  she  commanded  a  wage 
corresponding  to  her  reputation  as  a  cheese-maker. 
But  in  recent  years  it  has  been  quite  common 
for  one  who  made  a  fine  daiiy  of  cheese  at  one 
place  to  fail  in  doing  so  at  another;  and  it  has 
not  been  at  all  uncommon  for  a  dairymaid,  be 
she  mistress  or  servant,  to  succeed  well  one 
year  and  to  entirely  fall  the  next  on  the  same 
farm.  This  sort  of  thing  has  been  a  source 
of  much  anxiety  and  even  bewilderment  to 
numbers  of  excellent  people. 

Land. — It  may  be  stated  as  a  first  fact  that 
"sound"  land — that  is,  land  which  does  not 
need  artificial  draining — whether  improved  or 
not  l)y   applied  manures,  will  as  a  rule  produce. 


If  not  a  richer,  at  all  events  a  sounder  and  a 
better-flavoured  cheese  than  "unsound"  land 
will  produce  under  like  conditions  of  treatment. 
In  the  first  place,  the  sound  is  the  healthier  land 
for  stock,  however  much  the  unsound  may  have 
been  improved  in  that  respect  by  draining ;  and 
the  healthier  cows  are,  the  better  and  sounder 
tind  healthier  is  the  milk  they  give.  Sound  land 
will  not  by  any  means  produce  in  all  cases  more 
cheese  per  acre  than  unsound  land  will  produce 
— this  depends  on  the  strength  and  richness  of 
the  land  in  each  case — but  it  will  usually  produce 
more  from  a  like  quantity  of  herbage,  because 
its  grasses  are  more  varied  in  character,  more 
delicate,  more  nutritious,  healthier,  and  altogether 
superior.  It  will  generally  be  found  that  drained 
land  has  not  that  healthy  elasticity  to  the  tread, 
nor  Irrigated  land  that  cheerful  aspect  or  wealthy 
variety  of  grasses,  nor  recently-ploughed  land 
that  thick,  warm,  carpet-like  sward  that  we  find 
on  many  of  the  grand  old  pastures  of  the  kingdom. 
Herbage. — On  the  majority  of  old  pastures 
that  have  not  been  manured  for  years — perhaps 
for  generations — because  they  need  it  not,  very 
much  less  skill  is  required  in  dairy  operations  than 
is  found  to  be  the  case  on  heavily-manured  land, 
on  irrigated  meadows,  or  on  artificially-seeded 
land.  The  grasses  of  irrigated  meadows  and 
heavily-manured  pastures  are  ranker  and  coarser, 
and  those  of  newly-seeded  land  less  matured 
and  more  succulent,  than  the  slower-growing  and 
more  perfectly-matured  herbage  that  is  found 
on  fine  old-turf  land.  Milk  produced  from 
irrigated  meadow-grass,  or  from  heavily-manured 
land  of  any  kind,  turns  sour  earlier  than  that 
which  comes  from  old  pastui-es,  and  it  is  con- 
sequently more  difficult  to  make  cheese  from  it, 
whilst  that  from  young  and  vigorous  artificial 
grasses  has  a  something  in  it  that  makes  it 
less  tractable  than  the  milk  produced  from  old 
pastures,  the  herbage  of  which  has  been  permanent 
for  generations.  Generally  speaking,  the  quality 
and  variety  of  natural  grasses  are  reduced,  while 
the  bulk  is  increased,  by  heavy  dressings  of 
maniire ;  and  irrigation  produces  a  similar  effect. 
If  we  examine  the  herbage  of  different  pastures, 
a  greater  number  and  variety  of  grasses  will 
generally  be  found  on  good  old  natural  pastures  or 
unmanured  grass  land  than  on  land  which  has 
been  farmed  highly,  and  the  scantier  herbage 
of   the  former  description  of  land  will  be   found 


198 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


to  contain  some  of  tlu-  finer  ijrassps  and  le^'uminous 
plants  that  are  looked  for  iu  vain  on  land  which, 
iiavinj^  been  heavily  manured,  produces  a  greater 
bulk  of  a  coarser  description  of  herbao;e. 

In  buttcr-makinjf  more  particularly  than  in 
cheese-makino^,  the  ilavour,  aroma,  and  colour,  not 
to  mention  quality  of  the  product,  are  detemiinetl 
by  the  character  of  the  food  wliich  the  cows  eat, 
but  cheese  is  influenced  by  it  in  no  small  de<jree. 
Every  dairy-fanner  knows  how  quickly  the  flavour 
of  turnij)s  that  are  eaten  by  cows  is  conveyed  to 
the  milk,  and  throu<;fh  it  to  the  butter;  and  it  is 
C(]ually  plain  that  the  ])eculiar  excellences  of  jj^rass- 
made  butter  depend,  in  a  great  measure,  on  the 
character  of  the  herbage  in  the  pastures.  It  is 
generally  more  delicate  in  aroma  and  pleasing 
in  flavour  when  the  cows  graze  on  sound  land, 
which,  producing  perhaps  but  a  moderate  bulk 
of  herbage,  includes  among  its  greater  variety  of 
grasses  some  of  the  more  delicate  and  sweet- 
scented  ones,  such  as  wild  thyme,  sweet  vernal, 
lotus,  medicago,  the  various  clovers,  and  other 
leguminous  plants,  that  are  very  "  few  and  far 
between,"  or  altogether  absent  from  land  which 
gives,  by  the  agency  of  heavy  dressings  of  manure 
or  of  sewage,  large  crops  of  coarse,  bulky  grass. 
As  fully  one-third  by  weight  of  the  composition  of 
the  best  qualities  of  cheese  consists  of  butter,  and 
as  the  quality,  the  flavour,  and  the  avoma  of  butter 
are  so  much  influenced  by  the  kind  of  herbage  on 
which  the  cows  are  pastured,  it  naturally  follows 
that  cheese  will  vary  greatly,  in  several  respects, 
according  to  the  kind  of  land  and  the  quality  of 
the  grass  ;  and  though  the  soil  itself  has  no  direct 
iniluenee  over  milk,  it  has  an  all-powerful  indirect 
one  by  means  of  the  grasses  that  grow  ou  it  and 
the  water  that  filters  through  it. 

The  flavour  of  cheese,  no  less  than  its  (piality, 
will  bo  influenced  by  certain  grasses,  herlis,  or 
weeds  that  are  found  in  some  pastures.  Sometimes 
the  flavour  of  milk  is  much  injured  by  the  cows 
eating  rank,  unhealthy,  immature  herbage,  such  as 
that  produced  by  sewage-irrigation;  and  it  will 
also  derive  a  flavour,  which  will  be  communicated 
to  the  cheese  and  butter,  if  the  pastures  contain,  or 
if  the  cattle  have  access  to,  the  following  plants  : — 


Garlic    mustard,    llcfic;c  )    _.        ,   .         ,,,.     .       -.t  ,       ^ 
,     ,     ,   ,     ,,       f  C}isi/mnrti(m  A/iiana.    iSutunil 
niustaru,  Jack-uy-thi;-  >        "    ,       „      .. 
-,,   ,  ,,  ,        I      Order,  Cructferte. 

Hedge,  or  oauco-alonc  J 

Broad-leaved    Garlic,   or)  ^WiMmKr.iiHMm.  NaturalUrder, 

Riinsoina  ...  ..  i       Liliacea, 


Ivy 
Tansy 

Ch  i.noiuilo 


(  Jlrihra  miix.   Natural  Order, 

(       Araliacete, 

(  Tanacetum  tiifffarc.     Natural 

(      Order,  Compositie. 

(  Various   B]iccies  of  Anlhemit. 

\      Natural    Order,    Compositic, 
And  other  strunijly-tasted  coiuposite  plants. 
Siveral  of  the  more  pungent  umbellate  plants. 
Some  of  the  stronger  Mints.     Oenus  Mciit/ia.     Natural  Order, 
I,cil/i»tie. 

These  plants  are  not  so  commonly  found  in 
pastures  as  in  old  fences,  ruins,  stone-qiuirries, 
&c.,  to  which  cattle  in  many  cases  have  access. 
Tlie  odour  coming  from  one  or  other  of  them  will 
sometimes  be  quite  distinctly  perceived  arising 
from  the  freshly-drawn  milk  of  such  cows  as  have 
eaten  them,  and  it  will  also  be  found  iu  the  butter 
and  cheese,  greatly  to  their  hurt. 

Water. — The  influence  that  water  has  on  the 
flavour  and  quality,  as  well  as  on  the  quantity, 
of  milk  is  too  commonly  regarded  as  a  matter  of 
little  or  no  importance.  Some  farmers  act  as  if 
they  thought  their  cows'  systems  were  so  many 
filters,  that  the  milk  is  not  affL»cted  no  matter 
how  impure  the  water  is  that  the  animals  drink, 
and  that  quantity  rather  than  quality  is  the 
thing  to  be  aimed  at  in  the  water-supply.  Yet 
it  is  not  enough  that  dairy-cows,  especially  in  hot 
weather,  should  have  an  abundant  supply  of  water, 
but  also  that  the  water  should  be  pure,  if  possible, 
and  easy  of  access.  Every  dairy-farmer  whose  water- 
supply  is  apt  to  run  out  in  hot,  dry  weather  is 
aware  how  quickly  his  cows  "pare"  in  their  milk 
at  such  times ;  and  as  water  forms  about  87 
per  cent,  of  ordinary  milk,  it  is  obvious  that  all 
milk-producing  animals  recjuire  a  large  supply  of 
it.  Mous.  Dancel  asserts  that  not  only  is  the 
quantity  of  milk  directly  influenced  by  the  quan- 
tity of  water  the  cow  drinks,  but  that  if  she 
gives  more  than  7  quarts  of  milk  per  day  she 
will  require  to  drink  from  30  to  50  quarts  of 
water  in  the  same  period,  and  if  she  habitually 
drinks  less  than  27  quarts  she  is  actually  and 
necessarily  a  poor  milker.  These  quantities  refer 
to  hot  weather,  of  course,  and  to  large  cows. 
It  is  true  that  cows  wtII  soon  learn  to  do  with 
less  water  if  the  supply  of  it  is  limited,  but  they 
do  so  at  the  cost  of  the  milk ;  and  it  does  not 
necessarily  follow  that  the  milk  is  richer  in  (|uality 
because  less  in  quantity,  under  these  conditions. 
On  the  contraiy,  the  miraiit  alluded  to  also  declares 
that  the  results  of  his  experiments  led  him  to  the 


WATER. 


199 


conclusion  that  by  incitinn^  yows  to  ilriuk  laro-o 
quantities  of  water  the  quantity  of  milk  yielded 
liy  them  ean  be  increased  several  quarts  a  day, 
without  materially  lowerino;  its  quality.  Still,  it 
is  possible  to  push  experiments  of  this  nature  so 
far  that  the  milk  will  be  reduced  to  a  very  low 
standard  of  quality.  The  practical  application  of 
this  law  is  to  place  within  easy  reach  of  milch- 
cows  an  ample  suj)ply  of  the  necessary  liquid,  and 
leave  them  to  drink  as  much  or  as  little  as  they 
choose  to  do. 

But  however  trae  it  may  be  that  the  quantity 
of  water  drunk  will  directly  intluenee  the  quantity 
of  milk  produced,  it  is  no  less  true  that  the  quality 
of  it  will  affect  the  quality  of  the  milk.  Impure 
water,  made  so  by  solutions  of  decaying  animal 
or  vegetable  matter,  or  by  filth  of  any  kind,  will 
inevitably  produce  milk  that  is  more  or  less  ill- 
fiavoured  and  unsound.  And  this  is  not  all  the 
mischief,  for  such  milk,  beyond  tainting  with  its 
own  peculiar  flavour  the  butter  and  cheese  made 
from  it,  wdll  always  go  bad  earlier  than  milk  that 
is  produced  from  pure  water.  Swamp\^,  stagnant 
ponds  out  in  the  fields,  and  pools  in  the  yards  into 
which  impure  drainage  or  surface-water  flows  at 
will,  are  not  the  places  where  cows  should  be 
allowed  to  slake  their  thirst.  We  do  not  notice 
all  the  mischief  which  comes  of  cows  drinking 
impure  water;  and  were  it  not  that  the  animal 
system  is  a  wonderful  puiifier,  the  mischief  would 
be  much  more  marked  than  it  is.  We  have  to 
thank  the  vis  medicatrix  natune  for  curing  much 
of  our  carelessness,  and  in  these  things  we  have 
better  luck  than  we  deserve.  For  winter  use  pure 
water  should,  if  necessary,  be  brought  from  a 
distance;  and  for  summer  use  muning  streams 
are  best  of  all,  providing  they  are  pure.  A  farm 
well  supplied  with  jJure  running  streams  is  always 
more  valuable  than  a  similar  one  where  the  water 
has  to  be  provided  in  artificial  ponds  and  "  meres," 
for  it  is  next  to  impossible  that  these  should  long 
contain  pure,  clean  water — not  that  rain-water, 
which  alone  supplies  them,  is  impure,  but  because 
it  carries  with  it,  as  it  runs  over  the  surface  of  the 
land,  more  or  less  of  mud  and  other  impurities, 
and  because  the  cattle  themselves  carry  much  filth 
into  it.  Rain-water,  in  fact,  where  it  can  be  col- 
lected and  kept  free  from  contamination,  is  perhaps 
as  good  as  any  kind  for  stock ;  the  danger  £nd  the 
difficulty  alike  lie  in  the  tendency  of  such  collected 
water  to  become  filthy  and  stale. 


In  many  districts,  however,  the  only  water 
available  is  that  provided  by  artificial  aids,  and 
where  such  is  the  case  the  best  method  of  storing 
it  is  in  "  meres  "  that  are  made  in  this  wise : — 
The  location  of  the  mere  is  decided  on,  and  it 
is  generally  placed  in  a  depressed  portion  of 
the  land,  so  that  rain-water  will  gather  into 
it.  A  circular,  basin-like  hollow  is  first  scooped 
out,  the  depth  of  which  in  the  centre  is  some 
0  feet  or  so  —  according  to  the  diameter  and 
slope  of  the  mere.  The  hollow  is  next  lined 
all  round  and  from  bottom  to  top  with  a  4 
or  6  inch  coating  of  well-made  concrete,  which 
sets  hard  and  is  proof  against  the  burrowing  of 
worms  and  other  inquisitive  folk.  On  the  con- 
crete a  3  or  4  inch  coating  of  plastic  and  «•  ell- 
tempered  clay  is  firmly  pounded  —  this  it  is 
that  keejis  the  water  iu  silii.  And  last  of  all, 
a  compactly-arranged  pavement  of  rather  small 
flat  stones,  set  edge-wise,  is  placed  on  the  clay 
to  protect  it  from  above  against  injury  from 
the  feet  of  thirsty  cattle,  as  the  concrete  jDrotects 
it  from  below  against  injury  from  more  curious 
but  less  important  animals.  These  artificial  ponds, 
since  the  dry  summers  of  1868  and  1870,  have 
become  veiy  numerous  in  the  Peak  of  Derbyshire, 
as  well  as  in  other  districts,  and  they  are  found  to 
be  a  very  tolerable  substitute  for  natural  supplies 
of  water  where  these  cannot  be  had.  Well-made 
at  the  onset,  they  will  last  for  generations,  but 
it  is  found  necessary  to  clear  out  occasionally 
the  mud  which  seldom  fails  to  accumulate  in 
them.  It  is  usual  to  place  them,  if  possible, 
where  the  fences  separating  two  or  more  fields 
intersect  each  other,  so  that  two  or  more  sets 
of  land  are  watered  by  one  good-sized  mere.  It  is 
not  advisable  to  have  any  trees  growing  within 
at  least  20  yards  of  them,  for  the  roots 
of  trees,  in  their  wonderful  quest  for  moisture, 
have  often  been  known  to  penetrate  through 
the  concrete  lining  of  a  mere,  tap  it,  and  lay  it 
dry. 

But  meres  will  seldom  be  made  in  laud  to 
which  water  can  be  conveniently  brought  by 
means  of  a  drain,  because  running  water  is  pre- 
ferable to  mere-water,  speaking  generally.  Such 
water  may  commonly  be  brought  in  ordinary  drain- 
pipes, providing  it  has  no  falling  and  rising  land 
to  get  over  and  the  descent  is  even  and  regular. 
As  it  is  not  always  easy,  even  if  it  were  desirable, 
to    bring  the  water  quite    to  the  surface  of   the 


•2()0 


HAIUY    FAKMlXa. 


land  at  tlio  jioint  wlicre  it  is  inteiulcil  to  lie 
made  use  of  by  cattle,  it  becomes  necessary  to 
cut  out  a  portion  of  soil  so  as  to  lay  the 
drain  bare  at  that  jwint.  In  Fisj.  89  we  o^ivc 
a    diagram   representing    the     soil    cut    out    and 


Fig.  89.— ■Wateiusg  PLACE. 


paving-stones  laid  down  on  both  sides  of  the 
drain,  forming  a  sloping  path  down  to  the  water 
from  either  side.  In  Fig.  90  we  give  a  diagram 
representing  the  one  side  only  as  sloped  out.     In 


Fig.  90.— Watering-place. 

this  case  the  water  is  kept  cleaner  than  in  the 
other,  because  the  cattle  cannot  easily  get  into 
it  with  their  feet,  but  it  has  the  disadvantage 
of  offering  those  facilities  for  goring  each  other 
that  cattle  are  seldom  slow  to  take  advantage 
of,  for  the  way  into  it  is  the  way  out  of  it. 
In  the  former  instance  the  cattle  can  go  in 
at  one  side  and  out  at  the  other,  and  so  escape 
the  more  easily  from  the  spiteful  attacks  of 
their  companions.  They  soon  learn,  however, 
to  watch  their  opportunity  for  getting  a  drink 
in  peace,  so  the  question  of  deciding  on  which 
of  the  two  forms  of  watering-place  we  shall 
adopt  resolves  itself  mainly  into  a  choice  between 
keeping  the  water  clean  always  and  allowing 
it  to  become  filthy  at  times.  If  the  former. 
Fig.  90  will  be  the  one  adopted  ;  if  the  latter, 
Fig.  S9.  The  cost  in  each  case  will  be  so  nearly 
the  same  that  it  need  scarcely  influence  the 
choice  at  all.  In  either  case  the  slope  should 
be  "  ribbed,"  so  as  to  prevent  the  cattle  slipping 
as  they  go  down  to  drink.  In  draining  wet 
land  sufficient  Avater  is  commonly  found  to 
form,  in  the  main-drain  at  the  lower  end  of 
the   lickl,    a  watering-place    of    the    kind    we    are 


speaking  of,  and  os])ccially  so  if  a  spring  or 
two  be  struck  by  the  drains;  but  as  the  weakest 
link  determines  the  strength  of  the  chain,  so 
it  will  not  always  be  safe  to  rely  in  hot, 
dry  wi'Mtlicr  on  a  siii)ply  of  water  procured  in 
this  manner. 

S/ielter. — The  necessity  of  providing  shelter  for 
dairy-cattle  in  winter  is  beyond  the  need  of  argu- 
ment, for  all  men  are  agreed  on  it;  but  it  is  not 
eipially  clear  to  every  one  that  it  should  be  pro- 
vided for  tiie  other  portions  of  the  year  as  well. 
Yet  in  high  cold  districts  there  are  many  biting 
storms  after  the  cows  are  turned  out  in  spring  and 
before  they  are  tied  up  in  autumn,  and  in   low- 
lying  districts   they   need    some    shelter    against 
the  summer's  sun.     This  out-door  shelter  is  best 
provided  by  plantations  and  by  good  white-thorn 
hedges,  where  they  will  grow  to  advantage  ;  good, 
strong  stone  walls,  in  the  absence  of  hedges  and 
plantations,  are,  of  course,  the  next  best  kind  of 
shelter.     Equally    with    that    of   providing   good 
buildings,  it  is  a  landlord's  duty  to  provide  good 
fences  on  the  farm,  with  plantations  for  shelter,  if 
necessary.      These   are   permanent    improvements 
that   the   farmer   ought   not    to   be   called  on  to 
make.     Anyway,  a  well-sheltered  farm  is  always 
much    more    productive    than    one    which    lacks 
shelter,   and    stock    of    all    kinds   will   be   found 
to    do    better    on    it.       Dairy-farmers    are    well 
aware   that  a  stormy  day   of  any  kind,  be  it  of 
hail,  rain,    or   snow,    will  cause   dairy-cows   that 
aye   out   in   it   to   suddenly  fall    off   in   quantity 
of   milk,    unless   they  can  find    shelter  from   the 
storm ;    and    in   many    of   the   dairying    districts 
of  the  British   Islands  these  storms  are  common 
enough  in  early  sj)ring  and  late  autumn.      And  in 
districts  where  the  heat  of  the  summer  Is  very 
intense,  shelter  against  the  sun's  rays  is  a  matter 
of   considerable  imjiortance.      Forest-trees  in   the 
hedge-rows,  or  scattered  here  and  there  about  the 
fields,  jirovide  this  shelter,  as  a  rule,  very  success- 
fully, and  cattle  never  fail  to  make  use  of  it ;  but 
people  who  have  no  such  outside  shelter  are  in  the 
habit  of  tying  up  their  cows  in  the  shippons  or 
sheds  for  a  few  hours  in  the  middle  of  the  day, 
while  the  sun  is  hottest  and  the  flies  are  busiest. 
Shelter  against  excessive   heat  on  the   one   hand 
and  extreme  cold  on  the   other,  and  against  all 
kinds  of  storms,  we  are  boimd  to  provide,  not  on 
account  of  humanity  only,   but  also  on  account 
of  econonn-. 


FAULTS    IN    CHEESE-MAKING. 


201 


Faults  i\  Ciikf.sk-making. 

"We  have  pointed  out  in  tlie  pieeeilinir  pasjes 
the  conditions  necessary  to  the  pnaluetiou  of  good 
milk,  and  we  may  now  proceed  to  discuss  the 
faults  which  are  common  in  cheese-making,  and 
which  are  in  a  great  measure  the  cause  of  so  much 
cheese  being  inferior  in  cpiality  and  condition. 
The  treatment  of  the  milk  before  the  cheese  is 
made  is  a  matter  in  which  many  cheese-makers  err 
srreatlv,  and  to  this  we  will  first  refer.  It  is  beyond 
doubt  that  in  hot  weather  milk  is  often  seriously 
injured  before  it  is  drawn  from  the  cow  by  too 
much  exposure  to  a  hot  sun,  or  by  over-driving  in 
any  way.  The  heat  of  a  cow's  body  becomes  so 
great  that  the  milk  in  her  udder  is  on  the  high 
road  to  sourness  and  decay  before  milking-time 
comes,  and  it  turns  sour  outright  in  a  very  short 
time  after  milking,  if  it  is  not  taken  proper  care 
of  at  once. 

Decoinposilion. — Milk,  as  a  fluid  containing  a 
considerable  proportion  of  the  element  nitrogen, 
is  subject  to  early  decomposition  under  ordinary 
conditions ;  and  all  substances  containing  this 
element  are  much  more  liable  to  decay  than  those 
which  contain  carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen  only, 
as  starch,  sugar,  fats,  &e.  The  active  agent  in  the 
rapid  decay  of  nitrogenous  substances,  whatever 
it  ma}'  be,  ajjpears  to  exist  in  the  air,  for  if  such 
substances  be  boiled  in  water  for  a  time,  and  after- 
wards kept  free  from  the  air,  they  will  remain 
unchanged  for  a  considerable  time,  but  imme- 
diately after  being  re-exposed  to  the  air  they 
commence  to  decay.  Milk  will  turn  sour  most 
readily  at  98"^,  or  blood-heat ;  below  or  above  that 
temperature  the  souring  is  more  or  less  retarded, 
for  the  time  being,  according  to  the  extent  of  the 
variation.  Above  blood-heat  milk  is  not  long 
preserved,  unless  the  temperature  is  raised  to 
boiling-point  and  the  milk  is  afterwards  kept 
free  from  the  atmosphere,  in  which  event  it  will 
keep  sweet  a  much  longer  period  than  if  no  such 
precautions  were  taken.  The  souring  of  milk 
is  a  fermentative  process,  the  active  principle  of 
which  consists  of  living  organisms,  most  of  which 
belong  to  the  vegetable  world.  The  germs  or  fimgi 
from  which  these  organisms  are  developed  are 
commonly  derived  from  atmospheric  dust  which 
is  deposited  on  substances  exposed  to  it ;  and  if 
the  substance  so  exposed  is  one  that  can  promote 
their  growth,  these  organisms  vegetate  and  increase 


with  wijuilerfiil  rapidity,  an  1  in  so  doing  cause 
the  substance  itself  to  decompose.  Milk  from  an 
over-heatetl  cow  contains  such  organisms  in  one  or 
other  of  their  stages  of  development,  and  is  in  ar 
increased  degree  susceptible  of  absorbing  other.^ 
from  the  air;  hence  such  milk  is  found  to  decay 
earlier  than  milk  i)roduced  under  ordinary  condi- 
tions. But  the  boiling  of  milk  drives  off  or 
destroys  these  organisms,  and  if  they  have  not 
already  done  mischief  in  it,  the  milk  will  after- 
wards keep  sweet  for  a  considerable  time. 

Cooling  and  Aeration. — Milk  that  is  rapidly 
cooled  down  immediately  after  milking  to  a 
temperature  of,  say  bo° ,  will  keep  sweet  twice  as 
long  as  milk  that  is  simply  allowed  to  slowly  fall 
to  that  temperature  in  a  room  that  is  cold  enough 
for  the  purpose,  and  it  will  remain  sweet  all  the 
longer  if  a  eun-ent  of  pure  atmospheric  air,  oi 
oxygen,  is  forced  through  it  previous  to  cooling. 
The  decay-germs  grow  only  below  the  surface  of  » 
liquid  rich  in  nitrogen  and  poor  in  oxygen,  and 
the  free  exposure  of  milk  to  a  pure  air  will  add 
to  its  keeping  properties.  Again,  milk  in  closed 
vessels  will  turn  sour  much  sooner  than  in  open 
ones,  unless  it  is  reduced  to  a  temperature  little,  if 
any,  above  freezing-point ;  and  it  will  also  more 
quickly  turn  sour  in  deep  than  in  shallow  vessels, 
if  kept  at  a  temperature  in  which  milk  will  turn 
sour  at  all.  The  active  agent  of  decay  requires 
moisture,  food,  and  a  moderate  degree  of  warmth 
in  order  to  do  its  work;  a  temperature  of  •21^'' 
will  destroy  this  agent,  while  one  of  40°  to  45° 
checks  its  activity.  Hence  heating  milk  up 
to  boiling-point  and  lowering  it  to  freezing  have 
each  the  effect  of  retai'ding  the  soming,  which  is 
the  first  stage  in  decomixisition ;  while  an  exposure 
to  pure  air  supplies  the  requisite  oxygen,  and 
admits  of  the  escape  of  the  gases  and  odours 
which,  common  to  milk  that  is  freshly  drawn, 
are  in  themselves  elements  of  decay.  The  simple 
effect  of  cooling  it  to  a  low  temperature,  of  heat- 
ing it  up  to  a  high  one,  and  of  passing  a  current 
of  oxygen  through  it,  is  to  place  mdk  under 
conditions  that  are  not  favourable  to  the  growth 
of  the  decay-germs;  but  restore  the  conditions 
that  are  favourable,  and  decay  will  at  once  begin 
again. 

The  practical  application  of  these  facts  lies,  in 
the  first  place,  in  providing  shade  of  some  kind,  so 
that  milch-cows  shall  not  be  over-heated  by  a  hot 
summer's  sun,  and  in  being  careful  that  they  are 


202 


DAIRY    FARMLXG. 


not  over-driven  in  coming  from  the  pastures  to  be 
milked ;  next,  in  warm  weather  at  any  period  of 
the  year,  in  taking  care  to  cool  and  aerate  the 
evening's  milk  as  soon  as  convenient  after  each 
cow  is  milked.  For  this  purpose  there  is  no 
implement  more  effective  than  Lawrence's  refrige- 
rator. The  milk  is  thus  cooknl  and  aerate<l  at  one 
operation,  and  in  a  most  effectual  manner.  It 
must  not,  however,  be  aerated  in  an  atmosphere 
reeking  with  the  odours  of  the  cow-sheds  or  of  the 
farm-yard,  or  of  anything  else  that  will  taint  tlie 
milk,  and  to  this  end  the  refrigerator  should  be 
set  up  in  some  place  away  from  impure  odours, 
and  the  water  must  be  brought  to  it  in  pipes ; 
and  care  must  be  taken  not  to  cool  the  milk  much, 
if  any,  below  60"^  for  cheese-making  purposes,  or 
it  is  injured.  If  kept  below  that  temperature,  milk 
seems  to  lose  certain  properties  that  it  does  not 
afterwards  regain,  the  cuixl  from  it  is  dull  and 
spiritless,  and  the  cheese  appears  to  ripen  after 
the  manner  of  fruit  in  the  shade.  If  the  milk  is 
aerated  at  the  time  of  cooling,  it  will  keep  per- 
fectly sweet  until  the  following  morning  at  60"  to 
80",  but  it  is  not  safe  at  a  higher  temperature, 
unless  in  cold  weather.  The  morning's  milk  does 
not,  of  course,  require  cooling,  though  aerating 
would  most  likely  do  it  good. 

Cleaxltxess. 

Many  cheese- makers  do  not  take  enough 
pains  in  keeping  perfectly  clean  all  the  vessels 
and  utensils  with  which  the  milk  comes  in  con- 
tact. A  good  deal  of  cheese  is  injured  through 
this  sort  of  carelessness.  All  the  vessels  require 
to  be  well  scalded  with  boiling  water  after  every 
time  of  using,  well  scnibbed  with  a  hard  brush, 
and  well  rinsed  in  clean  cold  water.  Care  must 
Y>e  especially  taken  to  clean  out  all  impurities  from 
the  seams  and  joints  of  all  the  vessels,  and  they 
should  always  be  cleaned  before  they  have  had 
time  to  become  sour.  If  they  are  left  several  hours 
after  using,  the  milk  or  whey  dries  on  the  surface, 
finds  the  very  bottom  of  eveiy  crevice,  crack,  and 
seam,  and  is  removed  with  increased  difficulty; 
and  if  they  are  allowed  to  get  soured  it  is  not  easy 
to  get  them  sweet  again.  The  vessels  in  which 
the  milk  is  kept  through  the  night  should  espe- 
cially be  kept  perfectly  sweet  and  clean,  and  so, 
for  the  matter  of  that,  should  all  the  others. 
And  it  is  no  less  necessary  to  keej)  the  floor  and 
walls  of  the  milk-rooms  as  fresh  and  clean  as  mav 


be  conveniently  possible.  In  cheese-making  it  is 
impossible  to  avoid  more  or  less  spilling  of  whey 
on  the  Hoor  or  smearing  the  walls  with  sjwts  of 
it;  and,  lying  about  in  odd  corners,  deeajdng  in 
the  crevices  between  the  flags  of  the  floor  or  the 
bricks  of  the  walls,  whey  is  a  terril)le  enemy  to 
cheese-makers,  many  of  whom  do  not  seem  to 
be  aware  of  it.  The  same  remarks  ajjply  to  spilt 
milk  that  is  not  washed  away.  The  walls  of  milk- 
rooms  should  Ik?  carefully  cleaned  whenever  neces- 
sary, and  the  floors  should  be  frequently  swilled 
with  clean  water,  well  scrubbed  to  clear  off  all 
kinds  of  dirt,  re-swilled  with  water,  and  after- 
wards wijwd  fairly  dry.  A  capital  dairy  floor- 
wiper  is  seen  in  Fig.  91;  it  consists  of  a  strip 
of  vulcanised  rubber 
attached  to  a  flat  piece 
of  wood,  and  project- 
ing about  an  inch; 
through  the  piece  of 
wood  a  handle  is 
inserted,  forming  a 
cheap  and  handy  in- 
strument, the  use  of 
which  in  a  dairy  will 
be  found  economical 
of   time  and   money, 

as  it  leaves  the  floor  clean  and  nearly  dry.  Both 
whey  and  milk  soon  decay  in  such  places,  and  they 
emit  pungent,  unpleasant  odours  during  the  process ; 
accumulations  of  such  decaying  slops  will  soon 
vitiate  the  air  of  the  place  to  such  a  degree  that  it 
is  impossible  to  make  either  good  clieese  or  good 
butter  from  milk  kept  there.  Fresh  paint,  paraf- 
fin oil — anything,  in  fact,  that  has  a  powerful 
odour — will  do  harm  to  milk  if  kept  in  the  same 
room ;  decaying  vegetables  or  flesh-meat,  onions, 
whey-tanks,  jiiggeries — all  are  inimical  to  good 
cheese  and  butter.  Care  must  be  constantly  ob- 
served in  order  to  secure  perfect  cleanliness;  the 
floor  must  be  scrublted  and  swilled  thoroughly, 
and  the  walls  carefully  washed  ■whenever  neces- 
sary; all  kinds  of  substances  who.se  smtlls  are 
offensive  must  be  rigorously  kept  far  enough 
away  ;  everything,  in  fact,  must  be  done,  daily  and 
hourly  almost — -and  especially  in  warm  weather, 
when  the  lialjility  and  danger  are  the  greatest — to 
keep  these  putrefactive  odours  at  a  safe  distance. 

And  all  this  care,  watchfulness,  cleanliness 
are  necessary  because  milk  is  a  quick  absorbent 
of    any   impure   odours   or   decay-germs  that  the 


TEMPERATURE. 


203 


air  may  contain ;  because  it  is  continually  on 
the  look-out,  as  it  were,  to  seize  on  anythiniy 
that  will  hasten  its  destruction;  and  because 
it  is  impossible  to  make  very  good  cheese  or 
butter  from  milk  that  has  become  tainted 
with  any  kind  of  impurity.  This  subtle  power 
of  absorption,  which  milk  possesses  in  a  higher 
degree  than  most  other  licjuids,  increases  the 
difficulty  of  producing  fine  qualities  of  cheese 
and  butter  until  it  is  understood ;  carelessness 
after  that  is  inexcusable.  Thorough  cleanli- 
ness of  utensils,  milk-rooms,  atmosphere,  every- 
thing, in  fact,  that  comes  into  contact  with 
milk,  may  justly  be  said  to  be  one  of  the 
most  important  essentials  in  the  dairy,  and 
the  neglect  of  it,  in  one  way  or  another,  is 
one  of  the  chief  causes  of  most  of  the  ill-made, 
ill-looking,  ill-flavoured,  and  ill-conditioned  cheese 
and  butter — especially  butter — that  we  find 
everwhere  in  the  country,  that  is,  in  every 
district. 

After  what  we  have  said  about  keeping  the 
milk  away  from  unclean  utensils  or  an  impure 
atmosphere,  it  would  almost  seem  superfluous 
to  warn  our  readers  against  any  other  source 
of  impurity;  but  there  is  yet  one  other  fault 
that  we  must  mention,  because  it  is  perhaps 
more  commonly  committed  than  most  others. 
We  refer  now  to  carelessness  at  milking-time. 
As  a  rule,  no  notice  is  taken  of  the  cows^  udders 
to  see  whether  they  are  clean  or  dirty,  and  no 
pains  are  taken  to  clean  them  if  they  are  dirty 
before  milking  begins.  Yet  it  commonly  happens 
that  dust  and  dirt  of  one  kind  or  another  are 
sticking  to  the  udder,  only  to  fall  into  the 
pail  as  the  milking  goes  on.  In  the  chapter  on 
milking  we  have  refeired  at  some  length  to  the 
faults  common  at  this  stage.  Many  disasters 
in  cheese  and  butter  making  are  due  to  these 
too  generally  neglected  details,  and  many  a 
dairymaid  has  been  baffled  in  her  efforts  by  the 
results  of  the  carelessness  of  others.  Unless 
the  milk  be  kept  perfectly  sweet  and  clean 
it  is  impossille  to  produce  the  finest  cheese  or 
butter  from  it,  and  the  superiority  of  the  pro- 
duct will  generally  correspond  with  the  degree 
of  cleanliness  of  the  milk. 

Temperature. 

Another    practical    fault     in     cheese-making, 
very  commonly   committed    in    f aim-houses,   lies 
29 


in  "  setting "  the  milk  for  coagulation  at  vary- 
ing temperatures.  Many  dairymaids  still  go 
by  the  "  rule  of  thumb "  in  deciding  the  tem- 
peratvire  of  the  milk,  and  they  leave  the  ther- 
mometer (Fig.  92),  if  they  have  one,  hanging 
up  to  the  wall  from  week's  end  to 
week's  end,  regarding  it  as  a  curious 
but  unnecessary  instrument,  and 
tnisting  to  their  own  variable  hands 
instead.  Now  it  is  impossible  to  set 
milk  at  a  regular  heat  in  this  manner, 
for  the  dairymaid's  hand  will  vary 
in  temperature  at  times ;  still,  we 
admit  that  some  dairymaids  are 
surprisingly  lucky  in  the  setting  of 
milk  by  guess.  But  with  irregular 
setting  it  is  certain  that  the  cheese 
will  vary  more  or  less,  though  regular 
setting  will  not  alone  secure  uni- 
formity in  the  cheese  ;  but  if  regular 
setting  will  not  secure  it,  other  con- 
ditions Ijeing  neglected,  surely  ir- 
regular setting  will  not.  When  we 
contend  for  a  regular  temperature 
of  setting,  we  do  not  mean  that 
it  shall  be  unvarying  throughout 
the  whole  of  the  year,  for  this 
would  be  equivalent  to  a  certain 
amount  of  irregulaiity.  A  given 
temperature  is  not  thought  to  be 
the  best  for  all  districts  alike ;  in  Derbyshire  80° 
is  thought  to  be  the  proper  heat,  and  in  Cheshire 
90'^,  varying,  of  course,  with  the  time  of  the  year 
and  the  state  of  the  weather.  But  whatever  the 
ideal  standard  of  a  district  may  be,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  modify  it  as  the  seasons  change ;  for 
instance,  if  80"  is  the  normal  standard  in  mode- 
rate weather,  it  should  be  82''  in  cold  weather  and 
78*^  in  hot,  and  if  it  is  extremely  hot  or  extremely 
cold  a  still  greater  variation  would  be  allowed. 
If  the  temperature  of  the  air  is  80'^,  that  of  the 
milk  may,  for  instance,  be  the  same ;  but  if  the 
air  is  down  at  65'^  the  milk  should  be  set  at  82°, 
and  if  the  air  is  at  90°  the  milk  should  be  set  at 
78°,  there  or  thereabouts.'  This  is  not  a  hard-and- 
fast  rule,  and  we  onlj^  give  the  figures  to  illustrate 
our  meaning.  The  results  of  irregular  setting  are 
these  :  If  the  temperature  at  the  time  of  setting 
the  milk  for  coagulation  is  too  low,  the  cui-d 
remains  soft,  a  good  substantial  coagulum  is  not 
produced,  and  it  is  very  cliflicult,  if  not  impossible. 


Fig.  92. 


204 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


to  separate  enoujrh  of  tlio  whey  fmin  it  after- 
wards; at  too  low  a  temperature,  say  70"  to  72^, 
the  rennet  cannot  act  properly,  and  the  quantity 
of  whey  left  in  the  cheese  is  at  once  an  evidence 
of  imperfect  rennet  action  in  the  milk  and  the 
chief  cause  of  early  decay  in  the  cheese.  If,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  temperature  is  too  high,  the 
coagulum  produced  is  too  firm  and  solid,  the  curd 
is  too  hard  and  dry,  and  the  cheese  is  deficient 
in  moisture.  In  making  thick  cheese  it  is  neces- 
sary to  coagulate  at  a  higher  temperature  than 
in  making  thin,  in  order  that  the  cheese  may 
"  stand,"  by  reason  of  a  less  percentage  of  mois- 
ture contained  in  it;  and  this  explains  the  reason 
of  the  high  temperature  at  which  the  milk  is 
"  set "  in  the  Cheshire  system  of  making  cheese. 
We  assume  now  that  no  acidity  is  employed  in  the 
process.  For  thin  cheese  the  temperature  should 
never  be  under  75",  and  for  thick  seldom  under  80°, 
in  each  case  varying  with  the  weather — rising  in 
cold,  dropping  again  to  the  minimum  in  warm 
weather.  These  temperatures  have  reference  to 
most  kinds  of  English  cheese. 

Renxet. 

The  practical  fault  next  in  order  is  that  of 
using  badly-jjrepared  rennet;  and,  as  every  one 
knows,  a  great  deal  of  cheese  is  injured  in  flavour 
in  this  way.  It  may  be  that  the  rennet-skin 
has  been  imperfectly  cured,  in  which  event  it  is 
not  the  dairymaid's  fault,  except  in  this  sense — 
she  ought  to  reject  such  a  skin.  Or,  if  the  skin 
itself  be  all  right,  it  may  bo  spoilt  in  a  dirty  vessel 
or  in  dirty  water.  Or,  if  it  be  right  in  both  these 
respects,  it  may  be  wrong  with  regard  to  strength, 
in  which  case  the  milk  will  take  a  longer  or  shorter 
time,  as  the  case  may  be,  to  coagulate.  The  effect 
of  using  an  over-dose  of  rennet  is  to  make  the 
milk  coagulate  and  the  cheese  ripen  quicker  thau 
they  would  with  a  fair  quantity.  It  is  necessary, 
therefore,  that  care  should  be  taken,  first,  that  the 
skins  are  good  ones,  to  begin  with ;  second,  that 
they  are  put  to  soak  in  clean  vessels  and  clean 
water ;  and  third,  that  the  rennet-liquid  be  of  a 
uniform  strength.  Badly-prepared  and  impure 
rennet  will  give  its  flavour  to  the  cheese,  and  a 
nauseous  flavour  it  is.  Nothing  is  better  than  a 
glazed  earthenware  jar  to  soak  rennets  in,  and  the 
following  method  will  produce  a  perfect  rennet- 
li(piid  : — Mi.x  a  brine  of  salt  and  water,  one  jtart 
salt  to  twenty  jiarts  water  by  weight  ;    linil    it    for 


half  an  hcur,  after  which  let  it  stand  till  it  is 
cold ;  to  two  gallons  of  the  brine  add  six  rennet- 
skins  and  one  ounce  of  saltpetre.  The  mixture 
will  be  ready  for  use  in  a  month,  and  will  keep 
good  for  a  long  period  if  kept  from  the  air. 
During  the  month  the  skins  should  several  times 
be  gently  rubbed  between  the  hands,  and  at  the 
end  of  it  be  removed  finally  from  the  liquid, 
while  the  jar  should  be  kept  covered  as  much  as 
possible,  in  order  to  exclude  the  air.  This  rennet 
will  be  of  a  uniform  strength,  and  the  milk  will 
coagulate  in  the  same  time  each  day,  if  the  right 
quantities  of  each  are  mixed  together.  The  ortli- 
nary  jiraetice  in  farm-houses  is  to  put  a  piece  of 
rennet-skin  in  soak  each  day  for  the  next  day's  use. 
By  this  plan  the  strength  is  not  all  got  out  of  the 
skin,  and  the  liquid,  though  fresh,  is  not  uniform 
in  quality.  Properly-made  rennet  coagulates  milk 
without  turning  it  sour  in  the  least  degree ;  but  it 
acts  quicker  if  the  milk  is  a  little  sour. 

Rennet-skins  from  calves  not  yet  a  week  old 
are  considered  to  be  more  effective  in  coagulating 
milk  than  those  from  older  calves.  It  is  said  that 
when  a  calf  has  begun  itself  to  live  on  other  kinds 
of  food  than  milk,  its  stomach  becomes  less  valu- 
able for  cheese-making  purposes,  hence  the  greater 
value  of  the  younger  skins ;  but  the  skins  are  all 
the  better — contain  more  of  the  coagulating  fer- 
ment— when  they  have  been  in  pickle,  and 
afterwards  hung  up  to  dry  for  several  months, 
thau  when  they  are  comparatively  fresh,  hence 
old  "rennet-skins,"  or  "veils,"  or  "bag-skins," 
as  they  are  Variously  termed,  are  preferred  by 
cheese-makers.  Some  people  hang  them  up  to 
dry  after  they  have  been  in  pickle  a  month  or 
two,  and  it  is  considered  that  they  keep  on  in- 
creasing in  strength  as  they  dry;  others  keep 
them  in  pickle,  or,  at  all  events,  in  salt,  until 
they  want  to  put  them  in  soak  for  use.  It  is 
probable  that  the  former  is,  on  the  whole,  the' 
better  plan,  for  the  skins  will  sweeten  as  they  dry, 
and  they  will  thus  lose  the  disagreeable  taint  that 
skins  in  pickle  generally  possess.  The  liquid  in 
which  they  are  ])icklod  is  not  fit  to  use  for  cheese- 
making,  and  if  the  veils  are  left  a  long  time  in  it, 
some  of  their  strength  soaks  into  and  is  thrown 
away  witli  it. 

Treatment  of  the  Cuun. 

Cutting  the  Curd. — We  come  now  to  breaking 
the   cunl,  at  the  staire    when    coatiulatidu    is    far 


TREATMENT    OF    THE    CURD. 


20c 


enough  advanced;  and  licvc  it  is  that  practical 
faults  of  a  serious  kind  are  very  eommonly 
committed.  The  object  of  cutting  the  curd 
is,  we  need  hardly  say,  to  enable  it  to  separate 
from  the  whey.  In  the  first  place  we  may  state 
that  numberless  mistakes  are  made  as  to  the 
particular  stage  of  development  which  denotes 
that  the  curd  is  fit  for  "  cutting  "  or  "  breaking." 
No  exact  time  can  be  laid  down  with  reference 
to  this  matter,  for  the  period  of  coagulation 
will  be  influenced,  first,  by  the  temperature  of 
the  milk ;  second,  by  its  condition  as  to  sweet- 
ness ;  third,  by  the  strength  of  the  rennet ;  and 
fourth,  by  the  quantity  of  rennet  that  is  used. 
But  coagulation  should,  in  the  making  of  ordinary 
kinds  of  cheese,  be  alwaj-s  perfected  in  forty 
to  sixty  minutes;  if  these  limits  are  exceeded 
in  either  direction,  the  curd  will  be  too  soft 
in  the  one  case  and  too  hard  in  the  other.  If, 
howevet,  the  milk  is  always  sweet,  and  is  set 
at  a  uniform  temperature,  and  the  rennet  used 
is  uniform  both  in  quality  and  quantity,  the 
milk  will  vary  very  little  as  to  the  time  required 
in  coagulation,  and  the  period  when  it  will  be 
ready  for  cutting  may  be  predicted  with  tolerable 
certainty.  The  test  of  readiness  is  when  the 
curd  breaks  cleanly  over  the  finger  when  you 
dip  into  and  try  to  raise  a  portion  of  it. 
The  various  ways  of  cutting  the  curd,  and 
the  length  of  time  occupied  in  the  operation, 
form  in  the  process  of  cheese-making  a  23eriod 
which  is  alike  very  important  and  very  sus- 
ceptible of  mischief.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  the  quality  of  cheese  depends  in  no 
small  measure  on  the  way  in  which  the  curd  is 
broken  down  —  the  time  occupied  and  the  instru- 
ments employed  in  the  process.  First,  as  to 
the  instruments :  It  may  be  stated  that  curd- 
cutters  should  never  have  rough  and  ragged 
edges,  and  it  is  better  that  they  should  be 
sharp  rather  than  blunt;  but  in  any  case  the 
edges  shotdd  be  smooth,  not  rough,  and  this 
is  a  point  that  is  too  generally  overlooked. 
The  reason  why  the  cutters  should  have  sharp, 
smooth  edges  lies  in  the  fact  that  such  edges 
bruise  the  curd  less  than  any  other.  At  the 
period  of  cutting  down  the  curd  is  very  tender 
indeed,  and  an  instrument  that  will  pass  through 
it  with  the  greatest  ease  and  with  the  least 
amount  of  friction  is  to  be  preferred  to  any 
other;     but    the    curd-breakers    in    general    use 


in  this  country  are  rough,  clumsy  instruments, 
better  calculated  to  crush  than  cut  the  eui-d. 
The  curd  should  be  cut  or  split,  not  crushed. 
The  old  custom  was  to  pass  a  wooden  bowl 
or  a  skimming-dish  gently  through  the  curd, 
to  and  fro,  time  after  time,  until  it  was 
separated  into  moderately  small  particles,  pass- 
ing the  curd,  too,  repeatedly  between  the  fingers  ; 
and  but  for  its  tediousness  and  irregularity  of 
action,  this  old  method  was  not  the  worst  we 
have  seen.  By  breaking  gently  in  this  way, 
or  by  cutting  with  an  instrument  whose  edges 
are  clean  and  sharp,  no  harm  is  done  to  the 
curd;  but  by  using  a  coarse,  clumsy,  blunt- 
edged  breaker,  the  curd  is  bruised,  and  some 
of  its  butter  and  casein  are  liberated  so  that 
they  pass  off  in  the  whey. 

The  rate  at  which  the  cutting  is  done  and 
the  time  emploj'ed  in  the  process  are  matters 
in  which  hasty,  careless  persons  should  have 
no  part  or  lot.  Such  persons,  in  fact,  are 
better  out  of  cheese-making  altogether.  Curd 
should  be  cut  very  slowly  and  gently,  especially 
at  first,  and  at  least  a  quarter  of  an  hour  should 
be  used  in  the  operation.  To  hurry  the  cutting 
has  a  similar  effect  to  crushing  the  curd  with 
a  rough,  blimt  instrument — that  is,  a  portion 
of  the  butter  is  set  at  liberty  and  escapes  with 
the  whey ;  and  where  there  is  much  whey- 
butter  the  cheese  is  seldom  of  first-rate  quality. 
After  the  curd  has  been  cut  through  a  time  or 
two  it  shoiild  be  gently  turned  over  by  hand, 
and  the  cutter  should  again  be  used;  as  the 
whey  goes  on  leaving  it  the  curd  shrinks  in 
bulk  and  hardens,  and  as  it  does  so  the  cutter 
may  be  used  a  Httle  faster,  so  that  the  whole 
mass  is  cut  into  small  pieces.  The  cutting 
is  an  important  matter  with  regard,  also,  to 
the  separation  of  the  whey  from  the  curd, 
and  to  this  end  it  is  expedient  that  the  curd 
should  all  be  cut.  If  a  portion  of  it  is  left 
in  lumps  of  varying  size,  the  whey  will  not 
leave  them  so  readily  as  it  does  the  smaller 
pieces;  and  where  scalding  is  not  practised 
and  acidity  is  not  employed,  it  is  extremely 
difficult  to  get  out  the  excess  of  whey,  in  cases 
where  the  cutting  of  the  curd  has  been  im- 
properly done ;  no  ,  amount  of  pressure  after- 
wards will  get  out  the  whey  so  well  as  it 
might  have  been  got  out  by  careful  cutting 
of    the   curd,    and    in    this    we    see    one    of    the 


206 


DAIKY    FARMING. 


fruitful  causes  of  subsequent  disaster  in  the  cheese. 
The  whey  left  in  sets  up  an  excessive  ferment, 
■which  causes  the  cheese  to  heave  and  blister, 
to  bulge  out  at  the  sides  and  in  the  middle, 
and  to  come  to  an  untimely  end;  it  is  also, 
in  part,  the  cause  of  both  sweetness  and  bitter- 
ness in  the  cheese,  according  to  the  kind  and 
the  extent  of  the  ferment;  and  it  destroys  the 
colour  where  annatto  is  used. 

Again,  irregular  cutting  of  the  cuixl  will  pre- 
vent uniformity  of  texture  in  the  cheese.  The 
larger  lumps  of  curd  contract,  forming  a  sort  of 
shell  on  the  outside,  and  enclose  the  whey  more  or 
less  securely  inside ;  and  unless  these  lumps  arc 
cut  through  in  the  after-process  they  not  only  do 
not  part  with  their  whey  under  pressure,  but  tliey 
do  not  properly  consolidate  with  the  rest  of  the 
cheese,  hence  the  textiire  of  the  cheese  is  irregular, 
and  there  are  holes  and  crevices  in  it.  And  when 
we  speak  of  "  lumps  ■"  of  curd  in  this  sense,  we  do 
not  mean  large  pieces,  such  as  would  be  sure  to 
be  crushed  in  passing  through  the  curd-mill,  but 
lumps  of  any  size,  from  a  pea  upwards,  that  con- 
tain whey  which  has  no  business  there. 

The  firet  object,  then,  of  cutting  the  curd  is, 
of  course,  to  get  out  the  whey ;  it  is,  in  fact,  the 
first  operation  that  can  be  performed  for  this  end ; 
and  all  the  subsequent  cuttings,  and  pressings,  and 
turnings,  and  finally  grinding,  until  the  cheese 
is  at  length  put  under  pressure  to  form  it  into 
shape,  are  all  done  with  the  same  object.  And 
as  the  efficacy  of  all  these  subsequent  operations 
depends  so  greatly  on  the  way  in  which  the  first 
one  of  cutting  was  performed,  we  see  the  necessity 
of  impressing  on  all  cheese-makers  the  great  im- 
portance that  attaches  to  cutting  the  curd  at  a 
proper  time,  in  a  proper  manner,  and  by  a  proper 
instrument. 

Gelling  out  the  Whey. — This  is,  of  course,  all- 
important  in  every  sense,  but  it  is  commonly 
performed  in  a  very  imperfect  manner,  and  an 
enormous  quantity  of  cheese  is  annually  mined 
from  this  cause  alone.  No  matter  how  carefully 
the  milk  has  been  preserved  from  taint  and  dirt, 
how  clean  all  the  vessels  have  been  kept,  how 
regular  the  temperature,  how  uniform  the  rennet, 
and  how  particular  the  cutting,  no  cheese  can  by 
any  possible  means  be  good  unless  the  whey  is 
properly  got  out  of  it.  This  point  missed,  all 
the  rest  are  thrown  away.  In  the  process  of 
making  cheese,  the  great  bulk  of  the  milk-sugar 


is  not  retained  in  the  eunl,  but  jiasses  off  in  the 
whey  ;  so  it  follows  that  if  the  whey  is  imperfectly 
got  out,  a  too  large  portion  of  the  milk-sugar  is 
also  retained  in  the  cheese,  and  it  is  this  that  is 
the  cause  of  sweet  cheese.  This  sugar,  too,  or 
a  portion  of  it,  enters  into  fermentation  in  the 
cheese,  forming,  amongst  other  products,  carbonic 
acid  gas,  which,  in  trying  to  escape,  causes  the 
cheese  to  heave  and  become  porous.  An  excess  of 
whey  causes  annatto,  that  is  used  for  colouring 
the  cheese,  to  be  unequally  distributed,  so  that  the 
cheese  is  not  a  uniform  colour;  or  the  lactic  acid 
formed  from  the  milk-sugar  has  a  destructive 
effect  on  the  colouiing  matter  later  on,  causing  it 
to  fade  and  the  cheese  to  become  a  bad  colour. 
The  presence  of  the  whey  and  the  fermentation 
begun  by  the  milk-sugar  causes  the  cheese  to 
decay  without  ripening,  in  a  manner  that  makes  it 
a  very  disagreeable  and  unhealthy  article  of  food. 

The  necessity  of  getting  out  all  the  moisture, 
over  and  above  the  quantity  which  the  cheese  may 
safely  be  allowed  to  retain,  will  now  be  apparent. 
This  is  effected,  first,  by  the  cutting  of  the  curd  ; 
second,  by  pressure;  and  third,  by  a  moderate 
amount  of  acidity,  where  such  is  employed. 
Acidity  in  cheese-making  is  the  most  effectual 
means  of  expelling  the  whey,  but  it  must  be 
employed  M'ith  great  caution,  for  though  it  is  a 
capital  servant,  it  is  a  bad  master.  Tliis  acidity 
may  be  produced  at  will  in  various  ways ;  the 
best  way  of  producing  it  is  by  heating  up,  by 
means  of  steam  or  hot  water  underneath  the  vat, 
the  mass  of  curd  and  whey  to  a  temperature  of 
about  98*^  to  100°,  and  letting  it  rest  for  a  time; 
or  it  may  be  produced  by  adding  about  two  quarts 
of  sour  whey  to  each  hundred  g-allons  of  milk  at 
the  time  w-hen  the  rennet  is  mixed  with  it.  The 
quantity  of  sour  whey  to  be  used  will  depend  on 
the  temi)erature  the  milk  has  been  at  during  the 
night,  for  the  lower  the  temperature  the  more  whey 
will  lie  required  to  develoj)  the  acid ;  it  will  also 
depend  on  the  degree  of  sourness  that  the  whey 
has  attained. 

Hut  though  no  heating  of  the  curd  and  whey 
has  taken  place,  and  no  sour  whey  has  been  used, 
acidity  will  ari.se  afterwards  in  the  curd,  if  it  is 
left  without  salt  for  some  time — in  a  few  hours 
in  warm  weather,  and  in  twenty  or  twenty-four 
in  cold,  a  certain  amount  of  acidity  will  have 
developed.  Some  of  the  more  successful  farm- 
house  cheese-makers   that    we    have   known   have 


GRINDING   AND    SALTING    THE    CURD. 


207 


uncoiisoioiisly  employed  the  ag-eney  of  acidity  iu 
expullin<?  the  whey,  and  they  do  it  by  not  applying 
any  salt  to  the  cheese  uutrl  the  following  morning. 
These  are  cases  where  the  cheese  is  salted  on  the 
outside  only,  as  in  the  Derbyshire  system  of 
making.  In  this  system  the  whey  is  "  dipped  " 
whilst  it  is  still  quite  free  from  acid,  and  there  is 
no  acidity  in  the  curd  when  it  is  vatted  and  put  iu 
press.  Now  as  there  is  no  acidity,  it  ought  to  be 
allowed  to  develop  a  little  afterwards,  and 
this  it  will  do  if  no  salt  is  applied ;  but  if 
salt  is  applied,  even  to  the  outside,  at  the 
time  the  cheese  is  first  put  in  press,  the  curd 
will  not  turn  acid  at  all,  and  iu  this  case  the 
whey  may  not  be  sufficiently  expelled,  while 
if  the  cheese  is  left  in  press  until,  say,  the 
following  morning  without  salt,  a  gentle 
acidity  will  have  been  developing  slowly 
during  the  night,  and  as  it  has  developed 
will  have  assisted  in  expelling  the  whey.  In 
warm  weather  sufficient  acidity  for  the  purpose 
will  develop  in  the  course  of  six  to  ten  hours, 
and  a  careful  dairymaid  will  then  apply  the  salt 
without  waiting  till  the  following  morning.  The 
application  of  salt  checks  the  further  development 
of  the  acid,  wliich  by  the  following  morning 
would  have  become  too  acrid. 

Grinding  the  Card. — This  operation  may 
be  regarded  as  a  necessary  evil,  and  as  such 
it  is  seldom  performed  with  entire  success. 
The  old  plan,  before  curd-mills  were  invented, 
was  "  erimming "  the  curd  by  hand,  that  is, 
working  it  well  and  repeatedly  through  the 
fingers ;  and  this  way  of  reducing  the  curd 
to  fine  pieces  was  better  than  grinding  it  in 
any  mill  whatever,  because  it  did  the  curd  less 
harm  than  any  mill  will  do  it;  but  the  labour 
of  erimming  was  veiy  great,  and  this  led  to 
the  introduction  of  curd-mills.  The  object  of 
grinding  curd  is  three-fold :  first,  to  cause 
it  to  pack  evenly  in  the  press- vat;  second,  to 
assist  the  remaining  whey  to  escape;  and 
third,  to  enable  the  salt  to  be  uniformly  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  entire  cheese  —  that  is, 
where  salting  the  curd  is  practised.  Previous 
to  grinding,  the  curd  usually  becomes  com- 
paratively tough  and  solid,  and  in  passing  it 
through  a  curd-mill  it  is,  of  course,  very  much 
crushed  and  bruised,  and  this  causes  a  good 
deal  of  the  butter  to  flow  out  with  the  re- 
maining   whey    when    the    cheese    is    put    under 


pressui'e ;  the  li(|uid  that  luns  out  of  a  newly- 
ground  cheese  that  is  put  under  pressure  is 
commonly  white  instead  of  green,  and  the 
white  in  it  is  so  much  loss  to  the  cheese.  This 
is  caused  by  the  iron  pegs  or  studs  with 
which  the  mill  does  its  work.  Various  things 
have  been  designed  to  obviate  this,  the  latest 
and  most  successful  being  a  mill  in  which 
there    are   sharp    knives    in    place    of    the    studs 


Fis.  93.— Curd-mill  with  Knives. 


(Fig.  93),  and  these  cut  instead  of  crush  the 
curd,  so  that  less  of  it  swims  out  with  the 
whey.  This  curd-mill  is  intended  to  be  used 
across  the  top  of  a  factory  milk-vat. 

Salting. 

The  quantity  of  salt  used  to  cheese  varies 
greatly  in  different  dairies.  A  great  deal 
of  cheese  is  injured  by  over-salting,  a  great 
deal  also  by  under-salting,  and  this  is  the  re- 
sult of  the  haphazard  manner  which  commonly 
prevails.  A  certain  amount  of  salt  is  necessary 
to  prevent  the  cheese  from  putrefying,  and  the 
quantity  is  governed  by  the  amount  of  fat  in 
the  cheese — the  richer  the  cheese,  the  less  salt 
is  required.  Salt  is  necessary,  not  so  much 
to  give  the  cheese  a  saline  taste  as  to  prevent 
excessive  fermentation ;  but  as  a  given  amount 
of  fermentation  is  necessary  to  the  ripening  of 
the  cheese,  an  over-dose  of  salt  checks  the 
ripening  by  reducing  the  ferment  too  low,  and 
the  cheese  never  ripens  properly.  Salt,  being 
powerful  antiseptic,  wholly  prevents  fermen- 
tation if  a  large  quantity  of  it  is  used,  and  in 
this  event  its  effect  is  similar  in  some  respects 
to  that  of  an  over-development  of  lactic  acid^ 
that  is,  the  cheese  is  hard  and  dry,  and  ripens 
improperly  or  not  at  all.  On  the  other  hand, 
too  small  a  quantity  of  salt  does  not  sufficiently 
check  the  fermentation,  particularly  in  poor 
cheese  that  has  too  much  whey  left  in  it,  and 
quick  decay  is  the  sequel. 


208 


DAIRY    FARMING, 


Ao-ain,  cheese  is  often  injured  by  improper 
saltint^;  the  salt  or  the  curd,  or  both  these,  are 
in  too  ]a.Tge  lumps,  so  that  they  are  not  uniformly 
intermixed.  It  is  of  less  consequence,  however, 
that  the  cuixl  be  in  very  small  pieces  than  that 
the  salt  should  be  fine  and  pure.  If  the  salt 
is  lumpy,  the  cheese  is  unequally  salted,  and 
the  consequence  is  that  some  portions  ferment 
too  much  and  others  too  little;  from  this  it 
follows  that  some  parts  ripen  too  quickly  and 
others  too  slowly,  while  the  texture  and  the 
colour  alike  are  wanting  in  uniformity.  The 
salt  should  be  of  the  finest  description,  pure, 
and  of  good  quality,  and  it  should  be  mixed 
as  evenly  as  possible  with  the  recently-ground 
cui-d;  the  best  way  is  to  spread  out  the  curd 
thinly  and  evenly,  and  then  sift  the  salt  over 
it  by  means  of  a  fine  sieve.  The  salt  and  curd 
should  be  well  mixed  up  together  by  hand,  and 
then  left  to  cool  for  a  time  before  vatting. 

The  right  quantity  of  salt  to  use  will  depend 
on  the  quality  of  the  curd — whether  or  not  it  is 
rich  in  butter,  that  is — on  the  season  of  the  year, 
and  on  the  quantity  of  whey  still  left  in  the  curd 
at  the  time  of  salting.  If  the  milk  has  not  been 
skimmed  at  all,  and  all  the  butter  is  consequently 
left  in  the  cheese,  |  lb.  of  salt  to  25  gallons  of 
milk  in  summer,  rising  in  autumn  to  about  h  lb. 
of  salt  to  20  gallons  of  milk,  will,  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  be  found  to  be  about  the  proper 
rate  at  wdiich  to  salt  the  curd ;  but  as  milk  varies 
greatly  in  the  percentage  of  solids,  according  to  the 
breed  of  the  cows  and  to  the  district  in  which  they 
are  kept,  it  is  obvious  that  a  milk-basis  is  a  less 
correct  one  to  go  upon  than  that  of  the  curd  itself, 
and  the  best  plan  is  to  weigh  the  curd  just  before 
grinding  it,  and  apply  salt  at  the  rate  of  i  lb.  of 
salt  to  25  lbs.  of  curd.  This  rate,  however,  will 
need  increasing  if  skim-milk  cheese  is  made  or  if 
the  milk  is  naturally  poor  in  fats,  because  the  pro- 
portion of  nitrogenous  matter  in  such  cheese  is 
relatively  larger  than  it  is  in  cheese  of  good 
quality ;  the  fats  will  take  care  of  themselves 
■without  much  aid  from  salt,  while  nitrogenous 
matter  soon  goes  to  decay  without  it.  Hut  the 
above  rate  will  make  due  provision  for  the  propor- 
tion of  salt  that  is  pressed  out  of  the  cheese  along 
with  the  remaining  whey. 

The  foregoing  remarks  apply  only  to  methods 
where  the  salt  is  directly  mixed  with  the  curd.  In 
other  methods  the  salt  is  applied  to  the  outside 


only  of  the  cheese,  either  as  dry  salt  or  in  the 
form  of  brine,  and  this  way  of  salting  is  found  to 
answer  well  where  the  cheese  is  properly  made 
before.  But  while  it  is  diflicult  to  over-salt  a  rich 
cheese  in  this  way,  because  it  will  not  from  the 
outside  absorb  more  salt  than  it  needs,  it  is  a 
simple  matter  to  over-salt  a  cheese  that  has  been 
robbed  of  its  cream,  because  nitrogenous  matter 
absorbs  salt  more  greedily  than  carbonaceous 
matter  does;  it  is,  in  fact,  easy  to  under-salt  the 
one  and  over-salt  the  other,  and  as  salt  is  applied 
ad  lib.,  the  result  depends  entirely  on  the  absorp- 
tive desire  the  cheese  has  for  salt.  On  other 
systems  a  portion  of  the  salt  is  put  in  the  milk 
before  coagulation,  but  whether  or  not  there  is 
any  advantage  in  this  depends  on  various  circum- 
stances, and  is  open  to  argument. 

Inferior  salt  does  great  harm  to  cheese,  not 
only  on  account  of  its  impurities,  but  also  because 
it  is  not  uniform  in  strength.  Dryness  is  fairly 
.satisfactory  evidence  of  the  purity  of  salt,  but  it 
fiught  to  be  crystalline  and  transparent,  pure  white 
in  coloui-,  and  of  moderately  fine  grain,  not  too 
fine  nor  yet  coarse,  and  it  should  emit  no  odour. 
Many  cheese-makers  prefer  coarse  salt  to  fine,  but 
it  is  now  coming  to  be  understood  that  this  is  a 
mistake.  There  is,  of  course,  salt  that  is  much 
too  fine  for  cheese-making — to  wit,  the  highlj'- 
pulverised,  mealy,  chalky  salt — and  this  should  bo 
even  more  carefully  avoided  on  the  one  hand,  than 
very  rough,  coarse  salt  should  on  the  other. 

Ripening. 

Much  well-made  cheese  has  been  greatly  in- 
jured in  the  ripening  by  one  or  other  of 
the  following  faults  : — First,  damp  and  badly- 
ventilated  rooms ;  second,  newly-built  or  newly- 
plastered  walls ;  third,  a  temperature  that  is  too 
high  (above  75'"),  one  that  is  too  low  (below  65°), 
or  one  that  is  continually  var3'ing  between  these 
points  or  beyond  them  ;  and  lastly,  turning  it  too 
seldom.  Mr.  X.  A.  Willard  sums  uj)  the  question 
of  temperature  in  the  following  able  manner  : — 

"  T/iree  Points  in  Curing  Cheese. — The  Cheddar 
dairjinen,  by  long-continued  practice  and  experi- 
ment, have  established  three  points  in  the  curing 
of  cheese.  First,  that  a  temj)erature  of  from  70" 
to  75"  is  the  proper  range  for  securing  mellow- 
ness in  texture,  sweet,  clean,  nutty  fiavour,  and 
long-keeping  qualities;  second,  that  this  tempera- 
ture must   be  maintained  throughout  the  curing 


TIIK    RIPENING    OP    CHEESE. 


209 


process,  and  tliat  une\Tn  temperatures  much  above 
and  then  sinkiug  below  the  range  named  are  pre- 
judicial to  fine  flavour;  and  third,  that  excessive 
dryness  o£  the  atmosphere,  like  that  produced 
from  the  heat  of  stoves,  injures  texture  and 
flavour  by  producing  a  too  rapid  absorption  of 
moisture.  Take,  for  instance,  the  lump  of  curd 
as  it  comes  from  the  press.  If  it  has  been 
well  made  from  average  whole  milk,  we  have 
a  tough,  curdy-like  mass,  consisting  of — without 
assuming  to  be  exact — say,  28  per  cent,  of  butter, 
40  per  cent,  of  water,  and  some  minei-al  matters. 
It  is  in  this  condition  about  as  unfit  for  food  as 
unbaked  dough.  Now,  what  is  required  of  this 
piece  of  raw  cui-d  to  fit  it  for  the  palate  of  the 
fastidious  cheese-eater  of  England  ?  Well,  in  the 
first  place,  the  casein  must  be  completely  broken 
down  and  intimately  mingled  with  the  butter, 
while  a  portion  of  the  water  must  be  eliminated, 
and  the  balance  so  distributed  through  the  mass 
as  to  make  the  whole  a  homogeneous  substance — 
mellow,  plastic,  delicious.  The  moisture  must  be 
so  intimately  mingled  through  the  whole  that  it 
cannot  be  easily  separated  or  distinguished  from 
the  other  parts,  but  rather  giving  one  the  impres- 
sion, when  a  bit  of  cheese  is  pressed  under  the 
finger  or  tasted  in  the  mouth,  that  it  is  rich  in 
butter.  In  addition,  the  several  parts,  while 
undergoing  this  change,  must  have  retained  a 
clean,  sweet,  nutty  flavour.  Now  we  know  by 
analysis  how  much  moisture  should  be  held  in  a 
properly-cured  cheese.  The  analysis  of  the  very 
best  of  the  Cheddar  cheeses  when  six  months  old 
shows  that  it  contains  nearly  Si  per  cent,  of  water, 
a  little  more  than  33  per  cent,  of  butter,  and  28 
per  cent,  of  casein.  An  analysis  of  the  best 
American  cheese  indicates  about  27  per  cent,  of 
water,  35i  per  cent,  of  butter,  and  2(5  per  cent,  of 
casein.  In  other  words,  it  has  2  J  per  cent,  more 
butter  and  3  per  cent,  less  water  than  the  English 
Cheddai",  thus  indicating  that  the  3  per  cent,  of 
moisture  in  the  English  Cheddar  in  excess  of  that 
in  the  American  is  made  to  take  the  place  of 
butter,  producing  a  more  palatable  and  desirable 
cheese,  and  one  that  will  sell  for  more  money 
than  the  American  in  the  English  market.  ]\Ir. 
Keed,  of  Herkimer,  who  for  some  years  kept  an 
accurate  record  of  the  weight  of  cheese  from  the 
time  it  was  made  up  to  different  dates,  found  the 
average  shrinkage  of  cheese  during  the  first  thirty 
days  after  manufacture  to  be — in  June,   10   per 


cent. ;  July,  1  2  per  cent. ;  August,  6  per  cent. ; 
September,  3  per  cent. ;  October,  3  per  cent.  ; 
November,  4  per  cent. ;  December,  3  per  cent. — 
thus  showing  that  as  temperature  decreases  in 
the  fall,  the  shrinkage  also  decreases.  It  is  well 
known  that  our  best  cheese  is  of  September 
make.  The  temperature  of  the  weather  during 
September  and  October  approximates  more  nearly 
to  70*  than  in  June  or  July.  I  think  it  may  bo 
safely  assumed  that  in  all  well-cured  cheese  of 
desirable  quality  and  flavour  we  must  have  at 
least  from  30  to  33  per  cent,  of  moisture,  or  else 
an  excess  of  fat  to  more  than  supply  the  deficiency 
of  moisture  when  the  latter  runs  below  33  per 
cent.  The  defect  complained  of  in  American 
factory  cheese  when  well  made  is  a  tendency  to 
dryness.  In  some  of  our  home  markets — like 
Boston  and  Philadelphia,  for  instance — a  grade  of 
cheese  made  in  Ohio  has  obtained  some  popularity. 
It  is  softer  and  more  plastic  than  the  ordinary 
shipi^ing  cheese  of  New  York.  Much  of  it  has 
the  appearance  of  possessing  an  excess  of  fat;  it 
is  not  fat,  but  moisture,  which  is  so  intimately 
blended  with  the  solids  as  to  be  taken  for  what 
the  cheesemonger  denominates  '  good  stock.' 
One  of  the  prominent  faults  in  curing  cheese  is 
a  too  rapid  evaporation  of  moisture  in  the  early 
stages  of  curing.  The  water  does  not  have  a 
chance  to  assimilate  with  the  other  parts  before 
passing  off ;  hence  dryness  and  apparent  lack  of 
butter.  If  the  evaporation  had  been  gradual,  and 
time  given  for  the  water  to  become  assimilated  or 
'  fixed,'  so  to  speak,  in  the  cheese,  the  curing 
process  would  be  carried  on  more  perfectly,  and  the 
evaporation  thereafter  would  of  necessity  be  more 
slow.  I  saw  this  exemplified  in  the  experiment 
made  at  the  jNIcLean  factory  last  summer,  when 
it  w-as  attempted  to  cure  cheese  by  a  process  of 
applying  dry  steam  in  the  way  lumber  is  seasoned. 
The  cheese  came  out  insipid  and  almost  tasteless, 
so  far  as  a  development  of  a  cheesy  flavour  was 
concerned,  and  although  it  was  placed  in  the 
curing-room  and  kept  there  a  long  time,  it  did 
not  again  take  on  a  good  flavour  or  become  mel- 
low, like  cheese  properly  cured.  Again,  when  the 
fermentation  is  carried  on  unevenly — at  one  time 
hastened  by  a  high  temperature,  and  then  checked 
by  a  low  temperature — the  cheese  is  apt  to  put  on 
a  bitter  taint.  I  used  to  think  this  bitter  taint 
came,  for  the  most  part,  from  weeds  which  the 
cows  ate  (and  it  does  take  taints  in  that  way) ;  but 


210 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


I  have  fdunil  from  experiment  that  a  bitter  taint 
can  l)e  developed  in  any  cheese  by  alternately 
stimulating  and  cheeking  fermentation,  and  this 
repeatedly  under  high  and  low  temperatures. 
There  are  immense  quantities  of  cheese,  well 
made  at  first,  that  are  seriously  injured  by  this 
bitter  taint.  It  is  of  Tarious  degrees  of  intensity, 
according  to  conditions  in  curing,  but  all  leaving 
an  unpleasant  taste  in  the  mouth.  It  is  particu- 
larly objectionable  to  English  buyers,  who  are 
generally  experts  in  discriminating  defective 
flavours  in  cheese." 

Some  people  think  cheese  ripens  best  in 
darkened  rooms;  this,  however,  is  a  fallacy;  but 
darkened  rooms  are  useful  in  the  heat  of  summer 
to  discourage  flies — this  is  the  only  good  they  can 
do,  and  they  do  harm  where  they  prevent  the 
cheese  from  being  carefully  examined  from  time  to 
time.  During  the  first  month  the  cheese  should 
be  turned  once  a  day,  in  order  to  prevent  the  mois- 
ture from  settling  too  much  toward  one  side  of 
the  cheese,  and  also  to  give  free  egress  to  tlie  escap- 
ing moisture  from  all  parts  of  the  cheese  alike  in 
turn.  When  they  are  more  than  a  month  old  they 
will  do  with  turning  a  little  seldomer,  and  when 
they  are  nearly  ripe  thrice  a  week  is  often  enough 
to  turn  them.  While  ventilation  is  very  necessary 
to  the  proper  ripening  of  cheese,  cold  draughts 
must  be  avoided,  and  whatever  fresh  air  is  admitted 
should  at  all  events  be  pure.  We  have  known 
cheese  very  much  injured  by  newly-plastered 
walls;  the  fresh  lime  in  the  plaster  exerts  a  bad 
influence  especially  in  the  flavour  of  the  cheese, 
and  particularly  so  if  the  room  is  damp  and  ill- 
ventilated. 

During  the  ripening  the  cheese  is  passing 
through  a  slow  process  of  fermentation,  and  it  is 
expedient  that  this  fermentation  should  be  regular 
and  uniform  as  to  rate ;  if  the  temperature  fluc- 
tuates, the  fermentation  will  proceed  in  a  fitful 
manner,  now  going  too  fast,  now  too  slow,  and  the 
ripening  cannot  possibly  be  as  satisfactory  as  when 
the  temperature  of  the  room  is  stationary.  A 
cheese-room  should  always  be  furnished  with  a 
thermometer,  and  this  should  be  consulted  each 
day,  means  being  taken  to  prevent  the  irregulari- 
ties of  which  the  thermometer  will  not  fail  to  give 
timely  warning. 

The  best  way  of  heating  a  cheese-room  is  by 
hot-water  pipes  laid  round  by  the  walls ;  by  this 
means  the    warmth    of  the   room  is  sustained  in 


all  parts  alike,  whereas  if  a  stove  is  used  some 
of  the  cheese  will  be  too  warm  and  the  rest  too 
cold.  The  room  over  a  farmer's  kitchen  is  gene- 
rally a  good  cheese-room,  and  very  little  heat  is 
reepiired  beyond  that  supplied  from  beneath,  but 
in  order  that  the  cheese  may  derive  all  the  benefit 
from  the  warmth,  the  floor  should  be  of  boards,  and 
not  lathed  and  jdastered  underneath.  To  apply 
the  warmth  underneath  the  cheese  in  this  manner 
is  the  best  possible  way  of  applying  it. 

Acid  in  Chee.se-makix(}. 

The  question  of  acidity  in  cheese-making  is  a 
most  important  one ;  and  while  we  admit  that  acid 
does  not  answer  equally  well  in  cheese  made  from 
all  kinds  of  soil  and  herbage,  and  upon  all  systems 
or  modes  of  manufacture,  we  think  all  kinds  of 
cheese  are,  or  would  be,  the  better  for  a  little — -just 
a  JUlle — of  it,  however  sweet,  fresh,  and  pure  may 
be  the  milk  from  which  they  are  made ;  while 
some  kinds,  made  from  milk  that  is  more  or  less  the 
incorrect  thing,  require  more  than  merely  a  little 
of  it.  The  chief  ditheulty  attending  it  lies  in  the 
danger  there  is  of  giving  the  cheese  too  much  of  it 
too  early.  As  we  have  said,  one  of  the  most  fruit- 
ful causes  of  bad  cheese  is  found  in  the  imperfect 
expulsion  of  the  whey;  and  numbers  of  worthy 
persons  have  racked  their  brains  sadly  in  trying 
to  discover  at  once  the  cause  and  its  remedy,  little 
dreaming  that  the  simplest  cure  imaginable  was 
close  at  hand,  actually  waiting — almost  begging — ■ 
to  be  employed.  But  this  "  simplest  cure  "  may 
easily  become,  except  in  the  case  of  tainted  milk, 
almost  worse  than  the  original  mischief,  and  it 
consequently  requires  to  be  employed  with  the 
greatest  care.  While  a  limited  development  of 
acid  is  very  serviceable  in  expelling  the  whey  and 
in  consolidating  the  curd  into  a  compac-t  cheese, 
too  much  of  it  will  make  the  cheese  harsh,  hard, 
too  dry,  too  solid,  and  poor  in  reality  as  in  appear- 
ance. When  too  much  acid  has  been  develojied  in 
the  curd,  the  cheese,  it  is  true,  will  neither  heave, 
nor  bulge,  nor  crack,  nor  decay  early ;  but  there  are 
other  things  it  will  not  do,  and  the  fa>dts  of  these 
latter  omissions  are  more  marked  than  the  merits 
of  the  former  ones.  For  instance,  it  will  not  ripen 
in  any  reasonable  time — in  some  cases  it  will  not 
ripen  at  all,  but  goes  at  length  to  decay,  without 
ever  having  come  to  maturity,  like  frait  that 
grows  in  an  uncongenial  district,  or  that  tries  to 
mature  too  late  in  the  au<\uun  ;   it  will  not  mellow 


ACID    IN    CIIEESE-MAKING. 


211 


down  in  its  texturo,  Lut  remains  hard  and  sird  and 
sulky,  like  so  mueh  soap. 

Some  of  this  over-acidified  cheese  is  very  ex- 
traordinary ;  it  will  neither  ripeu  nor  decay,  but 
remains  passive  mouth  after  month,  and  almost 
year  after  year,  never  ripening  as  cheese  ought  to 
ripen.  There  seems  to  be  no  stir,  no  life  in  it, 
and  no  chance  of  getting  any  into  it ;  for,  however 
carefully  the  temperature  of  the  curing-room  may 
be  regulated,  the  cheese  makes  no  sign  of  rijiening, 
except,  perhaps,  that  its  coat  becomes  covered  with 
the  greenish-blue  mould,  called  pencillinm  crusfa- 
ceum,  which  is  commonly  found  on  old,  ripe  cheese. 
The  cheese  is  dry,  certainly,  and  there  is  no  excess, 
but  rather  a  deficiency,  of  moisture  left  in  it — it 
is  too  dry,  in  fact ;  and  the  acid,  in  expelling  the 
whey,  appears  to  have  expelled  or  destroyed  the 
ripening  principle  of  the  cheese,  as  well  as  its 
flavouring  oils.  It  is  not  that  the  flavour  of  such 
cheese  is  bad,  on  account  of  which  we  find  fault, 
as  that  there  is  very  little  flavour  in  it  to  be  either 
good  or  bad.  The  flavour  and  the  quality  alike  are 
in  abeyance,  if  they  exist  at  all  in  the  cheese. 
With  respect  to  a  good,  orthodox  sort  of  cheese, 
the  flavour  is  develoj^d  in  the  ripening,  and  corre- 
sponds with  it  to  the  last,  getting  stronger  as  the 
cheese  gets  riper;  but  in  the  case  of  the  over- 
acidified  cheese,  the  flavour  and  the  ripening  alike, 
after  having  proceeded  a  short  way,  appear  to 
remain  stationary. 

But  this  acidity,  which  is,  of  course,  produced 
from  the  sugar-of-milk,  cannot  easily  develop  too 
far  in  curd  which  has  been  properly  treated  from 
the  beginning,  unless  the  curd  is  left  unsalted 
for  a  considerable  period ;  in  several  hours  it  can 
hardly,  unless  the  weather  be  very  warm,  become 
too  far  advanced  to  do  the  good  it  is  calculated  to 
do,  and  at  the  same  time  to  do  no  harm  ;  this  is 
because  the  whey  being  all  or  nearly  all  removed, 
very  little  sugar-of-milk  remains  in  contact  with 
the  cui-d,  and  it  follows  that  very  little  lactic  acid 
is  formed.  But  the  case  is  wholly  different  where 
the  acid  is  developed  in  the  mass  of  curd  and  whey 
before  the  latter  is  "  dipped,"  that  is,  drawn  or 
ladled  off.  And  this  acidity  is  easily  develojied  by 
three  separate  causes  :  first,  by  heating  up  to  98" 
or  100°  ;  second,  by  the  addition  of  sour  whey 
to  the  milk  ;  and  third,  by  the  milk  itself  being 
already  acid,  as  it  soon  is  in  warm  weather.  But 
however  the  acid  may  be  developed,  and  whatever 
form  it  may  assume,  there  is  a  great  deal  more  of 
30 


it  acting  on  the  curd,  and  it  will  develop  a  great 
deal  faster  while  the  whey  is  still  on  the  curd 
than  it  will  in  the  curd  alone.  Ilcnco  the  forma- 
tion of  acid  while  the  curd  is  still  in  the  whey  is 
a  matter  that  demands  very  close  watching,  while 
in  the  curd  alone  it  may  quite  safely  be  treated 
with  less  reserve.  But  if  the  whey  be  dipped  from 
the  curd  before  any  perceptible  acidity,  or,  in  fact, 
before  any  acidity  at  all,  whether  perceptible  or  not, 
has  formed,  then  the  curd  will  remain  sweet  for  a 
much  longer  time  than  it  would  have  done  if  the 
whey  had  remained  on  it,  because  the  chief  source 
of  acidity  has  been  removed  with  the  whey. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  lactic  acid  will  tend 
to  counteract,  at  all  events  for  a  time,  the  influ- 
ence of  any  taint  that  the  milk  may  possess  when 
drawn  from  the  cow,  or  that  it  may  have  after- 
wards absorbed  from  the  air  (the  taint  from  such 
food  as  turnips,  such  drink  as  filthy  water,  or, 
worse  still,  from  an  impure  atmospheric  odour) ;  and 
in  these  cases,  as  well  as  in  certain  others,  a  little 
artificially-developed  acidity  is  an  unmixed  good. 
Indeed,  to  make  cheese  from  tainted  milk  on  the 
no-acid  principle — that  is,  with  no  acid  either 
developed  in  the  whey  or  in  the  curd — is  only  to 
perpetuate  in  the  cheese  the  taint  which  the  milk 
had  at  the  beginning,  because  such  taint  cannot 
easily  be  removed  by  other  means  than  lactic  acid, 
without  either  doing  more  harm  than  the  acid 
would  do  or  entailing  a  great  deal  more  trouble. 

In  making  cheese  from  perfectly  sound  and 
sweet  milk,  it  is  certainly  better  that  no  acid 
should  be  allowed  to  form  whilst  the  whey  is 
still  on  the  curd,  because  there  is  nothing  for  it 
to  do  at  this  stage ;  but  it  is  none  the  less  true 
that  the  cheese  from  even  such  milk  as  this  will  be 
improved,  in  the  great  bulk  of  eases,  by  allowing  a 
little  acid  to  develop  in  the  curd ;  and  to  this  end 
the  cheese  must  not  be  salted  for  some  hours, 
whether  the  salt  is  applied  in  the  curd  or  on  the 
outside  of  the  cheese.  The  whey  is  reluctant  to 
leave  the  curd  made  from  such  milk,  and  such 
curd  takes  the  most  making  into  cheese  in  conse- 
quence. Every  dairymaid  knows  that  the  cheese 
is  longest  in  making  when  the  weather  is  not  very 
warm,  when  the  air  is  quite  fresh  and  light,  and 
when  there  is  no  thunder  about — ^that  is,  the  whey 
is  longer  in  leaving  the  curd  at  these  times,  do 
what  you  will  with  it  short  of  employing  the 
aid  of  artificially-developed  acid.  And  a  careless, 
hasty  dairymaid,  who  hurries  her  cheese-making 


212 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


at  all  times  alike,  will,  paiadoxical  as  it  may 
appear,  spoil  more  cheese  from  perfectly  sweet 
milk  in  fine,  clear,  cool  weather,  than  she  will 
from  milk  that  is  slightly  acid,  or  is  on  the  point 
of  becoming  so,  in  weather  whose  keeping  pro- 
perties are  not  good.  This  is  explained  by  the 
simple  fact  that  she  leaves  more  whey  in  the  curd 
in  the  former  case — she  does  not  give  it  time  to 
get  out ;  and  this  whey  afterwards  sets  up  a 
wrong  sort  of  a  fennent  in  the  cheese,  decomposes 
there,  generates  gases,  causes  the  cheese  to  bulge 
and  crack,  and  prevents  it  from  living  to  a  good 
old  age. 

Here,  then,  is  another  and  the  greatest  service 
that  a  proper  amount  of  artificially-developed  acid 
performs  in  making  cheese  from  perfectly  sweet 
milk — it  helps  to  expel  the  whey  that  may  have 
been  left  in  by  hurrying  the  process.  Rather  than 
hurry  the  process,  it  would  be  almost  as  well  to 
develop  the  acid  in  the  whey  and  curd  together 
as  to  allow  it  to  develop  itself  in  the  curd  iilone, 
providing  always  that  too  much  of  it  be  not 
developed,  because  a  hasty  dairymaid  will  not 
allow  the  necessary  time  for  it  to  develop  in  the 
curd,  and  it  is  more  difficult,  perhaps,  in  the 
already  compactly-formed  cheese  than  in  the  whey 
to  tell  when  enough  acid  is  formed. 

We  prefer  the  acid  to  be  developed  in  the  curd 
■while  it  is  in  the  milk- vat,  or  soon  after  it  is  in  the 
press-vat,  providing  this  development  can  be  en- 
sured, and  it  may  be  by  keeping  the  curd  warm 
after  the  whey  is  removed,  and  not  salting  it ;  and 
here  it  is  that  a  portion  of  the  previous  day's 
curd,  that  has  soured  a  little  by  keeping  it  through 
the  night,  comes  in  very  useful — to  mix  with  the 
fresh  curd,  and  by  mixing  sour  it.  We  have  said 
there  is  more  danger  in  developing  the  acid  in  the 
whey  than  in  allowing  it  to  develop  itself  in  the 
curd,  because  it  is  so  liable  to  go  too  far  in  the 
whey,  and  because  the  same  amount  of  acid  in  the 
curd  only  does  less  harm  to  the  cheese  than  that 
brought  to  bear  on  it  in  the  whey ;  and  when  we 
have  some  of  yesterday's  curd  there  is  at  once  no 
need  to  acidify  the  whey  and  a  certainty  that  the 
curd  will  produce  acid  enough  for  the  purpose. 
But,  as  a  rule,  the  best  kind  of  acidity  is  that 
produced  in  the  curd  alone,  without  the  interven- 
tion either  of  the  whey  or  of  yesterday's  curd. 

In  farm-house  cheese-making  it  is  seldom  that 
thin  cheese  is  "salted  in  the  cui-d  " — that  is,  in 
the  systems  from   which  acidity   is  carefully  ex- 


cluded by  keeping  down  the  temperature.  The 
accumulated  experience  of  generations  has  taught 
some  of  our  dair3'maids  that  by  salting  a  sweet 
curd  they  entirely  prevent  the  formation  of  that 
quantity  of  acidity  which,  in  the  great  bulk  of 
cases,  is  necessary  to  expel  the  whey  up  to  a  given 
point,  and  so  they  salt  only  on  the  outside  of  the 
cheese,  thus  unconsciously  giving  the  acid  a  chance. 
Some,  however,  salt  partly  in  the  curd  and  partly 
on  the  outside  of  the  cheese ;  others  salt  partly  in 
the  milk,  and  the  remainder  in  the  curd,  or  on 
the  outside,  as  the  case  may  be ;  whilst  some  salt 
on  the  outside  only,  and  not  till  the  following 
morning,  thus  almost  ensuring,  in  most  cases,  the 
formation  of  a  given  amount  of  acidity.  Wherever 
salting  in  the  curd  is  found  to  answer  well  in 
farm-houses,  it  will  generally  be  found  that  a 
comparatively  high  temjjerature  is  employed  in 
the  pi'ocess  of  making  the  cheese,  as  in  the 
Cheshire  system ;  while  to  salt  a  cold-made  cheese 
in  the  curd  would  almost  certainly  ensure  so  much 
whey  being  left  in  it  that  great  mischief  would 
ensue. 

Warmth  and  acidity  are  closely  allied  in 
cheese-making,  and  the  question  of  salting  ought 
always  to  be  considered  in  connection  with  them. 
If  a  cheese  is  made  warm,  the  curd,  left  unsalted, 
will  almost  certainly  develop  a  little  acid  before 
very  many  hours,  and  then  is  the  time  for  salting; 
but  if  it  is  made  cold,  and  the  weather  is  cold,  it 
is  probable  that  no  acid  will  form  in  it  at  all,  or,  at 
all  events,  not  for  a  long  time,  and  salt  will  have 
to  be  api)lied  in  the  end,  irrespective  of  the  acid. 
And  this  latter  kind  of  cheese  is  very  liable  to  be 
"  sweet,"  to  heave  and  ferment,  on  account  of  too 
much  whey  being  left  in  it,  and  so  its  texture 
would  be  neither  comjiact  nor  uniform.  Lactic 
acid  is  very  useful  in  its  place  in  cheese-making, 
that  is,  in  the  whey  or  in  the  curd,  but  it  is  alto- 
gether out  of  place  in  the  cheese  that  is  already 
partly  ripened.  Whey  left  in  the  cheese  until 
that  period  cannot  then  be  expelled  by  the  forma- 
tion of  lactic  acid,  and  the  ferment  set  up  by  the 
milk-sugar  in  the  whey  goes  on  to  form  gases,  and 
these  it  is  that  make  the  cheese  to  swell  out  at 
the  sides  and  in  the  middle,  destroying  alike  its 
symmetry,  texture,  and  compactness,  while  the 
decomposing  whey  inside  hastens  its  destruction. 

Too  much  acidity  destroys,  or  at  least  greatly 
curtails,  the  action  of  the  rennet  in  the  cheese.  The 
active  principle  in  rennet  is  the  ripening  agent  in 


ACID    IN    CHEESE-MAKING. 


213 


tlie  cheese ;  and  this  being  destroyed,  the  cheese 
cannot  ripen — it  can  only  decay.  Cheese  made 
from  milk  that  is  coagulated  by  means  of  acids 
instead  of  rennet  does  not  ripen  ;  the  acids  do  not 
coagulate  the  casein  of  the  milk,  as  rennet  does, 
into  a  compact,  jelly-like  substance,  but  into  flakes, 
and  cheese  made  in  this  manner  will,  of  course,  decay 
in  time,  but  it  never  mellows  down  in  a  way  that 
can  be  called  ripening.  Now,  if  the  jiroper  ripening 
agent  in  cheese  be  destroyed  by  the  action  of  too 
much  lactic  acid,  or  by  any  other  means,  the  cheese 
is  left  to  the  decomposing  influence  of  any  acids 
and  ferments  that  may  form  in  it  afterwards,  but 
it  cannot  ripen  like  a  properly-made  cheese. 

It  is  evident  that  the  acid,  while  sjiringing 
from  the  sugar- of-milk,  has  a  destructive  effect  on 
the  fats  in  the  cheese;  for  a  cheese  which  has  had 
too  great  a  development  of  acid  in  the  making  of  it 
will  be  hard  and  dry  to  the  end,  never  having  that 
mellow,  salvy  consistency  which  a  properly-ripened 
cheese  always  possesses.  The  process  of  decay  in 
an  over-acidified  cheese  is  a  sort  of  dry-rot,  rather 
than  that  unctuous,  salvy  mellowness  which  we 
always  find  in  a  thoroughly  good  cheese.  Many  of 
the  bastard  Stiltons  decay  by  the  dry-rot  method; 
they  are  too  much  acidified,  the  ripening  agent  is 
injured,  and  they  were  jirobably  never  very  rich  in 
fats. 

It  is  also  evident  that  the  highly-prized  flavour 
of  a  ripe  cheese  is  a  product  of  incipient  decomposi- 
tion— of  the  ripening,  in  fact.  It  did  not  exist  in 
the  curd  or  in  the  milk,  but  it  was  developed  as  the 
cheese  ripened.  Now  in  an  over-acidified  cheese 
this  flavour  is  either  never  developed  at  all  or  only 
to  a  slight  extent,  proving  either  that  the  acid 
has  in  part  destroyed  the  elements  from  which  the 
flavour  is  produced,  or  that  by  checking  and  pre- 
venting the  ripening  of  the  cheese  it  has  also 
checked  and  prevented  in  a  corresj)onding  degree 
the  development  of  the  flavour  which  belongs 
to  a  properly-ripened  cheese. 

A  moderate  degree  of  acidity,  then,  is  service- 
able in  the  following  ways  :  it  will  greatly  helf)  to 
cure  tainted  milk,  it  helps  to  expel  the  whey,  and 
it  improves  the  compactness  and  the  texture  of  the 
cheese.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  a  high  degree  of 
acidity  will  cause  the  cheese  to  be  comparatively 
insipid,  or  perhaps  bitter,  hard,  solid,  sad,  dry, 
tough,  and  will  prevent  the  riijening.  And,  we 
may  add,  the  degree  of  acidity  required  to  effect  all 
this  mischief  is  reached  before  we  are  aware  of  it. 


unless  we  watch  it  very  closely.  A  high  degi-ee  of 
acidity  can  never  do  anything  but  harm  to  cheese 
made  from  sweet,  fresh  milk,  though  a  low  one  will 
do  much  good  if  properly  employal ;  and  it  is 
only  in  the  case  of  tainted  milk  that  a  high  one  is 
on  any  pretext  admissible,  and  that  is  to  prevent  a 
worse  evil.  But  only  a  very  high  degree  of  acidity 
will  remove  the  taint  wholly  from  the  cheese,  and 
a  degree  of  it  that  could  not  be  permittetl  in  sweet 
milk  would  only  suppress  the  taint  until  the  con- 
ditions necessary  to  its  resumed  activity  were  re- 
introduced. Professor  Gr.  C.  Caldwell,  of  Cornell 
University,  with  respect  to  tainted  milk,  says  :* — 
"  A  particle  of  taint  in  the  air  or  on  the  walls  of 
the  dairy  or  factory,  or  in  the  pails  and  vats,  means 
a  quantity  of  fungus  germs — often  a  multitude  of 
them — all  ready  and  most  willing  to  take  possession 
of  the  milk,  and  to  hold  it  too,  when  once  in  pos- 
session, with  such  pertinacity  that  no  process  will 
expel  them  but  such  as  will  ruin  the  cheese."  A 
very  high  degree  of  acidity  would  expel  them,  but 
it  would  ruin  the  cheese ;  and  the  only  thing  that 
can  be  done  with  safety  in  such  eases  is  to  employ 
just  that  amount  of  acidity  as  will  keep  the  fungi 
in  abeyance  without  ruining  the  cheese. 

Previous  to  the  establishment  of  cheese-factories 
in  America,  the  acid  question  was  an  unknown 
quantity  in  the  sum  of  practical  cheese-making,  and 
it  was  in  very  few  cases  understood  by  the  people 
either  in  that  country  or  in  this.  It  was,  as  we 
have  said,  in  this  country  employed  in  many  cases, 
but  in  a  sense  unconsciously  so,  unless  in  the 
Cheddar  district ;  for  the  great  bulk  of  those  who 
refrained  from  salting  their  cheese  until  the  follow- 
ing morning  were  not  aware  that  by  so  doing  they 
were  promoting  the  formation  of  a  small  degree  of 
acidity,  which  had  the  efl'ect  of  causing  the  whey  to 
drain  out  of  the  newly-formed  cheese.  The  whey 
left  the  cheese  all  the  more  freely  on  account  of  no 
salt  being  used  the  first  day — this  thej'  were  con- 
scious of,  but  they  did  not  know  that  a  slight 
acidity  was  the  active  cause  of  it.  The  Cheddar 
cheese-makers  have  employed  acidity  for  scores  of 
years— consciously  and  intentionally  employed  it — 
in  the  making  of  their  wonderful  cheese,  but  it  was 
not  employed  in  American  factories  previous  to  the 
year  18(30.  Our  Cheddar  system  is  the  foundation 
on  which  American  cheese  has  been  so  greatly  im- 
provc<l  in  the  past  twenty  years,  and  in  that  system 
acidity  is  the  salient  feature. 
*  "  Reiiort  of  American  Uairymon's  Associiition,"  1869,  p.  38. 


21-1 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Tlic  carryinp^  of  milk  that  had  not  been  aeiatcd 
or  cooled  in  closely-lidded  cans  to  cheese-factories 
in  America  was  found,  especially  in  hot  weather,  to 
commonly  develop  a  taint  whose  effects  on  the  curd 
were  sometimes  very  extraordinary.  The  taint 
t^eneratcd  gases,  and  these  inflated  the  curd  so  that 
it  would  rise  in  a  mass  and  float  on  the  surface  of 
the  whey,  and  "lloatinij  curds"  became  known.  At 
this  stage  some  person  or  persons  unknown  made 
the  discovery  that  acid  checkmated  taints  in  milk, 
and  it  was  found  that  cheese  made  from  acitlilietl 
curd,  although  the  milk  might  previously  have  been 
tainted,  was  more  uniform  in  texture  and  more 
compact  than  that  made  without  acidity  from  milk 
that  had  no  taint.  The  cheese  also  cured  well,  its 
keeping  properties  were  increased,  and  it  retained, 
not,  indeed,  that  fine  nutty  flavour  for  which  fine 
cheese  is  so  much  esteemed,  but  a  mild,  sweet  taste, 
that  made  it  pass  muster  in  a  very  tolerable 
manner,  all  things  considered.  Acid  was,  con- 
sequently, regularly  and  systematically  developed 
in  an  artificial  manner. 

Consciously  or  unconsciously,  most  cheese- 
makers  employ  acid  more  or  less.  The  Chctldar 
dairymaid  produces  it  by  "  slip-scaldiug "  and 
the  use  of  sour  whey ;  the  Cheshire  by  allowing 
the  curd  to  remain  unpressed  and  warm  for  a  day 
or  more ;  and  the  Derbyshire  by  pressing  the 
fresh  curd  and  later  on  salting  it  on  the  outside. 
But  the  great  thing  in  cheese-making,  where  acid 
is  intentionally  employed,  is,  or  ought  to  be,  to 
make  the  acid  subordinate  to  the  rennet,  not  the 
rennet  to  the  acid ;  and  as  the  acid  in  a  high 
temperature  is  much  more  rapid  and  powerful  m 
its  action,  it  can  easily  overwhelm  the  rennet  if  it 
is  developed  too  far. 


Salt  cheeks  the  action  of  acid  and  rennet  alike, 
and  acid  checks  the  action  of  rennet,  hence  it 
follows  that  the  rennet  should  not  be  subjected  to 
both  checks  together,  except  to  a  moderate  extent. 
While  very  fine  cheese  is  made  by  the  aid  of  acidity 
directly  developed,  equally  fine  is  made  at  a  rather 
low  temperature  throughout,  with  a  liberal  use  of 
rennet  and  a  little  or  no  acid  ;  this  gives  the  rennet 
the  advantage  it  needs  over  the  acid,  because  it 
comes  into  jilay  faster  than  acid  does  at  a  mode- 
rate heat  ;  and  where  the  salt  is  not  applied  till 
the  following  morning,  even  though  the  tempera- 
ture be  low,  the  result  is  frequently  found  to  be  a 
cheese  of  very  good  quality. 

Excessive  salt  and  excessive  acid  each  prevent 
the  ripening  of  cheese,  hence  it  follows  that  the 
rennet,  which  is  the  ripening  agent  in  the  cheese, 
should  have  a  chance  of  getting  good  hold  of 
the  curd,  and  be  well  forward  in  its  work,  before 
either  acid  is  developed  or  salt  is  applied.  This  it 
does  very  successfully  in  several  methods  of  cheese- 
making  which  are  quite  distinct  from  each  other. 
Many  cheese-makers,  knowing  the  effect  of  acid  in 
expelling  the  whey  quickly  from  the  cunl,  have 
employed  it  too  freely  with  the  view  of  saving 
trouble  to  themselves.  They  have  succeeded  in 
this,  but  they  have  nearly  ruined  the  cheese. 
Acid  in  cheese-making  is  indeed  a  good  servant, 
but  it  is  a  bad  master ;  it  must  always  be  used  with 
the  greatest  discretion. 

Having  thus  reviewed  the  general  operation 
of  the  forces  and  principles  employed  in  cheese- 
making,  or  affecting  it,  we  have  in  the  following 
chapters  to  trace  their  more  detailed  applica- 
tion to  particular  cases  or  particular  qualities  of 
chccso. 


CHAPTER     XVI. 


Cheddar    and    Cheshire    Cheese. 


Antiquity  of  Cheddar  Cheese-Mr.  Harding's  Labours-Main  Principles  o£  the  System -Heating  tlie  Mill£— The  Rennet  and  Sour 
Whey— Grain  in  the  Curd— Cutting  tlie    Curd— Breaking  the  Curd— Scalding-Drawing  oft"  the  Whey- Acidity— Drying  the 
Curd— Salting  and  Grinding— Pressing— Curing— Cheshire  Chccse-The  Milk-vat-Cooling  the  Milk— Heat 
->    "''^'  ,-r  and  Coagulation— Breaking  the  Curd— Drainlng-Griuding  the  Curd-Drying-Pressing-Curing. 


with  strong  adverse  prejudice  iu  the  country  that 
gave  it  birth,  and  at  the  present  time,  after  a  trial 
of  some  years,  seems  to  thrive  but  slowly,  and 
to  give  scanty  proof  of  the  power  it  possesses  to 
benefit  the  dairymen  of  England. 

Fuller,  in  the  seventeenth  century,  remarks 
that  "  the  worst  fault  of  Cheddar  cheese  is  that 
they  are  so  few  and  so  dear,  hardly  to  be  met  with 
save  at  some  rich  man's  table.''  These  facts, 
gleaned  from  the  writings  of  two  well-known 
authors,  tell  us  all  we  can  now  learn  of  the  early 
history  of  the  cheese  and  its  fame. 

The  little  village,  nestling  beneath  the  lofty 
rocks,  is  a  fit  cradle  for  the  system ;  well  watered, 
sheltered  by  the  hills  on  the  north  and  east,  and 
catching  the  breezes  from  the  Bristol  Channel  on  the 
west,  a  jilaee  for  healthy  people  and  healthy  stock, 
for  pure  milk,  and  clean,  cool  dairies.  These  natural 
advantages,  especially  the  shelter  from  cold  winds 
and  the  abundance  of  water,  were  certainly  favour- 
able to  the  production  of  fine  dairy  goods,  but  the 
great  secret  of  the  success  of  those  early  makers 
was  that  they  (perhaps  unconsciously)  pursued  a 
system  of  manufacture  the  principles  of  which 
were  both  scientifically  and  practically  correct; 
they  made  for  their  goods  a  reputation  for  ex- 
cellence, and  passed  away,  their  names  unknown 
to  fame,  leaving  as  a  rich  legacy  to  succeeding 
generations  the  method  by  which  they  acquired 
that  reputation. 

The  Cheddar  System. 


?T  the  foot  of  the  main  chain  of 

l;^:"^^     the  Mendip  Hills  in  Somerset, 

and    on    the     margin    of    the 

"  Marsh,"  once  covered  with  water 

when    Glastonbury   was    Avalon, 

and     now     the     richest     grazing 

grounds   in  the  country,  lies  the  village 

of  Cheddar,  which,  according  to   a  local 

j)oet,  is 

"  Famous  for  capital  C's, 
CUflf-s,  and  Caverns,  and  Cheddar  Cheese." 

Here,  some  hundreds  of  years  ago,  originated  the 
system  of  cheese-making  which,  borrowing  its 
name  from  its  birthplace,  has  since  made  that 
name  a  household  word  among  thousands  who 
have  never  seen  the  grand  cliffs  and  stalactite 
caverns  which  are  among  the  most  interesting 
natural  curiosities  of  the  county. 

But  it  is  with  the  cheese  we  have  to  do.  Its 
origin  is  lost  in  obscurity,  but  we  can  trace  its 
existence  through  nearly  three  centuries.  The 
historian  Camden,  who  wrote  in  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth,  sjieaks  of  Cheddar  cheese  as  being 
famous  in  his  day,  and  of  such  great  size  as  to 
require  two  men  to  set  one  on  a  table,  from  which 
we  may  infer  that  the  custom  of  making  up  the 
milk  of  several  farms  into  one  cheese  was  prac- 
tised in  the  sixteenth  century  as  it  was  about  one 
hundred  years  ago,  for  the  holdings  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Cheddar  were  doubtless  then,  as  now, 
comparatively  small.  Here  we  have  the  first 
instance  of  associated  dairying;  and  it  is  curious 
to  note  that  the  idea  remained  undeveloped  for 
more  than  250  years,  was  then  put  into  practical 
shape  by  an  American,  that  it  has,  after  great 
success   in  the   United   States    and  Canada,   met 


This  Hijdem.  has  not  yet  been  improved  upon  ; 
all  that  has  been  done  within  the  memory  of  man 
has  either  only  affected  the  manner  of  reducing 
its  laws  to  practice,  leaving  the  laws  themselves 


216 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


unaltered,  or  it  has  been  a  fallui-e.  True,  many 
of  the  awkward  appliances  of  old  days  have  been 
thrown  aside,  and  better  and  more  convenient  ones 
now  occupy  their  places ;  and  many  of  the  dairies 
and  cheese-rooms  of  the  present  are  superior  in 
construction  to  those  of  half  a  century  or  more 
ao-o;  but  to  a  very  limited  extent  have  these 
affected  the  principles  of  the  system. 

Since  the  be<:finning  of  the  present  century  the 
introtluction  of  fixed  rules,  wherever  practicable, 
has  done  much  towards  simplifyiufj  the  method. 
Many  of  its  various  operations  are  still  left  to  the 
judgment  of  the  maker,  but  the  rules  have  rendered 
even  these  easier  to  contend  with,  on  account  of 
the  comparative  uniformity  of  the  times,  quantities, 
and  temperatures  which  occur  in  the  daily  routine  of 
the  manufacture.  The  importance  of  having  fixed 
rules  for  the  guidance  of  the  cheese-maker  cannot 
be  overrated;  but  they  must  possess  enough  elasti- 
city to  allow  them  to  accommodate  themselves  to 
all  kinds  of  accidental  circumstancesj  for  no  two 
days'  experiences  may  be  alike. 

Prominent  among  those  engaged  in  their  in- 
troduction was  one  whose  rare  perception  enabled 
him  to  gra.sp  the  general  princijiles  of  the  process, 
and  so  reduce  them  to  practice  as  to  render  the 
"rule  of  thumb"  mode  of  working,  as  a  matter 
of  necessity,  a  thing  of  the  past.  We  speak 
of  the  late  Mr.  Joseph  Harding,  of  Marksbury, 
who  not  only  brought  the  theory  of  Cheddar 
cheese-making  into  definite  shape,  but  also  suc- 
ces.sfully  practised  it  on  his  own  farm,  as  do  many 
of  his  pupils  in  their  various  localities  at  the 
present  time,  lie  was  a  man  of  great  intelli- 
gence, and  with  painstaking  per.severance  aimed  at 
making  all  circumstances  combine  to  produce  the 
finest  goods.  He  did  not  claim  to  be  the  origi- 
nator of  the  system,  nor  even  an  improver ;  on  the 
contrary,  he  was  a  firni  adherent  to  its  princijiles  as 
he  found  them,  simply  endeavouring  to  make  them 
better  known  and  understood.  He  did  not  at  any 
time  hold  the  opinion  that  the  (juali€fe~ftf  cheese 
was  to  be  attributed  entirely  to  the  Kuagement 
in  the  dairy,  though  he  laid  great  strcE  upon  the 
system  of  manufacture  as  being  the  chief  clement 
in  the  question  of  success.  In  addressing  an 
audience  during  his  visit  to  Ayrshire  in  1854,  he 
said  :  "  Cheese  is  made  in  the  dairy  yonder  where 
A  is  feeding  his  kine  on  broad  clover,  tares,  and 
rye-giuss;  or  where  B,  on  the  very  edge  of  the 
moor,  is  making  what  was  almost  desert  to  blossom 


as  the  rose  with  the  varied  ar.ible  forage  crops  of  a 
first  year's  cultivation;  or  yonder,  again,  where  C 
and  D  are  managing  old-land  carse  farms  in  the 
groove  first  made  generations  ago, — I  will  take  the 
milk  from  any  of  them  and  make  the  same  cheese 
anywhere.  Cheese  is  not  made  in  the  field,  or  in 
the  byre,  or  even  in  the  cow — it  is  made  in  the 
dairy. "  But  these  words  do  not  at  all  indicate 
the  presence  of  such  a  belief  in  his  mind  as  that 
which  has  been  ascribed  to  him,  and  to  which  we 
have  referred  above.  We  can  say  with  certainty 
that  no  man  attached  more  importance  to  good 
farming  and  cattle  management  than  did  Mr. 
Harding;  the  dairy-work  was,  however,  in  his  day, 
as  now,  in  need  of  improvement,  and  many  dairy- 
men supposed  that  i\\Q  farm  and  the  caflle  ruled 
the  quality  of  the  cheese,  hence  the  assertion  above 
quoted.  An  important  item  in  his  creed  was 
that  with  a  change  of  location,  soil,  or  system 
of  farming,  a  change  of  management  was  often 
necessary,  thus  involving  some  little  alteration 
in  the  routine  of  manufacture,  but  leaving  un- 
touched the  main  points  of  the  process. 

Others  have  been  or  are  engaged  in  spreading 
the  knowledge  of  the  system  among  their  fellow- 
dairymen,  or  in  bringing  science  to  tlie  aid  of 
practice,  but  limited  space  forbids  our  making 
more  than  a  general  acknowledgment  of  their 
services. 

Mr.  Harding  was  the  author  of  some  pamphlets 
on  the  method  ;  lectured  upon  and  taught  it  in 
various  districts  of  the  kingdom,  notably  in  Ayr- 
shire, on  the  invitation  of  the  Agricultural  Society 
of  that  county;,  and  included  among  his  pupils 
many  Continental  dairymen.  An  American  author, 
the  ilon.  X.  A.  Willard,  M.A.,  of  Little  Falls,  New 
York,  who  visited  Marksbury  in  1866  as  a  depu- 
tation from  the  American  Dairymen's  Association, 
says  of  the  system,  as  he  there  saw  it  carried  out, 
that  in  his  opinion  it  is  "  the  only  process  from 
which  American  dairymen  can  obtain  suggestions 
of  much  practical  utility."  * 

Such  was  the  reputation  of  the  system  when 
its  first  great  exj)onent  was  at  the  zenith  of  his 
fame,  and  we  doubt  much  whether  the  labours  of 
any  others  have  since  then  raised  the  standard  of 
Cheddar  quality.  It  is  notorious  that  a  lai^e  pro- 
jjortion  of  the  cheese  made  in  Cheddar  dairies  is 
below  the  standaitl  of  that  time,  and  the  causes  are 
not  dillicult  to  discover;  departure  from  primary 
•  "  Priictical  Dairy  Husbandry,"  p.  271. 


CHEDDAR    CHEESE-MAKING. 


217 


principles  and  inattention  to  details  being  pro- 
minent among'  them.  No  system  can  contend  with 
ignorance,  false  prejudice,  and  carelessness:  and  the 
Cheddar  method  of  making  cheese  will  never  be 
successful  in  the  hands  of  dairymen  who  cannot 
bring  a  trained  judgment  to  the  aid  of  fixed  rules. 


failure.  Fast  curing,  loss  of  mildness,  sharpness 
under  the  tongue  at  au  early  age,  and  decay  later 
on,  generally  accompany  each  other,  and  are  in 
many  cases  the  result  of  an  error  in  the  manufac- 
ture, with  which  we  shall  presently  deal. 

We   now   come    to   the    consideration    of   the 


MR.    JOSEPH    HARDING. 


A  well-made  Cheddar  cheese  should  possess 
mildness  of  flavour,  quality  or  richness,  and  solidity 
of  texture,  should  cure  slowly,  and  keep  for  a  long 
time.  When  a  Cheddar  is  not  mellow,  is  full  of 
holes,  or  "  shaky "  in  texture,  when  it  cures  fast, 
loses  its  mild  flavour,  acquires  a  sharp  taste  and 
has  a  tendency  to  early  decay,  we  may  safely  say 
that  it  was  made  either  from  bad  milk,  or  without 
due  regard  to  principles ;  and  in  the  vast  bulk  of 
cases  the  latter  is  the  cause  of  partial   or  total 


method  itself,  its  various  operations,  and  their  in- 
dividual and  collective  influence  in  the  i)roduction 
of  a  fine  quality  of  cheese.  There  are  various 
theories  and  practices,  some  of  which  are  essential 
and  others  non-essential  to  the  unity  of  the 
system.  The  form  of  the  tub,  the  choice  between 
hot  water  or  steam,  between  one  kind  of  mill, 
or  press,  and  another,  belong  to  the  non-essential 
elements. 

The  si:e   and  sJnqje   of   a  Cheddar  cheese  are 


2]» 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


not  matters  of  importance.  The  impression  sliared 
by  many  jiersons  that  it  must  necessarily  be  large 
is  a  mistaken  one,  and  probably  arises  from  the 
fact  that  originally  the  goods  made  under  this 
process  were  of  cylindrical  shape,  of  100  lbs.  and 
upwards  in  weiglit,  and  became  famous  in  lluit 
form.  Cheese  made  by  the  system  whieli  \vc  arc 
about  to  describe,  whether  "  truckle "  shape.  Hat, 
or  deep,  whether  of  10  or  lUU  lbs.  weight,  are 
"  Cheddars." 

The  essentials,  though  few,  are  important,  and 
they  fix  the  definition  of  the  system.  They  must 
be  princij)lcs,  rules,  or  modes  of  working  which 
affect  the  quality  of  the  produce ;  they  must, 
when  followed  with  judgment,  produce  goods 
having  in  full  the  characteristics  of  Cheddar 
cheese  as  before  described.  It  must  be  clearly 
understood  that  Cheddars  cannot  be  made  in  any 
manner  that  may  be  suggested  to  the  mind  of 
a  cheese-maker;  if  such  a  person  proposes  to 
introduce  a  practice  which  in  any  way  involves 
a  deviation  from  any  principle  of  the  system, 
he  can  no  longer  claim  to  be  a  Cheddar-maker — 
he  no  longer  follows  the  system  in  its  integrity. 
There  is  a  certain  laxity  of  opinion  on  this  question 
which  needs  sotting  right.  We  have  heard  a 
cheese-maker  say  that  any  cheese  which  in  its 
cm'd  state  had  been  ground  in  a  mill  was  neces- 
sarily a  Cheddar;  and  another  person  has  given, 
in  our  hearing,  the  definition  of  the  term  as  "  a 
cheese  made  within  a  radius  of  ten  miles  of 
the  village  from  which  the  system  derived  its 
name."  Tliere  is  a  heresy  yet  more  common  than 
cither  of  tliese,  with  which  we  shall  deal  in  the 
detailed  description  of  the  process. 

The  distinguishing  characteristics  of  the  s^'stem 
have  ever  been,  and  ever  will  be,  the  foundation 
of  success;  they  hinge  together  and  work  in 
harmony,  and  they  cannot  be  departed  from 
without  injury  to  the  produce.     They  are  : — 

1.  The  use  of  heat  to  raise  the  temj)eraturc  of 
the  milk  to  about  80"  Fahrenheit  (or  27"  Centi- 
grade)* previous  to  the  addition  of  rennet. 

2.  The  limiled  use  of  a  cutting  instrument  in 
the  first  stage  of  whey  separation. 

*  Of  the  thermomctrical  readings,  in  all  instances,  the 
first  in  order  is  the  Fahrenheit,  the  last  (in  brackets)  of 
the  Centigrade  scale.  The  latter,  though  not  accurate  to 
fractions,  are  siifTicicntly  so  for  practice.  We  give  them 
because  the  Centigrade  thermometer  is  Hrgely  coming  into 
use  among  scientists,  and  is  more  suited  to  eXDorimental 
work  than  the  Fahrenheit  instrument. 


'■\.  The  use  to  as  large  an  extent  as  possible 
of  an  instrument  which  will  KpVil  or  hreak  the 
curd  into  small  fragments. 

4.  The  application  of  heat  to  raise  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  curd  and  whey,  after  breaking,  to  from 
95"  (3o.i")  to  100"  (38"),  for  the  purpose  of 
hardening  the  curd  and  completing  the  separa- 
tion of  the  whey  from  it ;  the  former  being 
stirred,  during  that  time  and  after  the  desired 
temperature  is  reached,  in  the  hot  whey  by  a 
blitnl.  instrument  until  the  required  hardness 
and  freedom  from  whey  is  obtained. 

5.  The  removal  of  the  whey  in  a  sweet  con- 
dition, at  about  half  an  hour  from  the  time 
the  stirring  ceases. 

6.  The  developing  of  acidity  in  the  curd 
by  piling  and  occasionally  covering  it  to  preserve 
its  warmth. 

7.  The  thorough  draining  of  the  whey  from 
the  curd,  and  the  cooling  of  tlie  latter  before 
grinding. 

8.  The  division  of  the  curd  into  small  particles 
before  pressing. 

9.  The  mixing  of  salt  with  the  curd,  at  the 
rate  of  about  1  lb.  of  the  former  to  50  1!js.  of 
the  latter. 

For  the  purpose  of  illustrating  and  enlarging 
upon  these  leading  points  of  the  system,  we 
Avill  here  describe  the  process,  as  performed  in 
]Mr.  Harding's  dairy  from  his  coming  into 
public  notice  until  the  close  of  his  useful  career. 
His  practice  has  been  generally  chosen  by  writers 
on  dairying  when  a  description  of  the  system 
has  been  necessary.  We  shall  enter  into  the 
details  of  the  process,  speak  of  various  appliances 
and  their  uses,  of  operations  and  their  results, 
and  of  certain  modes  of  working,  their  advan- 
tages and  disadvantages,  as  avc  proceed,  omitting 
nothing  the  presence  of  which,  in  a  wf)rk  of 
this  character,  may  appear  desirable,  and  making 
Mr.  Harding's  practice  the  basis  of  the  descrij)- 
tion. 

The  dairy  at  IMarksbury  is  a  part  of  the 
dwelling-house,  and  consists  of  the  making- 
room,  the  press-room,  a  boiler-shed,  and  a  cur- 
ing-room. In  the  shed  is.  a  hot-water  apjwratus, 
by  Coekey  of  Frome,  attached  .by  two  pijies  to 
a  large  double-bottomed  tub  of  200  gallons 
capacitj',  which  stands  in  the  making-room. 
From  the  boiler  another  set  of  pipes  pass  around 
the   cheese-room    for    heating    purposes.       Above 


CHEDDAR    APPLIANCES. 


^19 


-Section  ok  Cockey's 
Cheese-tub. 


it  stands  a  tank,  in  wliich  water  is  heated  for 
eleansino-  the  utensils.  Where  hot  water  is  used  for 
heatinj^-  tlie  milk  this  apparatus  is  valuable.  The 
space  A  in  the 
accompanying  il- 
lustration (Fig. 
94)  is  filled  with 
hot  water,  which 
enters  by  the  pipe 
B,  and  returns  by 
a  similar  pipe  to 
the  boiler.  A  large 
taj)  is  fixed  at  the 
bottom  for  drawing  off  the  whey,  and  a  smaller 
one,  c,  for  the  removal  of  the  hot  water. 

In  the  same  room  stands  a  tank  in  which  to 
set  whey  for  cream,  butter  of  a  fair  quality  being 
made  from  it.  The  whey,  after  skimming,  is  run 
ofE  through  pipes  to  the  piggery  cistern.  A  long 
wooden  tub,  or  "  cooler,"  is  used  to  spread  the  curd 
upon  after  it  is  taken  from  the  tub,  and  upon  this 
is  fixed  a  simple  curd-mill,  having  a  cylinder  in 
which  square  teeth  are  inserted  spirally,  these 
working  through  a  rack  of  square  bars.  It  is 
turned  by  hand,  and  grinds  the  curd  well,  though 
it  is  not  necessarily  the  best  in  the  market.  The 
press  in  use  is  a  screw  and  lever  machine  of  simi>le 


Fig.  95.— Pkess. 

construction  (Fig.  95).  The  screw-opening  vat 
(Fig.  96)  is  used ;  this  was  introduced  by  Mr. 
Harding,  and  is  the  best  yet  invented  for  large 
cheeses.  A  tin  milk-receiver,  consisting  of  a 
hopper,  to  which  is  attached  a  pipe,  is  so  placed — 
the  hopper  being  outside  and  the  pipe  passing 
through  the  wall,  with  its  other  end  resting  on 
the  side  of  the  cheese-tub — as  to  allow  the  milkers 
31 


to  pour  the  contents  of  their  pails  into  the  tub 
without  entering  the  dairy.     In  the  curing-room 
are  "turning"  shelves,  which 
are  easily  moved  either  \\:iy, 
so  that  all  the  cheese  stored 
on  them  may  be  turned  with 
one    motion,    saving    much 
time  and  labour  in  this  de- 
partment of  the  work.     This 
description  of  the  dairy  will,    i^'g-  '■»().— Screw-openinq 
we  think,  suffice.  '    ' 

The  evening's  milk  is  poured  l)y  tlie  milker 
through  a  fine  strainer  into  the  checse-tul).  There 
is  no  previous  cooling  of  the  milk,  though,  doubt- 
less, where  it  is  done  much  danger  of  souring 
is  avoided  during  hot  weather;  but  into  the 
space  A  of  the  Cockey  tub  (Fig.  94)  cold  water  is 
introduced,  and  the  milk  cooled  down  thoroughl}'. 
Mr.  Harding  fully  recognised  the  necessity  for 
a  pure  and  sweet  material  from  which  to  manu- 
facture his  cheese.  By  reducing  the  temperature 
to  55°  (13"),  or  lower  during  the  summer,  the 
preservation  of  the  milk  under  fair  conditions 
is  secured ;  this  can  be  done  if  a  stream  of  water 
of  a  quarter  of  an  inch  diameter  is  available. 

Here  let  us  say  a  word  about  the  cream  rising 
on  the  night's  milk.  This  is,  despite  the  opinions 
of  some  to  the  contrary,  objectionable.  Without 
going  into  the  theory  of  the  question,  we  may  say 
that  the  cream  of  some  specimens  of  milk  rises 
faster  than  that  from  others,  and  is  less  easily 
stirred  in  again  ;  but  while  the  difference  between 
them  on  this  account  is  marked,  it  is  certain  that, 
with  either,  to  be  able  to  prevent  its  rising  is  a 
great  advantage.  In  the  cheese  factories  the 
"Austin"  agitator  is  used  with  good  results;  a 
description  of  this  apparatus  will  be  found  in 
the  section  on  American  factories.  A  simple  ap- 
jiliance  on  the  same  principle — a  change  from  a 
rotary — represented  by  a  small  water-wheel,  to  the 
horizontal  motion  of  a  floating  rake,  the  action 
intermittent,  a  movement  of  the  rake  occurring 
once  every  two  or  three  minutes,  will  answer  the 
purpose,  the  quarter-inch  stream  of  water  used  to 
cool  the  milk  driving  the  wheel,  and  thus  per- 
forming two  useful  offices  at  the  same  time.  It 
is  found  that  by  the  use  of  the  Austin  apparatus 
the  milk  is  rapidly  cooled  and  aerated,  that  no 
cream  rises,  and  that  a  clearer  whey  can  be  pro- 
duced in  making  the  cheese  than  would  otherwise 
be  the  case.     At  Marksbury  nothing  of  the  sort 


220 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


is  used  ;  the  eream  is  skimmwl  ofF,  poured  through 
the  Strainer  with  the  morning's  miliv,  and  tho- 
rouglily  stirred  in.  ]5ut  the  advantaj^'e  is  on  tlie 
side  of  intermittent  aj^itation. 

When  the  mornini^'s  milk  has  heen  run  into 
tlie  tub,  hot  water  from  the  Coekey  boiler  is 
turned  on,  and  the  whole  mass  heated  to  from 
80°  {-Zl'')  to  82"  (28°).  The  higher  temperature 
is  necessary  with  small  quantities  of  milk  in  cold 
weather,  and  in  draughty,  ill-constructed  dairies 
81'  (29")  is  not  too  high  in  the  early  and  late 
parts  of  the  season.  When  a  dairy  is  not  fitted 
with  glazed  windows  and  free  from  cold  draughts, 
cheese-making  cannot  be  satisfactorily  carried  on  ; 
it  may  be  cool  in  summer,  but  there  is  an  un- 
certainty at  all  times,  and  very  little  chance  of 
uniformity  in  the  quality  of  the  goods  produced. 
It  is  also  probable  that  the  cheese-maker  will 
suffer  in  health  under  such  a  condition  of  things. 
AV^e  lately  made  the  acquaintance  of  an  old  lady 
who  is  a  victim  of  chronic  rheumatism,  which 
she  attributes  to  having  for  many  years  made 
cheese  in  a  cold  and  draughty  room.  Away,  then, 
with  perforated  zinc  and  wire  netting,  and  let 
every  dairy  be  snugly  built  and  fitted  with  glazed 
windows,  which  can  keep  out  and  keep  in  heat  and 
cold  ;  and  if  in  summer  the  room  needs  cooling, 
close  the  windows  and  swill  the  floor  with  water. 
In  a  well-constructed  building  there  should  be  no 
need  of  heating  the  milk  to  more  than  82"  (28''), 
when  setting  for  coagulation,  at  any  time  in  the 
season.  When  the  milk  is  at  the  desired  tempera- 
ture the  flow  of  hot  water  should  be  stopped,  and 
about  one-third  of  it  drawn  off  through  the  tap  c 
(Fig.  94),  that  it  may  not  by  its  contact  with  the 
bottom  of  the  inner  shell  raise  the  heat  of  the 
contents  unduly,  whilst  that  which  is  left  will 
assist  the  milk  in  retaining  its  temperature. 

In  the  old-style  dairies,  where  no  hot-water 
apparatus  is  used,  a  portion  of  the  milk  should 
be  drawn  into  a  pail,  placed  in  an  ordinary  boiler 
containing  sufficient  boiling  water  to  rise  around 
the  pail  to  within  a  few  inches  of  the  top,  and 
heated  until,  by  pouring  it  again  into  the  tub,  it 
will  raise  the  temperature  of  the  remainder  to  the 
desired  point.  A  little  careful  calculation  is  needed 
to  avoid  over-heating,  or  the  annoyance  of  finding 
that  the  pailful  from  the  boiler  will  not  sufficiently 
heat  the  rest  by  one  or  two  degrees  ;  but  this 
is  not  difficult.  By  this  system  of  boiler-heating 
good  cheese  can   be   made,   but  a  steam  or  hot- 


water  ai)paratus  is  decidedly  to  De  preferred  on 
all  accounts. 

The  rennet  and  sour  whey  are  now  ad<li'd  to 
the  njjlk.  The  former,  as  made  at  Marksbury,  is 
reliable  in  its  action  and  pure.  Best  old  Irish 
veils  are  used,  selected  by  Mr.  Titley,  of  Bath.  Salt 
brine  is  made  which  will  float  an  v^g,  and  to  every 
gallon  of  this  is  added  four  veils,  a  half-ounce  of 
saltpetre,  and  half  a  lemon  sliced,  which  soak  in 
the  brine  for  a  month,  at  which  time  the  liquid  is 
ready  for  use.  A  half-pint  of  this  will,  with  the 
use  of  sour  whey,  coagulate  100  gallons  of  milk  in 
sixty  minutes  or  less.  Now  the  artificial  rennet 
has  largely  superseded  that  made  at  the  farm — 
at  least  in  the  West  of  England  dairies.  If  the 
cuixl  is  ready  for  manipulation  in  much  less  than 
an  hour  it  will  be  tough  and  hard,  and  if  coagu- 
lation occupies  much  more  than  sixty  minutes 
the  curd  will  be  tender  and  difficult  to  separate 
from  the  whey  without  loss ;  in  other  words,  to 
break  it  as  usual  would  ensure  a  "  white  whey." 
So  it  will  be  readily  seen  that  the  coagulating 
power  of  rennet  should  be  definitely  known  to  the 
cheese-maker,  in  order  to  ensure  uniformity  of 
action. 

Concerning  the  use  of  sour  whey  various 
opinions  prevail,  but  experience  has  shown  that 
a  curd  produced  without  it,  a  larger  quantity  of 
rennet  being  used,  is  not  as  firm  and  manageable 
as  that  produced  by  a  less  quantity  of  rennet  and 
a  limited  amount  of  whey.  The  acidity  in  the 
curd  after  scakling  is  more  rapidly  developed  when 
it  is  used,  and  few  things  tend  more  to  render  a 
cheese  soapy  and  tasteless  than  that  the  acid  de- 
velopment occupy  a  long  time.  At  the  same  time, 
we  may  remark  that  great  judgment  is  required 
in  the  use  of  sour  whey  in  coagulating  milk ;  to 
exceed  the  necessary  quantity  is  risky.  This  varies 
with  circumstances  ;  in  a  warm  dairy  the  variation 
is  less  than  in  a  cold  room.  In  the  former  the  use 
of  from  a  quart  in  warm  weather  to  3  quarts  in 
the  colder  parts  of  the  season  to  every  50  gallons 
of  milk  is  sufficient;  but  very  few  accurate  calcu- 
lations have  so  far  been  made  on  the  question  of 
quantity.  The  figures  given  are  from  the  practice 
at  Marksbury,  and  we  have  not  yet  found  it  neces- 
sary to  depart  from  them. 

Annatto  is  used  by  most  makers.  ]\Ir.  Harding 
protested  against  its  use,  but  when  an  artificial 
colouring  was  demanded  recommended  NichoUs' 
liquid  preparation.     lie  penned  in    1800  a  para- 


THE    THEORY    OP    CURD-BREAKING. 


2-21 


g^raph  ("  Recent  Improvements  in  Dairy  Practice," 
Vol.  XXL,  Part  l.,R.A.S.E.  Journa/)  on  the  sub- 
ject which  is  certainly  worth  transcribing  : — "  To 
the  cheese-consumers  of  London  who  prefer  an 
adulterated  food  to  that  which  is  pure,  I  have  to 
announce  an  improvement  in  the  annatto  with 
which  they  compel  the  cheese-makers  to  colour  the 
cheese.  The  improvement  is  not  in  the  smell, 
which  remains  as  unpleasant  as  ever,  neither  is  it 
in  the  taste,  that  is  as  filthy  as  ever ;  but  it  consists 
in  this,  that  we  now  get  annatto  in  a  liquid  state 
instead  of  a  cake,  which  saves  the  trouble  of  rub- 
ing  out."  This  is  better  than  argument.  But 
if  annatto  is  used,  the  proper  measure  should  be 
mixed  in  a  bowl  of  milk,  poured  into  the  mass, 
and  carefully  stirred  in.  The  stirring  should  con- 
tinue for  five  minutes  or  so  after  the  rennet  and  sour 
vvhe\^  have  been  added  to  the  milk,  that  the  coagu- 
lation and  colour  may  be  uniform,  and  that  no 
cream  may  rise  before  the  curd  begins  to  form. 

A  further  result  of  this  stirring  is  the  produc- 
tion of  a  grain  in  the  curd.  The  movements  of  the 
particles  of  milk  have  not  entirely  subsided  beforti 
coagulation  sets  in,  and  the  currents  of  milk-at(ims 
are  gradually  affected  b}'  the  rennet  until  their 
movements  cease,  and  the  direction  of  their  flow  is 
marked  by  a  grain,  the  presence  of  which  is  shown 
by  the  curd  splitting  before  the  finger  smoothly,  as 
in  the  line  a.  Fig.  97,  and  breaking  with  a  ragged 
edge  if  the  finger  be  forced 
through  it  in  an  opposite  direc- 
tion, as  at  B.  This  theory  is 
supported  Ijy  experience,  and  is 
of  the  utmost  importance  in  de- 
termining the  manner  in  which 
the  curd  shall  be  broken  up 
in  the  process  of  whey-separa- 
tion. Now  one  of  the  leading  jji'ii^ciples  of  the 
Cheddar  system  is  that  the  process  of  "  breaking," 
as  it  is  technically  called  and  hereafter  described, 
shall  as  far  as  possible  be  performed  with  l/hii/t 
instruments,  which,  in  passing  through  the  curd^ 
shall  cause  it  to  split  in  the  direction  of  its  grain. 
But  the  limited  use  of  cnffing  implements  is  at 
present  requisite  because  no  hlnid  instrument  has 
yet  been  introduced  which  will  divide  the  curd  into 


Fig.  97.— DiAGKAM  OF 

THE  Grain  Theoky. 


Fig.  98. -Curd-knife. 


(Fig.  98)  with  an  oval-sl-.aped  handle,  the  former 
being  as  long  as  the  depth  of  the  tub  in  which  it 
is  to  be  used.  When  the  curd  is  "  ready  to  cut," 
this  knife  is  passed  through  it  in  opposite  direc- 
tions, leaving  the  mass  in  blocks  of  6  or  8  inches 
square.  Then  the  "  skimming-dish  "  (Fig 
named  because  it  is 


'.til.— .Skimming  DISH. 


used  for  skimming 
cream  as  well  as  for 
breaking  cuixi,  is 
called  into  the  work  ; 
the  manner  of  handling  it  requires  careful  descrip- 
tion. The  blade  is  passed  edgewise  into  the 
contents  of  the  tub,  and  then  drawn  gently  up- 
wards, as  shown  in  Fig.  100,  allowing  the  block  of 

curd   to  split  in  its  ,. 

grain,  and  when  that 
is  done,  carefully 
drawn  out  edgewise, 
and  the  operation 
repeated  until  the 
mass  is  reduced,  by 
much   natural   sjilittini 


.  100.— .Section  of  (Jurd, 
SHOWING  Splitting. 


blocks  of  a  workable  size  and  shajie.     The  curd- 
knife  of   the  Cheddar  method   is   a   single  blade 


;  little  cutting  and  as 
as  possible,  into  lumps 
of  4  or  5  inches  in  thickness.  This  part  of  the 
I)rocess  is  performed  slowly,  but  with  gradually 
increasing  rapidity,  the  condition  of  the  curd 
and  whey  indicating  to  the  trained  maker  the 
necessary  speed.  To  persons  who  have  never  used 
it  the  skimming-dish  appears  awkward,  and  likely 
to  so  smash  the  curd  as  to  cause  loss.  But  such  a 
notion  is  erroneous  ;  there  is  nothing  yet  invented 
which,  taking  its  place,  will  do  its  work  as  well. 
We  cannot  imagine  any  alteration  of  its  form  which 
might  be  a  practical  improvement,  or  give  any 
advantage  not  now  jiossessed. 

Now  the  use  of  cutting  instruments  is  left  off, 
and  the  "  breaker "  comes  into  requisition.  This 
is  shown  in  Fig.  101,  and  consists  of  a  bent  wooden 
handle,  through  the  lower 
part  of  which  sorne  nine  or 
ten  brass  rods  of  gth  of  an 
inch  diameter  are  inserted 
at  about  1\  inches  apart, 
their  ends  being  fastened 
into  two  strips  of  wood,  the 
edges  and  ends  of  which, 
as  well  as  those  of  the 
handle,  are  carefully  rounded 
off.  In  fact,  the  implement  is  thoroughly  adapted 
to  the  work  of  curd-splitting  or  breaking.  Two 
others,    the  "  revolving "   and   "  hoop  "   breakers, 


,  101.— Breaker  in 
Breaking. 


222 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


B  C 

BRf;AKEB  AViRES. 


now  nearly  obsolete  among'  ('lieddar-makei-s,  were 
made  with  round  wires  or  rods  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. By  the  former  of  these  we  must  not  be 
understood  to  refer  to  the  "  Keevil  apparatus " 
or  the  revolving  frame  of  blades  usetl  in  some 
Wiltshire  dairies;  they  are  not  Cheddar  ;i])]ilianees 
in  any  sense  of  the  term. 

Rut  there  have  been  introduced  into  many 
dairies  implements  similar  in  form  to  the  shovel- 
breaker  first  described,  but  differing  from  it  in  the 
most  important  point — the  shape  of  the  rods  and 
side-strips,  which  are  made  to  cut  or  lear  the  curd 
instead  of  splitting  it.  Sections  of  the  various 
sorts  of  rods  used  in  the  construction  of  breakers 
are  given  in  Fig.  102,  where  a  is  the  wire  of  the 
Cheddar  shovel- 
breaker,  B  the 
ilianiond  wire, 
and  C  the  cutting 
blade.  Of  the  two 
latter,  b  is  de- 
cidedly the  most 
objectionable,  as 
we  know  from  personal  experience ;  but  the  use  of 
either  interferes  with  one  of  the  chief  principles  of 
the  Cheddar  system.  The  "American"  method 
pursued  in  Transatlantic  dairies  and  factories  has, 
as  one  of  its  leading  characteristics,  the  use  of 
cutting  instruments,  and  the  factory  curd-knives 
have  many  blades,  situated  about  half  an  inch 
apart,  so  as  to  cut  the  curd  into  small  cubes 
at  the  outset.  The  cntting  breakers  are,  then, 
we  contend,  "  American  "  in  principle,  and  should 
be  known  as  such.  "Whether  they  are  improve- 
ments on  the  round  wire  Ijreakers  or  not  matters 
nothing.  They  deviate  from  the  true  Cheddar 
jirinciple  of  breaking. 

But  are  they  improvements?  When  these  cnt- 
ting or  tearing  breakers  are  used  it  is  impossible 
to  break  the  curd  properly  and  continnomli/  and 
not  produce  a  "  white  whey."  We  have  been  able 
to  trace  the  resulting  evils  to  their  source  in 
various  cases,  but  the  makers  fall  back  on  some 
mysterious  and  unknown  influence  as  the  primal 
cause  of  the  mischief,  while  the  "  new "  breaker 
remains  to  perpetuate  it.  But  as  we  do  not 
recognise  the  cutting  breaker  as  a  Cheddar 
implement,  nor  its  work  as  part  of  the  Cheddar 
process,  we  will  dismiss  this  part  of  the  subject 
by  remarking  that  the  flavour  and  keeping  quali- 
ties of  the  cheese  made  in  the  West  of  Eiwland 


have    not    improved    since    its    introduction,    but 
rather  the  contrary. 

The  great  objection  raised  against  the  round 
wire  breaker  is  that  it  "  smashes  "  the  curd.  This 
may  be  true  of  it  when  in  the  hands  of  ignorant 
and  careless  makers,  but  if  properly  handled  no 
more  loss  of  butter  and  casein  passing  off  with  the 
whey  need  be  incurred  than  is  consistent  with  the 
production  of  the  finest  cheese,  and  the  whey  may 
always  be,  as  it  should,  as  clear  as  Rhenish  wine. 
It  is,  with  our  present  knowledge  of  cheese- 
making,  impossible  to  produce  a  whey  totally  free 
from  butter  and  first-class  cheese  at  one  and  the 
same  time.  This  may  possibly  be  achieved  in  the 
future. 

In  "breaking,  "  the  implement  should  be  held 
as  in  Fig.  101  during  the  earl}'  part  of  the  process, 
and  moved  slowly,  the  speed  increasing  gradually. 
Care  should  be  taken  to  break  evenly  throughout 
the  mass,  and  the  whey  should  at  any  time  be 
so  clear  as  to  reflect  the  face  and  figure  of  the 
operator.     This  rule  is  simple  but  sufficient. 

When  the  curd  is  reduced  to  lumps  of  the  size 

of  large  peas,  "  scalding  ■"  commences.     The   hot 

water  is   again  applied,  the  breaker  turned  over, 

being  held  as  in  Fig.  108,  and  the  curd  stirred  until 

the  correct  temperature  is 

gained.  In  old-style  dairies 

the    curd    is    allowed    to 

settle,  and  a  quantity  of 

whc}'  drawn  off  and  heated 

in   a   pail    placed    in    the 

boiler.  The  custom  of  "slip 

scalding,"  or    raising    the        F'S- 103.— Breaker  in 

,  '      .  Scalding. 

temperature     by    pouring 

into  the  tub  two  pails  of  whey,  one  at  a  rather 

earlier    and    the   other   at    a   later   stage    of    the 

process  than   that   at  which  the    heat  is  applied 

by  hot  water  or  steam,   was  in   vogue  in    1860, 

and   for   some    years    Ijefore    and   after,   but    the 

practice    has   largely    fallen    into   disuse,    though 

in   cases    where   the    old    style   exists  the  effects 

are  beneficial,  as  by  it  the  chance  of  getting  too 

hard  a  curd  is  somewhat  lessened. 

In  scalding,  as  in  heating  for  coagulation,  a 

higher  ti'inperature  is  necessary  in  cold  than  in 

warm  weather,   in  a  draughty  dairy  than  in  one 

jiroperly  constructed,  with  small  than  with  large 

((uantities    of    milk;    the    range,    however,    lies 

between   97"    (30^)   and    100"    (,'3S''),   and  it  is 

seldom  necessary  to  go  above  or  below  it  in  liomi'- 


MANAGEMENT    OF    THE    CURD. 


223 


dairy  practice.  In  making  largo  quantities,  as 
in  factories,  95°  (35i''')  is  sufficient  for  summer 
work.  When  the  necessaiy  temperature  has  been 
reached,  the  hot  water  should  be  turned  off,  and 
the  stirring  continued  until  the  curd  feels 
"  shotty,"  or  is  hard  enough  to  rub  between  the 
fingers  without  adhesion,  and  the  whey  pressed 
from  it  is  clear ;  then  the  breaker  is  withdrawn, 
and  the  curd  allowed  to  sink  to  the  bottom  of  the 
tub.  As  the  curd  often  enters  into  this  condition 
suddenly,  being  apparently  far  from  it  at  one  time 
and  within  a  very  few  minutes  afterward  found  to 
be  hard,  it  cannot  be  too  carefully  watched.  While 
scalding,  great  care  must  be  taken  to  prevent  any 
curd  lodging  on  the  bottom  of  the  tub,  where  the 
heat  will  cause  it  to  adhere  and  become  lumpy; 
the  motion  of  the  breaker  must  not,  however,  bo 
violent.  And  here  let  us  remark,  that  from  the 
first  cutting  until  the  scalding  and  subsequent  stir- 
ring is  completed,  the  process  must  not  cease  for 
a  moment,  excepting  for  whey-heating  under  the 
old  style  of  management.  The  Cheddar  method 
does  not  admit  of  cheese-making  and  domestic 
work  being  done  alternately  by  the  maker  in  the 
same  time ;  the  entire  attention  of  one  person  is 
required  throughout  the  earlier  half  of  the  work, 
and  the  cheese  should  be  the  first  object  of  con- 
sideration until  it  is  in  press. 

But  to  return.  At  this  stage  of  the  process 
the  curd  is  allowed  to  remain  under  the  whey  for 
half  an  hour,  when  the  latter  is  drawn  off,  no 
particles  of  curd  being  allowed  to  pass  off  with  it. 
For  this  purpose  a  simple  syjihon  and  a  cylindrical 
strainer  is  the  best  arrangement  known.  The 
strainer  is  placed  in  the  tub,  close  to  the  side, 
the  sj'phon  filled  by  immersing  it  in  the  whey, 
and  then,  the  ends  being  held  tightly  in  the 
hands  to  prevent  the  contents  running  out,  the 
shorter  arm  is  adroitly  put  into  the  whey, 
which  begins  to  flow  from  the  longer  arm, 
and  continues  to  do  so  until  almost  all  has 
been  drawn  from  the  tub,  leaving  the  eurd  un- 
disturbed. The  shorter  arm  of  the  syphon  should, 
when  resting  on  the  side  of  the  tub,  reach  to 
within  half  an  inch  of  the  bottom  of  the  strainer, 
which  should  be  eight  or  more  inches  in  diameter 
and  as  deep  as  the  tub.  When  these  are  not  used, 
the  whey  is  drawn  through  the  tap,  care  being 
taken  to  prevent  any  eurd  being  carried  with  it. 

When  this  has  been  done,  the  curd  is  piled  in 
a  compact  heap,  and  if  the  weather  is  cold  covered 


by  a  cloth  to  enable  it  to  retain  heat  and  develop 
acidity.  This  cannot  be  done  too  quickly;  the 
longer  the  time  it  occupies,  the  colder  will  be  the 
curd,  and  cold  cheeks  acid. 

In  from  twenty  to  thirty  minutes  the  curd  is 
cut  into  two  or  three  pieces  and  re-piled,  those  parts 
most  exposed  before  being  now  turned  inwards, 
and  all  packed  closely  together.  To  decide  when 
curd  is  sufficiently  acid  is  difficult  to  an  untrained 
maker,  and  no  definite  rules  exist  on  the  point, 
some  dairymen  using  a  hot  iron,  to  which  the 
curd  adheres  and  from  which  it  draws  out  in  fine 
threads  when  a  certain  amount  of  acid  is  present, 
others — the  majority — trusting  to  their  experience. 
Various  chemical  tests  have  been  suggested,  but 
they  occupy  too  much  time,  and  are  too  trouble- 
some for  the  ordinary  maker;  while  as  yet  no 
acid-meter  has  been  invented  which  will  register 
acid  as  a  thermometer  does  heat,  and  there  seems 
no  probability  of  the  app(\arance  of  such  an  instru- 
ment. 

But,  lacking  such  aid,  we  know  that  curd 
should  not  occupy  more  than  an  hour  in  develop- 
ing 251'oper  acidity,  and  at  that  time  should  be 
uniform  throughout  the  mass.  If  the  air  is  so 
cold  that  it  would  necessarily  take  a  longer  time, 
some  strainer  cloth  should  be  put  on  it,  or  the  top 
of  the  tub  covered  over.  The  use  of  any  material 
of  close  texture  should  be  avoided ;  curd  covered 
by  it  will  smell  musty. 

When  sufliciently  acid,  the  pile  of  curd  is  cut 
into  three  or  four  lumps  and  spread  over  the 
bottom  of  the  tub,  and  t'lere  left  for  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes ;  then,  divided  into  smaller  lumps,  again 
spread  abroad  ;  after  another  short  interval  torn 
into  pieces  of  3  or  4  inches  square  and  2  inches  or 
less  thick,  and  spread  upon  boards  or  in  a  cooler, 
this  being  a  gradual  method  of  drying,  the 
windows  opened  if  the  weather  is  fairly  warm, 
and  rapid  cooling  induced.  It  will  require  once 
turning ;  and  when  the  surface  is  dry,  the  tem- 
perature about  60°  (15^°),  and  a  tinge  of  brown 
ai:)pears,  it  is  ready  to  grind. 

As  on  an  average  a  pound  of  cheese  is  made 
from  a  gallon  of  milk,  we  may  take  the  number 
of  gallons  of  milk  as  the  basis  for  salting.  The 
salt  should  be  thoroughly  mixed  with  the  curd 
when  ground,  at  the  rate  of  1  lb.  to  56  gallons 
of  milk,  and  too  pure  or  too  fine  a  salt  can  hardly 
be  used.  Mr.  Harding  used  and  recommended 
Titley's  double  refined  salt,    which  is,   as  is  also 


2:JI- 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


the  "Eureka"  salt  of  Messrs.  Ilisririn,  of  Liverpool, 
specially  adapted  to  dairy  use.  The  curd  should  now 
be  put  into  press,  and  the  grinding,  salting,  and 
vatting  cannot  be  done  too  quickly  consistently 
with  thoroughness.  Any  further  cooling  or 
drying  should  be  avoided,  and  in  ten  minutes 
from  the  time  it  is  ready  to  grind  it  shoidd  lie 
under  pressure. 

The  cheese  remains  in  press  until  tlie  day 
after  making,  is  then  taken  out  aud  bandaged 
(if  this  has  not  already  been  done),  turned,  and 
again  put  under  ])ressure.  To  makers  of  heavy 
goods  we  commend  the  screw-opening  vat  (Fig. 
yC),  as  less  liable  than  others  to  injure  the  cheese 
when  removing  or  replacing  it.  When  the  cheese 
is  to  be  removed  from  it,  the  screws  a  a  (Fig. 
96)  being  turacd,  open  the  vat  at  its  side  and 
bottom,  so  that  the  latter  can  be  lifted  up  from 
the  former  with  case. 

After  the  second  day  under  pressure,  the 
cheese  will  be  ready  for  removal  to  the  curing- 
room,  and  we  will  follow  it  thither.  It  is  only 
curd  yet,  and  the  process  of  mellowing  down  into 
a  ripe,  clean-flavoured,  and  luscious  article  of  food 
fit  for  the  table  has  yet  to  come.  Here  may  be 
stored  perfect  and  well-pressed  curd,  promising 
to  become  all  that  we  could  wish — a  credit  to 
the  maker,  the  desire  of  the  dealer,  and  a  source 
of  gastronomic  pleasure  to  the  consumer;  and 
here  it  may  by  over-heating  acquire  a  sharp, 
strong,  and  unpleasant  taste ;  or  by  the  tempei-a- 
ture  being  kept  too  low  may  become  soapy  and 
characterless  in  flavour;  here,  in  fact,  it  may 
be  spoilt  by  simple  neglect.  Authors  on  dairy- 
ing who  point  out  bad  curing  as  prominent 
among  the  causes  of  failure  are  by  no  names 
wide  of   the  mark. 

(Cheese  cannot  be  cured  perfectly  in  ill-con- 
structed, draughty,  or  damp  rooms,  which  are 
(oo  cold  in  winter  and  too  warm  in  summer, 
without  any  artificial  means  of  warming  the 
contained  air,  and  keeping  the  temperature  at 
a  desirable  point,  and  in  which  the  thermometer 
shows  a  variation  of  many  degrees.  We  have 
seen  a  modern  dairy,  built  within  the  last  twenty 
years,  the  walls  of  which  were  mildewed,  and  the 
cheese  in  which  was  furred,  and  this  in  the  county 
of  Somerset,  the  home  of  the  Cheddar  system  ; 
and  we  have  reason  to  know  that  a  large  num- 
ber besides  in  the  county  and  country  are  more 
or    less    unfit    for    the    purpose    for    which    they 


are  intended.  Mr.  Harding  found  fi-om  personal 
observation  that  newly-made  Cheddars  give  out 
moisture  at  the  rate  of  2  lbs.  per  ton  in  twenty- 
four  hours,  and  accounted  for  the  lack  of  charac- 
ter in  and  uniformity  of  much  of  the  cheese  made 
late  in  the  season,  by  want  of  artificial  heat 
and  proper  curing-rooms,  the  evaporation  of  the 
moisture  being  slow,  from  the  low  temperature 
of  the  surrounding  air.  Subsequent  experience 
establishes  the  correctness  of  his  belief.  Let  us 
then  say  what  has  already  been  so  often  said, 
that  if  the  cheese  is  to  be  of  first  quality, 
we  must  store  it  in  a  proper  room,  with  a  cor- 
rect and  uniform  temperature.  The  room  should 
be  so  constructed  that  the  air  it  contains  should 
be  .affected  as  little  as  possible  by  that  outside. 
Ventilators  are  useful,  though  they  must  be 
more  generally  closed  than  open.  Warmth  should 
be  obtained  by  the  use  of  a  heating  apparatus; 
the  pipes  connected  with  the  Cockey  boiler  as 
at  Marksbury  will  warm  a  cheese-room  admir- 
ably, though  where  no  hot-water  system  is  in 
use  a  slow-combustion  stove  will,  though  in- 
ferior, answer  the  purpose.  But  neither  must 
be  situated  very  near  the  cheese-shelves. 

The  best  temperature  for  the  curing  of  Cheddar 
cheese  is  from  GO'^  (1.5i°)  to  Go"  (IS^''),  in  which, 
if  well  made,  they  will  ripen  and  be  ready  for  sale 
in  three  months  or  less  from  the  date  of  making, 
while  in  a  cold  room  the  same  goods  will  require 
twice  as  much  time,  and  a  correspondingly  large 
amount  of  storing  space  will  be  needed.  The 
cheese  should  be  turned  over  every  day  until  it  is  a 
month  old,  and  afterwards  not  less  than  once  in 
two  days.  The  bandages  may  be  stripped  from 
large  cheeses  at  five  or  six  weeks,  and  from  thin 
ones  of  less  than  50  lbs.  weight  at  a  month  from 
the  time  they  are  made.  It  is  an  advantage  to 
have  the  date  of  manufacture  marked  on  the 
bandage,  for  ready  reference. 

In  some  cases  it  may  appear  desirable  to  make 
milk-cream  butter  and  "half-cream"  or  "skim" 
cheese,  and  no  description  of  the  system  would  be 
])erfect  which  did  not  include  some  remarks  on  the 
manufacture  of  the  two  latter,  and  the  points  on 
which  the  process  of  making  each  differs  from  that 
of  whole-milk  cheese. 

"  Half-creams  "  are  made  from  the  evening's 
milk  .skimmed  and  the  morning's  meal  of  whole  milk 
mixed,  and  "skims"  from  two  meals  of  sicimiiied 
milk.     The  routine  of  the  work  is  the  same  with 


CHEESE    FROM    SOUR    AND    TAINTF.D    MILK. 


235 


both  ;  the  differences  are  o£  time,  eomlition,  and 
temperature.  In  making  these  goods  there  is 
great  danger  ol!  produeing  too  liai-d  curd ;  this,  it 
will  be  readily  seen,  is  greater  with  skimmed  than 
with  half-skimmed  milk.  The  maker  should  be 
careful  to  cut  the  curd  rather  earlier  than  is  usual 
with  whole  milk,  as  a  tender  curd  is  more  necessary. 
In  scalding,  the  heat  should  not  be  lowered,  but 
the  curd  needs  less  stirring  and  more  careful 
watching  than  in  making  full-cream  cheese.  The 
acidity  should  be  hastened,  and  all  the  subsequent 
work  done  as  quickly  as  possible,  as  the  curd  will 
cool  and  dry  vapidly.  It  should  be  put  to  press  at 
not  less  than  05"  (IS^''),  and  cured  in  a  room 
the  air  of  which  stands  at  about  the  same  tem- 
perature. 

A  few  remarks  upon  the  treatment  of  sour 
and  tainted  milk  under  the  Cheddar  system  will 
perhaps  be  useful.  Many  makers  have  both,  but 
especially  the  former,  to  contend  with  occasionally, 
and  want  to  make  the  best  of  a  misfortune.  It  is 
certain  that  w-e  cannot  make  a  jirime  article  from 
either,  but  with  care  and  proper  management  an 
eatable  cheese  can  be  produced. 

Experience  has  shown  that  sour  milk  cannot 
be  made  up  too  quickly.  A  loss  of  solids  will 
be  the  result,  but  of  two  evils  we  must  choose 
the  least ;  so  when  the  curd  is  firm  enough,  cut 
and  break  it,  remembering  that  the  tendency  to 
become  tough  is  projiortionate  to  the  sourness 
of  the  milk,  and  that  if  this  part  of  the  worli  is 
not  quickly  desi^atched,  the  lumps  of  curd  will 
become  unbreakable  before-  they  are  sufficiently 
small — a  condition  of  things  to  be  avoided  at  ali 
risks.  At  no  time  in  a  cheese-maker's  experience 
is  tlie  minute  division  of  the  curd  in  brealcing 
more  necessary  tlian  when  he  lias  sour  milk  to 
convert  into  clieese.  Scald  high — say  100°  (38") 
to  10:J°  (39°) — and  carefully  watch  for  the  har- 
dening of  the  curd  during  the  stirring,  which  will 
occupy  but  a  short  time.  Let  the  curd  lie  under 
the  whey  the  usual  half-hour,  or  the  natural  acid 
will  be  too  much  checked ;  but  after  the  whey  has 
been  drawn  off,  expose  it  to  the  air  a  short  time, 
then  pile,  though  not  as  closely  as  is  usual  with 
good  cheese,  and  when  the  sourness  is  cheeked  by 
the  exposure,  pile  as  with  the  curd  of  whole  milk. 
Place  it,  when  torn  abroad,  upon  some  sloping  surface 
where  it  can  drain  itself,  and  dry  it  thoroughly 
before  grinding.  Use  more  salt  than  would  be 
required  for  a  curd  made  from    sweet  milk — say 


1  lb.  to  .'JO  gallons  of  milk — and  put  at  first 
under  less  than  ordinary  pressure. 

Tainted  milk  is  not  so  common  in  England 
as  in  America,  where  "floating  curds"  made  from 
it  are  the  terror  of  the  cheese-makers.  We  have 
had  personal  experience  in  handling  such  milk, 
and  know  that  it  may  be  successfully  treated. 
The  great  counteractant  of  taint  is  acid,  which 
should  be  developed  by  high  scalding  and  close 
piling.  The  curd  should  then  be  dried  as  rapidly 
and  ground  as  finely  as  possible.  If  stirred  too 
long  after  scalding,  the  cheese  will  be  hard,  and 
liable  to  crumble.  The  condition  of  the  curd 
must  therefore  be  narrowly  watched  during  that 
part  of  the  process. 

The  causes  of  sourness  and  taint  are  spoken 
of  elsewhere  ;  we  therefore  give  these  facts  for 
the  guidance  of  practical  cheese-makers,  and  refer 
them  to  that  section  of  this  work  treating  of 
these  subjects  for  any  scientific  information  re- 
lating to  them. 

We  have  in  these  pages  endeavoured  to  give 
a  true  description  of  the  Cheddar  system  of 
cheese-making,  avoiding  unnecessary  technicali- 
ties, and  dealing  with  all  the  details  of  the  process 
for  the  information  of  all,  from  the  tyro  to  the 
trained  maker.  The  system  became  famous  at  a 
time  when  the  work  was  done  in  what  to  us 
would  appear  a  most  unsatisfactory  manner,  and 
scientific  aids  were,  as  far  as  we  can  judge,  un- 
known in  the  dairy;  it  has  gained  notoriety 
within  the  last  fifty  years,  through  the  teaching 
of  ]\Ir.  Harding  and  others ;  and  we  venture  to 
predict  for  it,  if  fairly  distinguished  from  other 
systems  (such  as  the  American,  from  which  it 
greatly  differs  on  some  important  points),  and 
its  principles  faithfully  carried  out  by  intelligent 
dairymen,  a  future  of  fame  greater  than  its 
past  has  been.  J.  O. 

Cheshire   Cheese. 

For  a  very  long  period  the  county  of  Chester 
has  been  famous  for  its  cheese.  Many  hundreds  of 
years  ago  Cheshire  cheese  had  obtained  a  reputa- 
tion which  was  barely  approached  by  that  of  the 
cheese  of  any  other  county  in  the  kingdom  ;  and 
in  modern  times  its  fame  has  spread  to  many 
lands,  in  some  of  which  imitations  of  it  have  been 
and  are  still  being  made.  Cheshire  cheese  is  also 
made  in  the  adjoining  counties,  more  particularly 
in  Shropshire  and   Staffordshire,  where  the  same 


22o 


DAIHV     FARMINC;. 


gL'olotrical  lorniutiiin  prevails.  'riirn'  can  be  nn 
doubt  that  the  properties  i^eculiar  to  Cheshire 
clieese,  whether  it  is  made  in  that  or  in  the  adjoin- 
ing counties,  are  in  a  great  measure  owing  to  tlie 
new  red  sandstone,  and  to  the  boulder  clay  liy 
which  it  is  accompanied,  from  which  the  soil  of 
that  part  of  the  country  has  been  derived  in  the 
course  of  ages.  Cheshire  is  also  famous  on  account 
of  its  salt  deposits;  no  doubt  the  .saline  element 
counts  for  something  in  the  agricultural  jiroducts 
of  the  country.  It  is  sufficiently  clear  that  the 
soil  contains  some  property  or  properties  which  in- 
fluence the  character  of  the  herbage,  and  that  the 
herljagc  gives  to  the  milk  produced  from  it,  and  to 
the  cheese  that  is  made  from  the  milk,  certain  fea- 
tures that  can  only  in  part  be  imitated  in  other 
districts  and  countries. 

It  is  beyond  the  need  of  argument  that  a  faie 
old  Cheshire  is  a  magnificent  lump  of  excellent 
food.  Of  late  years,  however,  Cheshire  cheese 
has  lost  some  of  its  old  and  excellent  reputation. 
Whether  this  is  owing  to  the  general  use  of 
enished  bones  and  other  fertilisers  on  the  dairy 
pastures  of  the  county,  whether  the  Cheshire  dairy- 
maids have  lost  their  ancient  cunning,  or 
whether  too  much  skimming  of  the  milk 
for  butter  is  done,  we  know  not ;  but  it  is  the 
universally-received  opinion  that  the  cheese 
of  the  county,  long  famous  for  its  nieati- 
ness,  quality,  flavour,  fi'-'^ness,  and  size,  is 
as  a  rule  less  excellent  than  it  used  to  be. 

In  the  olden  times  the  shape  and  size  of 
Cheshire  cheese  were  features  peculiar  to  it 
and  to  the  Cheddar  cheese  of  the  period,  but 
the  other  peculiar  properties  of  the  Cheshire  were 
not  shared  by  any  other  kind  of  cheese,  and  are 
not  to  this  day.  So  far  as  shape  and  size  are 
concerned,  the  depth  is  commonly  greater  than 
the  diameter,  and  each  cheese  will  weigh  40  to 
80  or  100  lbs.  The  weight,  however,  depends 
ill  a  great  measure  on  the  number  of  cows  whose 
milk  can  be  devoted  to  a  single  cheese;  in 
small  dairies  the  cheese,  while  still  retaining  the 
orthodox  Cheshire  shape,  would  necessarily  be 
small   in  size. 

It  is  seldom  in  the  Cheshire  system  that  the 
cheese  is  made  oftener  than  once  a  day,  and  that 
once  in  the  morning.  The  evening's  milk  has, 
therefore,  to  be  kept  through  the  night,  and  mixed 
with  the  morning's  before  the  chee.sc-making  com- 
mences.      For    a    \i>uix    iieriod     it    has   been    cus- 


tiiiiiarv  til  j^i't'p  tjie  milk  over-night  in  j)ans  or 
coolers  of  one  kind  or  another,  in  which  it  would 
be  in  small  i|uantities  and  shallow,  and  in  the  case 
of  small  dairies  it  has  been  not  uncommon  to  keep 
it  a  day  and  a  half,  until  there  was  enough  to 
make  a  cheese.  Longer  than  this,  especially  in  hot 
weather,  it  is  not  advisable  to  keep  it  for  cheese- 
making  purposes.  But  whether  it  ]k  kept  one 
night  onl}',  or  as  much  as  two  nights  in  some 
cases,  a  milk-room  specially  adapted  and  kept  for 
the  purpose  is  a  great  convenience.  After  stand- 
ing the  twelve  or  more  hours,  as  the  case  may  . 
be,  the  cream  is  usually  skimmed  oflE  for  butter- 
making,  more  of  it  being  taken  off  as  the  cheese- 
making  season  approaches  its  close.  Up  to  mid- 
summer very  little  cream  is  taken  off,  but  after 
that  period  the  milk  will  bear  more  robbing.  In 
modern  times  it  has  become  common  not  to  put 
the  milk  in  small  pans  to  cool,  but  to  put  it  im- 
mediately after  milking  into  a  properly-constructed 
vat,  which  has  an  inner  and  an  outer  shell,  with  a 
space  between  them. 

In    Fig.    lOl    is    seen    the    modern    Cheshire 
milk-vat,  which,  after  the  manner  of  the  factory 


Fig.  104.— Cluett's  Improvep  Milk-vat. 

milk-vats,  has  an  inner  and  an  outer  shell,  the  one 
of  stout  tin  and  the  other  of  wood  or  of  sheet-iron, 
well  bound  together  and  water-tight.  Its  inside 
measurement  is  7  feet  by  2  feet  10  inches.  The 
inlet  and  outlet  for  hot  or  cold  water  ai'e  seen 
in  the  angular  funnel  and  in  the  tap,  one  above 
the  other,  at  the  end  of  the  vat.  In  Fig.  105 
is  seen  the  inner  shell  detached  from  the  outer 
one;  the  "whey-plug"  seen  at  the  right-hand 
end  is  soldered  to  the  lowest  part  of  the  shell- 
bottom,  so  as  to  drain  off  all  the  whey,  and 
passes  through  the  outer  shell,  to  which  it  is 
attached  in  a  water-tight  manner  by  the  nut 
seen  on  the  lower  part  of  it.  This  plug  is  at 
the  opposite  end  of  the  vat  from  the  water-tap, 
and  is  not  seen  in  the  engraving  of  the  vat 
eom])lete. 


CHESHIRE    CHEESE-MAKING. 


Ill  this  vat  the  milk  is  cooled  over-night,  and 
coagulated  the  following  moruing.  In  the  even- 
ing- the  space  Ix'tween  the  two  shells  is  filled  with 
cold  water,  which  is  changed  a  time  or  two,  until 


Fig.  105.— INNEE  Shell  op  Milk-v.\t. 


the  milk  is  con]  enough.  In  ca.ses  where  it  can  he 
done,  a  small  stream  of  cold  water  is  kept  running 
through — in  at  one  end  and  out  at  the  other — until 
the  milk  is  cool  enough  ;  in  hot  weather  the  stream 
is  kept  running  all  night,  so  that  the  milk  is  not 
only  cooled  at  the  onset,  but  kept  cool  all  through 
the  night ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  the 
advantage  of  cooling  milk  in  this  manner  in  wann 
weather,  in  stirring  it  whilst  it  is  cooling,  so  that 
its  heat  and  odour  may  both  escape  the  more 
freely,  and  in  keeping  it  through  the  entire  night, 
by  means  of  the  stream  of  water,  at  a  temperature 
which  will  prevent  its  souring  or  tainting. 

It  is  not  advisable  to  cool  the  milk  too  much  ; 
under  ordinary  circumstances  of  weather  65"  will 
be  found  quite  low  enough,  and  some  do  not  cool 
it  below  70".  A  good  deal  depends,  however,  on 
the  milk-room ;  if  it  is  a  cool,  well-ventilated 
room  there  is  less  need  of  cooling  the  milk  below 
TO"  than  if  the  room  is  a  warm  one  and  ill- 
adapted  to  the  purpose,  because  in  the  former 
case  the  milk  will  go  on  cooling  until  it  meets 
the  temperature  of  the  room,  whereas  in  the  latter 
case  it  will  grow  warmer  until  it  meets  the  tem- 
perature of  the  room.  In  very  hot  weather  it  is 
well  to  cool  it  below  60",  or  even  to  55"  if  pos- 
sible, before  leaving  it  for  the  night,  because  it 
cannot  remain  at  that  temperature  unless  in  case 
of  cold  water  continually  running  under  and 
ai-ound  it  through  the  night;  but  under  ordinary 
circumstances  of  weather,  and  in  a  milk-room  well 
adapted  to  the  purpose,  it  will  not,  as  a  rule,  be 
necessary  to  be  at  jiaius  to  cool  it  even  so  low 
as  65". 

"When  the  evening^s  milk  is  skimmed  on  the 

following  morning,  a  portion  of  it,  if  it  has  Ijeen 

kept  in  pans,   is  heated  up  in  a  kettle  of   some 

sort;    if    it  has  been  kept  in  the  milk- vat  it   is 

32 


all  warmed  by  having  hot  water  or  steam  in 
the  space  that  was  previously  occupied  by  cold 
water.  This  heating  up  of  the  evening's  milk  is 
usually  done  before  the  morning's  is  added  to  it; 
but  if  the  evening's  milk  is  found  to  be 
about  70-"  there  is  not  much,  if  any,  need 
to  heat  it,  for  the  new  milk  added  to  it 
will  generally  bring  the  temperature  up  to 
the  point  which,  according  to  tlie  fancy  of  the 
dairymaid,  is  considered  best  for  adding  the 
rennet  and  for  coagulation.  This,  however, 
has  in  the  past  been  a  haphazard  sort  of 
system,  depending  for  uniformity  on  the  mere 
judgment  of  the  dairymaid,  the  test  being  her 
hand  or  finger.  In  modern  times  thermometers 
have  come  into  general  use,  and  accuracy  is  thus 
obtained ;  but  this  does  not  appear  to  be  a  matter 
of  much  consequence,  because  authorities  differ  so 
widely  in  their  opinions  as  to  the  temperature  at 
which  it  is  best  to  set  the  milk  for  coagulation, 
so  that  uniformity  obtained  by  using  a  simple 
scientific  instrument  ajipears  to  be  a  matter  of 
indifference.  One  authority  (White)  places  it  at 
70"  to  75",  another  (Aston)  at  88"  to  94" ;  but 
the  use  of  a  thermometer  will  enable  each  indi- 
vidual cheese-maker  to  secure  on  all  days  alike  a 
uniform  temperature,  but  what  that  temperature 
may  be  will  still  depend  on  the  fancy  of  the 
maker.  More  or  less  annatto  for  colouring  is 
added  to  the  milk  at  the  time  the  rennet  is;  the 
quantity  used  will  depend  on  the  season  of  the 
year  or  on  the  fancy  of  the  maker.  If  in  summer, 
less  of  it  is  used,  because  the  flowers  among  the 
grass  in  the  fields  are  supposed  to  give  enough 
colour  to  the  cheese.  Flowers,  no  doubt,  have  an 
effect  in  colouring  both  cheese  and  butter,  but  the 
colour  of  both  depends  chiefiy  on  the  time  which 
has  elapsed  since  the  cows  calved,  and  the  longer 
it  is  since  they  calved  the  j>aler  grows  the  milk,  so 
that  as  winter  approaches  it  is  found  necessary  to 
use  more  artificial  colouring-matter,  in  order  that 
the  later-made  cheese  may  not  be  paler  than  that 
of  the  summer. 

Sufficient  rennet  is  used  to  coagulate  the  milk  in 
forty  to  sixty  minutes.  When  sufficiently  advanced, 
the  coagulum  is  carefully  broken  down  by  the  aid 
of  a  curd-breaker,  which  we  illustrate  in  Fig.  106. 
This  breaker  is  made  of  tin,  the  handle  being  of 
wood ;  the  little  squares  seen  in  the  woodcut  are 
formed  of  strips  of  tin  set  edgewise,  and  inter- 
secting: each  other  so  as  to  form  meshes  of  about 


228 


DAIRY    FAHMIM;. 


Fig.  106. — CunD-BIlHl.VKER. 


an  inch  square.  The  operation  of  hreakiiiy  is  at 
first  performed  very  slowly  and  carefully,  and  in 
the  course  of  a  quarter  f)f  an  hour  or  so  tlie  curd 
in  the  bottom  of  the  vat  is 
raised  \vith  a  skimmer,gont]y 
broken  up  b\'  hand,  and  iu- 
term  i  xed  with  t  he  rest,  during 
which, wliere  a  double-shelled 
vat  is  used,  hot  water  is 
poured  into  the  space  to  raise 
the  temperature  of  the  curd 
more  or  less,  and  the  process 
of  breaking  with  the  tin 
breaker  is  resumed  and  con- 
tinued for  some  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes  longer.  The  curd 
then  settles  to  the  bottom, 
and  is  gathered  toward  the 
Tipper  end  of  the  vat,  while 
the  whey  is  being  removed 
Ijy  means  of  a  syphon,  a 
ladle,  or  a  whey-plug,  as 
seen  in  Fig.  105.  The 
last-named  is  the  latest  method  employed,  and  it 
is  a  feature  in  the  new  milk-vat.  Fig.  lOJ-,  which 
has  been  received  with  much  favour  in  Cheshire 
dairies. 

In  Fig.  107  is  seen  an  improved  curd-breaker, 
whose  base  is  shaped 
to  fit  the  bottom  of 
the  milk-vat  (see 
Fig.  105).  It  is 
also  used  to  gather 
the  curd  towai'd  the 
upper  end  of  the 
vat. 

It   has   hitherto 
been  usual  to  have 
a     special     curd- 
drainer,     a     rather 
shallow     apparatus, 
built      of      wood 
throughout,        and 
standing    on     four 
legs — size,     5    feet 
by  2  feet  2  inches, 
and  about  1 5  inches 
deep  (see  Fig.  108). 
The  drainer  has  a  false  bottom — that  is,  loose — 
consisting  of  the  racks  which  are  seen  standing 
inside.     On  the  false  bottom  is  spread  a  strong 


coarse  cloth,  and  on  the  cloth  the  curd  is  placed. 
The  cloth  is  large  enough  to  completely  wrap  up 
all  the  curd,  which  then  remains  about  an  hour 


Fig.  107.— Improved  Curd-breaker. 


Fig.  108. — Curd-drainer. 

covered  up  and  at  rest,  except  tliat  it  is  now  and 
then  turned  over. 

But  the  new  milk-vat  (Fig.  101)  dispenses  with 
the  need  of  a  special  drainer.  As  the  whey  runs  off 
at  the  lower  the  curd  is  gathered  toward  the  upper 
end  of  the  vat,  and  two  racks  (Fig.  109),  together 


Fig.  109.— One  of  the  two  Rack.s. 

4  feet  long,  and  in  width  equal  to  the  inside 
measurement  of  the  vat,  are  placed  in  its  lower 
end,  which  is  at  liberty,  the  curd  being  then  at  the 
otiier  end.  A  cloth  is  spread  on  the  racks,  and 
the  curd  placed  in  the  cloth,  exactly  as  in  the  case 
of  the  special  drainer,  the  only  practical  difference 
being  the  saving  both  of  tlie  cost  of  the  drainer 
and  of  the  room  that  it  would  take  up  in  the 
dairy.  Tlie  curd  is  not  placed  on  the  racks  im- 
mediately after  the  whey  is  removed  from  it,  but 
it  rests  awhile  in  the  upper  end  of  the  vat,  during 
which  time  it  is  becoming  compact  and  firm,  and 
the  whey  is  draining  away.  It  is  then  cut  in 
lumps  and  placed  pn  the  racks  to  drain.  In  this 
place  it  remains  two  to  three  hours,  and  is  cut 
again  into  blocks,  and  turned  over  several  times  in 
the  period  ;  it  is  also  kept  well  covered  up  by  the 
coarse  draining- cloth,   and  in  some  cases  a  light 


CHESIlIllE    CHEESE-MAKING. 


franiewnrk  "f  wood  is,  jilaccd  on  the  top  of  the  vat, 
and  over  this  an  additional  cloth,  iu  order  to  keep 
the  curd  warm  whilst  it  is  draining.  If  the 
weather  is  cold,  warm  water  or  steam  is  turned  on 
in  the  space  between  the  inner  and  outer  shells  of 
the  vat,  and  this  effectually  maintains  the  curd  at 
the  proper  temperature.  The  tendency  of  the 
curd  at  this  stage  is  always  to  settle  down  into  a 
compact  mass,  particularly  when  a  little  acidity  is 
developed  in  it. 

In  many  of  the  Cheshire  dairies  (as,  in  fact,  in 
those  of  other  counties  too)  more  or  less  whey- 
butter  is  made,  and  in  the  most  modern  ones  the 
whey  is  set  to  cream  in  blue  slate  cisterns,  com- 
monly in  the  room  in  which  the  cheese  is  made, 
but  not  in  that  in  which  the  milk  is  kept  over- 
night. ISIr.  Cluett,  of  Tarporley,  the  maker  of 
the  improved  milk-vat,  recommends  that  these 
cisterns  be  let  into  the  floor,  so  that  when  the 
whey  is  ready  to  be  taken  from  the  curd  tlie  milk- 
vat  can  be  wheeled  to  the  cisterns,  one  end  of  it 
projecting  over  them,  and  the  whey  empties  itself 
into  them  through  the  plug-tap,  saving  all  lading 
and  carrying  of  the  whey,  and  greatly  reducing 
the  labour  and  untidiness  of  the  dairymaid's  occujja- 
tion.  The  whey  generally  remains  in  the  croaming- 
cisterns  until  a  fresh  lot  is  ready  to  take  its  place. 

The  process  through  which  the  curd  next 
passes    is   that    of   grinding   it   in   the   curd-mill 


proper  amount  of  salt  is  mixed  with  it — about 
Sh  to  4^  lbs.  of  salt  per  ewt.  of  curd,  accord- 
ing to  the  fancy  of  the  dairymaid.  In  some 
cases  a  portion  of  the  salt  is  applied  earlier  than 
this — when  the  eui-d  is  placed  on  the  racks  to 
drain — and  the  balance  at  the  time  of  grinding; 
in  yet  other  cases  a  little  salt  is  put  in  the  milk  at 
the  time  of  setting  it  for  coagulation,  a  little  more 
perhaps  before  the  grinding,  and  the  remainder 
after  grinding.  In  the  most  approved  methods 
the   curd,    after   being    ground   and   put   in   the 


Cheshire  Cubd-mill. 


(Fig.    110).      Before   the    grinding   the    curd   is 
weighed,  and  immediately  after  the  grinding  the 


Fig.  111.— Vat  with  Curd  in  it. 

cheese-vat,  is  placed  in  an  oven  Avhich  has  been 
erected  for  the  purpose,  and  not  under  a  press, 
as  is  the  custom  in  other  parts  of  the  kingdom. 
Fig.  Ill  represents  the  vat  of  freshly-ground  curd 
as  it  is  placed  in  the  oven;  a  is  the  wooden  cheese- 
vat,  B  the  cylinder  of  perforated  tin,  and  cc  the 
skewers  that  are  inserted  to  help  out  the  whey. 
"When  the  vat  is  removed  from  the  oven,  the  curd 
will  generally  be  found  to  have  settled  down  a 
good  deal,  and  a  narrower  cylinder  of  tin  then 
replaces  the  wider  one. 

The  oven  in  question  is  sometimes,  in  order  to 
economise  heat,  placed  in  the  inner  wall  dividing 
the  kitchen  from  the  dairy,  so  that  the  kitchen 
fire  serves  to  heat  the  cheese-oven  without  any 
additional  expenditure  of  fuel.  The  curd  is  put 
loosely  in  the  vat,  and  without  any  pressure  at  all 
is  placed  on  a  shelf  in  the  oven,  where  it  usually 
remains  until  the  following  morning  only.  Some- 
times there  are  two  or  three  cheeses  in  the  oven 
at  once.  The  warmth  of  the  oven  helps  the 
remainder  of  the  whey  to  leave  the  curd,  and 
skewers  are  inserted  through  the  mass  of  the 
curd  in  a  lateral  direction  through   holes  in  the 


280 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


side  of  the  checse-vat,  in  order  to  still  further 
faeilitate  the  escape  of  the  whey.  The  warmth  of 
the  oven  is  regulated  according  to  the  weather, 
between  70"  and  SO*^  or  so,  and  this  in  some 
instances,  where  the  curd  is  lightly  salted,  induces 
a  slight  acidity  in  the  curd  ;  during  the  night  the 
curd  settles  down  in  the  vat  into  a  tolerably  com- 
pact mass.  The  curd  sometimes  remains  in  the 
oven  longer  than  the  following  morning,  in  which 
event  it  is  taken  out,  turned  over,  placed  in  a  dry 
cloth  in  the  vat,  and  replaced  in  the  oven. 

When  the  cheeses  are  finally  taken  from  the 
oven  they  are  placed  in  the  lever-press,  providing 
there  is  a  vacancy  for  them;  but  as  it  sometimes 
happens  that  these  large  cheeses  have  to  remain  in 
press  a  week,  or  even  longer,  those  coming  out  of 
the  oven  have  to  wait  their  turn  to  go  into  press, 
unless  ample  press-room  is  provided  to  meet  all 
contingencies.  The  comjiound  lever-press  shown 
in  Fig.  IH  is  an  exceedingly  valuable  one  for  thick 


Fig.  112. — Cheshire  Cheese-phess. 

cheeses,  two  of  which  it  will  accommodate  very 
e;isily;  and  a.s  there  are  two  bottoms  in  the  press, 
each  one  independent  of  the  other,  the  two  cheeses 
are  pressed  quite  even,  whereas  llicy  would  not  be 


if  they  were  jilaced  one  on  the  other  without  a 
rigid  i)artition  between  them.  This  implement  will 
press  either  one  or  two  thick  cheeses  at  will,  or 
two,  three,  up  to  six  thin  cheeses,  and  as  it  can 
be  raised  or  lowered  by  the  handles,  shown  in  the 
illustration,   it    is    extremely  simple    and  easy  of 


1 3.  — C  H  EE.SE-ST,\N  U. 


adjustment.  In  some  dairies  a  few  cheese-stands 
(Fig.  113)  are  provided  for  the  cheese  in  case  any 
of  them  have  to  wait  before  going  under  press, 
and  as  the  stands  are  on  wheels  they  are  very  con- 
venient for,  conveying  the  heavy  cheeses  from  one 
part  to  another  of  the  dairy. 

During  the  time  the  cheeses  are  in  press  they 
are  daily  turned  and  dry-clothed,  and  when  finally 
taken  out  of  press  are  scalded  with  hot  water ; 
after  the  scalding  they  are  greased  all  over  to 
prevent  cracking  of  the  skin,  and  they  are  next 
swathed  in  stout  bandages  to  preserve  them  in 
shape  during  the  subsecpient  drying.  Lastly,  they 
are  taken  up-stairs  to  the  cheese-room,  or  drying- 
room,  where  they  are  turned  over  at  intervals  until 
they  are  sold  to  go  away.  In  some  of  the  more 
advanced  dairies  there  is  a  handy  little  lift,  by 
whose  help  the  cheeses  are  raised  by  a  i"ope  and 
pulley  to  the  chamber  above,  thus  doing  away 
with  the  labour  of  canning  them  up  the  stairs. 
The  lift  consists  simply  of  a  light  framework 
of  wood,  which  slides  up  and  down  between 
uprights,  and  the  ]mll('y  is  overhead,  in  the  room 
above. 

The  drying-room,  or  cheese-room,  as  it  is  most 
generall}^  called,  is  commonly  the  one  immediately 
over  the  kitchen  or  general  living-room  of  the 
farmer's  household,  in  which  case  it  obtains  a  good 
deal  of  the  necessary  warmth  from  below,  and  this 
means  the  saving  of  coal  above.  Many  farmers 
have  hot- water  jjipes  laid  round  by  the  wall  on  the 
floor  of  the  cheese-room,  and  when  properly  laid 
tliov  arc  on  the  whole  the  liest  means  of  warmin<r 


A    CHESHIRE    DAIRY. 


231 


Fig.   111.— GROUND-PLAN    OF    CHESHIRE    DAIRY     PREMISES. 


232 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


the  room.  Others,  ag-:iin — and  these  are  the  most 
niimeri)iis — have  only  a  stove  in  the  cheese-room, 
and  tliough  this  is  a  useful  heat-producer  it  is 
objectionable,  on  the  o-round  of  uirmjuuI  distribu- 
tion of  the  heat  produced. 

In  Fi<;.  lit  is  g'iven  the  f!;round-i)lan  of  one  of 
Lord  Tollemache's  recently  erected  and  most  a])- 
proved  farm-houses,  dairy-offices,  and  pij^geries 
attached.  The  milk-vat  containing  the  evening's 
milk  remains  in  the  "  milk-house "  all  night,  and 
ne.\t  morning  is  wheeled  into  the  making  and 
press  room.  The  general  arrangement  will  be 
easily  traced  in  the  plan — the  whey-vats  for 
creaming,  the  pipe  conducting  the  whey  to  the 
tank,  the  chain-pump  to  raise  it  to  the  cisterns, 
the  meal-house,  the  cooking-boiler,  and  the  general 
arrangement  for  feeding  the  pigs,  all  of  which  are 
contrived  with  a  view  to  economy  and  efficiency. 
The  adjacent  cattle-sheds  and  other  farm-offices 
are  withheld  from  the  plan,  as  not  being  jiertiuent 
to  our  present  object  of  showing  dairy  arrange- 
ments. 

The  time  required  to  ripen  Cheshire  cheese 
varies  with  the  method  of  making  and  with  the 
season  of  the  year,  generally  from  two  to  four 
months.  It  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  the 
bigger  the  cheese  the  longer  it  will  be  in  ripening  ; 
this  depends  on  the  method  of  making.  Yet  it 
may  be  stated  that,  on  the  ordinary  farm-house 
system  of  making,  the  larger  cheese  will  be  the 
longer  in  ripening;  at  the  same  time,  however,  it 
is  true  that  when  the  curd  is  properly  warmed  and 
acidified,  as  described  in  the  earlier  i)art  of  the 
present  chapter,  the  cheese  made  from  it  will  ripen 


as  quick!}'  as  a  much  smaller  one  that  has  been 
made  without  such  manipulation.  And  in  many 
cases,  particularly  where  the  curd  is  placed  in  an 
oven  for  a  time,  the  ripening  of  the  large  Cheshire 
cheeses  is  promoted  with  a  like  result,  though  in  a 
different  manner,  to  that  which  is  at  once  the 
ornament  and  the  strength  of  the  famous  Cheddar 
method.  It  cannot  be  too  strongly  urged  on  the 
notice  of  cheese-makers  that  a  proper  degree  of 
warmth  is  as  essential  to  the  ripening  of  cheese  as 
to  the  riijcning  of  fruit,  and  that  the  warmth 
should  be  judiciously  applied  from  the  time  when 
the  curd  is  precipitated  from  the  milk  until  the 
cheese  is  ready  for  the  market. 

Some  farmers  have  a  light  wooden  trough, 
down  which  they  slide  the  cheeses  from  the 
cheese-room,  through  the  window,  down  into  the 
waggon  outside,  when  they  are  sent  to  market. 
This,  too,  like  the  "  lift "  we  have  spoken  of,  is 
a  simple  and  useful  device  for  saving  labour. 
Apart  from  the  consideration  that  these  large 
cheeses  are  awkward  things  to  carry,  and  are 
beyond  the  strength  of  most  dairvmaids,  they 
cannot  be  carried  about  by  hand  without  the  risk 
of  damaging  them,  especially  when  they  are  fresh 
from  the  press.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  the 
labour-saving  devices  we  have  mentioned,  includ- 
ing alike  the  self-turning  cheese-shelves,  the  lifts, 
and  the  slides  through  the  window,  can  be  strongly 
recommended  ;  they  are,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
the  more  valuable  in  the  larger  dairies  and  in  the 
factories,  but  even  in  small  dairies  of  twenty  cows 
or  so,  they  will  be  found  very  useful  eeonomisers 
of  both  time  and  trouble. 


CHAPTER      XVII. 

Derbyshire,    CJloucester,    Stilton,    and    other    British    Cheeses. 

Derbyshire  Cheese-making— Primitive  Methods— Improved  Presses  and  Apparatus— The  Derbyshire  a  Sweet-curd  System— Gloucester 

Cheese— Single  and  Double— Its  Characteristics- Painting— Leicester  Cheese— Its  Excellence— Recent  Decline- Supposed  to  be 

from  Modern  Tillage— The  Process— Annatto-Stilton  Cheese— The  Process— Halt  a  Grain  of  Salt— Sham  Stiltons— Qualities  of 

the   Genuine  Article— Southern   Counties'  Dairying-Dorset— Wilts— "  Truckles  "—Slipcote  Cheese— Con- 

^  \       tinental  Cheeses  in  England— The  North  and  Scotland— Yorkshire— Scotland. 


VhOUGH  it  has  long  held  in 
our  own  country  a  good  po- 
sition among  the  more  pojiular 
of  English  cheeses,  the  several 
excellencies  of  Derhy  cheese 
are  of  a  somewhat  less  pro- 
nounced type  than  those  of 
ire,  Cheddar,  or  Stilton,  and  it  has 
n  the  sense  they  have,  ohtained  a 
-wide  reputation.  It  has  long  been 
favoiu'ite  cheese  in  several  districts 
of  the  United  Kingdom,  but  it  has  r.ot  secured 
au  extended  popularity  in  foreign  countries. 
It  is  true  that  none  of  our  kinds  of  cheese  have 
ever  been  extensively  exported,  for  we  cannot 
spare  them,  and  we  import  largely  instead  ;  but 
our  Stiltons  and  Cheddars  and  Cheshires  are  well 
known  in  polite  circles  in  many  of  the  cities  of 
Europe.  The  essential  character  of  Derby  cheese 
is  that  of  a  middle-class  cheese  ;  it  is  not  in  any 
sense  a  fancy  cheese,  as  the  Stilton  and  the  Slip- 
cote and  many  of  the  Continental  cheeses  are,  l)ut 
it  is  a  good  substantial  food  ;  it  does  not  appeal  to 
the  suffrages  of  the  "  upper  ten,"  and  its  consump- 
tion has  been  mainly  confined  to  the  middle  and 
the  lower  classes  of  the  people,  aad  to  special  dis- 
tricts within  the  limits  of  the  British  Islands. 
Yet  a  first-class  Derby  will  not  unfavouraI)ly 
compare  with  a  first-class  cheese  of  most  other 
English  makes. 

The  method  on  which  Derby  cheese  is  made  is 
less  complicated  than  that  of  most  other  kinds  ;  the 
appliances  in  use  are  fewer  and  simpler,  and  thedairy 
premises  are  usually  of  a  more  primitive  character. 
It  is  not  common  that  the  cheese  is  made  oftener 
than  once  a  day,  though  we    have    known  cases 


where  careful  dairymaids  have  made  it  twice  a  day 
during  the  whole  of  the  summer  ;  these  have  con- 
sidered, and  with  truth,  that  cheese  is  all  the 
better  if  made  from  milk  that  is  quite  fresh  and 
sweet,  which  it  not  always  is  when  it  is  twelve  or 
fourteen  hours  old  in  warm  weather  ;  and  on  this 
method  the  cheese  has  the  further  advantage  of  re- 
taining all  the  cream  of  the  milk.  This,  however, 
has  been  found  to  be,  or  has  been  supposed  to  be,  a 
disadvantage  on  land  that  has  been  highly  farmed  ; 
full-milk  cheese  has  been  found  very  liable  to 
crack  and  heave,  and  be  generally  unmanageable, 
and  dairymaids  have  been  driven  for  relief  to  the 
sure  exjiedient  of  skimming  a  portion  of  the  milk. 
It  is  well  known  that  milk  produced  on  highly- 
farmed  land,  and  by  the  consumption  of  cake  and 
com,  is  richer  in  fats  than  milk  that  is  produced 
from  sound  old  pasture  land  that  has  not  been  im- 
proved by  high-farming;  and  it  is  more  than  sus- 
pected that  this  increase  in  fats  imports  into  the 
cheese  some  occult  element  or  other  that  is  very 
unmanageable  at  times  ;  the  additional  butter  ob- 
tained by  these  artificial  aids  does  not  appear  to  be 
balanced  by  a  correspondingly  increased  percentage 
of  the  nitrogenous  constituents  of  milk  ;  and  as  the 
Derbyshire  system  of  eheese-making  is  essentially 
a  "  sweet-curd "  system,  this  disturbance  of  the 
normal  balance  of  milk-constituents  has  the  effect 
in  many  cases  of  hastening  the  decay  of  the  cheese. 
It  may  be  objected  here  that  the  Stilton  system  of 
cheese-making  is  essentially  one  that  disturbs  the 
normal  balance  of  the  milk-constituents,  by  putting 
an  extra  quantity  of  cream  into  the  milk  from 
which  the  cheese  is  made.  To  this  we  would  reply 
that  Stilton  cheese  can  only  be  made  with  entire 
success  from  sound  old  pastiu-e  land,  without  arti- 


-iU 


DAIUV     FARMING. 


iicial  aids,  aiul  that  the  Stilton  system  ailiiiits  of 
the  development  of  acidity  in  the  eurd,  whieh  is  a 
ffreat  help  in  causing  cheese  to  be  more  manaf:^^- 
ahie.  In  no  dairying  district  in  tlie  Islands  has, 
we  believe,  the  land  been  more  improved  than  in 
Derljyshire,  and  in  that  county  it  is  commonly 
believed  to  be  at  all  events  expedient  to  skim  a 
portion  of  the  milk,  in  order  that  the  cheese  ma\- 
"stand"  better,  and  that  it  may  not  bulge  and 
crack,  or  become  otherwise  unmanageable. 

The  old-fashioned  circular  tin  or  brass  "  cheese- 
kettle  "  is  generally  used  in  Derl)ysliire  farm- 
houses, and  the  cheese  is  usually  made  in  the 
ordinary  kitchen  of  the  house;  it  is  seldom  that  a 
room  is  provided  specially  for  making  the  cheese 
in,  and  the  equipment  generally  is  less  finished 
than  we  find  in  certain  other  districts ;  neverthe- 
less, great  improvements  in  these  matters  have  been 
brought  about  in  the  past  twenty  or  thirty  years. 
Though  we  have  seen  in  use  within  a  recent 
period  various  dairy  utensils  of  wood,  and  even 
a  cheese-tub  of  the  same  -material — hence  the 
name — wood  is  now  almost  wholly  discarded,  and 
tin,  or  brass,  or  glazed  earthenware,  as  the  case  may 
be,  has  taken  its  place.  The  vessel  in  which  the 
milk  is  coagulated  is  generally  of  tin,  though 
sometimes  of  brass,  the  milking-pails  are  no  longer 
of  wood,  but  of  tin,  unless  in  very  conservative 
establishments,  and  the  pans  in  which  the  milk 
is  sot  to  cream  are  of  glazed  earthenware  or  of  tin. 
When  the  manufacture  of  malleable  glass  is  a  suc- 
cess, that  will  be  the  best  material  of  which  the 
last-mentioned  vessels  can  be  made. 

Thirty  years  ago  the  cheese-making  apjiliances 
in  Derbyshire  dairies  were  as  a  rule  very  primitive 
in  character.  Curd-breakers  and  curd-mills  were 
unknown,  except  in  a  few  of  the  more  advanced 
dairies,  and  lever-presses  were  luxuries  possessed  by 
few.  The  curd  was  generally  "  broken  "  by  the 
aid  of  a  wooden  bowl  or  a  skimming-dish,  and  in 
the  earlier  stages  afterwards  the  whey  was  expressed 
by  balancing  a  large  weight  on  the  cheese-vat  con- 
taining the  curd,  the  vat  itself  resting  on  a  ladder 
crossing  the  top  of  the  cheese-kettle.  In  some 
cases  we  have  seen  the  dairymaid  kneel  on  the 
flat  ))ieee  of  board  which  was  placed  on  the  curd, 
carefully  poised  above  the  cheese-kettle,  and  the 
heavier  the  maid  the  faster  flowed  the  whey  !  An 
advance  on  this  was  found  in  using  a  pole  some  ;i 
or  I  yards  lon<r ;  one  end  of  the  pole  was  thrust 
into  a  hole  in  tiie  wall,  on  the  other  end  weights 


would  be  suspended,  the  vat  on  the  cheese-kettle 
being  midway  between  the  weights  and  the  wall 
(Fig.  115).    This  was  an  improvement  on  balancing 


Fig.    115. — TUJS  PoLE-PKESS. 

a  weight,  or  the  dairymaid  balancing  herself,  on 
the  top  of  the  cheese-kettle.  Later  on,  two  upright 
wooden  screws  were  attached  to  the  ladder,  far 
enough  apart  to  admit  of  the  cheese-vat  resting 
there,  and  between  them  a  piece  of  wood  which 
passed  over  the  curd  in  the  vat.  This  implement 
(Fig.  11  (J)  was  called  a  "  screw-press ;"  it  was  found 


Fig.  IIG.— The  Sckew-pbess. 

to  be  an  exceedingly  useful  tool,  and  a  great  deal 
of  excellent  cheese  has  been  made  by  its  help ;  a 


DERBY    CHEESE-MAKING. 


235 


turn  or  two  of  the  handles  now  and  then  caused 
the  whey  to  spurt  out  freely  from  the  cui-d,  and  a 
lijjht  or  heavy  pressure  could  at  will  he  obtained  ; 
hut  it  had  the  disadvantage  of  not  following-  up  its 
■work,  and  so  required  frequent  attention.  Lastly, 
the  young  cheeses  were  placed  under  heavy  stone- 
presses  (Fig.  117),  many  of  which  are  in  use  to 
this  day,  and  here  they  would  remain,  being  dry- 
clothed  and  salted  at  intervals,  until  ready  to  go 
to  the  cheese-room  up-stairs.       These  lumbering 


Fig.  117. — Stone-press. 

stone-presses  do  their  work  in  a  satisfactory  sort 
of  way,  but  they  are  very  heavy  to  raise  when  the 
cheeses  need  turning.  This  was  the  old  order  of 
things. 

Later  on  the  curd-breaker  (Fig.  106,  page  Z'ZH) 
was  introduced,  and  the  curd-mill  was  invented. 
The  curd-mill  commonly  used  in  Derbyshire  dairies 
is  the  double-roller  one  seen  in  Fig.  118;  the 
rollers  are  of  wood,  and  the  iron  studs  wind  round 
them  spirally  in  lines,  and  are  so  arranged  that 
those  of  one  roller  do  not  clash  with  those  of  the 
other  J  while  at  each  side  they  work  through  iron 
racks,  which  dear  them  of  curd.  These  double- 
roller  mills  ai-e  supposed  to  crush  the  curd  less  than 
the  single-roller  ones,  though  they  break  it  up  fine 
enough.  Before  the  introduction  of  curd-mills  the 
curd  was  always  broken  by  hand,  or  "  crimmed," 
in  local  parlance,  before  it  was  vatted  preparatory 
to  being  put  imder  the  stone-press;  and  this  oj^era- 
tion  of  hand-breaking,  though  it  was  laborious,  did 
the  least  possible  amount  of  harm  to  the  curd 
33 


in  the  way  of  crushing  it  and  setting  some  of  the 
elements  at  liberty.  When  curd  has  been  ground  in 
the  mill,  and  is  again  put  under  pressure,  the  whey 


Fig.  118. — CUKD-MILL. 


flowing  from  it  is  charged  with  particles  of  casein, 
and  hitherto  no  system  has  been  invented  by  which 
this  loss  to  the  cheese  can  be  prevented  where  a 
curd-mill  is  used  at  all. 


:dl    inijjrovements 


dai 


The  greatest  of 
utensils  was  the  inven- 
tion of  the  lever-press, 
and  it  immediately 
superseded  all  other 
kinds  ;  many  a  farmer's 
wife,  weary  with  the 
labour  and  nauseated 
with  the  iintidiness  of 
old-fashioned  cheese- 
making,  has  rejoiced  in 
the  new  acquisition  of 
a  lever-press,  and  dairy- 
maids have  regarded  it 
as  a  godsend,  relieving 
them  as  it  did  of  a 
great  portion  of  the 
previously  inevitable  la- 
bour of  cheese-making. 
A  light,  haTidy  press,  of 
simple  lever  action,  is 
commonly  used  in  lai-ge 
dairies,    instead    of   the 

wooden  screw-press,  for  expressing  the  \\hey  in  the 
early  stages  after  the  curd  has  been  broken  down ; 
and  in  small  dairies,  where  only  one  or  two  cheeses 


-CojtPOCSD  Levek- 

PKESS. 


236 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


per  diem  are  made,  it  is  also  used  for  all  the  suliso- 
quent  pressinjj  to  wliieh  the  cheeses  are  suhjected. 
In  large  dairies,  however,  a  larg'er  lever-press,  that 
is  compound  in  action  (Fi<?.  119),  is  used  for  the 
later  statjes  of  pressing.  It  is  a  very  strong  im- 
plement, exceedingly  simple  and  easy  to  work, 
and  thoroughly  cflicient  in  all  respects.  Having 
two  fixed  upright  bars  on  either  side,  the  cheeses 
are  always  ])ressed  perfectly  even,  whether  there 
be  one  or  half  a  dozen  of  them,  and  the  amount 
of  pressure  can  be  regulated  with  the  greatest 
ease  and  to  the  greatest  nicety.  That  any  one 
should  still  use  the  old  stone-presses  seems  odd, 
but  habit  is  strong. 

Over  twenty  yeai-s  ago,   ^Mr.   George  Travis, 
a  practical   dairy-farmer   in   Derbyshire,  invented 


whev  i^  running  olT.  Three  cheeses  can  with 
ease  be  made  by  one  person;  and  the  curd  is 
ready  for  the  vat  in  considei-ably  less  space  of 
time  than  the  old  method-  of  making  occupied. 
Lading  off  the  whey  with  bowls  is  obviated, 
and  pressing  and  kneading  the  cuixi  with  the 
hands  are  not  rccpiircxl.  The  whole  of  the  utensils 
used  can  be  cleansed  in  less  than  fifteen  minutes. 

2.  A  greater  weight  of  curd  is  obtained 
from  the  same  quantity  of  milk  than  can  possibly 
be  produced  by  the  most  experienced  dairywoman 
with  the  old  utensils.  Tlie  cheese  is  also  far 
superior,  and  more  uniform   in  quality. 

The  evening's  milk  is  sieved  into  the  appa- 
ratus, unless  it  is  preferred  to  set  it  up  in  pans 
for  creaming,  and  the  morning's  milk  added  to 
it.  The  milk  is  coagulated,  the  curd  broken,  the 
bulk  of  the  whey  removed,  and  the  curd  made 
ready  for  press,  by  the  aid  of  this  apparatus, 
saving  a  great  deal  of  sloppy,  dirty  work,  relieving 
the  dairymaid  of  much  labour,  and  economising 
time. 

An  improvement  on  Mr.  Travis's  invention 
is  seen  in  Fig.  121,  Pugh's  patent  cheese-making 
apparatus.  This  apparatus  consists  of  a  circular 
pan,  made  of  tin,  coj)per,  or  other  suitable  material, 
having  improved  taps  at  the  side  for  niuuing 
off  the  whey  at  intervals,  ns   required.     This  pan, 


Fig.  120. — Travis's  Appakatus  for  Cheese-making. 

a  cheese-making  apparatus  which  \\as  at  once 
simple  and  efficient.  It  created  a  good  deal 
of  interest  at  the  time,  and  is  still  used  in  many 
farm-houses.  In  Fig.  120  we  give  an  illustra- 
tion of  this  apparatus ;  and  the  following  are 
the  advantages  claimed  for  it  : — 

1.   A    great    saving    of    labnuv    and    time    is 
effected. 

The  breaker  is  of  the  simplest  construction, 
and  is  worked  in  such  a  manner  that  the  curd 
is  effectually  broken  without  being  bruised  in 
the  slightest  degree;  and  it  requires  very  little  which  is  mounted  on  an  iron  frame,  turns  upon 
trouble  to  work  and  clean  it.  In  the  sei)aration  an  axis,  and  may  be  tilted  at  jdeasure  to  cause 
of  the  whey  from  the  curd,  a  self-acting  leverage  the  whey  to  run  off.  Above  the  jian  an  improved 
is    used,    which    requires    no   aftenticm    while   the      sy.^tom  (if  l('v<'ragc'  is  i)nivi(le(l,  which  gives  jires- 


Pl'gh's  Cheese-making  ArrAiiATrs. 


DERBY    CHEESE-MAKING. 


237 


sure  to  a  vertical  roil,  to  wliich  is  attaclied  the 
pressing-plate,  or  sinker.  To  enable  the  dairy- 
maid to  get  at  the  curd  more  readily,  the  pressure- 
plate,  when  raised,  may  be  placed  in  a  per- 
pendicular, horizontal,  or  inclined  position  by 
means  of  a  novel  and  selt'-aeting  movement; 
it  is  also  made  to  revolve,  in  order  that  it  may 
the  more  easily  be  cleanetl.  The  framework  of 
knives,  seen  in  the  illustration,  revolves  round 
the  pan,  and  bi'caks  down  the  curd  in  an  efficient 
and  satisfactory  manner. 

These  apparati,  however,  have  made  their  way 
only  into  the  more  advanced  dairies  in  Derbyshire, 
Staffordshire,  &c.,  and  a  great  deal  of  Derbyshire 
cheese — that  is,  cheese  made  on  what  is  known 
as  the  Derbyshire  system — is  still  made  in  these 
counties  on  the  old  lines,  of  which  the  following 
is  a  description  : — • 

AVhere  cheese  is  made  only  once  a  day — and 
this  is  the  case  in  probably  99  pier  cent,  of  the 
dairies  of  the  country — the  evening's  milk  is 
sieved,  as  a  rule,  into  the  ordinary  cheese-kettle ;  in 
warm  weather  it  is  cooled  as  well  as  circumstances 
atlrait  of,  stirred  about  to  facilitate  the  escape  of 
the  warmth  and  the  odour  peculiar  to  new  milk, 
and  is  placed  in  the  coolest  part  of  the  premises 
until  morning.  Not  uncommonly  it  is  left  out  of 
doors,  if  it  is  likely  to  be  cooler  there,  and  is 
covered  up  to  keeji  intruders  out  of  it.  In  other 
cases  it  is  sieved  into  shallow  tin  or  earthenware 
pans,  where,  being  in  smaller  bulk,  it  is  likelier 
to  remain  sweet  through  the  night.  In  either 
ease  a  portion  of  the  cream  that  has  risen  during 
the  night,  and  sometimes  the  whole  of  it,  is 
skimmed  off  on  the  following  morning,  after 
which  the  morning's  milk  is  mixed  with  the 
evening's,  and  the  whole  mass  is  raised  or  lowered, 
as  the  case  may  be,  to  80*^  Fahr. — raised  by 
heating  up  a  portion  of  the  evening's  milk  that 
has  been  skimmed,  lowered  by  standing  a  pail  of 
cold  water  in  the  morning's  milk  for  a  time.  It 
is,  however,  seldom  that  the  temjjerature  requires 
lowering,  even  in  hot  weather,  providing  the 
evening's  milk  ha.s  been  properly  cooled,  and  in 
cool  weather  it  almost  invariably  requires  warming 
up.  If  the  evening's  milk  is  at  about  6b°,  the 
morning's,  which  is  at  about  95",  will  bring  it  up 
to  about  the  desired  temjierature  with  little  or  no 
trouble. 

The  rennet  is  added  when  the  thermometer  in 
the  milk  indicates  80",  and  sufficient  of  it  is  used 


to  coagulate  the  milk  in  about  one  hour.  When 
the  coagulum  is  firm  enough,  the  curd-breaker  is 
very  gently  used  for  about  ten  minutes,  the  curd 
being  now  and  then  turned  gently  about  by  hand, 
so  that  the  breaker  may  act  more  efficiently 
throughout  the  whole  of  it.  The  breaking  is  a 
delicate  operation;  if  it  is  hurriedly  done,  the 
whey  will  be  white,  with  detached  particles  of 
curd;  if  it  is  done  carefully,  and  not  too  early, 
the  whey  will  be  green,  and  there  will  be  no  loss 
of  curd.  When  it  is  considered  to  be  broken  into 
pieces  that  are  small  enough — say  half  an  inch 
square — it  is  allowed  to  settle  for  a  time,  during 
which  the  green  whey  comes  out  of  it  freely,  the 
whey  coming  upwards,  the  curd  settling  down- 
wards in  the  kettle.  As  soon  as  the  great  bulk  of 
the  whey  has  thus  separated  itself  from  the  curd, 
it  is  ladled  off,  and  the  curd  is  wrapped  u^)  in  a 
cloth,  put  into  the  cheese-vat,  and  jdaced  under 
pressure  of  some  sort  to  express  the  remainder  of 
the  whey,  or  as  much  of  it  as  can  be  conveniently 
got  out  at  that  stage  of  the  process. 

Whilst  the  curd  is  going  through  this  prelimi- 
nary stage  of  pressing,  it  is  cut  across  the  middle 
several  times  with  the  knife  seen  in  Fig.  I'Z'Z,  the 


yig.  llili 


-ClKl)  K.NUE. 


outsides  are  trimmed  off  and  piled  up  on  the  top, 
and  it  is  placed  again  in  press.  This  process  is 
repeated  as  often  as  may  be  deemed  necessary  to 
get  out  nearly  all  of  the  whey.  The  cm-d  is  then 
passed  through  the  mill,  vatted,  and  jjlaced  under 
heavier  pressure  than  before,  so  as  to  be  firmly 
moulded  into  the  form  the  cheese  is  required  to 
assume,  and  to  get  out  the  rest  of  the  whey.  This 
process  of  pressing  generally  lasts  two  or  three 
days,  during  which  the  cheeses  are  turned  over  and 
dry-clothed  two  or  three  times  a  day. 

The  chief  difference  between  the  Derbyshire 
and  most  other  systems  lies  in  the  period  at  which 
the  salt  is  applied  to  the  cheese.  In  the  Cheshire 
and  the  Cheddar  systems  it  is  ajiplied  to  the  curd 
immediately  after  the  latter  is  ground;  in  the 
Derbyshire  system  it  is  applied  the  following 
evening  or  morning,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  to 
the  outside  only  of  the  cheese. 

And  this  is  an  important  difference,  involving 
a  fundamental  principle.  We  have  seen  that  no 
heat  is  applied  to  the  curd  after  coagulation  on  the 


238 


DAIRY    FAinilNG. 


Dcrbysliii-e  jjlan,  tluit  tlio  whoy  is  dipjiod  off  as 
early  as  jxissible,  and  that  the  curd  is  vat  tod 
whilst  perfec-tly  sweet.  This  is  exactly  what  is 
meant  hy  a  "  sweet-eurd  process ;  "  and  it  is  the 
converse  of  any  process  by  which  acidity  is  ad- 
niittedj  by  any  means  whatever,  at  or  before  this 
stance.  Ikit  mark  the  sequel  :  thou<i;h  the  curd  is 
vatted  whilst  it  is  perfectly  sweet,  a  g-iven  amount 
of  acid  will  develop  in  it,  because  uo  salt  is  api)li('d 
to  it,  as  a  rule,  for  six  to  eij^hteen  hours  after- 
wards. By  withholding^  the  salt  for  some  hours 
the  youn»  cheese  will  be<^in  to  sour  a  little,  whereas 
if  the  salt  had  been  mixed  with  the  sweet  curd  no 
acidity  would  occur. 

Much  depends  on  the  state  of  the  milk  from 
which  the  cheese  is  made,  as  to  whether  the  acid 
shall  develop  quickly  or  slowly;  and  on  the  saltinfj, 
as  to  whether  it  shall  develop  at  all.  If  the  milk 
is  already  turning  a  little  acid,  the  curd  will  acidify 
at  an  early  date,  say  in  the  course  of  the  after- 
noon ;  if  the  milk  is  perfectly  sweet,'  the  acid 
will  be  some  time  longer  forming  in  the  curd. 
The  j)roper  time,  then,  at  which  to  apply  the 
salt  to  the  outside  of  the  cheese,  as  in  the 
Derbyshire  system,  will  depend  on  the  skill  with 
which  the  dairymaid  detects  any  sourness  of  the 
milk ;  or,  if  the  milk  is  perfectly  sweet,  on  her 
judgment  as  to  the  time  when  sufficient  acid  shall 
have  developed  in  the  newly-formed  cheese.  But 
the  skill  and  judgment  here  indicated  are  some- 
what rare  to  be  met  with,  though  they  are  in  truth 
not  very  difficult  to  acquire. 

The  Derbyshire  system  is,  as  we  have  said, 
essentially  a  sweet-curd  system — that  is,  the  whey 
is  dipped  sweet,  the  curd  is  vatted  before  any  acid 
has  formed,  and  no  salt  is  applied  for  several  hours 
afterwards,  and  then  only  on  the  outside  ;  but  this 
system  has  been  improved  on  with  advantage  in  at 
least  one  case  that  we  are  acquainted  with.  Some 
years  ago  we  knew  a  thought  i'ul  and  intelligent 
dairy-farmer  in  Derbyshire,  now  gathered  to  his 
fathers,  who  effected  a  striking  imjjrovement  in 
the  condition  and  quality  of  his  cheese  by  the  very 
simple  expedient  of  keeping  over  a  portion  of  un- 
salted  curd  and  mixing  it  with  the  following  day's 
cheese.  The  kept  curd,  being  exposed  to  the  air, 
became  sensibly  acid  during  the  night,  and  when 
it  was  intermixed  with  the  fresh  euvd  of  the  fol- 
lowing day,  it  imparteil  to  it  just  the  right  amount 
of  acid  to  produce  a  perfect  cheese.  The  fai;m  in 
question   had   always  previously   produced    cheese 


that  was  scarcely  more  than  a  goml  second-class 
article,  but  the  first  year  that  the  plau  was  adopted 
of  keeping  over  a  jwrtion  of  curd,  the  whole  dairy 
was  sold  for  87s.  per  cwt.,  which  was  15s.  or  20s. 
more  than  it  would  have  commanded  under  the  old 
system. 

There  is  now  less  cheese  made  in  Derbyshire 
than  there  was  ten  years  ago.  The  Alidland 
Hallway  runs  through  the  heart  of  the  county, 
and  a  very  large  traffic  in  milk  has  been  established 
to  supply  the  needs  of  London,  Manchester,  and 
Sheffield ;  and  as  the  climate  and  soil  of  the 
county  are  excellently  adapted  to  the  raising  of 
stock,  many  farmers  make  butter  instead  of 
cheese,  and  rear  a  number  of  calves  on  the  skim- 
milk.  These  matters  have  diminished  the  vubuue 
of  Derbyshire  cheese-making. 

Not  only  the  accommodation  for  making  the 
cheese,  but  also  that  for  storing  it  after  it  is 
made  is,  as  a  rule,  rather  deficient  in  Derltyshire 
farm-houses.  In  many  cases  the  cheese-room  is 
over  the  kitchen,  and  no  heat  is  provided  beyond 
that  which  the  kitchen  fire  supi)lies — an  inter- 
mittent heat  at  the  best.  In  summer  the  heat 
would  be  too  great  and  in  winter  too  little — con- 
stantly varying,  in  fact.  In  the  more  advanced 
eases  coke-burning  stoves  are  used,  similar  to  the 
one  shown  in  Fig. 
123.  These  stoves 
will  burn  twelve 
hours  without  atten- 
tion, and  at  a  veiy 
moderate  expendi- 
ture of  fuel,  so  that 
if  they  are  made 
up  at  bedtime  they 
will  be  alight  when 
morning  comes.  In 
still  other  cases  ii 
.system  of  hot-water 
])ipes  is  laid  down 
in  the  cheese-room, 
round  by  the  walls 
and  near  to  the 
floor.    This,  though 

more  expensive  than  a  stove,  is  a  much  more 
effectual  way  of  securing  an  even  tempera- 
ture all  over  the  room  ;  and  it  is  a  kind  of 
temperature  that  causes  the  cheese  to  ripen  fast 
enough  without  drjnng  too  much,  and  without  so 
much  cracking  of  the  crust  as  a  stove  i)roduccs. 


Fig.  123.— C'HEESE-iiOciM  .SruVE. 


GLOUCESTER    CHEESE-MAKING. 


239 


Heat  from  a  stove  is  not  the  Lest  for  curing 
cheese,  inasmuch  as  it  dries  the  air  too  much, 
and  causes  the  too  rapid  evaporation  of  moisture 
from  the  cheese.  This  fault  does  not  appertain 
to  the  hot-water  pipes.  The  room  over  a  farmer's 
kitchen  is  altogether  too  hot  in  summer,  and  the 
heat  cannot  be  removed  from  it ;  but  it  forms  an 
excellent  cheese-room  in  all  the  cooler  parts  of 
the  year.  Stoves  and  hot-water  pipes  have  the 
advantage  of  allowing  the  heat  to  be  removed 
and  replaced  at  will, 

Gloucester  Cheese-makixg. 

Single  and  double  Gloucesters  have  been  famous 
for  a  long  period,  and  they  have  given  to  the  Vale 
of  Berkeley  a  reputation  that  has  penetrated  into 
many  lauds;  but  Gloucester  cheese  is  no  longer  cele- 
brated as  it  once  was.  This  in  part  is  owing  to 
the  enormous  importations  of  foreign  cheese  into 
this  country,  whereby  many  good  old  traditions  re- 
lating to  English  cheese-making  have  been  some- 
what rudely  dispersed,  and  in  part  it  is  owing  to 
the  great  extension  of  the  milk-trade  with  London 
and  other  cities.  Double  Gloucesters  may  indeed  ha 
almost  regarded  as  a  thing  of  the  past,  for  they  are 
now  made  only  to  a  small  extent;  but  single  Glouces- 
ters continue  to  be  made  in  many  farm-houses.  The 
only  difference  between  these  two  sorts  of  cheese — 
a  difference  not  generally  understood — consists  in 
their  difference  in  thickness  and  weight.  They 
are  each  about  16  inches  in  diameter,  the  double 
Gloucester  being  between  4  and  .5  inches  thick  and 
weighing  about  ^i  lbs.,  while  the  single  Gloucester 
is  between  2  and  3  inches  thick,  and  weighs  about 
15  lbs. ;  the  distinction  between  them  is  one  of 
size  only  and  has  no  reference  whatever  to  quality 
beyond  the  difference  in  this  respect  that  is  created 
by  the  longer  time  required  to  ripen  the  thicker 
cheese.  The  following  are  the  average  analyses  of 
double  and  single  Gloucester  cheescj  four  sam^^les  of 
each : — 

Do^'l!LE  Gloucester. 


Water       

...     3.5-70 

Butter       

...     28-45 

•Casein 

...     28-08 

Milk-sugar,  lactic  acid,  <S;c. 

...       3-26 

f-Mineral  matters  (ash)    ... 

...       4-51 

Single  Gloucester. 

Water       

Butter 
JC'asein 

Milk-sugar,  lactic  aciJ,  itc. 
§  Mineral  matters  (ash) 


32-27 
30-40 
27-57 
6-66 
4-10 

100-00 


•  Containing  nitrogen,  4-50. 
t  Containing  common  salt,  143. 


If  we  take  the  smaller  quantity  of  water  and 
the  larger  of  butter  as  tests  of  comparative  quality, 
the  single  is  decidedly  a  richer  cheese  than  the 
double  Gloucester ;  quality  is,  however,  a  matter 
which  depends  not  on  richness  alone,  but  on  condi- 
tion and  degree  of  ripeness.  The  richness  of  cheese 
is  in  some  cases  greatly  developed  in  the  ripening, 
while  in  others  it  seems  to  remain  in  abeyance. 
Single  Gloucester  cheese  is  generally  ready  to  sell 
when  it  is  two  to  three  months  old,  while  the 
double  is  more  than  twice  as  long  in  ripening. 
Whether  the  longer  and  slower  ripening  really  ac- 
counts for  somewhat  inferior  quality  of  the  latter 
is  a  point  not  yet  determined,  but  in  any  case  it 
is  a  disadvantage  to  have  cheese  on  hand  for  six 
months  when  it  can  just  as  well  be  brought  into 
the  market  in  half  the  time;  and  this  simple  com- 
mercial axiom  has  no  doubt  had  more  than  any- 
thing else  to  do  with  diminishing  the  make  of 
double  Gloucester  cheese.  It  is  probable  that  the 
Gloucester  system  of  cheese-making  will  gradually 
be  displaced  by  improved  methods  which  involve  a 
less  exj)enditure  of  time  and  labour,  for  the  cheese 
of  the  county  does  not  really  possess  any  special 
features  or  qualities  which  will  render  it  jjroof 
against  the  march  of  modern  imj^rovements. 

The  utensils  generally  used  in  the  making  of 
Gloucester  cheese  are  few  in  number  and  simple 
in  character,  but  in  some  instances  Keevil's 
cheese-making  apparatus  has  been  adopted.  This 
implement  is  very  similar  in  most  respects  to  the 
one  shown  in  Fig.  121,  page  230,  and  we  need  not 
therefore  describe  it.  In  many  cases  the  cheese- 
presses  consist  of  large  square  boxes,  which  are 
raised  and  lowered  by  means  of  pulleys  and  ropes. 
They  are  tastefully  made  of  dark-coloured  wood, 
and,  being  varnished,  are  intended  to  be  orna- 
mental as  well  as  useful.  They  are  filled  with 
stones,  gravel,  iron,  &c.,  to  a  weight  of  several 
hundred  pounds,  and  rest  directly  on  the  cheese. 
The  remainder  of  the  vessels  and  equipments  do 

J  Containing  nitrogen,  4-41. 
§  Containing  common  salt,  1-20. 


210 


DAIRY    FAR^riNG. 


not  differ  matorinlly  from  those  more  or  less  in  use 
all  over  the  kingdom,  and  consequently  do  not  eall 
for  any  special  remark. 

Under  the  general  system  the  cheese  is  made 
twice  a  day,  from  perfectly  fresh  milk  each  time. 
Yet  in  other  cases  "  half-coward  "  cheese  is  made ; 
and  this  means  cheese  made  in  part  of  skim-milk. 
It  is  maxle  once  a  day  only,  from  the  morning's 
milk  fresh  and  the  evening's  skimmed,  the  two 
kinds  being  mixed  together.  The  milk  in  any  ease 
is  warmed  up  to  80" — in  some  cases  to  85'^ — at 
which  point  the  colouring,  if  any,  and  the  rennet 
are  added  to  it,  and  the  curd  forms  in  about  an 
hour.  The  coagulum  is  broken  down  by  a  wire 
breaker  similar  to  that  shown  in  Fig.  100,  page  22S, 
except  where  Keevil's  appai'atus  is  used,  when  the 
curd  is  broken  by  a  revolving  framework,  which 
contains  on  the  one  side  vertical  and  on  the  other 
horizontal  wires.  On  the  old  system  the  curd, 
after  breaking,  is  left  to  sink,  and  the  whey  is 
ladled  off ;  with  Keevil's  apparatus  the  whey  runs 
off  through  the  taps.  It  is  considered  important 
to  get  out  of  the  curd  before  passing  it  through 
the  curd-mill  all  the  whey  that  can  be  got  out 
conveniently.  To  this  end  the  curd  is  variously 
pressed,  according  to  the  facilities  at  hand  ;  in  the 
Keevil  apparatus  it  is  pressed  by  a  plate  of  per- 
forated and  galvanised  iron,  and  in  the  old  system 
by  hand,  or  by  a  piece  of  wood  on  which  a  weight 
is  placed.  When  as  much  whey  as  possible  has 
been  got  out,  the  curd  is  ground  and  put  to  press. 
The  next  and  two  or  three  following  mornings 
the  cheese  is  taken  out  of  press,  turned,  and  salted 
on  the  outside.  This  is  the  best  way  of  salting 
such  cheese ;  but  in  other  cases  the  curd,  after 
having  been  under  pressure  for  some  time,  has  salt 
scattered  over  it  at  the  rate  of  about  2i  to  3  per 
cent.,  and  is  afterwards  re-broken,  re-iilled  into  the 
vat,  and  a  gradually-increasing  pressure  is  Ijrought 
to  bear  on  it.  During  the  pressing  period,  which 
lasts  nearly  a  week,  the  cheeses  are  daily  taken  out 
of  press  and  wrapped  in  dry  cloths — a  jdan  that  is 
common  to  most  of  our  old  systems  of  cheese- 
making. 

The  Gloucester  dairies  arc  conspicuous  for 
cleanliness  —  a  most  important  feature,  noticed 
and  commended  by  various  persons  who  have 
inspected  the  system.  To  this  very  cleanliness, 
rather  than  to  the  quality  of  the  cheese,  is  no 
doubt  owing  much  of  the  reputation  which 
Gloucester  cheese   has  obtained  in   the  past,  and 


it  is  a  feature  equally  valuaMe  and  commendable 
wherever  it  is  found  in  cheese-making  districts. 
The  careful  dairymaid  everywhere  carries  on,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  an  unceasing  crusade 
against  dirt;  and  this  is  necessary,  for  nowhere 
more  essentially  than  in  a  dairy  is  dirt  "matter  out 
of  place."  That  the  Gloucestershire  dairymaids 
have  a  thorough  appreciation  of  the  benefits  which 
come  of  carefully  avoiding  all  taints  and  impurities 
is  proved  by  the  custom  which  is  common  in 
the  county,  of  making  the  cheese  twice  a 
day,  instead  of  once  as  the  custom  is  almost 
everywhere  else.  By  so  doing  they  have  per- 
fectly fresh  milk  to  deal  with,  providing  the 
weather  is  clear  and  fresh,  the  cows  not  over- 
heated by  rapid  driving  or  by  exposure  to  a  burn- 
ing sun,  and  the  utensils  are  kept  clean  and  sweet. 
The  industry  involved  in  making  cheese  twice 
a  day  is  not  compatible  with  dirtiness  or  untidi- 
ness anywhere ;  and  in  other  districts,  where  twice- 
a-day  cheese-making  is  the  exception,  we  have 
always  found  it  in  conjunction  with  almost  fas- 
tidious cleanliness. 

The  characteristics  of  Gloucester  cheese  of 
good  quality  are — sharp,  well-defined  edges,  and 
no  bulging  anywhere ;  a  clear  yellow  hue  around 
the  edges,  and  a  well-developed  blue  mould  rising 
through  the  paint  on  the  sides;  a  smooth,  close, 
firm,  and  waxy  texture  rather  than  a  loose  and 
open  one ;  a  mild,  though  rich  flavour ;  and  a 
somewhat  tough  and  solid  skin,  destitute  of  cracks, 
that  will,  when  the  cheeses  are  ripe,  bear  a  man's 
weight  without  giving  way  underneath  the  foot — 
this,  indeed,  is  the  standard  test  of  firmness  and 
solidity. 

A  remarkable  custom  of  painting  the  cheese 
has  existed  in  Gloucestershire  for  a  long  period — a 
custom  more  nearly  akin  to  Dutch  practices  than 
is  found  elsewhere  in  England.  About  a  month 
after  they  leave  the  ])ress  the  cheeses  are  scraped 
and  painted  over  with  Indian  red  or  Spanish 
brown,  or  a  mixture  of  both  with  small  beer, 
to  give  them  a  pale  vermilion  colour,  on  account 
of  which  they  have  long  been  supposed  to  be 
more  acceptable  in  the  London  markets.  This 
of  course  is  a  mere  fancy,  but  it  is  established 
l)y  the  practice  of  many  generations  of  cheese- 
makers.  In  cheese-making,  whether  it  be  applied 
to  the  outside  or  to  the  inside  of  the  cheese,  and 
especially  in  the  latter  case,  we  should  be  glad 
to  sec  artificial  colouring-matter  dis])cnsed  with. 


LEICESTER    CIl KKSE-i\I AKING. 


241 


Leicesteesiiire    Ciieese-makixg. 

The  finest  qualities  of  what  is  known  as  Leices- 
ter cheese  are  f^enerally  admitted  to  be,  with  the 
sino'le  exception  of  jjenuine  Stilton,  the  best  cheese 
produced  in  these  islands.  Stilton,  however,  is 
a  double-cream  cheese,  and  as  such  is  not  a  fair 
competitor;  it  also  is  made  in  Leicestershire,  yet 
it  is  known  to  the  world  by  the  name  of  the  dis- 
trict, and  not  by  that  of  the  county  in  which  it  is 
made,  and  in  this  resjject  it  resembles  the  true 
Cheddar  cheese.  But  "  Leicester  cheese "  has 
lonof  borne  a  foremost  reputation,  and  the  finest 
samples  of  it  have  usually  commanded  from 
10s.  to  20s.  per  cwt.  more  than  the  best 
cheese  made  in  any  other  county  in  the  kingdom. 
These  finest  samples,  however,  are  not  now  so 
numerous  as  they  were  twenty  years  ago,  and  a 
really  fine  dairy  is  coming  to  be  the  exception, 
while  second-class  ones  are  the  rule  in  the  county. 
In  this  matter  of  deterioration  of  dairy  products 
it  appears  that  Leicestershire  occupies  no  more 
favourable  a  position  than  most  of  our  other  dairy- 
ing districts. 

Tlie  falling  off  in  quality  of  the  cheese  of  the 
county  is  not  considered  to  be  due  in  more  than 
a  small  measure  to  the  want  of  skill  and  care  on 
the  jiart  of  the  dairymaids.  The  farmers  of  the 
county  whom  we  have  consulted  on  this  point  are 
decidedly  of  opinion  that  draining,  re-seeding,  and 
otherwise  imjiroving  the  land  have  had  the  el?ect  of 
reducing  the  quality  while  increasing  the  quantity 
of  the  cheese ;  and  this  opinion  applies  equally  to 
land  that  has  been  drained  and  top-dressed  simply, 
without  re-seeding.  Even  where  the  old  sward 
has  remained  intact,  and  no  fresh  seeds  have  been 
sown,  it  is  believed  that  draining  and  manuring 
have  so  altered  the  character  of  the  native  grasses 
that  they  will  no  longer  produce  the  magnificent 
cheese  for  which  the  county  has  so  long  been 
famous.  And  where  the  land  has  been  ploughed 
generations  ago,  and  probably  been  allowed  to  seed 
itself  down  to  grass  as  it  liked,  subsequent  drain- 
ing and  manuring  have  developed  some  property 
or  other  which  tells  against  the  quality  of  the 
cheese. 

It  may  be  taken  as  a  sound  proposition  that 
the  finest  cheese  and  butter,  both,  are  produced 
from  old-turf  land — that  is,  land  that  has  not 
been  ploughed  for  a  long  period,  if  ever ;  and  of 
this  the  Leicestershire  farmers  seem  to  be  more 


generally  conscious  than  those  of  other  counties. 
In  reply  to  the  question,  "  What  kind  of  land  do 
you  consider  most  suitable  for  making  finest  Lei- 
cester cheese  ? "  one  large  dairy-farmer  writes  in 
us  :  "  Low-lying  land,  having  a  cold  marly  subsoil, 
and  showing  a  growth  of  rushes  in  the  furrows." 
And  another  says :  "  It  is  a  known  fact  that  cold 
grass  land,  showing  a  few  rushes,  generally  pro- 
duces the  finest  cheese,  and  this  very  land,  after 
being  drained  and  otherwise  improved,  fails  to  do 
so.  No  doubt  more  cheese  can  be  produced,  but 
it  is  of  an  inferior  sort ;  and  in  these  times,  con- 
sidering there  is  a  diiference  in  value  of  about 
£15  per  ton  between  fine  and  medium  cheese,  it 
becomes  a  question  whether  the  extra  quantity 
makes  up  for  the  absence  of  quality."  The  chief 
significance  of  the  "  question "  here  involved  lies 
in  the  fact  that  it  becomes  each  year  increasingly 
difficult  for  I]nglish  farmers  to  compete  with 
foreign  countries,  unless  they  can  make  fine  quali- 
ties of  cheese ;  in  which  case  they  have  to  them- 
selves a  demand  with  which  foreign  cheese  cannot 
directly  interfere. 

With  regard  to  making  Leicester  cheese,  one 
of  the  authorities  quoted  above,  Mr.  Pilgrim,  of 
Hinckley,  writes  to  us  as  follows  :  "  There  is  no 
regular  course  to  be  laid  down,  as  almost  every 
dairymaid  has  her  own  method,  scarcely  two 
carrying  out  in  detail  exactly  the  same  system; 
the  milk  from  different  farms,  owing  to  some  dif- 
ference in  the  herbage,  requires-  different  treatment 
both  as  regards  the  heat  of  putting  the  milk 
together  and  also  the  curing,  some  dairies  requiring 
more  salting  than  others.  My  idea  is  that  a  true 
and  successful  make  of  cheese  depends  on  putting 
the  milk  together  at  its  proper  temperature,  ex- 
tracting all  the  whey,  and  well  curing  without 
over-salting,  yet  with  all  these  being  properly 
carried  out  it  does  not  follow  that  fine  cheese  is 
the  result;  this  depends  on  the  herbage  from 
which  the  milk  is  produced." 

The  usual  method  of  making  Leicester  cheese  is 
as  follows  : — In  spring  and  autumn  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  milk  when  set  for  coagulation  is  SO'' 
to  8-1'',  but  in  summer  not  higher  than  76°  to  78"^, 
and  sufficient  rennet  is  added  to  cause  coagulation 
in  about  an  hour  and  a  quarter,  more  or  less.  The 
curd  is  then  slowly  and  carefully  broken  down,  so 
as  not  to  bruise  it  and  liberate  the  butter,  and 
after  the  curd  has  had  time  to  settle  down  to 
the    bottom   of  the   vat,  a  process  that  generally 


212 


DAI1!V     FARMING. 


tiikes  about  twenty  niiiiutop,  the  whey  is  cither 
ladled  off  or  run  through  a  tap  in  the  bottom  of 
the  cheese-pan — if  it  has  a  tap;  in  very  cold 
weather  the  whey  and  curd  are  in  some  eases  heated 
up  to  SO*^  or  84*^,  after  the  curd  is  broken. 
The  lurd  is  then  gathered  into  a  cloth,  is  pressed 
and  broken  several  times  until  the  whey  is  removed, 
and  before  it  is  finally  vatted  for  press  about  2 
to  4  ounces  of  salt  are  mixed  with  the  curd  of 
each  40-lb.  cheese,  in  order  to  make  sure  that  it  is 
cured.  The  cheese  is  after  a  time  turned  and  dry- 
clothed,  and  when  it  has  boon  twenty-four  hours  in 
press  is  well  salted  on  the  outside,  a  process  that  is 
repeated  each  day  for  four  or  five  days ;  the  cheese 
is  then  well  washed  in  warm  whey  or  grea.sy  water, 
and  put  on  the  shelf  to  dry.  The  ripening  takes 
usually  six  or  eight  months,  and  a  fine-quality, 
well-made  Leicester  cheese  improves  by  kee])ing 
twelve  months. 

Leicester  cheese  is  as  a  rule  rather  deeply 
coloured  with  annatto — a  practice  that  ought  to  be 
abolished  on  account  of  its  utter  uselessness  and 
stupidity.  Annatto  is  a  disagreeable  and  disgust- 
ing thing  to  put  into  milk ;  it  is  unpleasant  both 
to  the  taste  and  smell,  and  adds  absolutely  nothing 
to  the  intrinsic  worth  of  the  cheese.  It  is  to  all 
intents  and  puqioses  an  adulteration,  and  though 
it  is  used  with  the  express  intention  to  deceive, 
the  deception,  strange  to  say,  is  both  known  and 
tolerated  by  dealer  and  consumer  alike.  This 
seems  strange,  but  it  is  tnie  nevertheless ;  dairy- 
maids would  soon  leave  off  artificially  coloiu-ing 
their  cheese  if  the  consuming  public  would  drop 
the  infatuation  of  liking  it  so  coloured.  The  prac- 
tice, however,  will  not  die  out  until  the  penalty 
due  to  adulterations  is  applied  to  it. 

The  quality  of  a  fine  Leicester  cheese  is  always 
very  superior ;  the  flavour  is  rich,  clean,  full,  and 
nutty ;  the  texture  is  firm  without  being  close  or 
dry,  flaky  rather  than  waxy,  and  moist  as  opposed 
to  wet;  it  is  a  very  "meaty"  cheese,  and  rich, 
and  the  flavour  left  on  the  palate  after  tasting 
it  is  very  agreeable;  in  diameter  it  varies  from 
16  to  20  inches,  and  it  is  usually  4  to  5 
inches  thick.  The  excellence  of  the  cheese  does 
not  rest  on  any  uncommon  richness  in  butter,  for 
in  this  respect  it  is  not  superior  to  most  other 
kinds  of  English  cheese,  but  on  some  occult  pro- 
perty cominuuicated  to  it  by  the  peculiar  lierbiige 
of  the  county;  there  is  a  fulness  of  flavour  abnut 
it,  a  meatiness,  a  warmth  and  wealth  of  quality, 


that  reminds  us  of  fruit  that  is  produced  from  a 
rich  soil  and  rijxsned  in  a  genial  climate.  It  has 
no  borrowed  qualities,  no  peculiarities  attained  by 
a  special  system  of  manufacture  or  of  ripening; 
it  is  a  plain  and  substantial  article,  thoroughly 
English  in  character,  and  as  such,  is  superior  to 
every  other  kind  of  cheese  similarly  produced. 

Sti i.ton  Cheese-making. 

In  some  respects  the  most  famous  of  our  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  cheese;  prized  highly  among  the 
"  upper  ten  "  and  by  epicures  everywhere  ;  unique 
in  shape,  in  flavour,  and  in  quality;  Stilton  is 
yet  one  of  the  most  modern  of  English  cheeses. 
Barely  one  hundred  years  old,  it  has  attained  a 
celebrity,  at  once  singular  and  extensive,  that  is 
not  enjoyed  by  any  other  kind  of  cheese  made  in 
this  country.  It  is  regai-ded  more  as  a  delicacy  and 
a  relish  than  as  an  article  of  ordinary  food,  and 
it  is  found  alike  on  the  tables  of  the  refined 
and  wealthy  and  in  the  menu  of  the  leading  hotels 
and  restaurants  throughout  the  kingdom. 

In  Marshall's  "  Rural  Economy,"  published  in 
1790,  it  is  said: — "Mrs.  Paulet,  the  first  maker 
of  Stilton  cheese,  being  a  relation  or  an  acquaint- 
ance of  the  well-known  Cooper  Thornhill,  Avho 
kept  the  'Bell'  Inn  at  Stilton,  on  the  great  north 
road  from  London  to  Edinburgh,  furnished  his 
house  with  ercam  cheese,  which,  being  of  a  singu- 
larly fine  quality,  was  coveted  by  his  customers, 
and  through  the  assistance  of  Mrs.  P.  they  were 
gratified  at  the  expense  of  half-a-crown  a  pound ; 
but  where  the  cheese  was  made  was  not  for  some 
time  publicly  known,  hence  it  obtained,  of  course, 
the  name  of  Stilton  cheese.  At  length,  however, 
the  place  of  pmduce  was  discovered,  and  the  art 
of  making  it  learnt  by  other  dairywomen  of  the 
neighbourhood.  Dalby  first  took  the  lead,  but  it 
is  now  made  in  most  villages  aliout  Melton  !Mow- 
bray;  and  in  Rutlandshire  many  tons  are  made 
every  year,  and  the  sale  is  no  longer  confined  to 
Stilton." 

In  Pitt's  "  Agriculture  of  the  County  of 
Leicester,"  published  in  1809,  the  author  speaks 
as  follows  of  Stilton  cheese  : — "This  is,  I  believe, 
the  richest  and  highest-priced  thick  cheese  of 
British  manufacture;  it  is  made  in  most  of  the 
villages  about  Melton  Mowbray,  and  sold  at  the 
principal  inns  in  the  county,  to  accommodate  their 
customers.  The  price,  like  other  cheese,  is  subject 
to  fluctuation,  but  seldom,  I  believe,  so  low  as  Is. 


STILTON    CHEESE-MAKING. 


243 


per  lb.  or  more  than  ly.  (iil.  The  first  cheese  of 
this  kind  is  said  to  liave  been  made  by  Mrs.  Panlct, 
of  Wymondham.  Tlie  following'  is  g-iven  as  the 
best  receipt  for  making  it  at  that  period  : — ■ 

"  Take  the  milk  of  seven  cows  and  the  cream 
of  the  same  number ;  heat  a  gallon  of  water  scalding' 
hot,  and  ])our  it  upon  three  or  four  handfuls  of 
marigold  flowers  that  have  been  bruised  a  little ; 
then  strain  it  into  a  tub  to  your  milk,  and  put 
some  rennet  to  it,  but  not  too  much,  to  make  it 
hard ;  put  the  curd  into  a  sieve  to  drain — it  must 
not  be  broken  at  all,  but  as  the  whey  runs  from  it 
tie  it  up  in  a  cloth,  and  let  it  stand  half  an  hour 
or  more ;  then  pour  cold  water  upon  it,  enough  to 
cover  it,  and  let  it  stand  half  an  hour  more  ;  then 
put  half  of  it  into  a  vat  6  inches  deep,  and  break 
the  top  of  it  a  little  to  make  it  join  with  the  other  ; 
then  put  the  other  half  to  it,  and  lay  a  half- 
hundredweight  upon  it,  and  let  it  stand  half  an 
hour ;  then  turn  it  and  put  it  into  the  press,  and 
turn  it  into  clean  cloths  every  hour  the  day  it  is 
made ;  the  next  morning  salt  it,  and  let  it  lie  in 
salt  a  night  and  a  day ;  keeji  it  swathed  tight  till 
it  begins  to  dry  and  coat,  and  keep  it  covered  with 
a  dry  cloth  a  great  while.  The  best  time  to  make 
it  is  in  August." 

Mr.  Jubal  Webb,  of  Kensington,  kindly  sup- 
plies the  following  particulars  relating  to  modern 
Stilton  cheese-making,  as  stated  by  a  practical 
maker : — 

1.  To  make  a  fine  rich  Stilton,  suitable  land 
must  be  found  on  which  to  graze  the  cows  ;  and  to 
be  suitable  it  must  be  rich,  old  pasture,  such  as 
will  keep  them  strong,  full  of  milk,  and  healthy, 
without  extraneous  helfi  in  the  form  of  cake,  corn, 
grains,  or  roots,  all  of  which  tend  to  sjaoil  either 
the  flavour  or  the  quality  of  the  cheese. 

2.  There  are  only  the  months  of  May,  June, 
July,  August,  and  Sejitember  in  which  really  fine 
Stiltons  can  be  made,  and  in  wet  seasons  the 
making  should  not  commence  before  the  middle  of 
May. 

;3.  Suitable  vessels  must  be  procured  to  "  put 
the  milk  together "  in,  to  drain  the  curd,  to 
"  make  the  cheese  up  in,"  &e. — cans,  cheese-pan, 
curd  -  drainer,  strainers,  hoops,  stand  -  drainers, 
shelves,  &c. 

4.  The  cows   must    be  milked  at   regular  in- 
tervals,  that  is,  at  5  a.m.  and  5  p.m.  regnlaiiy ; 
this  is  important,  as  it  is  considered  necessary  to 
the  production  of  a  dairy  of  cheese  even  in  size. 
34 


5.  Tiie  niglit'.s  milk  being  brought  home  is 
put  into  a  "  lead "  to  stand  all  night ;  when  the 
morning's  milk  comes  in  it  is  put  into  the  cheese- 
pan,  and  into  it  is  put  the  cream  of  the  night's 
milk,  and  both  are  stirred  up  together;  when  the 
mass  has  got  to  its  proper  temperature,  83",  rennet 
made  from  calves'  stomachs  is  poured  into  it,  the 
quantity  of  the  latter  being  governed  by  the 
quantity  of  the  milk  in  the  pan ;  if  the  quantity 
and  strength  of  the  rennet  are  right,  the  curd 
will  "  come,"  ready  for  the  second  process,  in  one 
hour. 

6.  The  curd  is  then  broken  up  very  little,  and 
left  to  stand,  say,  for  ten  minutes;  it  is  next  put 
into  "  leads,'''  covered  with  cloth  strainers,  to  allow 
the  whey  to  drain  away  gradually,  and  as  it 
drains,  the  ends  of  the  strainer  cloth  are  gradually 
brought  together  and  tied  closer  and  closer,  until 
the  curd  becomes  tolerably  firm  and  dry ;  it  is 
next  placed  in  a  large  tin  strainer,  and  is  cut 
into  square  pieces.  In  this  form  it  remains  until, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  maker,  it  is  ready  to  put 
into  the  hoops. 

7.  Before  being  put  in  the  hoops  it  is  broken 
into  small  pieces ;  then  it  is  put  in,  first  a  layer  of 
curd  and  then  a  sprinkling  of  salt,  until  the  hoop 
is  full,  care  being  taken  that  the  salt  does  not 
get  to  the  ends  or  sides  of  the  cheese,  and  it  is 
lightly  pressed  down  in  the  hoop.  Too  much  or 
too  little  salt  are  equally  injurious  to  the  cheese, 
and  a  knowledge  of  the  right  quantity  to  use 
can  only  be  acquired  by  experience. 

S.  When  in  the  hoop  it  is  placed  on  the 
shelves  of  what  is  called  the  "  drainer,"  on  clean 
dry  cloths,  and  is  turned  "other  end  down"  two 
or  three  times  a  day.  This  process  goes  on  until 
the  curd  is  sufficiently  compact  to  turn  out  of 
the  hoop,  which  is  generally  at  the  time  when 
the  cheese  shows  signs  of  being  smooth  on  the 
surface.  The  time  occupied  in  this  process  de- 
pends entirely  on  the  temperature,  and  varies  from 
four  to  eighteen  days,  and  perhaps  longer. 

9.  After  being  taken  from  the  hoops  the 
cheeses  are  bound  up  in  linen  cloths  that  are 
broader  than  the  height  of  the  cheese,  and  long 
enough  to  go  round  it  in  each  case;  the  cloths 
are  attached  with  "  cheese-pins,'^  and  as  they 
get  wet  are  repeatedly  changed  for  dry  ones — 
sometimes  as  often  as  thrice  a  day,  until  the 
coat  of  the  cheese  begins  to  form.  This  process 
requires  much  labour  and  attention  in  many  cases. 


244 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


for  on  it  (Icpoiids  tlio  form  and  shape  of  the 
cheese. 

10.  When  the  eheeses  are  ready  the  liindcis 
are  finally  taken  off;  the  eheeses  are  then  placed 
on  shelves  in  the  cheese-room,  and  are  fur  a 
time  turned  over  twice  a  day;  later  on,  once  a 
day  mil  suffice.  The  room  should  be  kej)t  at 
an  even  temperature.  When  the  cheeses  show 
signs  of  "  miteiug  "  they  should  be  daily  bi-u-shed 
and  changed  from  shelf  to  shelf;  the  brushing 
opens  the  pores  of  the  cheese  and  admits  the 
dry  air,  thus  promoting  the  development  of  the 
fungus  called  blue  mould  which  is  so  highly  prized 
in  Stilton  cheese. 

The  skim-milk,  whose  cream  goes  to  enrich 
other  milk  from  which  Stiltons  are  made,  is 
generally  fed  to  calves  or  pigs,  but  is  some- 
times made  into  cheese,  the  quality  of  which  is 
inferior.  The  rearing  of  calves,  in  connection 
with  Stilton  cheese-making,  is  perhaps  the  most 
profitable  use  to  which  the  skim-milk  can  be 
put,  and  applied  to  this  purjjose  it  is  extremely 
useful  throughout  the  year. 

There  is  no  one  method  of  making  Stilton 
cheese  that  can  claim  to  be  better  than  all  the 
others,  thougli  each  successful  maker  generally 
considers  her  or  his  own  to  be  more  nearly  the 
orthodox  way ;  and  in  such  cases,  where  jjeople 
are  convinced  that  they  are  in  possession  of  some 
valuable  secret  in  connection  with  their  art,  it 
is  difficult  to  anive  at  exact  data,  and  general 
statements  are  all  we  have  to  depend  on.  For 
instance,  IVIr.  W^ ebb's  practical  friend  says,  "  An 
experienced  maker  kuows  to  half  a  grain  how 
much  salt  to  use ;  my  wife  knows  to  less  than 
that,  and  nobody  ou  earth  knows  the  right 
quantity  but  herself."  While  we  admit  that  the 
loss  to  the  Stilton  interest  will  be  irreparaljle 
if  our  friend's  ^vife  dies  without  revealing  the 
secret,  we  are  brought  face  to  face  in  this  in- 
cident with  the  extreme  difficulty  that  exists  of 
procuring  any  statement  of  figures ;  as,  for  in- 
stance, to  the  quantity  of  salt  to  be  used  to 
a  given  quantity  of  curd.  Stilton  cheese  is  a 
fancy  article,  and  all  sorts  of  fancies  ajipear 
to  be  connected  with  the  making  of  it. 

Mr.  J.  C.  Morton  tells  us  that  the  rennet 
used  by  Stilton  makers  is  prepared  in  the  usual 
way,  only  instead  of  calves'  stomachs  those  of 
lambs  are  used  ;  and  in  addition  to  the  ordinary 
quantity  of    salt,  a  lemon,   stuck   full   of    cloves. 


is  put  into  the  jar  amongst  il,  the  lemon  adding 
to  the  efficiency  of  the  rennet.  (This  may  be 
true  so  far  as  coagulation  is  concerned,  and  in  pro- 
moting the  expression  of  the  whey,  but  it  is 
a  hindrance — not  a  help — vo  the  rennet  in  the 
ripening  of  the  cheese.)  The  utensils  used  in 
the  process  of  making  Stilton  are  similar  to  those 
used  in  making  most  other  kinds  of  English 
cheese,  with  two  exceptions  :  first,  no  eurd-mill 
is  used,  as  the  curd  is  never  ground ;  second, 
the  hoop  or  cheese-vat,  instead  of  Ijeing  made 
of  wood  and  having  a  fixed  bottom,  is  usually 
a  cylinder  about  10  inches  high  by  8  inches 
in  diameter  (Fig.  121),  made  of  stout  tin-plate, 
and  having  neither  top 
nor  bottom — except  loose 
ones  to  help  in  turning 
the  cheese  over.  During 
the  first  day  the  cheese 
is  turned  over  every  two 
or  three  hours,  by  placing 
one  hand  on  the  loose 
top  and  the  other  on 
the  loose  bottom  of  the 
vat;  these  flat  pieces — 
of  wood  or  metal,  as 
the  ease  may  be — do  not 
fit  down  inside  the  hoop, 
and  the  cheese  requires  no  pressure  bej'ond  its 
own  weight.  Mr.  Morton  also  tells  us  that 
when  they  are  taken  out  of  the  hoops  a  thin 
piece  of  calico  is  dipped  in  boiling  water,  wrang 
out,  and  then  pinned  tightly  round  each  of  the 
eheeses,  where  it  remains  until  it  is  thoroughly 
dry.  Some  persons  insert  into  a  new  cheese, 
with  a  eheese-tryer,  plugs  of  old  cheese  to  hasten 
the  ri]iening  and  the  formation  of  mould,  but  in 
a  well-made  Stilton  this  is  unnecessary  for  either 
jmrpose. 

The  demand  for  Stilton  cheese  three-quarters 
of  a  century  ago  was  so  great  that  it  sold 
readily  at  Is.  2d.  per  lb.,  and  it  was  made  in 
many  places  in  the  Melton  Mowbray  district. 
It  is  at  the  present  day  very  difficult  to  get  hold 
of  a  genuine  Stilton ;  in  the  Leicester  district 
alone  it  seems  to  be  possible  to  make  the  ortho- 
dox article.  The  demand  for  this  kind  of  cheese 
has  gone  on  increasing,  and  has  spread  to  other 
lands,  so  that  so-called  Stiltons  are  now  being 
made  in  nearly  every  cheese-making  distiict  in 
the   cduntiy.     The  ccmMMjiicnce    is    that    there    is 


Fig.  124.— Hoop  KoR  Stilton 
Chek.se. 


SOUTHERN    COUNTIES'    DAIRYING. 


2.15 


a  great  deal  o£  cheese  sold  that  is  Stilton  in 
name  and  a])pearanee  only,  and  produced  far 
enough  away  from  the  grand  old  pastures  of 
Leicestershire.  These  putativ^e  Stiltons  have  the 
Lrittleness  hut  not  the  softness,  the  mouldi- 
ness  but  not  the  rich  and  hutteiy  ripeness  of 
the  real  ones ;  they  are  hard  and  unyielding,  not 
mellow  and  plastic,  and  they  do  not  ripen  so 
generously  as  the  true  Stilton.  Nor  is  this  by 
any  means  always  owing  to  faults  in  making, 
but  chiefly  to  tlie  absence  of  those  peculiar  pro- 
perties that  are  not  found  elsewhere  than  in 
the  Stilton  district. 

The  blue  mould  in  imitation  Stiltons  is  in 
some  instances  produced  by  inserting  copper 
skewers  through  the  openings  in  the  hoop ;  the 
ostensible  use  of  these  particular  skewers  is  to 
promote  the  outflow  of  the  whey,  but  it  is 
really  to  produce  this  mould.  Iron  skewers 
would  liberate  the  whey  just  as  well  as  the 
copper  ones,  but  they  would  not  produce  the 
desired  mould.  The  use  of  these  copper  or 
brass  skewers  is  to  be  condemned  as  positively 
dangerous. 

The  making  of  imitation  Stiltons  in  other 
districts  and  countries  has  kejjt  down  the  price 
of  all  kinds  but  the  very  best,  and  these  are 
generally  secured  for  those  customers  to  whom 
price  is  a  consideration  of  secondary  importance. 
A  true  Stilton,  well  made  and  thoroughly  ripe, 
is  not  always  mouldy  inside  when  it  is  cut,  but 
it  is  always  so  mellow  that  it  will  spread  on 
the  bread  and  melt  on  the  tongue  as  if  it  were 
so  much  butter.  The  cheese  most  nearly  resem- 
bling it,  according  to  our  taste,  is  a  really  good 
Neufchatel,  but  there  is  no  cheese  made  in  any 
other  place  or  country  that  can  be  compared, 
without  suffering  in  the  comjxirison,  to  a  fine 
old  Stilton. 

Southern   Counties'   Dairying. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  facts  connected 
with  English  dairy-farming  is  that  in  almost 
every  county  is  found  a  different  system  of 
management,  and  in  some  counties  there  are 
several  systems  in  vogue.  Cheshire  and  Derby- 
shire are,  perhaps,  the  only  counties  having  a 
system  peculiar  to  themselves  in  which  there  is 
any  approach  to  imiformity  of  method  through- 
out the  county.  Even  the  famous  Cheddar  system 
of    cheese-making    does   not    prevail    thi-oughout 


the  whole  of  Somersetshire,  though  it  is  the 
most  general  system  practised,  and  it  has  estab- 
lished it-self  more  or  less  in  most  other  counties 
in  the  kingdom  where  cheese-making  can  be  re- 
garded in  any  sense  a  special  feature.  Somerset, 
however,  has  a  world-wide  reputation  on  account 
of  its  Cheddar  cheese-making ;  Dorset  is  famous 
for  its  butter ;  single  and  double  Gloucesters 
have  made  their  native  county  known  far  and 
wide;  and  Devon  is  everywhere  celelirated  for 
its  cream ;  but  with  these  exceptions  none  of 
the  southern  or  western  counties  are  specially 
famous  for  any  particular  branch  of  dairying. 

Dorset. 

Dorset  is  chiefly  known  on  account  of  its 
butter;  there  is,  however,  a  considerable  quantity 
of  cheese  made  in  the  county,  some  of  which 
is  very  good.  In  some  parts  of  the  county  the 
Cheddar  practice  is  wholly  or  partially  adopted ; 
in  others  the  milk  is  skimmed  time  after  time 
imtil  nearly  every  particle  of  cream  is  got  out 
of  it,  and  very  poor  cheese  is  made  from  what 
is  left  in  the  milk — this  is  the  "  all  skim " 
cheese.  But  there  are  the  "  blue  veiny "  and 
"  double  Dorset "  cheeses,  and  these  are  usually 
of  good,  sometimes  of  excellent  quality.  A  really 
good  blue  veiny  Dorset  resembles  a  ripe  Stilton 
in  appearance,  and  by  some  it  is  preferred  to 
Stilton.  The  system  of  making  the  cheese  has 
not  changed  in  any  material  sense,  so  far  as 
the  principle  is  concerned,  but  the  methods  em- 
ployed are  in  many  cases  carried  out  with  more 
care,  system,  and  regularity  than  they  formerly 
were.  The  cheese  is  made  once  a  day,  generally 
speaking ;  but  where  butter  is  the  leading  pro- 
duct, and  the  milk  stands  a  longer  or  shorter 
time  to  cream,  the  cheese  is  a  matter  of  minor 
importance,  and  is  not  always  made  daily.  There 
are  no  special  features  in  the  process  to  call  for 
remark,  and  Dorset  cheese-making  has  not  been 
formulated  into  a  system  and  promulgated  as 
a  guide  for  other  counties. 

Wiltshire. 

The  principal  dairying  district  in  Wiltshire 
is  on  the  western  side  of  the  county,  bordering 
on  Somerset  and  Gloucester,  and  running  along 
from  Warminster,  by  Trowbridge  and  Chippenham, 
to  Swindon,  over  a  fairly  level  tract  of  country, 
some    ten    or    twelve    miles   in   width    and  forty 


246 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


or  fifty  iu  len<^th.  From  tliis  district  a  large 
quantity  of  milk  is  sent  daily  to  Loudon,  and 
at  Swindon  the  Aylesbury  Dairy  Comj)any  has 
a  receiving-house  for  milk  and  a  creamery,  iu 
which  a  considerable  quantity  of  milk  is  set  to 
cream ;  the  cream  is  sent  to  London,  and  the 
skimmed  milk  is  made  into  cheese,  a  market  for 
which  is  found  in  the  adjacent  South  Wales 
district.  Where  cheese  is  made  in  farm-houses 
in  AVilts,  it  is  usual  to  make  it  once  a  day  only, 
and  that  once  in  the  morning.  The  evening's 
milk,  after  being  denuded  of  a  portion  of  its 
cream  for  butter-making,  is  mixed  with  the 
morning's,  and  the  two  together  are,  if  neces- 
sary, raised  to  80",  at  which  temperature  the 
rennet  is  added  in  sufficient  quantity  to  coagu- 
late the  milk  in  about  an  hour.  The  curd-breaker, 
similar  to  the  one  shown  in  Fig.  106,  is  then  used 
very  gentlj\  When  the  breaking  is  done  the 
curd  and  whey  are  heated  up  together  to  90° 
or  so,  according  to  the  weather,  and  kept  in 
stirring  by  the  breaker.  The  curd  then  remains 
at  rest  until  it  is  firm  enough  to  handle,  when 
it  is  taken  out  of  the  whey  and  put  to  press ; 
it  remains  in  press  for  some  twenty  minutes, 
during  which  the  remaining  whey  is  escaping 
from  it;  and  it  is  then  taken  out  of  press, 
passed  through  the  curd-mill  (Fig.  125),  and  salted 

at  the  rate  of 
about  2  lbs.  of 
salt  per  112 
lbs.  of  curd. 
The  press- vats 
are  commonly 
turned  <]ut  (if 
a  solid  block 
of  wood,  the 
bottom  ))ierced 
with  holes  for 
followinsr    day 


on  two  cast-iron  standards.  The  shelves  are  of 
li-iuch  board,  and  may  be  fixed  or  movable, 
the  latter  to  accommodate  different-sized  cheeses. 


the 
the 


escape    of    the    whey.     The 

cheese  is  taken  out  of  press,  salted  on 
the  outside,  swathed  in  a  dry  cloth,  and  put 
back  to  press  ;  this  process  is  repeated  a 
time  or  two  on  succeeding  days,  after  which 
the  cheese  remains  in  press  for  about  a  week,  Imt 
receives  no  more  salt,  and  is  then  removed  to  the 
cheese-room,  where  it  ripens.  The  cheese-turner 
shown  in  Fig.  120  is  made  and  used  in  Wilts. 
The  frame  is  constructed  partly  of  iron,  braced 
with  wrought-iron  bars;  at  each  end  is  a  centre, 
or   gudgeon,    on    which   it  revolves,  and   it    rests 


Fig.  126.— Betoltisg  Cheese-rack. 

from  flat  Wilts  to  "truckles"  and  Cheddars, 
as  seen  in  the  illustration.  The  largest-sized 
turners,  9  feet  in  height,  \y\\\  accommodate 
upwards  of  a  ton  of  cheese,  all  of  \\liich  can 
be  turned  at  one  operation  and  in  less  llian  a 
minute.  The  makers  of  these  turners  are  Caison 
and  Toone,  of  Warminster. 

The  Wilts  "  truckles "  are  cheeses  that  have 
obtained  a  certain  reputation.  They  are  usually 
about  9  inches  deep  and  the  same  in  diameter, 
and  are  not  uncommonly  called  "  loaves."  August 
is  considered  a  favourable  month  for  making 
them,  but  in  some  dairies  they  are  made  all  the 
year  round.  They  are  very  apt  to  bulge  out 
at  the  sides  if  they  are  not  skilfully  made; 
and  as  very  few  people  know  how  to  make 
really  good  ones,  they  are  mostly  made  in  the 
autumn  months,  as  there  is  less  probability  of 
their  losing  chape  at  that  period  of  the  year. 
It  is  considered  necessary  in  making  these  cheeses 
that  the  curd  should  be  quite  sweet,  and  this 
is  the  chief  cause  of  the  liability  to  go  out  of 
shape  in  ripening,  because  the  sweeter  the  curd, 
the  more  the  fermentation  in  the  cheese  as  it 
rii)ens.  Before  vatting  the  curd  it  is  made  as 
dry  as  possible,  that  is,  all  the  whey  is  got 
out  of  i(,  it  is  thoroughly  crumbled,  is  firmly 
pressed  into  the  vat  by  the  hands,  and  usually 
remains   in    press  fnur  or  five  days,  being  turned 


WILTS    TRUCKLES    AND    SLIPCOTE    CHEESE. 


247 


eveiy  day  and  re]ieatedly  salted  on  the  outside. 
The  cheeses  are  then  taken  to  the  cheese-room, 
bandaged  for  a  time  to  maintain  the  shape,  and 
are  ready  for  the  table  in  about  twelve  months. 

In  a  few  of  the  more  modern  and  better 
equipi^ed  dairies  the  evening's  milk  is  poured, 
from  the  outside,  into  a  vat,  which  consists  of 
an  inner  shell  of  tin  and  an  outer  one  of  copper, 
varying  in  size  according  to  the  requirements 
of  the  dairy,  and  fitted  over  a  fireplace  like 
an  ordinary  boiler ;  there  is  a  space  between 
the  inner  and  outer  shells  of  the  vat,  and  this 
is  filled  with  cold  water  during  the  night;  if 
the  weather  is  very  hot  a  tap  at  the  top  and 
another  at  the  bottom  of  the  outer  shell  let  in 
and  let  out  a  stream  of  cold  water,  which,  if 
expedient,  can  be  kept  running  thi-ough  the 
space  all  night,  thus  keeping  the  milk  in  good 
condition.  In  the  cold  weather  of  winter,  when 
there  is  a  probability  of  the  temperatm-e  of  the 
milk  being  too  far  reduced,  it  is  not  unusual  to 
light  a  fire  in  the  furnace  and  heat  up  the 
water  in  the  space  between  the  shells,  by  which 
means  the  milk  does  not  become  too  cold  dur- 
ing the  night ;  the  double-shelled  vat  is  used 
simply  to  regulate  the  temperature  of  the  even- 
ing's milk,  and  not  to  make  the  cheese  in,  for 
when  the  morning's  milk  is  in  the  cheese-tub 
the  evening's  milk  is  partly  skimmed,  and  then, 
having  been  heated  up  to  about  80°,  is  put  to 
the  morning's  in  the  tub ;  the  subsequent  pro- 
cess agrees  with  that  described  above. 

The  device  of  the  self-heating  vat — or  self- 
cooling,  as  the  case  may  be — strikes  us  as  being 
a  very  good  one,  but  as  the  whey  and  curd  to- 
gether have  to  be  heated  up  after  coagulation, 
we  cannot  see  the  necessity  or  usefulness  of 
the  wooden  cheese-tub ;  the  vat,  it  appears  to 
us,  would  do  very  well  indeed  to  make  the 
cheese  in,  saving  at  the  same  time  a  great  deal 
of  trouble.  It  would  be  a  simple  matter  to 
run  the  morning's  milk  into  the  vat  already 
containing  the  evening's,  the  latter  having  in 
the  meantime  been  skimmed  and  heated  up  to 
the  required  temjserature. 

In  some  of  the  southern  counties  it  is  a 
common  practice  for  the  farmers  to  let  the  cows 
for  the  season  to  a  daiiyman,  who  pays  a  stated 
sum  per  cow,  and  makes  the  best  he  can  of  the 
bargain.  The  dairyman  and  his  family  usually 
milk  the   cows,  and  the  season  terminates    at   a 


given  period.  In  other  cases  the  farmer  hires 
a  dairyman  to  do  all  the  work  connected  with 
the  dairy,  paying  a  given  sum  per  cow  per  week 
or  for  the  season,  and  retaining  to  himself  the 
control  of  the  products  of  the  dairy,  the  manager 
being  responsible  only  for  the  proper  manage- 
ment of  the  cheese  and  butter  making. 

Slipcote  Cheese. 

A  very  curious  little  cheese  is  made  at  Wis- 
senden,  in  Rutlandshire ;  it  is  round  or  square, 
about  4  to  6  inches  in  diameter,  and  1  to  2 
inches  thick.  The  method  of  making  it  is  as 
follows  : — The  milk  is  coagulated  by  means  of 
rennet,  and  is  then  put  into  a  strainer  until  it  is 
comparatively  dry ;  then  enough  of  the  curd  to 
form  one  cheese  is  taken  and  placed  in  the  hollow 
of  a  small  dessert-plate,  where  it  drains  still  more ; 
when  firm  enough  the  little  cheese  is  taken  from 
the  dessert-plate  and  placed  between  cabbage-leaves, 
which  are  changed  daily  until  the  cheese  is  ready 
to  eat.  The  time  of  maturing  varies  with  the 
weather — generally  from  three  days  to  a  week  are 
required ;  the  ripeness  of  the  cheese,  or  its  readi- 
ness to  be  eaten,  is  indicated  by  its  beginning  to 
run  as  it  were  into  a  thick  liquid,  and  when  its  coat 
or  skin  becomes  loose  and  shows  signs  of  slipping 
off ;  hence  the  name,  Slipcote  cheese. 

More  than  any  other  kind  of  English  cheese, 
the  Slipcote  is  of  a  Continental  character,  though 
it  is  at  the  same  time  an  original  and  not  a  copy. 
A  few  of  the  Continental  cheeses  have  been  on  a 
small  scale  imitated  in  this  country ;  it  is  obvious, 
however,  that  they  will  not  be  extensively  pro- 
duced imtil  the  taste  of  the  jjeople  has  been  so 
educated  as  to  create  an  equivalent  demand  for 
them.  Such  education  is,  however,  no  doubt  going 
on.  The  Gorgonzola,  a  famous  Italian  cheese,  in 
some  respects  resembling  the  Stilton,  has  been  very 
successfully  imitated  in  Leicestershire,  and  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Roquefort,  all  the  more  worthy  and  popular  of 
the  Continental  kinds  of  cheese  can  be  successfully 
produced  in  England.  Whether  or  not  it  will  be 
profitable  to  produce  them  is  a  problem  whose 
solution  we  leave  to  time.  Some  of  our  well- 
known  authorities  are  advocating  the  production 
of  soft  cheeses  in  the  place  of  a  portion  of  the 
hard  ones  peculiar  to  this  country,  and  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  an  opening  for  some  of  the  better 
kinds    will    be    provided.       Made   for   early    con- 


248 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Furn])(iiin,  tlie  returns  will  be  quicker,  and  a  new 
element  of  variety  will  Ije  introduced  into  the 
dairyinty  of  tliese  islands.  The  methods  of  makinon 
the  various  kinds  of  Continental  cheese  will  be 
found  in  the  section  on  Continental  Dairying. 

Dairying  in  tiik  Nokth. 

None  of  the  counties  north  of  Derbyshire  and 
Cheshire  have  obtained  a  special  or  distinctive 
rejiutation  in  either  cheese  or  butter  making. 
Much  good  cheese  and  butter  are  made  in  the 
northern  half  of  the  kingdom,  but  it  contains  no 
district  or  county  that  is  famous  on  accc>unt  of  its 
cheese  in  the  sense  that  Cheshire,  Leicestershire, 
and  Somersetshire  are,  nor  is  there  one  whose  re- 
putation for  butter  is  equal  to  that  of  Dorset. 

In  the  Vale  of  the  Tees,  in  Yorkshire,  Cother- 
stone  cheese  is  made,  and  it  is  highly  esteemed  in 
its  native  county,  beyond  which  its  rei)utation  has 
not  far  extended ;  that  reputation  is,  in  fact,  to 
a  great  extent  a  borrowed  one,  for  the  cheese  is 
an  imitation  of  Stilton,  and  though  it  possesses 
various  merits  of  its  own,  it  resembles  Stilton 
more  in  appearance  than  in  anything  else.  Similar 
attempts  to  imitate  Stilton  cheese  have  been  made 
in  various  parts  of  the  country,  but  they  have 
all  met  with  but  indifferent  success.  Minor  dif- 
ferences in  milk,  which  at  present  are  not  well 
understood,  cause  considerable  variations  in  cheese, 
even  though  the  same  process  of  making  the  latter 
is  employed ;  it  is  not  that  the  milk  is  poorer,  or 
that  less  skill  is  used  in  making  the  cheese,  but 
some  property  is  absent  which  prevents  fidelity  of 
imitation. 

The  dairying  of  Wensleydale,  a  district  in  the 
North  Riding  of  Yorkshire,  is  thus  described  by 
Mr.  W.  Livesey  : — "  The  cows,  when  in  the  old 
pasture  land,  are  milked  in  the  fields,  standing 
most  quietly  during  the  operation.  Thus  the 
animals  have  never  to  be  driven  to  and  from  ship- 
pous,  as  in  Lancashire.  The  milk  is  carried  to  the 
farm-house  in  a  way  I  have  never  seen  elsewhere. 
Here  they  have  large  tin  cans,  or  '  kits,'  called 
'  budgets,''  of  various  sizes,  generally  holding  from 
4  to  6  gallons ;  they  are  much  the  same  shape  a.s 
some  cans  used  in  carrying  milk  by  rail,  except 
that  one  side  is  made  concave  in  place  of  convex, 
so  as  to  fit  the  back  of  the  carrier  of  the  milk,  who 
has  it  fixed  by  strong  leather  straps,  exactly  after 
the  i)lan  of  a  soldier's  knapsack.  The  milk  i.s  thus 
carried  various  distances,  jusl    as   the  i)astures  or 


meadows  are  relatively  situate  to  (he  farm-house. 
Some  are  distant  above  a  mile.  To  a  stranger  it 
is  a  novel  sight,  morning  and  evening,  to  see  the 
men  flitting  about  with  their  '  budgets '  on  their 
backs,  and  more  singular  still  to  see  a  few  females 
laden  with  them,  for  the  thrifty,  hard-working 
women  shoulder  their  loads  like  men,  and  show 
what  they  can  do  in  the  dairy  line. 

"  There  are  two  modes  of  making  cheese  here, 
which  are  still  distinguished  by  'the  new  way' 
and  the  'old'  one;  though  the  'new'  has  been 
now  practised  for  about  twenty  j'ears.  This  'new' 
method  is  the  simplest  and  shortest  one  I  have  ever 
seen.  AVIiether  it  would  answer  in  cheese  of  larger 
size  I  cannot  tell ;  I  doubt  if  it  would.  The  small 
cheese  here  made  after  the  '  new '  mode  (those  I 
have  seen)  are  of  good  quality.  I  ought  to  state 
that  the  largest  cheese  made  here  is  less  than  20  His. 
weight;  the  bulk  I  have  noticed  vary  from  10  lbs. 
to  15  lbs.  each;  some  are  as  small  as  4  lbs.  and 
5  lbs.,  for  cheeses  are  made  here  from  a  dairy  of 
five,  four,  or  three  cows,  and  sometimes  even  from 
one.  These  small  cheeses  are  not  deep,  like  the 
little  '  truckles '  of  Wiltshire,  but  J/at-sha])ed, 
except  where  they  copy  the  veiy  deep  Stiltons. 
Generally  the  dairy  consists  of  seven  to  ten  cows, 
but  a  few  run  up  from  sixteen  to  twenty  cows. 
So  wedded  are  the  people  to  small-sized  cheese  that 
in  the  largest  dairies  they  will  make  the  milk  into 
three  cheeses  per  day,  where  in  Lancashire  it  would 
be  made  into  one.  At  a  farm  I  called  at,  where 
seven  cows  were  kept,  two  cheeses  per  day  were 
made.  They  do  not  use  a  large  cheese-tub,  as  in 
Lancashire,  for  curdling  the  milk ;  this  is  done  in 
the  '  cheese-kettle.'  The  '  kettle  '  is  a  large  brass 
or  copper  pan,  exactly  like  those  used  in  Lanca- 
shire for  heating  the  whey.  In  some  few  cases  the 
kettle  is  of  tin.  The  night's  milk  is  passed  through 
the  sieve  into  the  kettle,  where  it  remains  until 
morning,  when  it  is  j)laced  upon  the  fire  to  heat. 
When  got  to  the  proper  temjierature  it  is  removed 
and  placed  ui)on  the  floor,  and  the  morning's  milk 
is  run  through  the  sieve  into  the  kettle,  mixing 
with  the  heated  night's  milk.  In  the  large 
dairies,  where  the  kettle  will  not  hold  all  the 
milk,  a  small  tub  is  also  used,  and  there  two 
]x;rsons  can  be  employed  in  making  the  cheese  at 
the  same  time.  It  is  strange  what  various  pro- 
vincial terms  are  used  for  the  same  article ;  for 
instance,  what  is  generally  known  as  a  'veil'  is 
here  called  a  '  keslop,'  and  iu   Lancashire  a  '  bag- 


YORKSHIRE    CHEESE-MAKING. 


249 


skin/  Atfain,  while  the  rennet  is  known  in  the 
latter  county  as  '  steep/  here  it  is  called  '  prezzur  !' 
I  once  took  an  inteliig-ent  Scotch  farmer  to  one  of 
our  choicest  Lancashire  dairies,  and  after  he  had 
thoroughly  questioned  the  maker  as  to  the  various 
processes,  he  exclaimed,  '  Oli,  my,  my  1  it's  aw 
done  b'  the  rule  o'  thumb  !'  In  other  words, 
all  bif  guess-work.  Here  they  say  they  '  mak  um 
b'th'  greap,'  which,  explained,  means  by  the  feel — 
testing-  the  heat  of  the  milk  and  the  state  of  the 
curds  by  the  hand.  The  '  prezzur '  is  made  either 
every  day  or  alternate  days,  by  cutting  a  piece 
from  off  two  or  three  '  keslops/  and  letting  it  stand 
about  twenty-four  hours  in  cold  water  which  has 
been  previously  boiled.  It  is  made  in  a  pint  mug 
or  cup,  and  its  strength  is,  of  course,  guessed  at. 

"The  'new'  mode  of  making  is  shortly  as 
follows  : — The  night's  milk  being  heated  in  the 
'  kettle,'  and  the  morning's  milk  added  to  it,  tlie 
pint  of  '  prezzur '  is  poured  into  it  and  well  mixed. 
It  then  stands  about  from  half  an  hour  to  three- 
quarters  to  coagulate.  It  is  then  very  gently 
broken  up  by  the  hand  into  very  small  pieces.  At 
some  farms  a  breaker  is  used  matle  of  wire  crossed 
as  in  a  riddle,  something  like  the  Lancashire 
breaker;  but  the  shape  is  circular,  and  they  are 
of  veiy  small  size.  They  have  not  an  upright 
handle,  but  a  part  of  the  outer  wire  rim  is  drawn 
out  and  bent,  so  as  to  form  a  short  handle.  In 
the  breaking  by  the  hand  the  movement  is,  of 
course,  upwards,  but  by  the  breaker  it  is  dowTi- 
wards.  The  breaking,  which  occupies  about  an 
hour,  being  over,  the  whey  is  removed  by  ladling 
it  off.  Then  the  curds  are  placed  in  a  circular  tin 
about  11  inches  across  and  about  4  inches  deep, 
the  sides  and  bottom  of  which  are  very  full  of 
perforated  holes  about  the  size  of  the  bore  of  a 
large  quill.  The  tin  full  of  curds  is  then  left  to 
drain  for  about  three  hours,  when  it  is  reversed  and 
left  for  three  more  hours ;  then  its  contents  are 
transferred  to  the  cheese- vat,  put  to  press,  and  kept 
there  for  nearly  twenty-four  hours,  after  which  it 
is  floated  in  '  pickle'  for  three  days,  just  the  same 
as  the  system  of  '  brining '  in  Lancashire.  I  got 
the  maker  to  test  for  several  days  the  tempei'ature 
at  different  stages,  with  the  following  results  : — 

Heat  before  curdling 95°  to  98° 

Heat  after  adding  hot  whey 94°  to  97° 

Heat  when  vattLng    64°  to  69° 

The  maker  stated  that  in  summer  the  tempera- 
ture at  curdling  was  kept  lower  than  at  this  date 


(October  20),  it  being,  in  the  warm  weather,  set  to 
coagulate  at  the  same  heat  as  the  milk  stood  when 
brought  from  the  cow.  The  pickles  or  brines  are 
made  on  the  customary  j^lan  in  Lancashire — boil- 
ing the  salt  in  water,  the  liquid  when  cold  being 
made  the  strength  that  an  egg  will  Hoat  in  it.  A 
little  dry  salt  is  placed  on  the  top  of  each  cheese 
as  it  floats  in  the  pickle,  and  this  melting,  gets 
mixed,  and  so  keeps  up  the  strength  of  the  pickle 
to  the  original  standard.  All  the  cheeses  are 
slightly  coloured  by  the  use  of  cake  annatto.  The 
climate  here  is  low  in  temperature,  with  a  very 
large  rainfall,  and,  the  cheese-rooms  not  being 
heated,  the  cheese  is  kept  colder  than  in  any  other 
county  in  England  or  Scotland  where  I  have  tra- 
velled. Up  to  fog-time  the  cheeses  are  kept  a 
■week  in  the  cool  room,  where  they  are  pickled,  and 
then  removed  up-stairs  to  ripen ;  after  the  period 
named  they  are,  in  some  places,  kept  for  a  short 
time  upon  a  shelf,  which  is  suspended  from  the 
ceiling  of  the  kitchen  and  about  the  middle  of  the 
apartment. 

"  Now  for  the  '  old '  mode,  at  which  I  as- 
sisted in  making  a  cheese  from  the  milk  of  five 
cows.  The  night's  milk  being  heated  in  the 
'  kettle,'  the  morning's  milk — which  stood  at 
82"  before  it  was  jwured  out  of  the  '  budget ' 
— was  added  when  the  whole  contents  of  the 
kettle  were  102°.  The  maker  'b'th'  greap' 
found  it  was  too  hot,  and  so  added  some  cold 
water,  remarking,  '  You  see  the  cheese  will  be 
no  poorer,  for  this  [the  water]  will  all  go  into 
the  whey.'  This  reduced  the  milk  to  100'-'. 
A  pint  of  '  prezzur,'  together  with  the  piece 
of  '  kesloji '  which  had  been  used  in  making 
it,  were  put  into  the  milk,  which  was  well 
stirred  to  secure  a  thorough  mixing.  It  was 
covered  over  with  the  wooden  lid  of  the  '  kettle,' 
and  left  to  stand  thirtj^-five  minutes,  the  tem- 
perature of  the  place  being  40*.  When  begin- 
ning to  break  up  the  curd  with  the  hand,  I  found 
the  contents  of  the  '  kettle '  had  got  do\vn  from 
100"  to  89".  The  breaking-up  occupied  half 
an  hour,  when  the  maker,  having  previously  put 
a  pan  of  whey  upon  the  fire  to  heat,  poured  it 
upon  the  broken-up  curds,  and  brought  up  the 
heat  again  to  100".  She  remarked  that  at  this 
cold  season  of  the  year  it  was  needful  to  keeji 
up  the  heat  of  the  curds  higher  than  in  summer, 
otherwise,  in  place  of  feeling  '  sharp,'  they  got 
to    be    pasty,    and    stuck    in    the    curd-mill    (or 


250 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


'  frriiuli-r  '  as  tlioy  call  it).  The  brokcu-up 
curds  remained  to  settle  for  about  tliree-quartors 
of  an  hour,  when  they  stood  at  90^',  and  the 
whey  was  removed  in  the  manner  before  named. 
The  cui-ds,  which  were  then  at  8i°,  were  put 
into  a  cheese-vat,  which  was  lined  with  a  dry 
cloth.  After  standing  for  about  half  an  hour 
t(j  drain  in  the  cheese-press,  with  a  light  weight 
applied,  the  mass  of  curd  had  got  down  to  05"^. 
It  was  then  cut  up  into  small  lumps,  and  re- 
placed in  the  vat  with  a  dry  cloth,  where  it 
was  again  placed  to  drain,  and  this  process  was 
afterwards  once  again  repeated,  about  two  hours 
having  been  occupied  from  the  time  the  eurds 
were  first  put  in  the  vat.  At  length  the  mass 
of  curds  was  cut  up  and  ground  in  the  curd- 
mill,  the  heat  of  the  ground  curd  being  55"". 
They  were  finally  vatted  into  a  Stilton-shaped 
vat,  and  placed  in  the  cheese-press,  remaining 
there  for  nearly  twenty-four  hours.  At  the 
expiration  of  that  period  the  cheese  has  a  stout 
calico  bandage  stitched  upon  it,  when  it  is  put 
into  pickle,  where  it  remains  three  days.  When 
taken  out  of  pickle  it  is  not  washed  either  in 
cold  or  warm  water,  but  simply  wiped  dry  with 
a  cloth.  On  a  subsequent  day  I  had  the  curiosity 
to  weigh  the  milk  and  weigh  the  cheese  produced 
from  it  after  it  came  out  of  the  press ;  the 
weight  of  the  milk  was  91|  lbs.,  that  of  the 
cheese  10  lbs.  14  ozs.  This  result  agrees  with 
those  of  many  tests.  I  may  quote  one  Derby- 
shire cheese-factory.  In  May,  June,  July,  and 
August  the  weight  required  for  1  lb.  of  cheese 
ranged  from  10  lbs.  4  ozs.  to  10  lbs.  1  oz. ;  in 
September,  9  lbs.  8  ozs.  ;  and  October,  S  lbs. 
10  ozs.  Another  maker  on  the  'old'  mode,  but 
who  makes  them  the  ordinary  shape  (not  deep, 
as  the  Stilton  shape),  lets  the  curdling  of  milk 
occupy  nearly,  and  sometimes  quite  an  hour, 
and  the  time  from  breaking  up  to  putting  it 
to  drain  in  vat  alone  another  hour,  and  lets  the 
draining  and  cutting  up  and  re-draining  of  curds 
occupy  four  to  five  hours.  Though  the  cheeses  are 
only  about  12  lbs.  weight,  she  presses  them  for 
forty-eight  hours,  and  keeps  them  in  pickle  three 
days.  The  temperature  at  which  she  operates 
now  (October  20)  is  as  follows  : — Settling  t« 
coagulate,  98*^ ;  commencing  to  break  up,  90*^ ; 
placing  to  drain,  80"  ;  final  vatting  after  grind- 
ing, 00°.  It  will  be  noticed  that  no  hot  whey 
was  used  by  this  maker.      Though  the  Wensley- 


dalo  cheese  are  so  small,  and  the  ordinary  shape 
rather  thin,  yet  most  makers  keep  them  in  the 
press  for  forty-eight  hours.  I  find  that  a  very 
great  majority  of  the  dairies  are  made  on  the 
'  old '  method  and   of   the  flat   shape." 

In  the  adjoining  county  of  Lancaster,  cheese- 
making  is  not  a  prominent  branch  of  agriculture ; 
the  immense  population  of  the  county  provides  a 
constant  demand  for  fresh  milk  and  butter,  so 
that,  although  a  large  number  of  cows  are  kept  in 
the  county,  the  milk  of  but  a  small  proportion  of 
them  is  used  in  cheese-making.  There  are,  how- 
ever, at  least  two  kinds  of  cheese  made  in  the 
county,  "  brined "  and  "  hand-salted,"  which 
have  obtained  a  certain  local  reputation ;  the  for- 
mer is  made  chiefly  on  the  north  of  the  Ribble, 
and  the  latter  on  the  south  of  it.  In  both  cases 
the  cheese  is  made  after  a  simple  and  primitive 
fashion,  by  "  rule  of  thumb  "  in  fact.  The  curd, 
as  well  as  the  milk  from  which  it  is  made,  is  kept 
throughout  the  process  comparatively  cool ;  the 
time  of  coagulation  is  from  one  to  two  hours,  and 
a  thermometer  is  seldom  used  in  the  process.  The 
method  of  making  the  two  kinds  of  cheese  varies 
chiefly  in  the  way  in  which  salt  is  applied  to  them. 
In  the  case  of  brined  cheese,  the  method  of  salting, 
as  the  name  implies,  is  by  means  of  brine — a  saline 
liquid  in  which  the  cheese  floats  during  several 
days,  in  weaker  brine  at  first  and  then  in  stronger, 
until  enough  salt  is  absorbed  by  the  cheese.  In 
the  case  of  hand-salted  cheese,  the  salt  in  a  dry 
form  is  used.  In  some  dairies  a  little  salt  is  used 
in  the  curd,  when  the  latter  is  ground,  and  the 
rest  on  the  outside  of  the  cheese;  in  others  the 
whole  of  the  salt  is  applied  to  the  outside  of  the 
newly-formed  cheese.  The  latter  plan  we  think 
is  the  better  where  the  cheese  is  cold-made,  because 
it  gives  a  chance  of  a  slow  degree  of  fermentation 
arising  in  the  cheese,  which  salting  in  the  curd 
would  prevent;  the  brining  system,  too,  admits 
of  a  little  fermentation,  and  this  is  alwaj-s  useful 
in  enabling  the  cheese  to  be  finn  and  shapely. 

Scotland. 

The  broad  lines  on  which  Scotch  dairy-farming 
is  conducted  differ  in  few,  if  any,  respects  from 
the  systems  in  vogue  in  various  parts  of  England 
and  Wales,  and  wo  shall  therefore  have  no  need 
to  enter  at  length  into  a  description  of  them  ;  it 
will  suffice  to  mention  a  few  of  the  more  salient 
points,  without  coming  to  elaborate  details. 


SCOTCH    DAIRY     I'lLVCTlCE. 


251 


As  a  proiniiu'iit  spwiality,  claiiy-t'ariuiug  dcjos 
not  appear  to  have  been  as  long  practised  in 
Scotland  as  in  England,  yet  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years  it  has  been  a  distinct  rent-paying 
branch  of  husbandry  in  the  county  of  Ayr,  and 
in  that  peinod  it  has  become  prevalent  in  Dum- 
fries, Lanark,  Kirkcudbright,  Argyll,  Renfrew, 
and  Dumbarton;  it  is  general,  in  fact,  over  the 
whole  south-west  of  Scotland,  from  the  Solway 
to  the  Clyde,  and  along  the  northern  side  of 
the  latter  river.  The  well-known  Ayrshire  breed 
of  cows  is  almost  universally  employed  in  the 
dairy-farming  of  the  districts  named,  a  breed 
essentially  composite  in  origin,  but  possessing 
many  excellent  cjualities. 

The  well-known  Dunlop  cheese  is  still  made 
in  some  parts  of  the  country,  though  to  a  very 
small  extent ;  its  quality,  owing  less  to  the  want 
of  richness  in  the  milk  than  to  the  inferior 
sj^stem  on  which  it  is  made,  is  considered  to  be 
beneath  that  of  most  kinds  of  English  cheese, 
as  it  is  also  beneath  that  of  other  Scotch  cheese 
that  is  made  on  an  improved  system ;  it  is 
gradually  fading  away  from  the  land,  and  will 
in  a  short  time,  in  all  probability,  have  disap- 
peared. 

Cheese  is  now  generally  made  on  the  Cheddar 
system  that  was  introduced  into  Scotland  many 
years  ago  by  Mr.  Joseph  Harding,  of  !Marks- 
bury,  who  was  employed  by  the  Ayrshire  Agri- 
cultural Association  to  practically  expound  the 
system  to  our  northern  farmers.  As  in  all  dis- 
tricts and  countries  where  it  has  had  a  fair  trial, 
the  Cheddar  system  has  done  well  in  Scotland, 
and  Scotch  Cheddars  are  now  famous  in  many 
parts  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

A  practice  of  letting  cows  to  professional 
cheese-makers,  locally  termed  "  bowers  " — a  sys- 
tem which  is  not  uncommon  in  several  of  the 
southern    counties   of    England  — has    long    pre- 


vailed on  many  of  the  large  farms  in  Scotland, 
but  the  system  of  payment  differs  from  that  of 
the  English  j)ractice.  The  bower  undertakes  the 
whole  management  of  the  cows  for  a  year,  gene- 
rally commencing  at  Martinmas.  The  farmer 
provides  the  cows,  a  given  area  of  land  for  pas- 
turage, and  a  stipulated  quantity  of  hay,  straw, 
turnips,  feeding-stuffs,  of  one  kind  or  another, 
besides  in  some  cases  coal  and  salt.  It  is,  in 
a  sense,  sub-letting  the  land  for  a  year,  and 
letting  along  with  it  the  cows  as  live-stock, 
and  also  some  of  the  dead-stock  of  the  farm. 
As  rent  for  these  things,  the  bower  agrees  to 
pay  back  to  the  farmer  a  given  quantity  of 
cheese  per  cow,  which  varies  from  3-l.()  lbs.  to 
460  lbs.,  according  to  the  quality  of  the  cows 
and  the  pasture,  and  to  the  quantity  of  com 
agreed  upon  in  the  bargain ;  and  his  own  profit 
is  derived  from  what  he  can  make  from  the  cows 
over  and  above  the  cheese  he  has  to  give  back 
to  the  owner.  It  is  not  a  system  that  is  calcu- 
lated to  improve  the  cheese-making  of  a  country, 
because  the  famier  takes  the  risk  of  the  cheese 
fetching  a  good  or  bad  price  according  to  its 
quality,  to  say  nothing  of  the  fluctuations  of 
the  market,  so  that  it  is  quantity,  not  quality, 
that  the  bower  aims  to  produce.  Yet  if  the 
bower  himself  were  saddled  with  the  risk  of 
losing  money  if  the  cheese  were  inferior,  then 
this  system  of  letting  the  cows  would  tend  to 
the  imjjrovement  of  cheese-making,  because  the 
bower's  profit,  and  the  amount  of  it,  would  de- 
pend on  his  skill,  his  care,  his  industry,  and 
his  success.  Another  arrangement  is  for  the 
bower  to  pay  so  much  money  per  cow,  irre- 
spective of  the  cheese,  so  that  he  takes  him- 
self the  whole  risk;  and  providing  he  is  a 
trustworthy  and  substantial  person,  the  farmer's 
position  in  the  bargain  is  comparatively  free  from 
risk  and  anxiety. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Cheese- Fa cTOitiEs    ix    England. 

First  Origin  of  Cheese-Factories  in  Britain— The  First  Factory  in  Derby  decided  upon— A  Second  at  Longford  found  Advisable- 
Rules  of  the  Derbyshire  Cheese  Factory  Association— Early  Experience,  Difllculties.  and  Success- Changes  and  Progress 
in  the  System  Employed-Kcsults  of  the  Earlier  Operations,  and  Growth  of  Otlier  Factories- Causes  of  the  Recent  less 
Successful  Results— Want  of  Care  and  Emulation-Fraud  of  some  of  tlie  Milk-suppliers- Carelessness  of  Others -Maniuxis  and 
Feeding-stuifs- Growth  of  the  Purely  Milk  Trade- Cheese-making  in  Factories- Testing  the  Slilk— The 
,'^^-lp  i^'~^        Vats,  andCooIing— Coagulation— Treatment  of  the  Curd— Various  Appliances-The  Points  of  Good  Cheese. 


■  N  the  1st  of  July,  1808,  on  the 
motion  of  Lord  Vernon,  the 
Council  of  the  Royal  Agri- 
cultural Society  instructed 
the  Secretary  to  take  the 
necessary  steps  to  obtain  in- 
formation as  to  the  working  of  the 
cheese-factory  system  in  the  United 
States ;  but  farther  progress  in  the 
matter  was  for  some  time  hindered  by 
various  causes,  and  jMr.  Jenkins'  valualjle 
Report  did  not  appear  in  the  Society's  Journal 
until  the  spring  of  1870.  Meanwhile  the  sub- 
ject had  not  been  allowed  to  drop  in  the 
counties,  particularly  in  Derbyshire ;  it  was  dis- 
cussed in  the  papers  and  at  the  meetings  of 
Farmers'  Clubs  and  Agricultural  Societies,  and 
in  time  became  a  constant  quantity  in  the  general 
conversation  of  dairy-farmers. 

The  project  began  to  take  definite  form  when, 
at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Derbyshire  Agricul- 
tural Society,  held  in  the  town  of  Derby  on  the 
21th  of  December,  1869,  Mr.  Crompton,  always 
a  warm  friend  and  a  most  able  exiwnent  of  the 
new  .system,  brought  forward  for  consideration, 
and  in  an  able  speech  described,  the  advantages 
of  the  American  method  of  cheese-making.  At 
this  meeting  a  committee  was  appointed  to  in- 
vestigate the  matter,  and  to  report  on  the  desira- 
bility or  otherwise  of  giving  the  system  a  fair 
triitl  in  the  county.  Meetings  were  held  and  dis- 
cussions promoted  in  various  dairying  localities  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Derby,  among  the  peoi)le 
who  were  directly  interested  in  the  scheme,  ami 
the  collective  opinion  of  dairy-farmers  was  obtained 
as  accurtitely  as  possible. 


On  the  18th  of  February  the  members  of  the 
society  assembled  in  the  Derby  Town  Hall  to 
receive  the  report  of  the  committee,  the  chair 
being  occupied  by  His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Devon- 
shire. The  great  interest  which  the  proceedings 
had  awakened  was  shown  by  a  numerously-at- 
tended meeting,  to  which  the  committee  repoi"ted 
that  there  were  satisfactory  reasons,  should  the 
system  have  a  fair  trial,  for  expecting  the  fol- 
lowing advantages  : — "  1st.  Greater  uniformity  in 
the  quality  of  the  cheese.  2nd.  Enhancement  of 
value  in  dairies  which,  from  poor  plant  and  the 
absence  of  good  accommodation,  are  now  2)roducing 
inferior  cheese.  3rd.  The  removal  of  an  arduous 
occupation,  frequently  deterring  men  of  capital, 
owing  to  domestic  considerations,  from  entering 
upon  farms  on  which  cheese-making  is  a  pro- 
minent feature.  4th.  Improvement  in  the  value 
of  hind,  from  improvement  in  the  value  of  pro- 
duce. And  5th.  The  general  introduction  of 
unifonnity  of  .';ystem,  better  plant,  skill,  and 
supervision." 

The  committee  recommended  that  the  system 
shoidd  have  a  full  and  fair  trial  in  the  cotmty, 
eventually  to  stand  or  fall  on  its  merits.  But  it 
was  so  wholly  new  to  the  ideas  of  dairy-farmers, 
so  revolutionary  in  appearance,  so  totally  different 
from  the  old  time-honoured  practice  of  making  the 
cheese  at  home,  so  very  great  a  reform,  that  in 
order  to  induce  farmers  to  give  it  a  trial,  it  was 
deemed  expedient  to  esta])lish  a  guarantee  fund 
to  secure  contributors  of  milk  against  any  loss 
that  might  arise  from  failure  of  any  kind.  No 
one  knew  anything  about  cheese-factories  except 
from  hearsay  or  from  residing;  everything  was 
assumed,  everything  taken  for  granted,  liut  notiiing 


THE    ORIGIN    OF    CHEESE    FACTORIES    IN    ENGLAND. 


253 


demonslTatod  at  present ;  hence  it  was  not  sur- 
prisini>-  that  farmers  should  hesitate  to  risk  their 
milk  in  a  system  with  which  they  had  no  sort 
of  practical  acquaintance.  Doubts  and  fears  wei-e 
freely  expressed,  opposition  was  begun  and  en- 
countered, prejudice  was  aired  and  disposed  of,  and 
at  length  all  tlie  difficulties  that  stood  directly  in 
the  way  of  giving  the  system  a  trial  were  removed 
by  the  establishment  of  a  guarantee  fund. 

The  nobility  and  gentry  of  the  county  came 
forward  liberally  in  support  of  the  fund,  and 
it  was  decided  that  it  shoidd  be  made  available 
to  cover,  if  necessary,  any  deficiency  which  might 
arise  in  a  period  not  exceeding  three  years.  In 
this  time,  it  was  thought,  the  system  would 
either  be  so  far  a  proved  success  that  it  could 
be  safely  left  to  its  own  resources,  or  it  would 
be  a  declared  failure  and  must  needs  be  abandoned  j 
hence  the  guarantors  became  liable  for  three  years. 
And  in  order  that  no  misunderstanding  might 
arise  as  to  the  distribution  of  anv  portion  of  the 
fund  that  might  be  nsed,  and  as  to  the  point  at 
which  it  could  be  fairly  thought  the  fund  might 
be  justly  drawn  upon,  it  was  decided  to  pay  the 
contributors  6|d.  per  gallon  for  all  the  milk 
they  sent  to  the  factory,  and  this  quite  indepen- 
dent of  the  price  the  cheese  might  sell  for,  and 
quite  irrespective  of  any  drop  that  might  occur 
in  the  cheese  markets  of  the  period  for  which 
the  fund  was  made  available;  the  milk,  it  was 
arranged,  should  be  paid  for  monthly.  These 
terms  were,  of  course,  so  highly  favourable  that  it 
was  no  longer  a  difficulty  to  obtain  promises  of 
support  from  the  fanners,  in  the  way  of  sending 
milk  to  the  factory ;  the  milk  would  be  paid  for 
at  a  good  rate,  and  in  good  time,  whatever  became 
of  the  cheese,  and  the  scheme  if  a  success  could  be 
continued,  if  a  failure  could  be  dropped,  and  no 
great  harm  could  be  done.  No  blame  whatever 
attaches  to  farmers  who  were  unwilling  to  sujiply 
milk  ■ndthout  a  guarantee  of  receiving  j)ayment 
equal  to  what  they  could  have  secured  at  home ; 
it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  they  should  place 
without  security  the  raw  material  on  which  they 
chiefly  depended  to  make  their  rents  at  the  mercy 
of  a  system  in  which  they  had,  and  could  have,  no 
veiy  strong  faith,  because  they  had  no  practical 
knowledge  of  its  working. 

Mr.  Alderman  Roe  very  kindly  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  committee  a  suitable  building  in 
Siddals  Road,  Derby,  rent-free  for  one  year;  and 


Mr.  Iligginbotham  with  equal  kindness  offered  to 
supply  gratis  for  the  same  period,  from  his  silk- 
mills  adjoining,  the  steam  required  for  the  cheese- 
making  operations ;  and  as  the  idea  of  a  cheese- 
factory  had  first  taken  definite  shape  in  the  town 
of  Derby,  it  was  at  length  decided  that  Mr.  Roe's 
and  ^Ir.  Higginlwtham's  offers  should  be  accepted, 
and  that  the  factory  should  be  within  the  precincts 
of  the  borough.  Meanwhile  a  competent  American 
cheese-maker  had  been  secured  through  Messrs. 
Webb,  Turner,  and  Co.,  of  New  York;  and  he 
having  arrived  in  Derby  on  the  11th  March,  1870, 
was  superintending  the  manufacture  of  the  neces- 
sary plant,  accoi-ding  to  patterns  he  had  brought 
with  him.  Mr.  Cornelius  Schermerhorn  was  the 
cheese-maker  whose  services  had  been  secured, 
and  his  salary  was  arranged  to  be  £200  for  the 
cheese-making  season,  with  his  fare  paid  to  Eng- 
land, and  also  back  to  America  should  he  decide 
to  return  home  at  the  end  of  the  first  season. 

Meanwhile,  the  original  committee  having 
satisfactorily  fulfilled  their  mission  and  having 
presented  their  report,  a  new  committee  was 
appointed  by  the  guarantors  to  superintend  the 
erection  of  the  necessary  buildings,  to  order  the 
required  plant,  to  assist  the  American  manager 
in  the  general  an-angements,  and  to  carry  on  the 
work  of  the  season.  The  establishment  of  a  sub- 
stantial guarantee  fund,  and  the  commencement 
of  active  preparations,  had  in  the  meantime  created 
considerable  interest  in  the  work  throughout 
the  district,  and  matters  generally  were  beginning 
to  wear  a  brighter  and  more  encom-aging  aspect. 
INIuch  of  the  more  open  opposition  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood had  been  silenced,  some  enemies  of  the 
project  had  become  friends,  others  had  become 
neutral,  others  again  remained  as  they  were, 
and  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
dairying  districts  of  the  country  the  result  was 
being  looked  forward  to  ^vith  feelings  in  which 
hope  and  anger,  confident  belief  and  persistent 
opposition,  were  curiously  jumbled  up  together. 
The  chief  opposition,  all  the  more  dangerous  be- 
cause it  was  used  privately,  came  from  the  cheese- 
factors.  They  saw,  or  fancied  they  saw,  in  the 
movement  a  principle  of  co-operation  that  would 
interfere  with  their  mode  of  doing  business,  and 
they  did  all  the  harm  they  could  to  the  new  ven- 
ture. But,  as  Mr.  H.  M.  Jenkins  wittily  and 
tersely  stated  the  case  in  1871  before  the  Society 
of  Arts,  "  It  is  far  better  for  the  farmer  to  have  a 


254 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


factory  for  bis  Lank  tluin  a  factor  for  liis  banker." 
And  so  the  thing  went  on. 

The  LoxGi'OKD  Factory. 

It  was  at  first  proposed  that  only  one  factory 
should  bo  started,  at  all  events  for  the  first  year ; 
but  as  the  interest  sjrew,  and  encouragement  rolled 
in,  it  was  considered  oidy  fair  to  the  system  itself, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  desirability  of  proving-  con- 
clusively its  success  or  failure  at  as  early  a  date 
as  possible,  that  there  should  be  two  factories, 
one  in  the  town  aud  the  other  in  the  country. 
It  was  felt  that  a  cheese-factory  in  a  town  seemed 
ratlier  paradoxical,  and  that  if  it  succeeded  its 
friends  would  perhaps  be  unduly  jubilant,  while  if 
it  failed  its  enemies  would  be  the  same.  The 
Sid(hils  Roa<l  factory  alone  could  not,  in  fact, 
in  any  sense  be  regarded  either  as  a  fair  or  a 
sufficient  test  of  the  system  ;  and  it  was  at  length 
decided,  though  the  cheese-making  season  was  just 
about  to  commence,  to  establish  a  second  factory 
in  one  of  the  villages  of  the  district,  where  con- 
ditions could  be  secured  such  as  ehccse-factories 
would  he  expected  to  meet  in  the  future.  In  the 
first  i)laee,  it  was  obvious  that,  although  there  was 
milk  enoTigh  to  be  had  within  a  not  unreasonable 
distance  of  the  town,  the  immediate  surroundings 
of  the  Derliy  factory  were  not  of  the  most  favour- 
able character  for  cheese-making;  aud  though  it 
was  contemplated  that  milk-selling  could  to  some 
extent  be  woi'ked  in  conjunction  with  cheese- 
making,  and  thus  add  somewhat  to  the  success 
of  the  venture,  yet  this  very  advantage  detracted 
from  the  fairness  of  the  test,  and  so  far  reduced 
the  apiilieability  of  the  system  to  a  purely  dairy- 
ing locality. 

But  here  another  ditficully  arose.  In  order 
to  give  the  system  a  fair  trial  in  a  rural  ))lace, 
it  was  felt  to  be  necessary  that  an  entirely  new 
building  should  be  erected,  specially  designed 
for  the  puqiose,  and  re}>lete  with  all  the  appur- 
tenances and  ecjuijiments  on  wliich  the  success 
of  such  an  institution  must  needs  in  no  snudl 
measure  dcpeiid ;  but  the  committee  could  not 
in  fairness  to  the  guarantors  think  of  erecting 
a  bran-new  building  out  of  the  guarantee  fund  ; 
nor  coidd  they,  on  the  other  hand,  reasonably 
call  on  a  landowner  to  erect  one  at  his  own  ex- 
pense, for  the  puiiiose  of  trying  an  experiment 
whose  object  was  to  serve  the  public,  unless 
they  could   assure   hitn   that    in   case   failure    was 


the  result  he  should,  at  all  events  in  part,  be 
recompensed  for  his  outlay.  Such  a  building 
would,  in  case  of  failure,  be  comparatively  use- 
less for  any  other  purpose,  and  in  this  event 
whoever  built  the  building  would  have  to  suffer 
loss.  An  old  building,  it  is  true,  of  some  sort 
might  possibly  have  been  found  and  converted 
into  a  factory,  thus  in  part  sa-\4ng  the  cost  of 
erecting  a  new  one;  but  it  was  considered  that 
the  system  could  not  be  fairly  tested  under 
such  conditions,  and  that  as  it  was  to  receive 
a  three  years'  trial,  a  new  building  oidy  would 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  case. 

The  Hon.  E.  K.  W.  Coke,  of  Longford,  who 
from  the  first  had  been  one  of  the  warmest  friends 
of  the  movement,  and  Mr.  Newi;on,  of  Etwall, 
also  a  warm  supporter,  now  came  forward,  and 
each  of  them  not  only  offered  to  put  u]) 
the  new  building  at  his  own  expense,  but  to 
place  it  at  the  disposal  of  the  committee  rent- 
free  for  the  first  year;  and  on  their  part  the 
committee  undertook  to  refund  40  per  cent,  of 
the  outlay  if,  at  the  end  of  the  three  years,  the 
system  should  be  found  to  be  unsuccessful;  and 
the  money  for  this  purpose  was  proposed  to  be 
raised  by,  if  necessary,  a  still  further  call  on 
the  guarantors.  As,  however,  the  offers  of 
both  gentlemen  could  not  be  accepted,  a  vote  of 
the  committee  was  taken.  The  majority  was  in 
favour  of  the  Longford  location,  and  the  proposed 
conditions  having  been  accepted  by  all  parties 
concerned,  the  Imilding  of  the  Longford  factory 
was  immediately  commenced.  This  was,  of 
course,  the  first  cheese-factory,  as  such,  ever  built 
in  the  British  Islands ;  and  as  the  season  was 
advancing  before  it  was  finally  decided  on,  it  was 
built  of  wood,  chiefly  with  a  view  of  saving 
time.  Considered  apart  from  its  liability  to 
decay  in  a  damp  climate  like  that  of  England, 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  wood  is  a  very 
suitalile  material  of  which  to  build  a  cheese- 
factory.  Stone  of  any  kind  is  perhaps  the  worst 
material  of  all,  because  of  its  dampness  and 
porousness,  its  facility  for  absorbing  moisture 
on  the  outside  and  transmitting  it  to  the  inside 
of  the  building.  Brick  is  much  better  than  stone 
in  this  resjiect,  and  concrete  better  than  citlu'r; 
but  wood  is  a  very  dry  and,  if  properly  coated 
outside,  a  sufiiciently  damp-proof  material,  and 
it  is  on  account  of  its  dryness  that  it  is  especially 
suitable  for  buililiiigs  of  this  kind.      Dnni])  walls 


THE    DERBYSHIRE    CHEESE    FACTORY    ASSOCIATION. 


255 


of  any  kind,  and  new  walls  full  of  fresh  mortar, 
are  eminently  unsuitable  for  cheese-rooms ;  henee, 
all  things  considered,  wood  was  the  best  material 
of  which,  so  late  in  the  season,  the  Long-ford 
factory  could  be  built.  A  bronze  plate  affixed  to 
the  front  of  the  building  bears  the  following 
inscription  : — "  The  first  cheese-factory  built  in 
England.  Opened  May  4th,  1870,  under  the 
management  of  Cornelius  Sehermerhorn." 

It  was  deemed  desirable  that  the  country 
factory  should  not  commence  operations  with 
fewer  than  400  nor  with  more  than  (JOO  cows' 
milk;  above  or  below  these  numbers  would,  on 
the  one  hand,  be  so  large  as  to  be  unwieldy,  and 
on  the  other  would  be  too  small  to  warrant  the 
large  outlay  which  a  new  building  entailed,  while 
between  the  limits  would  secure  most  of  the 
conditions  which  factories  in  the  future  would 
in  all  probability  have  to  meet.  Before  deciding 
on  the  Longford  site,  the  committee  held  meet- 
ings at  Sudbury,  Shardlow,  Etwall,  Longford,  and 
Weston  Underwood;  at  each  of  these  places  the 
proposed  site  and  the  available  supply  of  water 
were  both  carefully  inspected,  and  other  local 
considerations  calculated  to  influence  the  under- 
taking were  duly  taken  note  of;  in  addition  to 
these  matters  the  number  of  cows  promised  at 
each  place  was  ascertained,  and  as  Longford  was 
found  to  stand  at  the  head  of  the  list,  it  was 
decided  to  erect  the  first  experimental  factory 
in  that  village. 

The  location  is,  all  things  considered,  as 
favourable  as  could  easily  be  found — close  to 
a  good  public  road,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  noted 
dairj'ing  district.  The  only  drawback  was  the 
water,  and  this  is  a  difficulty  which  most  factories 
have  had  to  ci  nte.id  with,  and  still  have.  Close 
by  the  Longford  factory  runs  a  stream  whose 
volume  of  water  for  the  most  part  was  consider- 
able, and  whose  temperature  would  answer  the 
purpose  perfectly  in  all  the  cooler  portions  of 
the  season ;  but  in  the  summer  the  stream  be- 
comes sluggish  as  the  volume  of  water  diminishes, 
and  the  rays  of  the  sun,  j^laying  long  on  the 
small  stream,  raise  its  temperature  to  a  height  at 
which  it  is  quite  unsuitable  for  cheese-making, 
and  this  at  the  very  period  of  the  season  when 
a  plentiful  supply  of  cold  water  is  a  sine  qzid 
non.  This  objection  against  the  stream-water 
was  fatal,  and  water  of  a  suitable  temperature 
had  to  be  brought  upwards  of  a  mile  in   pipes, 


from  a  cool  pond  in  the  jiark  ;  this  added  alike  to 
the  delay  and  the  exfjcnse. 

The  decision  to  have  two  factories  instead 
of  one,  and  these  situated  at  a  distance  of  ten 
miles  from  each  other,  made  two  things  neces- 
sary :  first,  that  a  second  cheese-maker  should  be 
sent  for,  because  one  man  could  not  manage  two 
factories  so  far  apart ;  secondly,  that  the  managing 
committee  should  be  divided  as  to  superintendence 
of  matters  of  detail  at  each  factory  separately, 
still  remaining  one  committee  in  all  matters  of 
a  general  character  touching  the  interests  of 
the  movement.  The  second  cheese-maker — Mr. 
Levi  Sehermerhorn,  brother  to  the  first  one — 
was  telegraphed  for  to  America,  and  he  arrived  in 
time  to  liberate  his  brother,  who  then  took  charge 
of  the  Longford  factory  from  its  opening.  The 
members  of  the  Derby  Committee  were  Mr.  Cromp- 
ton  (chairman),  and  Messrs.  Burnett,  jMurray, 
Nuttall,  and  Tonilinson  ;  the  Longford  Committee 
were  the  Hon.  E.  K.  W.  Coke  (chairman),  and 
Messrs.  Brough,  Coleman,  Lowndes,  and  Salt. 
The  duties  of  each  sub-committee  were  to  pay  the 
milk-suppliers  each  mouth,  to  examine  and  pay 
all  bills,  to  dispose  of  the  cheese,  and  to  keep  an 
eye  on  all  matters  connected  with  the  factory. 

These  sub-committees  were  responsible  to  the 
central  committee,  whose  members  were  guaran- 
tors each  of  £50  or  upwards.  These  several 
committees,  together  with  the  factories  under 
their  control,  were  known  as  the  Derbyshire 
Cheese  P^aetory  Association,  and  the  rules  of  the 
Association  were  as  follows  : — 

"  That  this  Association  he  called  '  The  Derhyshire  Cheese 
Factory  Association 

"  That  it  he  managed  and  governed  by  a  Central  Committee, 
the  memhers  of  -which  shall  be  those  persons  subscribing 
no  less  a  sum  than  £50  to  the  Guarantee  Fund,  or  their 
agents,  and  the  representatives  of  the  Managing  Committees, 
of  not  more  than  three  members  from  each.  Seven  members 
of  such  Central  Committee  to  be  a  quorum. 

"  That  the  Central  Committee  shall  appoint  a  Managing 
Committee  for  each  factory,  not  to  exceed  six  members,  two 
of  whom  shall  be  selected  from  the  suppliers  of  milk  to  such 
factory.  These  Committees  to  have  the  entire  control  of  their 
respective  factories,  and  of  the  officers  of  such  factory ;  the 
manufacture  of  the  cheese,  and  the  disposal  of  the  whey. 
A  Sub-Committee  of  not  more  than  three  members,  including 
the  Chairman  of  such  Managing  Committee,  or  his  Deputy, 
to  be  appointed  the  Finance  Committee,  and  for  the  sale  of 
cheese  at  such  factory. 

"  That  the  Managing  Committee  of  each  factory  shall  have 
power  to  make  such  bye-laws  as  they  may  consider  expedient, 
and  carry  them  into  effect.  Such  bye-laws  to  be  submitted 
to  the  Central  Committee. 


25fi 


11AIKV    FAinnxG. 


"  That  Jlessrs.  Crompton,  Kewton,  and  Co.,  of  Derby,  be  the 
Treasiiici-3  of  tlie  Association. 

"  That  tho  Central  Committee  shall  appoint  a  Secretary  to 
the  Association,  who  shall  be  required  to  audit  tho  Manager's 
books  of  each  factory  every  month,  prepare  reports  and 
accounts  for  such  Committee,  record  the  minutes  of  their 
meetings,  and  caiTy  out  their  instructions ;  pay  the  suppliers 
of  milk  their  due,  and  transact  generally  tho  business  of  the 
Association. 

"That  all  payments  above  £1  shall  bo  made  by  cheques 
signed  by  tl>c  Chairman  (or  his  Deputy)  of  tho  Managing 
Committee  of  the  factory  to  whiuh  such  payments  belong,  and 
the  Secretary. 

"  That  the  accounts  of  each  factory  be  kept  separate  and 
distinct. 

"  Tliat  persons  supplj-ing  milk  to  cither  of  the  factories 
shall  be  recpiired  to  send,  twice  each  day,  the  pure  milk  from 
the  whole  of  their  dairy-cows  (excepting  such  milk  as  shall 
be  required  by  them  for  their  family  consumption)  during  the 
manufacturing  season,  the  termination  of  which  shall  be 
determined  by  the  Managing  Committi'C  of  each  factory. 

"  That  the  terms  for  the  current  year  on  which  the 
milk  is  to  be  obtained  shall  be  a  guaranteed  payment  of 
6Jd.  per  gallon,  of  10  lbs.  weight,  payable  the  iirst  Friday 
in  every  month,  between  the  hours  of  ten  and  one  o'clock, 
at  the  Sccretai-y's  office  in  Derby,  together  with  a  share 
of  tho  profits  of  tho  factory,  according  to  the  quantity  of 
milk  supplied  (after  payment  of  working  expenses  of  such 
factory),  which  shall  be  paid  as  soon  after  tho  close  of 
the  manufacturing  season  as  the  Central  Committee  can 
arrange. 

"  That  the  Manager  of  each  factory  shall  have  power  to 
refuse  milk  that  is  of  an  inferior  quality,  sour,  dirty,  or  other- 
wise impui'e,  without  reference  to  the  Central  Committee  ;  and 
any  person  detected  in  sending  milk  that  has  been  skimmed  or 
adulterated  shall  bo  reported  to  the  Central  Committee,  and 
render  himself  liable  to  a  forfeiture  of  his  share  of  the  profits 
that  may  be  derived  from  the  factory,  and  not  be  allowed  to 
supply  milk  to  it  afterwards. 

"  Tliat  every  supplier  of  milk  shall  sign  a  declaration  that 
ho  will  submit  to  the  rules  of  the  Association,  and  tho  bye- 
laws  made  for  the  proper  working  of  such  factory  with 
which  he  is  connected.  And  in  case  of  his  failing  to  comply 
with  such  rules  and  byo-Iaws,  he  shall  forfeit  all  claim  to 
any  profits  that  may  be  derived  from  such  factory,  and  not  bo 
allowed  to  supply  milk  to  it  afterwards.  I5ut  in  case  of  his 
inability  to  supply  the  milk  from  the  number  of  cows  he  had 
previously  declared,  under  circumstances  over  which  he  has 
no  control,  or  which  the  Central  Committee  shall  deem  to  bo 
satisfactory,  ho  may  bo  relieved  from  his  agreement  on  such 
terms  as  the  Central  Committee  shall  decide  to  be  just  and 
proper. 

"  That  persons  on  the  working  staff  of  either  factory 
shall  not  allow  the  admission  of  any  person,  other  than  a 
guarantor,  or  by  the  written  consent  of  one  of  tho  Managing 
Committee,  to  such  factor}',  excepting  ho  be  on  business 
connected  therewith." 

The  Derby  factory  was  a  huililing-  tliat  luul  ior 
some  years  been  used  as  a  cheese  warehouse,  and 
so  far  as  the  upper  rooms  are  couccrned  was  well 
adapted  to  its  new  purpose ;  the  lower  room  only 
required  adapting  to  the  plant  that  was  placed  in 
it,  hence  tlicro   was  comparatively  little  delay  in 


ffettin<;-  all  thinijs  ready  for  a  start.  The  interval 
between  the  11th  of  March  and  the  Sth  of  April 
was  found  long  enough  to  get  all  the  items  of  the 
plant  made,  the  building  adapted,  and  everything 
in  its  place.  On  the  latter  date  the  first  milk  was 
received  and  the  first  cheese  made  in  an  English 
cheese-factory — in  the  year  1870.  In  the  mean- 
time jiublic  interest  had  become  very  keen,  and 
great  numbers  of  visitors  saw  the  process  during 
the  first  few  weeks;  and  during  the  first  season 
ujiwards  of  5,000  persons,  many  of  them  coming 
from  distant  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom  and 
some  from  foreign  countries,  entered  their  names 
in  the  visitors'  book,  and  it  is  supposed  that  a  still 
larger  number  visited  the  factories  but  did  not 
record  their  names.  So  great  was  the  interest  felt 
in  the  new  movement. 

Early  Experience  of  the  Factokies. 

During  the  first  year  the  committees  worked 
under  great  difficulties.  Everything  was  new 
and  strange,  and  many  alterations  were  required 
to  make  matters  woi-k  smoothly.  Happily,  that 
which  at  the  onset  would  have  proved  the  greatest 
diflieulty  of  all — the  finding  of  money  to  pay  the 
milk-suppliers'  monthly  dues — was  removed  by  the 
guarantee  fund.  But  the  amount  of  opposition 
brought  to  bear  against  the  movement  was,  for  a 
long  time,  very  great;  and  as  much  of  this  was  of 
a  secret  character  it  was  the  more  diflieult  to  con- 
tend with.  In  the  first  year's  Report  of  the  Joint 
Committees  of  jManagement  the  following  words 
occur : — "  Your  committee  cannot  but  regret  that 
an  experiment  made  entirely  upon  public  grounds, 
and  purely  in  the  public  interest,  should  have  been 
viewed  in  its  outset  with  so  much  uncalled-for  and 
unworthy  susjjicion.  This  feeling,  however,  your 
committee  is  gratified  to  say  is  fast  passing  away.'' 
And  again : — "An  item  acting  prejudicially  on  the 
balance-sheet  is  the  cost  incurred  in  disposing  of 
the  cheese  in  a  distant  market,  caused,  in  some 
measure,  by  the  extraordinary  and  unexpected 
jealousy  and  dislike  with  which  the  movement  was 
\iewed  by  some  factors  of  considerable  infiuence  in 
the  trade."  Thc^^e  quoted  words  indicate  clearly 
enough  the  outside  difficulties  with  which  the 
committees  had  to  contend.  On  the  opposite 
page  are  the  balance-sheets  of  the  two  factories 
for  the  first  season. 

The  question  of  the  4  ozs.  deficient  in  each 
gallon   of    milk    is    thus    cxjilained : — "There    is 


FIRST    SEASON'S    BALANCE    SHEETS. 


257 


LoNGFOED   Cheese    Factory. 

Statenunt  of  Accounts,  1S70. 


*  Paid  for  Milk,  1,693,010  lbs 

„         t  labour,     including     Salary    to     Jfr. 

Schernierliorn,  £100  ;  Warehouseman, 

to   commencement  of  present  season, 

and  Butter-maker 

„         t  Annatto,  Bandages,  Salt,  Rennet,  and 

other  Materials   ... 
,,        Commission     on     Sales,     Insurance    of 

Cheese,  Carriage,  &c 

Balance  at  the  Bank 


4,584    4    9 


8    6 


£.5,049  17    4 


Sale  of  Cheese,  1,220  cwt.  1  qr.  14  lbs, 

„      Whey      

„      Butter     


*  This  amount  includes  the  sum  over-paid  tor  the  4  ozs.  deficient  in  each  gallon  of  Milk. 

t  The  labour  in  manufacturing  the  Cheese  cost  £179  10s.,  or  23.  Hid.  per  cwt.,  and  the  material  £86  18s.  4d.,  or  Is.  5d.  per  cwt.,  together 
making  4s.  4id.  per  cwt. 

t  77s.  5d.  per  cwt.  of  120  lbs. 


Derby    Cheese    Factory. 

Statement  of  Accounts,  1870. 


£        s. 

d 

£      s.     A. 

*  Paid  for  Milk,  1,309,090  Ills 

3,.547    1 

0 

Sale  of  Cheese,  943  cwt.  2  ejrs 

8  lbs. 

...     13,607    4    9 

„         t  Labour,     including    Salary    to      Mr. 
Schermerhorn,  i'lOO  ;  Warehouseman 
to  commencement  of  present  season,  &c. 

197  15 

1 

„     ■\\Tiey      

Balance  owing  at  Bank... 

230  17  11 
87  13    1 

„         f  Annatto,     Bandages,     Salt,    Eennet, 
Water,  and  other  Materials     

87  14 

2 

^^^^ 

^^^ 

„         Commission     on     Sales,    Insur.ance     of 
Cheese,  Carriage,  kc.    ... 

93    5 

1 

_^-^^ 

£3,925  15 

9 

£3,925  15    9 

•  This  amount  includes  the  sum  of  £'S8  over-paid  for  the  4  ozs.  deficient  in  each  gallon  of  Milk, 
t  The  labour  in  manufacturing  the  Cheese  cost  £177  lis.  5d.,  or  3s.  9id.  per  cwt.,  and  the  material  £S 
making  5s.  7}d.  per  cwt. 

X  76s.  6d.  per  cwt.  of  120  lbs. 


lis.  2d.,  or  Is.  lOld.  per  cwt.— together 


one  circumstanee  which,  as  it  will  affect  the  pecu- 
niary results  of  the  year,  your  committee  will  at 
once  brin^  to  your  notice.  According  to  the  rules 
of  the  Association,  and  following  the  example  of 
the  Americans,  the  gallon  of  milk  was  estimated 
at  10  lbs.,  and  accordingly  each  milk-supplier  has 
received  the  stipulated  amount  of  6id.  per  10  lbs. ; 
but  upon  accurate  measurement  it  was  ascertained 
that  an  imperial  gallon  of  new  milk  at  8i'^,  being 
the  average  heat  at  which  the  milk  is  delivered, 
weighed  10  lbs.  4>  oz. ;  consequently  for  eveiy 
gallon  received  or  paid  for  your  committee  have 
received  4  oz.  short  of  the  true  gallon.  This 
deficiency  forms  a  serious  item,  amounting  at 
Derby  to  £88,  and  at  Longford  to  £114 — amounts 
paid  to  the  sujspliers  of  milk  for  quantities  never 


received,  and  which  remain  in  their  hands  as  over- 
j)ayment  or  bonus,  over  and  above  the  value  of  the 
milk  they  supplied.  This  they  are  aware  of,  and 
agree  to  rectify  on  the  working  of  the  jiresent 
year." 

Before  the  price  to  be  paid  for  the  milk  was 
settled,  the  committee,  "after  collecting  the  ex- 
l^erience  of  intelligent  holders  of  large  dairies, 
spread  over  a  wide  field  of  inquiry,  found  the  well- 
nigh  unanimous  ojiinion  to  be  that  on  ordinary 
daily-farms,  and  in  ordinarj'  cheese-making  seasons, 
and  taking  the  average  yield  of  cheese  for  the 
entire  season,  namely,  embracing  the  poor  and  the 
rich  curd-yielding  jieriods  of  the  season,  a  pound  of 
cheese  could  not  be  produced  on  the  old  system  of 
farm-house  dairying  from  a  less  quantity  of  milk 


258 


DAIRY    FAinilXG. 


than  1  gallim  l.\  pints.  Assuminfr  this  experience 
of  the  cheese-yielding  powers  of  the  milk  to  be 
correct,  and  also  that  3'our  committee  working  in 
the  same  district  could  not  work  at  a  less  per- 
centage, it  follows  that  at  the  cost  price  of  the 
milk  alone  (viz.,  (!^d.  per  gallon)  a  ewt.  of  1^0  lbs. 
of  cheese  would  stand  at  77s.  (jd.  per  cwt.,  exclusive 
of  whatever  might  prove  to  be  the  cost  of  labour 
and  materials  used  in  the  manufacture.  Assuming 
that  these,  under  the  factory  system,  could  not  be 
covered  for  a  less  sum  than  4s.  per  cwt.,  it  would 
follow  that  your  committee  would  be  under  the 
oblig-ation  of  realising  from  the  products  of  the 
milk  an  amount  equivalent  to  81s.  6d.  per  cwt.  of 
120  lbs.,  or  of  being  obliged  to  fall  back  heavily 
on  the  guarantee  fimd.  Now,  inasmuch  as  the 
average  price  of  the  entire  make  of  Derbyshire 
cheese  has  ruled  for  the  past  season  at  7;is.  6d. 
per  cwt.  (the  exceptional  dairies  realising  SOs.  and 
upwards  being  an  insignificant  i^ercentage  of  the 
entire  make),  your  committee  had  no  little  anxiety 
(buying  milk  on  such  terms)  lest  they  should  be 
unable  to  sell  the  produce  at  prices  so  much  in 
advance  of  Derbyshire  rates  as  to  cover  the  large 
amount  of  money  expended  in  the  purchase  of 
milk ;  and  they  feel  much  gratified  that  they  have 
been  enabled  to  do  so.''' 

The  committee  attributed  their  being  able  to 
repay  the  large  ovitlay  in  milk,  besides  cost  of 
manufacture,  without  any  material  aid  from  the 
guarantee  fund,  chiefly  to  the  following  causes  : — 

1.  That  in  working  up  milk  in  such  large 
quantities,  and  ou  the  Cheddar  system,  a  larger 
yield  of  curd  is  extracted  from  the  milk  than  is 
obtained  under  the  ordinary  private  dairy  system. 

2.  The  saving  in  cost  of  labour,  which,  being 
spread  over  so  large  a  production,  is  cajiable  of 
being  reduced  to  the  minimum. 

3.  The  advantage,  from  buj'ing  them  in  bulk, 
of  obtaining  materials  on  the  best  terms. 

4.  The  material  reduction,  inider  this  system, 
in  waste  and  loss  of  curd,  as  compared  with  the  same 
quantity  of  milk  made  into  cheese  in  small  dairies. 

5.  The  absence  of  loss  by  cheese  cracking  and 
heaving,  which  places  a  large  percentage  of  an 
ordinary  dairy  in  the  infirmary  instead  of  in  the 
market. 

6.  The  general  rule,  ajipllcalile  to  cheese-making 
as  to  every  other  class  of  manufacture,  that  an 
article  can  be  produced  at  less  cost  in  bulk  than  in 
small  quant llles. 


The  cost  of  bringing  over  the  cheese-makers 
from  the  United  States  was  necessarily  heavy,  and 
as  it  was  an  item  of  expense  which  would  not 
fall  on  cheese-factories  in  after-years,  a  portion 
only  of  their  salaries — £100  at  each  factory — was 
charged  in  the  working  expenses  of  the  year,  the 
rest  being  borne  by  the  guarantee  fund.  There 
were  also  other  expenses,  such  as  alteration  and 
re-arrangement  of  plant,  improvement  and  enlarge- 
ment of  buildings,  &c.,  which  the  committee  con- 
sidered coidd  not  be  fairly  charged  to  the  account 
of  the  experiment,  because  they  would  not  neces- 
sarily be  incurred  by  the  factories  of  the  future; 
it  was  thought  that  in  an  experimental  under- 
taking these  various  expenses  were,  more  or  less, 
unavoidable  on  the  score  of  inexjjericnce,  and  that 
in  the  case  of  new  factories  that  might  be  Ijuilt 
the  mistakes  of  the  pioneers  would  be  avoided. 
The  salaries  of  the  makers  ^vere  charged  to  the 
working  expenses  at  a  rate  which,  it  was  thought, 
factories  of  the  future  woxild  have  to  pay,  and  the 
various  extras  incidental  to  a  new  undertaking 
were  properly  borne  by  the  promoters  of  the 
scheme. 

It  is,  indeed,  probable  that  the  best-managed 
dairy,  the  milk  of  which  was  sent  to  the  factories 
in  that  first  season,  would  not  have  made  a  clear 
G^d.  per  gallon  of  10  lbs.  of  milk  had  the  cheese 
been  made  at  home;  and  the  bare  fact  that  the 
factories  were  able  to  pay  for  the  milk  at  that 
rate,  and  still  pay  fair  working  expenses,  was  a 
highly  satisfactory  result,  all  things  considered. 

Early  Difficulties. 

In  connoctiiin  with  this,  it  must  be  l)nrne  in  mind 
that  the  system  of  cheese-making  introduced  by 
the  two  Americans  was  essentially  that  which  was 
then  in  vogue  in  many  of  the  factories  in  their 
country,  and  that,  consequently,  the  cheese  made  in 
the  two  English  factories  was  essentially  American 
in  character.  It  was,  in  the  first  place,  American 
in  shape  and  general  outward  appearance,  and  it 
had  all  the  features  when  cut — the  want  of  com- 
])actness  of  texture,  the  peculiar  taste  and  smell, 
the  too  early  maturity,  aud  the  lack  of  fine  flavour 
— which  characterised  the  American  cheese  of  that 
period.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  being  a  copy 
of,  though  to  some  extent  an  imjirovement  on,  the 
American  cheese  of  the  day,  the  sale  of  the  Derby 
and  Longford  cheese  was  to  some  extent  preju- 
diced;   for  American    cheese  then,  as  before   and 


C^'*'        -» 


THE    LONGFORD    CHEESE    FvVCTORY. 


259 


since,  was  selling'  at  a  price  decidedly  inferior  to 
the  average  price  of  English  cheese. 

At  that  period,  indeed,  a  reaction  had  set  in, 
and  a  reform  was  in  process  of  being  established 
in  the  method  of  making  American  cheese.  The 
Cheddar  system  was  the  one  which,  with  various 
modifications,  had  been  adopted  in  the  American 
factories ;  but  these  modifications  being  seldom,  if 
ever,  improvements,  had  been  carried  too  far  in 


have  been  obtainetl ;  yet  the  committees,  as  we 
have  seen,  were  enabled  to  jiay  a  maximum  price 
for  the  milli  and  a  fair  amount  of  working  ex- 
penses. 

lu  tlie  system  first  tried  in  the  English  fac- 
tories, the  required  acidity  was  wholly  developed 
in  the  whey  and  curd  before  any  of  the  former 
was  removed,  and  not,  as  now,  started  in  the  whey 
and  curd  together,  and  afterwards  completed  in  the 


Fig.  Vll. — LoxcjFuiU)  Faciuuy  (iNXEiticm), 


some  respects,  and  some  of  the  best  cheese-makers 
in  the  States  were  advocating  and  practising  with 
success  a  nearer  approach  to  the  true  Cheddar 
system.  The  American  system  introduced  into 
the  Englisli  factories  was  what  we  may  term  the 
American  Cheddar  system,  and  did  not  contain  the 
principles  of  the  reform  which  had  set  in  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Hence  the  first  year's 
factory  cheese  made  in  this  country  was  less  Eng- 
lish in  character  than  it  might  have  been  had  the 
latest  American  methods  been  introduced.  The 
result  of  this  was  found  in  a  somewhat  depreciated 
sale,  and  iu  smaller  returns  than  might  otherwise 
36 


curd  alone.  In  the  former  plan  it  was  expedient 
to  have  a  portion  of  the  floor  of  the  making-room 
about  3  feet  lower  than  the  rest  (Fig.  127)  ;  and 
in  this  lowered  part  stood  the  "dry- vat"  and  the 
cheese-presses.  When  acidity  was  sufficiently  de- 
veloped, the  bulk  of  the  whey  was  drawn  off  by 
the  syphon  which  is  seen  in  position  on  the  nearest 
vat  in  the  illustration ;  the  end  of  each  milk-vat 
{a)  was  then  separately  lowered  by  removing  the 
blocks  from  underneath  the  legs,  the  "gate"  in 
the  end  was  opened,  and  the  curd  and  remaining 
whey  together  ran  down  the  shute  {b)  into  the 
dry-vat    (e).      The   dry- vat   was  covered    with   a 


2G() 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


el'itli,  wliicli  lu'lil  the  cunl  and  let  tlie  wliey  escape. 
The  wliey  was  conducted  from  tlie  diy-vat  by  an 
iudia-ruhber  tul)c  to  an  iinder<;;i-ound  piix?,  which 
conveyed  it  to  the  whey-tank  outside.  In  the  dry- 
vat  was  used  a  given  quantity  of  salt,  about  'I  lbs.  of 
salt  per  1 00  lbs.  of  curd,  and  the  two  were  well  mixed 
up  toi>;ether ;  this  was  done  as  soon  as  the  whey 
had  all  left  the  curd.  The  leadintf  peculiarity  of 
this  system  was  that  the  curd  did  not  require  to 
be  ground.  During  the  time  when  acidity  was 
developing  in  the  milk-vat  the  curd  was  repeatedly 
stirred  up  by  hand,  in  order  to  prevent  its  packing 
together  at  the  bottom  of  the  vat ;  the  object  was 
to  keep  the  particles  loose  from  each  other,  so  that 
they  would  easily  swim  out  with  the  whey  into 
the  dry-vat,  and  when  there,  would  permit  the 
whey  to  quickly  escape.  So  the  curd  pai'ticles 
were  like  so  many  grains  of  wheat  in  size  and 
appearance,  and  though  their  tendency  was  to  ad- 
here together  in  a  mass,  because  of  the  acidity 
which  prevailed  among  them,  they  were  kept  in  a 
loose  state  after  they  were  got  into  the  dry-vat, 
partly  to  obviate  grinding  and  partly  to  enable 
the  salt  to  be  evenly  mixed  with  them.  After  the 
salt  was  thoroughly  mixed  with  the  curd  the  press- 
vats  were  filled  and  placed  in  the  ^'oweriul  screw- 
presses,  a  row  of  which  is  seen  on  the  right  of 
the  illustration  ;  a  light  pressure  was  at  first 
jipplied,  and  afterwards  a  heavier  one,  until  the 
cheeses  were  compactly  formed.  The  press-vat  was 
a  cylinder  of  gal- 
vanised wrought- 
iron  without  ends 
(Fig.  US);  the  ne- 
cessary bottom  was 
form  oil  by  the  board 
on  ^\■hich  it  rested 
when  in  j'ress,  and 
the  top  consisted 
of  a  "  follower," 
which  fitted  inside  the  hoop,  and  sank  as  the 
cheese  became  more  compact. 

Ch.vnces  in  the  System. 

The  experience  of  the  first  year  proved  to  those 
in  charge  of  the  experiment  that  the  American 
system,  as  introduced  into  this  country,  required 
considcra])le  alterations  to  adaj)t  it  to  our  needs. 
Whilst  the  co-operative  system  in  general,  and  tlie 
labour-saving  aj)plianccs  in  detail,  which  were  the 
salient  features  of  this  new  departure  iu  I'^nglish 


128.— Press  VAT. 


dairying,  were  found  to  be  admirably  suited  to 
Ijring  about  the  end  in  view,  it  was  considered 
indispensable  to  the  future  i)rosperity  of  the  system 
that  "  every  possible  trace  of  the  American  tj'pe  of 
cheese "  should  be  eradicated,  and  that  under  an 
English  maker  our  own  Derbyshire  system  should 
be  coj)ied  as  closely  as  possible,  and  that  our  slower 
and  more  careful  process  should  be  supplemented 
by  the  advantages  of  machinery,  the  concentraticm 
of  labour,  and  the  general  economy  of  manufacture 
which  the  factory  system  supplied.  This,  however, 
was  not  a  change  that  could  be  i)erfeeted  by  bring- 
ing into  the  factories  the  Derbyshire  method  pure 
and  simple ;  there  were  various  unexpected  diffi- 
culties cropping  up  here  and  there  in  the  process  of 
adaptation,  and  these  involved  the  production  of 
some  faulty  cheese.  The  difficulties  were,  liowever, 
gradually  and  one  by  one  surmounted,  and  the 
committee  "  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  the 
admirable  method  and  the  best  points  of  the 
American  machinery  and  system  fully  and  success- 
fully apjjlied  to  the  manufacture  of  Derliyshire 
cheese  in  two  Dei'byshire  cheese  factories." 

But  the  cheese  now  produced  in  the  factories, 
though  flat  and  thin,  and  weighing  the  regulation 
30  lbs.  apiece,  was  not  really  Derbyshire  cheese 
in  character.  The  Derbyshire  system,  indeed, 
being  essentially  a  sweet-curd  system,  cannot  well 
be  jjractised  in  factories,  unless  many  more  lever- 
presses  and  certain  other  appliances  are  provided 
than  are  found  to  be  required  in  the  American  or 
in  the  Cheddar  systems ;  hence  it  came  to  pass 
that  one  or  two  of  the  salient  features  of  the 
Cheddar  method  must  needs  be  introduced.  The 
experiments  made  in  dropj)ing  the  American  and 
adopting  the  Derb^-shire,  and  again  in  grafting 
on  the  Derbyshire  those  leading  features  of  the 
Cheddar  sj'stem,  were  inevitably  accompanied  with 
(lilHculties  and  disa])pointments  which  could  only 
be  surmounted  by  "  indomitable  and  untiring  pei- 
severanee,  based  upon  a  firm  conviction  of  the 
soundness  and  ultimate  victory  of  the  system.^' 
These  qualities  were  jjresent  in  no  common  degree 
among  the  members  of  the  committee. 

The  situation  was  a  peculiar  and  most  anxious 
one.  The  eyes  of  the  agricultural  world  in  this 
and  many  other  countries  were  closely  watching 
the  experiment.  !Many  dairy-fannei"s  were  hoping 
the  ex]ieriment  would  succeed,  others  were  hoj)ing 
it  would  fail ;  the  factors  were  jealous  of  it;  some 
huulldnls  were  strongly  opposed  to  it,  others  were 


THE    PROGRESS    OF    THE    SYSTEM. 


261 


as  stronijly  in  favour  of  it ;  pul)lio  ojnnion  was 
dividetl,  swerving  this  way  and  that,  anticipating 
the  verdict  of  practice.  Tiie  committee  felt  that 
the  second  season  was  the  crucial  one,  and  the 
anxiety  attending  it  was  increased  by  the  change 
of  system  that  was  inevitable.  Had  the  first  year's 
method  turned  out  all,  or  nearly  all,  that  could  be 
desired,  the  course  to  be  pursued  would  have  been 
comparatively  clear  j  but  instead  of  that  it  was 
felt  that  certain  radical  changes  must  be  made,  and 
the  success  of  these  was  problematical.  Hence  the 
advocates  of  the  system,  and  particularly  those  who 
had  the  control  of  it,  were  put  on  their  mettle,  and 
more  earnest  thought  and  watching  in  the  iiiterests 
of  cheese-making  have  not  been  exercised  in  an 
equal  period  for  many  a  long  year  in  this  country. 
It  was  a  great  and  almost  heroic  effort  on  the 
part  of  some  of  our  leading  agriculturists  in  the 
county  of  Derby  to  place  the  cheese-making  of 
the  country — not  the  county  only — on  a  founda- 
tion where  the  improvement  would  be  permanent. 
Every  effort,  therefore,  was  used  to  make  the  sys- 
tem a  success  under  the  new  order  of  things  ;  the 
combined  acumen  of  many  practical  minds  was 
brought  to  bear  on  the  subject.  Efforts  were, 
indeed,  untiring,  and  perseverance  unlimited;  and 
success  was  certain  under  such  conditions.  The 
second  season  was  one  of  hard  work  and  much 
anxiety,  but  the  result  was  satisfactory  to  those  on 
whom  it  had  depended. 

Progress  of  the  System. 

Before  the  commencement  of  the  third  season 
(1872)  the  milk-suppliers,  who  for  the  two  pre- 
vious seasons  would  patronise  the  system  only  on 
condition  that  they  were  shielded  from  all  risk  by  a 
guarantee  of  6|d.  per  gallon  for  all  milk  supplied, 
had  become  familiar  with  the  working,  and  were  so 
satisfied  with  the  results  of  the  system  that  they 
voluntarily  relieved  the  guai^antors  from  all  risk 
in  the  third  season  for  which  the  guarantee  fund 
was  available,  assumed  the  responsibility  them- 
selves, undertook  the  entire  management  of  the 
factories,  formed  themselves  into  local  and  in- 
dependent committees,  each  dealing  with  its  own 
factory  separately,  and  became  Dairy  Associations 
on  a  purely  co-operative  basis.  This  was,  of 
course,  the  result  which  must  needs  follow  the 
introduction  of  the  system,  if  it  turned  out  a 
success,  and  the  sooner  the  result  was  arrived 
at    the   bettei'    it   was   for   the   system.      To    be 


valuable  at  all,  the  system  must  needs  liberate 
itself  from  the  leading-strings  that  were  in- 
dispensable at  first,  and  the  sooner  it  learned 
to  stand  on  its  merits,  or  was  compelled  to  fall 
on  its  demerits,  the  better  it  was  for  all  parties 
concerned. 

To  a  great  extent  the  new  local  committees 
were  composed  of  the  same  persons  who  had 
served  on  them  in  the  two  previous  years,  and 
their  accumulated  experience  was  turned  to  good 
account.  But  though  these  committees  now 
relieved  the  guarantors  of  further  liability,  so 
dispensing  with  the  central  committee,  and  took 
the  entire  management  and  responsibility  into 
their  own  hands,  they  did  not  till  the  following 
year  take  full  possession  of  the  stock-in-trade.  The 
season  of  1872  hatl  its  difficulties,  for  the  cows 
of  most  of  the  contributing  dairies  were  afflicted 
with  foot-and-mouth  disease,  which  seriously  re- 
duced the  quantity  of  milk.  The  quantity  of 
cheese  sold  from  the  Longford  factory  in  the 
season  of  1872  was  over  82  tons,  at  an  average 
price  of  74s.  10|d.  per  cwt.  The  whey  and 
butter  sjld  paid  the  working  expenses,  with 
the  exception  of  about  £52,  so  that  the  con- 
ti'ibutors  received  a  net  price  of  74'S.  3d.  per 
cwt.  of  120  lbs.  The  quantity  of  milk  delivered 
was  211,338  imperial  gallons,  on  which  a  net 
dividend  of  6|d.  and  |^ths  of  a  farthing  was  paid. 
The  average  quantity  of  milk  required  to  make 
1  lb.  of  green  cheese  was  9  lbs.  13  oz.,  the  shrink- 
age of  weight  during  ripening  was  about  10  per 
cent.,  and  the  total  cost  of  manufacture  was 
6s.  Old.  per  cwt.  of  the  cheese. 

The  quantity  of  cheese  sold  at  the  Derby 
factory  in  its  third  season  was  over  49  tons, 
and  the  average  price  realised  74s.  7d.  per  cwt; 
the  total  cost  of  manufacture  7s.  l^d.  per  cwt. 
of  the  cheese;  and  the  dividend  paid  on  the  milk 
within  a  fraction  of  6id.  per  gallon. 

Notwithstanding  various  drawbacks,  the  year 
1872,  the  thiiil  season  of  the  two  factories,  was 
one  which  added  credit  to  the  factory  system, 
for,  after  paying  all  expenses,  a  higher  price 
per  gallon  of  milk  was  paid  thaji  when  the 
guarantee  fund  was  in  force,  and  this  in  spite 
of  the  price  of  cheese  having  declined  several 
shillings  per  cwt.  This  result  was  highly  credit- 
able to  the  skill,  the  industry,  and  the  perse- 
verance of  the  respective  committees,  as  it  was  an 
encouragement  fur  the  future. 


2Gi 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


In  the  fourth  season  (1873)  the  milk-suppliers 
purchased  the  plant  from  the  guarantors,  taking 
full  possession  as  well  as  entire  management,  and 
doing  away  wholly  with  the  connection  which 
till  then  liad  been  maintained  with  the  guarantee 
fund.  Jleanwhile  the  price  of  cheese  had  been 
advancing,  and  the  results  of  the  fourth  season 
at  Longford  were  more  favouralile  than  any  of 
the  jn-eeeding  ones ;  the  management  and  the 
manufacturers  were  alike  thoroughly  successful, 
and  the  business  was  a  pronounced  success.  We 
are  enabled  to  present  our  readers  with  the 
balance-sheet  of  the  Longford  factory  for  the 
year  in  question,  and  it  is  well  worth  preserving 
in  this  permanent  form,  because  it  presents  a 
concise  picture  of  what  a  thoroughly  experienced 
and  united  committee  of  management  may  ac- 
complish in  good  times.  It  wUl  be  noticed 
that  the  cost  of  making  the  cheese  is  reduced  to 
a  very  low  figure,  and  this  is  e\ndence  of  great 
care  and  perfect  management.  See  the  annexed 
balance-sheet  of  the  Longford  factory. 

During  the  first  three  years  of  the  two 
factories'  existence  the  system  had  atti-aeted  an 
immense  amount  of  notice  from  farmers  in  all 
parts  of  the  British  Islands,  and  many  foreigners 
had  come  over  to  see  and  study  it.  It  is  true 
there  was  some  possibly  needless  enthusiasm  in- 
dulged in  by  the  advocates  and  supporters  of  the 
scheme  when  it  was  a  pronounced  success ;  and 
it  is  also  true  that  certain  rose-tinted  predictions 
were  made  as  to  the  benefits  the  factory  system 
would  confer  on  farmere'  wives  and  daughters 
and  on  the  dairying  of  the  future ;  but  these 
were  chiefly  called  forth  by  the  certainly  need- 
less opposition  which  was  encountered  in  various 
quartei-s,  and  it  cannot  be  denied  that  both  the 
enthusiasm  and  the  predictions  were  justified  by 
the  success  which  the  factories  had  already  at- 
tained. 

How  much  of  the  success  may  have  been 
due  to  that  enthusiasm  it  is  not  for  us  to  say, 
but  it  is  probable  that  the  committees  and  all 
the  friends  of  the  movement  worked  harder  for 
its  success  in  those  early  years  than  it  was  reason- 
able to  suppose  they  would  continue  to  do  in 
the  future.  There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  sin- 
cerity of  those  who  advocated  the  factories,  to 
begin  with,  .and  who  worked  so  hard  to  demon- 
strate their  great  usefulness,  their  intrinsic  value, 
and  their  adaptability  to    the   needs   of   English 


farmers  and  to  the  peculiarities  of  our  insular 
dairying.  If  ever  a  great  reform  in  agriculture 
was  undertaken  in  good  faith,  this  one  was ; 
there  was  no  half-heartedness  in  its  advocacy-, 
no  "  wishing  we  hadn't  undertaken  it,"  no  doubt 
of  the  soundness  of  the  system.  And  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  opposition  to  it  was  equally 
persistent,  though  it  was  not  in  all  cases  so  dis- 
interested, nor  was  it  always  ingenuous  and  straight- 
forward— it  was  rather  a  sort  of  guerilla  war- 
fare, conducted  in  secrecy  and  through  various 
crooked  paths. 

The  objects  of  the  promoters  were  (1)  to  place 
the  making  of  the  cheese  of  the  countiy  in  the 
hands  of  skilled  makers,  who,  having  charge  of 
the  milk  of  several  hundreds  of  cows,  could  be 
paid  at  the  rate  which  skilled  and  intelligent 
workmanship  properly  commands ;  (2)  to  relieve 
farmers'  households  of  the  sloppy  untidiness, 
and  their  wives  and  daughters  of  the  toil  and 
anxiety,  which  are  inseparable  from  home  cheese- 
making;  (3)  to  reduce  the  cost  of  making  the 
cheese;  (4)  to  raise  the  average  quality  of  the 
cheese-production  of  the  land;  (.5)  to  introduce 
into  farming  the  beneficent  jirinciple  of  eo-ojiera- 
tion  ;  (6)  to  break  the  power  of  the  "  middle  men  ;  " 
(7)  to  obviate  dei)endence  on  incompetent  dairy- 
maids ;  (8)  to  increase  the  profits  derivable  from 
dairy-farming;  and  (9)  to  pi-omote  a  healthy 
emulation,  to  create  a  feeling  of  mutual  inter- 
dependence, to  encourage  a  freer  intercourse,  and 
to  introduce  habits  of  system,  inquiry,  calcula- 
tion, regularity,  and  order  among  the  farming 
circles  of  the  country.  That  great  good  was 
within  the  reach  of  such  means  as  these  no  one 
can  deny,  and  that  the  means  themselves  were 
thoroughly  practical  is  equally  beyond  the  need 
of  argument ;  the  reasons  why  all  the  expected 
good  has  not  been  brought  about  we  will  presently 
inquire  into. 

The  enemies  of  the  system  declared  the  move- 
ment was  projected  by  landlords  who  wished  the 
more  easily  to  ascertain  the  profits  their  tenants 
were  making;  but  this  imputation  was  as  un- 
worthy as  it  was  untrue,  and  it  was  absui-d  on 
the  face  of  it.  Landlords  who  wished  to  raise 
their  tenants'  rents  did  not  take  the  trouble  to 
inquire  into  their  profits  first  of  all,  and  all  right- 
feeling  landlords  were  glad  to  learn  that  their 
tenants  were  saving  money — but  not  for  the  pur- 
pose of  raising  their  rents. 


LATER    FINANCIAL    RESULTS. 


2G3 


LoNGFOKD  Dairy,  1873. 

Opened    Mareh    24,    Closed    November    29. 


Cost  per  cwt. 

PAYMENTS. 

RECEIPTS. 

Averages. 

£      s.    d. 

£     s.     d. 

£      s.    d. 

Purchase    of    Plant    from 

Balance  from  1872         0  19    9 

& 

d. 

Guarantors 

258  10    0 

Entrance  Fees  for  517  cows      258  10    0 

2 

74 

Laboor— 

Sale  of  86  tons  5  cwt.  3  qrs.  27  lbs.  of 

!.     d. 

Manager,  2.5s.  per  ton  ...  107  18    0 

Cheese          7,106    2    7J 

82    4    per  cwt 

AU  other  labour            ...  120    0    0 

227  18    0 

Sale  of  2,898  lbs.  of  Butter      167  14    5 

1    If  per  lb. 

0 

8| 

MaTERIvVLS— 

„      "SVbey       346  15    1 

Rennet 45    9    6 

Annatto 3    6  10 

Salt          5    9     6i 

Cheese  Bandages          ...    10    2    9J 

64    8    8 

Prizes  gained  for  Cheese  at  Stafford- 
shire Show    6  16    0 

Interest  on  Capital  in  Bank     4  18    5 

Interest  received  from  Milk-suppliers 

for  advances 0  12    1 

0 

6 

Fuel — 

Coal          36    9    0 

/ 

Coke        7  18    6 

44    7    6 

/ 

0 

Of 

Sundries — 

/ 

Soap,  Soda,  Brushes,  &c. 

6  11    5i 

/ 

0 

8 

Rent,  Rates,  and  Insurance— 
One  Year's  Rent          ...    50    0    0 
Rates           ...       1  11    1 
,,           Insurance    ...       6    0    0 

57  11    1 
20    2    2 

/ 

0 

Total      ■) 

cost    of  V  4 
manu-     C 

2| 

Repairs  to  Plant    ... 

/ 

oa 

Other  Expenses — 

/ 

9} 

Weighing     of      Cheese, 

/ 

facture  J 

Carriage,  &c.  ...         ...       8  15     8^ 

1 

Discount       and       other 

allowances       ...         ...     21  16    5 

Commission   on   sale   of 

Butter 9    6     5 

Printing,    Stamps,     and 

Stationery      5    7    li 

Bank  Charges    18    4    9 

Secretary's  Salary         ...     15    0    0 

78  10    5 

/ 

Interest    on     Money    bor- 

/ 

rowed  to  purchase  Plant 

7    8    1 

/ 

Expenses  of   Staffordshire 

/ 

Show       10    0 

/ 

Manager's  share  of  Stafford 

/ 

Prize  Money       3  10    0 

4  10    0 
98    0    0 

/ 

The  Manager's  Bonus*     ... 

/ 

Amount  divided  amongst  Contributors 

/ 

on   221,148  gallons  of  Milk,   rather 

over  "id.  per  gallon,  or  £Vi  lis.  SJd. 

per  cow  t            ( 

£7 

,024  11    0 

1 

,892    8    4 J 

£7,892    8    4i 

Quantity  of  Green  Cheese  made 
,,  shnink  do.  sold    ... 


Amount  of  shrinkage  (about  %\  per  cent.] 


is.   cwts.  qrs.   lbs. 


Average  quantity  of  Green  Cheese  made  per  cow,  3  cwt.  76  lbs. 
Average  quantity  of   Milk    required  to    make  1  lb.  of    Cheese, 

10  lbs. 
No.  of  Milk -suppliers,  28. 
No.  of  Cows  kept  at  any  one  time,  517. 


*  The  Manager  received  10  per  cent,  on  the  money  value  realised  on  tbe  Milk  over  and  above  6id.  per  gallon. 

+  As  each  supplier  returned  the  highest  number  of  Cows  kept  at  any  one  time  during  the  season,  and  as  the  Milk  of  105  Cows  did  not  come  in  until 
May  1st,  the  average  number  of  Cows  working  in  the  Dairy  would  be  less  than  517,  the  niunber  returned.  Consequently,  the  actual  money  average  per 
Cow  for  Milk  supplied  would  be  considerably  in  excess  of  £13  lis.  SJd. 


sot 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


EXTKXSION   OF   THE    FaCTOEY    SySTEM. 


farmere  for  their  own  aiul  (licir  neighbours' use ; 
hut  the  Hope  Dale  factory,  we  beheve,  was  and 
Meanwhile  other  factories  were  being  built  is  the  first  and  only  one  built  on  a  purely  co- 
in the  land.  The  success  of  the  system  had  been  operative  principle,  each  milk-supplier  contri- 
demonstrated  to  the  whole  country,  and  in  districts  buting  capital  on  a  pro  rata  scale  accordui<,r  to 
where    cheese-makin}-:    accommodation    in    farm-      the  number  of  cows  whose   milk  he  intended  to 


'The  Holms"  Cheese  Factory  Associatio.v. 

Opened  May  15,  Closed  November  20,  187-t. 


Cost  of 

Manufacture 

per  cwt. 


0     G\ 


PAY.AIENTS. 


Labour  Contract.. 

Matkrials^ 
Kennet 
Anniitto     ... 
Salt , 

Fuel- 


Rent — 

Kent  of  Factory  .. 
Interest  on  Plant 


1.-) 

.•? 

0 

■A 

0 

0 

-' 

3 

0 

1:^ 

i; 

11 

2 

V> 

5 

10 

0 

0 

0 

12 

7 

General  Expenses — 

Cheese  Cloths,  Bandages,  Brushes, 
Soap,  Soda,  Pajjcr,  Printing, 
Stamps,  Expenses  on  Cheese, 
Coal,  and  Geueriil  Items   ... 

New  Whey  Vat 

Two  New  Cart  Covers 

Items  of  Plant     

Contractors' Bonus        

Dividend  paid  to  Milk-suppliers  7:ld. 
per  gallon  on  70,728  gallons  of 
Milk  sent  to  the  Factory  . . 

Balance  in  hand  ... 


19  18 

0 

11  8 

9 

1  7 

0 

0  IG 

2 

24  16 

6 

f 
2,408  9 

0 

1  13 

5 

£2,620  6 

9 

RECEIPTS. 

*  Produce  of  30  tons  14  cwt.    3  qrs. 
27i  lbs.  of  Cheese  sold       

Produce  of  2G0i  lbs.  of  'WTicy  Butter 

Whey — 

Sold  in  small  quantities...       3    11 
Supplied  to  Contributors  119  12    .5 


2,4S3  18 
13  13 


Green  Cheese  made 
Ripe  Cheese  sold 


Tons.  cwts.  qrs.  lbs. 
33  17  1  18 
30        14        3        27i 


Average  of  Milk  per  lb.  of  Green  Cheese,  10  lbs.  0"84  oz. 
Average  shrinkage,  9  per  cent. 


Being  an  average  of  80?.  9^.  per  cwt.  of  120  Iba.  on  the  entire  make  of  Cheese. 


houses  was  of  an  inferior  character,  or  where  dairy- 
maids were  scarce,  high-waged,  and  incompetent, 
farmers  became  anxious  to  have  factories  to 
which  they  could  send  their  milk.  Windley  and 
Etwall  wore  the  first  to  follow,  then  the  Holms, 
Hope  Dale,  Suttou-on-the-Hill,  Ivonbrook  Grange, 
and  factories  in  Cheshire  and  in  Somersetshire 
were  built.  This  was  while  the  enthusiasm 
which  had  been  aroused  was  in  full  bloom.  The 
Holms  factory  was  the  lirst  to  be  built  by  dairy- 


send  to  the  factory.  Appended  we  give  the 
iirst  year's  balance-sheet  of  the  Holms  factory, 
which  compared  favourably  with  the  best  home- 
made dairies  of  the  district  for  that  year,  and  was 
greatly  superior  to  the  average  results  of  home 
cheese-making  in  that  ])art  of  the  country. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  cost  of  making 
the  cheese  was  higher  than  that  of  Longford  in 
the  previous  year,  and  than  that  of  Windley  in 
the    following   year;    this    is   exiilained    by    the 


THE    HOLMS    AND    WINDLEY    FACTORIES. 


2C5 


comparatively  small  quantity  of  milk  that  could 
be  ci^ot  together  in  the  first  season,  whilst  the 
labour  account  was  excei)tionally  hio-h  for  so 
small  a  factory.  At  that  time  competent  factory 
managers  did  not  equal  in  numbers  the  demand 
there  was  for  them,  and  too  high  a  price  had  to 
be  paid  for  one  in  consequence.  The  committee 
of  this  factory  worked  hard  to  attain  under 
decidedly  unfavourable  conditions  so  favourable 
a  result ;  but  they  were  well  supported  by  the 
few  milk-sui)pliei"s  they  had,  who,  we  believe,  with 
one  exception,  conscientiously  strove  to  carry  out 
the  stipulations  of  the  subjoined  bye-laws  : — 

"  1.  Persons  sending  milk  to  the  above  factory  shall  be 
required  to  send,  twice  each  day,  the  pure  milk  from  the 
whole  of  their  dairy-cows  (excepting  such  milk  as  shall  be 
required  by  them  for  their  family  consumjition)  during  the 
making  season,  the  commencement  and  termination  of  which 
shall  be  determined  by  the  Managing  Committee. 

"  2.  No  person  shall  send,  and  the  manager  of  the  factory 
shall  have  power  to  refuse,  any  milk  th,at  is  of  an  inferior 
quality,  diluted  with  water,  sour,  dirty,  or  otherwise  impure, 
or  from  which  any  cream  has  been  taken;  nor  shall  any 
person  keep  back  that  portion  of  the  milk  known  as  '  af terings ' 
or  '  strippings.' 

"  3.  Milk  from  a  itetrly-calvcd  cow  shall  not  be  sent  to  the 
factory  until  the  cow  has  been  calved /o«)-  days. 

"  4.  Milk  win  be  received  at  the  factory  fr-om  half-past 
five  to  half-past  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  from  five  to 
seven  in  the  evening  of  each  day  ;  these  hours  may,  in  the 
autumn  months,  be  subject  to  certain  modifications,  the  extent 
of  which  will  be  decided  by  the  Committee. 

"  0.  The  cans  used  for  carrying  milk  to  the  factory,  and 
other  utensils  connected  therewith,  mnat  be  kept  thoroughly 
sweet  and  clean. 

"  6.  A  correct  account  of  all  milk  received  at  the  factory, 
■with  the  number  and  weight  of  cheese  made  therefrom,  shall 
be  kept  by   the  Manager  at  the  factory ;  which  account  shall 
be  open  at  all  times  to  the  inspection  of  any  milk  contributor. 
"  May  1st,  1874." 

The  Windley  cheese-factory  is  on  the  estate  of 
Mr.  Crompton,  and  was  formerly  a  malt-house  ; 
at  a  comparatively  small  expense  the  building 
was  adapted  to  its  new  vocation,  and  a  great 
deal  of  excellent'  cheese  has  been  made  in  it. 
As  at  the  Longford  factory  the  Hon.  E.  K.  W. 
Coke,  so  at  AYiudley  Mr.  Crompton  was  inde- 
fatigable in  trying  to  make  the  thing  a  complete 
success ;  and  the  eminently  satisfactory  results 
of  those  first  years  are  chiefly  owing  to  the  in- 
domitable perseverance  of  these  gentlemen.  It 
is  not  too  much  to  say  that  to  them,  more  than 
to  any  other  two  persons,  is  due  the  credit  of 
having  clearly  demonstrated  the  success  of  the 
system  as  applied  to  English  dairying ;  and  we 
may  be  allowed   to   doubt   whether   it   would   at 


that  period  have  obtained  a  trial  at  all  but  for 
them.  Whatever  position  in  the  future  cheese- 
factories  may  fill  in  the  sum-total  of  our  dairy- 
farming,  the  gentlemen  we  have  named  are 
entitled  to  the  merit  of  having  made  a  most 
praiseworthy  attempt  to  largely  benefit  the  bucolic 
agriculture  of  the  country.  We  give  on  the 
next  page  the  balance-sheet  for  1875  of  Mr. 
Crompton's  factory  situate  at  Windley. 

But  after  the  period  to  which  the  following 
balance-sheet  has  reference,  cheese  everywhere 
declined  rapidly  in  price;  in  the  years  1876  to 
1879  inclusive  we  may  rate  the  average  decline 
to  amount  to  about  £:Z5  per  ton,  and  it  was  on  the 
inferior  qualities  of  cheese  that  the  greatest  decline 
had  taken  jilac-e.  Factory  cheese  had  not  been 
exempt  from  the  universal  dejsression.  This  was 
to  be  expected;  but  in  those  factories  where  the 
cheese  had  maintained  the  standard  equality  of 
former  years  the  decline  of  prices  was  very  much 
less  than  the  average  decline  in  the  country 
generally.  Those  factories  certainly  suffered  most 
whose  cheese,  from  one  cause  or  another,  had 
fallen  away  from  the  character  it  bore  a  year  or 
two  earlier.  Tliis  decline  in  prices  was  not  at- 
tributable to  cheese  having  declined  in  quality  to 
a  corresponding  extent,  for  it  had  not  done  so ; 
while  we  admit  that  in  several  factories  the  quality 
was  inferior  to  what  it  had  been  two  or  three  years 
ago,  we  do  not  admit  that  the  inferiority  was  by 
any  means  commensurate  with  the  inferior  prices. 
The  two  great  reasons  of  the  decline  in  prices 
were — (1)  the  general  dej^ression  of  all  kinds  of 
trade,  commerce,  and  manufacturing  industry  in 
the  country,  and  {2)  the  greatly  increased  im- 
portations of  Transatlantic  cheese.  In  the  sub- 
joined balance-sheet  of  the  Holms  cheese-factory 
for  1877 — the  latest  we  have  seen — it  will  be 
noticed  that  in  three  years — comiDared  with  the 
sheet  of  1874 — the  decline  in  price  is  barely  10s. 
per  cwt.,  and  this  is  certainly  a  less  decline 
than  the  average  of  home-made  cheese  had  to 
submit  to  in  the  same  period.  It  will  also  be 
noticed  that  over  £56  of  the  original  plant 
capital  was  then  paid  off,  and  £10  laid  out  in 
new  plant,  and  yet  the — all  things  considered 
— very  satisfactory  dividend  of  Od.  per  gallon 
was  paid  on  the  milk.  These  several  balance- 
sheets  present  a  graphic  picture  of  the  position 
of  factories  at  that  period,  and  they  are  valuable 
for  reference. 


266 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Ti'iNDLEY     Dairy,     1875. 

April  to  October. 


•    April. 

May. 

Jl'sk. 

Jl'LY. 

Arc. 

Sept. 

Oct. 

Lbs.  of  Milk  supplied        

128,ai0 

2IU,302 

230,901 

220,011 

102,222 

150,096 

54,3G8 

Lbs.  of  Cheese  produced 

12,080 

20,834 

22,678 

21,320 

19,195 

16,011 

5,9->4 

Average  Number  of  lbs.  of  llilk  to  lb.  of 
Cheese   ... 

lbs.    oz. 
10    10 

lbs.    oz. 
10    84 

lb.s.     oz. 
10      9 

lbs.     oz. 
10      5 

lbs.     oz. 
10      0 

lbs.     oz. 
9        G 

lbs.     oz. 
9        2 

Total  lbs.  of  Milk 


1,204,240 


Total  lbs.  of  Cheese  made  ... 


118,078 


Average  lbs.  of  Milk  to  1  lb.  of  Green  Cheese  through  the  Season 
Average  lbs.  of  Milk  to  lib.  of  Matured  Cheese      


"Weight  of  Cheese  when  made... 
Weight  of  Cheese  when  sold   ... 


Shrinkage  (9  per  cent.) 


Tons. 
49 

cwts. 
3 

qre. 
3 

lbs 
28 

44 

18 

2 

27 

4 

5 

1 

1 

Value  of  Cheese     ... 


£3,381  10s.  7d.,  averaging  £3  15s.  2d.  per  cwt.  of  120  lbs. 


Cost  of  making 

5s 

2id.  per  cwt. 

PAYMENTS. 

RECEIPTS. 

Cost  per 
cwt. 

DrviDKND    at    6fd.   and  a 
friiction,  or  nearly  7d.  per 
gall.,   on  11,839  galls,  of 
Milk  (10  lbs.  4  oz.  to  the 

£      8.     d. 

£      s.    i. 

Cheese— 44  tors  18  cwt.  2  qrs.  27  lbs 

sold,  at  75s.  2d.  per  cwt. 
Butter— 1,170  lbs.,  at  lljjd.  per  lb.  .. 

£      t.    i. 

.  3,381  10    7 

57  18    0 

«.     i. 

gall.)           

3,379    5    4 

Milk— 906  gaUs 

33  18    7 

2    G 

L.\BOlIR^ 

Whey  -88,045  gaUs.,  at  Jd.  per  gall. .. 

.      183    8    6 

Maker's  "Wages     ... 
Assistant  Makers'  "W.ages 

75    0    0 
34    4    0 

Banker's  Interest            

2  19  11 

Slaking      and     Washing 

/ 

Cheese  Bandages 

2    9    9 

111  13    9 

/ 

1    2 

Matekiai. — 

Rennet       

38    9    6 

/ 

Annatto     

1  16    0 

/ 

Salt 

3  14    3 

/ 

Cheese-cloths       

7    5    6 

/ 

Cbeesep.ipcr       

14    6 

52    9    9 

/ 

0    4 

Ft-EL— 

Coal            

Coke          

13  16    5 
13    3 

14  19    8 

/ 

0    3j 

SCNIIRIES  — 

/ 

JJruslifs,  Soap,  &c. 

0  13    6 

/ ' 

St:itii.TR-ry,  Stamps,  &c.... 

3    9    0 

/ 

Carriiige     and    Weighing 

/ 

Clieese 

4     5    0 

/ 

Haulage  of  Fuel  and  Salt 

1  19    5 

/ 

Insurance  

1  11     9 

/ 

Sundries 

2    7    0 

14    6    2 

/ 

0  10.i 

Kent — 

/ 

One  Year's  Rent  of  Build- 

/ 

5    2i 

ing  and  Plant 

40    0    0 

/ 

40    0    0 
20  18    0 

Dray  and  Dray  Cover     ... 

/ 

Bank  Charges 

6    2  11 

/ 

Secretary  and  Accountant 

£ 

20    0    0 

/ 

3,659  15    7 

£3,659  15    7 

THE    PRESENT    POSITION    OF    FACTORIES. 


267 


"  TuE    IIoLMs "   Cheese    Factory    Association. 

Opened  April  2,   Closed  November  17,  1877. 


Labour— 

Mauager's  Salary,  fiuilmy  all  labour     ... 

Re.vt — 

Of  Factory  and  House      23    0    0 

Interest  on  Plant  ...         ...         ...         ...       ?>  16    it 

Matebul'! — 

Rennet  ami  Colouring      ...         ...         ...     24     5    7 

Salt 4  13    G 

Fuel— 

Coal 11  18     5 

Coke 1  17     9 

Carriage — 

Of  Coal  5    5  1 

„  Coke  1  17  9 

„  Cheese 13  19  2 

General  Expenses — 

Cheese-cloths,  Paper,  and  General  Repairs.. 
Plant,  Xew  Shelving 

Amount  of  Plant  Capital  paid  off  

Dividend  Paid  to  Patrons,  6d.   per  gaU.  on  l.i0,708 

galls.  Milk  


£   s. 

d. 

150  0 

0 

) 

33  16 

9 

-   28  19 

1 

1 

13  16 

2 

) 

21  2 

0 

27  3 
10  10 
56  16 

7 
0 
0 

3,767  14 

0  ! 

£4,109  17 

7 

i 

Cheese  Sold— 
Produce  of  55  tons  ; 

Butter  Sold — 
To  Patrons 
,,  Market 
,,  Outsiders     ... 


Sold — 
Rennet    ... 
Whey      

Whey  to  Milk  Contributors 
Balance  from  last  Season 
Interest  allowed   ... 
Overdrawn  on  Bank 


cwt.  3i  lbs.  of  Cheese  sold  ...    3,1119  19  ll.J 


£4,109  17    7 


The  season's  cheese  averages  703.  lljd.  per  cwt.  of  120  lbs. 


The  Present  Position  of  Factories. 

We  come  now  to  a  later  phase  in  the 
history  of  cheese-factories  in  England,  and  we 
admit  it  is  a  less  pleasant  one  than  we  have  been 
hitherto  occupied  with.  It  is  s^enerally  under- 
stood that  most  of  the  factories  are  no  longer 
producing  as  good  cheese  as  they  were  several 
years  ago,  and  from  this  the  conclusion  is 
hastily  arrived  at  that  the  system  is  a  failure. 
We  admit  the  correctness  of  the  premiss,  but 
we  deny  that  of  the  conclusion.  About  half 
of  the  factories  are  still  producing  veiy,  and 
the  rest  of  them  moderately,  good  cheese,  but 
even  were  they  all  producing  very  bad  cheese, 
it  would  still  be  unfair  to  condemn  the  system 
for  the  failure.  Results  such  as  those  shown 
by  the  foregoing  balance-sheets  could  not  have 
been  produced  under  a  system  that  was  a  failure, 
and  though  inferior  results  have  since  been  pro- 
duced, we  cannot  admit  that  they  are  an  integral 
part  of  the  system.  The  latter  proved  itself 
to  be  sound  and  successful  for  years,  and  it 
would  always  prove  itself  the  same  pi-oviding  its 
conditions  were  complied  wth.  But  neither 
37 


cheese-factories  nor  anj-thing  else  involving  a 
system  can  be  successful,  if  the  known  principles 
on  which  success  depends  are  either  intentionally 
or  unintentionally  violated.  Results  rap  the 
knuckles  of  those  whom  experience  has  failed 
to  educate;  and  so  the  comparative  failure  of 
some  of  the  factories  is  making  itself  to  be  very 
unpleasantly  felt.  We  will  endeavour  to  indicate 
the  causes  of  such  non-success;  and  without 
drawing  too  general  conclusions  from  individual 
instances  will  state  as  clearly  as  possible  the 
chief  faults  that  have  crept  in. 

1.  In  the  first  place  we  may  state  that  the 
pride  in  work,  the  care,  the  watchfulness,  the 
emulation,  the  heartiness  of  effort  which  were 
introduced  by  the  system,  and  which  were  all- 
important  in  those  first  years'  successes,  have  not 
been  maintained  as  they  ought  to  have  been 
among  the  factory  managers.  It  was  not  to  be 
expected,  or  even  wished,  that  the  promoters' 
enthusiasm  should  long  outlive  the  opposition 
that  called  it  into  being;  and  however  useful 
that  element  might  be  in  carrying  the  sj'stem 
over  the  first  years'  difficulties,  it  ought  not  to 
have  been  necessary  to  keep  alive  in  the  makers 


268 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


the  (lualitics  tliat  were  required  for  the  continued 
success  of  the  system.  Warmth  of  feeliuf^  dis- 
played in  action  is  very  useful  in  most  new 
movements,  and  it  is  commonly  necessary  tt) 
establish  them  ;  but  it  is  a  different  thing  from 
the  steady,  methodical,  sustained  work  Ijy  which 
alone  any  movement  can  be  expected  to  be 
maintained  when  the  novelty  has  worn  off.  There 
was  much  earnestness  of  purpose  at  the  onset 
among  committees  and  managers  alike ;  and  it 
was  reasonably  hoped  that  the  latter  would  settle 
down  to  their  woi-k,  as  men  in  other  vocations  do, 
with  a  pride  in  it,  a  sense  of  its  importance,  a 
watchfulness,  thought  fulness,  and  unceasing  desire 
to  improve,  such  as  would  have  maintained  the 
success  which  was  achieved  at  lirst.  These  quali- 
ties are  found  in  some  of  the  managers ;  but  others 
seem  to  have  grown  mechanical  and  careless, 
others,  again,  slovenly  and  dirty;  and  the  factory 
system  in  certain  instances  has  only  perpetuated 
on  a  larger  scale  some  of  the  leading  faults  that 
used  to  be  complained  of  so  much  in  dairymaids. 

2.  Factories  were  calculated  to  introduce  not 
only  an  improved  method  of  cheese-making,  but 
also  a  sj^irit  of  fraternity,  goodwill,  and  friendly 
emidation  that  would  have  led  on  to  unthought-of 
improvements.  It  was  expected  that  the  managers 
would  meet  together  now  and  then,  in  the  in- 
tervals between  the  seasons,  to  talk  matters  over 
in  an  unconstrained  and  helpful  spirit,  freely 
admitting  failures  where  such  had  occurred,  and 
freely  explaining  successes.  In  such  an  art  as 
cheese-making,  -which  is  far  from  having  arrived 
at  perfection,  and  which  is,  or  ought  to  be,  pro- 
gressive, the  meeting  together  of  those  who  are 
practically  engaged  in  it  to  talk  over  the  pros 
and  cons  of  the  matter  is  one  of  the  best  means 
to  success.  But  when  they  keep  as  it  were 
studiously  apart,  there  are  soon  as  many  ways 
of  making  cheese  as  there  are  men  who  make 
it.  We  cannot  but  think  that  had  factory 
managers  met  together  occasionally,  they  would 
have  spurred  each  other  up,  and  those  amongst 
them  who  subsided  into  indifference  would  most 
probably  have  remained  emulous  instead;  and  they 
would  have  gone  on  learning  and  improving,  as 
they  undoubtedly  did  for  the  first  four  or  five 
years,  instead  of  remaining  stationary,  and  in  some 
instances  positively  retrograding. 

3.  One  obvious  fault  into  which  some  factory 
managers    have    fallen    is    th.at    of    hurrying    too 


much  the  process  of  making  the  cheese,  from 
breaking  the  curd  to  vatting  it  inclusive.  It 
is  not  that  they  have  hurried  the  mechanical 
part  too  much  in  all  cases,  though  this  has 
become  too  common,  but  that  they  have  luustened 
the  separation  of  the  whey  by  "letting  on"  too 
much  acid — developing  it  too  far  in  the  whey; 
and  here  it  is  that  great  mischief  is  done.  Acid 
will  counteract  the  ill  effects  of  tainted  milk,  and 
it  will  cause  the  whey  to  quickly  leave  the  curd ; 
but  it  will  also  hinder,  and  if  developed  too  far 
will  destroy,  the  slow  ferment  which  the  rennet 
sets  up  in  the  cheese  and  which  is  the  rijiening 
process.  Hence  over-acidified  cheese,  while  lessen- 
ing the  labour  of  the  manager,  will  hinder  the 
rijiening  of  the  cheese.  The  development  of 
acidity  may  be  seen  in  the  change  of  the  appear- 
ance rather  than  of  the  colour  of  the  whey — a 
sort  of  glimmer  on  the  surface  indicates  it. 

4.  The  want  of  esprit  de  corps,  which  we  have 
noticed  particularly  in  some  managers,  has  seemed 
to  weaken  the  sense  of  the  necessity  of  scrupulous 
cleanliness ;  in  which  event  a  man  is  little  likely 
to  produce  good  cheese.  Some  persons  appear 
to  have  lost  sight  of  the  absolute  necessity  of 
keeping  all  the  utensils  with  which  the  milk 
comes  in  contact  in  the  factory  as  sweet  and 
clean  as  possible — perhaps  they  never  had  it,  and 
kept  things  clean  for  a  time  mechanically  and 
not  from  conviction.  They  fail  to  apprehend  that 
these  utensils  will  soon  become  sour  if  they  are 
not  thoroughly  well  cleaned  every  day,  and  that 
they  will  communicate  their  sourness  to  the  next 
milk  that  is  ]iut  into  them  :  many  a  good  cheese, 
or  what  would  have  been  a  good  cheese,  is  ruined 
this  way.  And  not  only  the  various  utensils, 
but  the  factory  itself — the  floors,  the  walls,  the 
windows,  everything — should  be  kept  as  clean 
and  fresh  and  sweet  as  plenty  of  hot  and  cold 
water  and  scrubbing  and  swilling  will  make  them. 
In  some  eases  these  matters  have  been  culjiably 
neglected. 

5.  Much  cheese  has  been  seriously  injured  in 
factories  by  not  being  properly  attended  to  after 
it  was  nuide.  It  has  been  allowed  to  starve  in 
a  damp  cold  room  on  the  ground  floor,  and  it 
has  been  left  imturned  until  it  stuck  to  the 
shelves.  It  has  liecome  mouldy  and  covered  with 
mites,  and  the  shelves  have  been  covered  with 
mites  and  saturated  with  damp,  and  a  musty 
atmosj)here    has    pervaded     the    place.       Cheese 


INTRUSIVE    FAULTS    AND    ERRORS. 


269 


cannot  ripen  in  siu-li  a  room.  Attain,  in  tlie 
upstairs  room  the  temperature  has  varied  greatly ; 
some  of  the  cheeses  have  been  roasted  b^^  being 
too  near  the  stove,  or  they  have  been  starved  by 
being  too  far  away  fi'om  it,  and  they  have  been 
left  unturned  till  they  have  stuck  together  and 
to  the  floor,  when  they  ought  to  have  been 
tm-ned  "  every  other  day."  A  great  deal  of  well- 
made  cheese  is  ruined  in  the  ripening.  We  wish 
it  to  be  understood  that  the  foregoing  condem- 
natory remarks  apply  to  a  few  only  of  the  factory 
managers  of  the  past,  and  not  by  any  means  to 
all  of  them. 

G.  But  the  factory  managers  are  not  wholly — • 
in  some  eases  they  are  not  at  all — to  blame  for  the 
disasters  that  have  occurred  in  places  here  and 
there.  Certain  milk-suppliers  have  been  more  to 
blame  than  the  worst  of  managers,  for  they  have 
done  mischief  not  by  mere  carelessness,  but  from 
motives  of  petty  personal  gain.  Some  of  them  have 
deliberately  done  harm  to  the  factory  to  which  they 
were  attached  by  sending  skim-milk  to  it.  In 
order  that  they  might  pocket  each  week  a  few 
shillings. of  "butter-money,"  they  have  sent  sour 
milk,  which  they  knew  would  greatly  injure  all 
the  sweet  milk  that  came  in  contact  with  it,  and 
from  which  they  also  knew  it  was  imjjossible  to 
make  good  cheese.  This  has  been  done  secretly, 
in  defiance  of  bye-laws,  and  in  violation  of  com- 
mon honesty  toward  one's  neighbour.  No  factory 
manager  can  be  successful  when  one  or  two  of  his 
milk-suppliers  are  addicted  to  skimming  their  milk 
and  privately  sending  a  basket  of  butter  to  market 
■ — butter  which  belongs  to  the  Association ;  and 
the  only  blame  we  can  attach  to  him  in  such  a 
case  is  on  the  ground  that  he  failed  in  duty,  be- 
cause he  did  not  detect  and  reject  such  milk.  It 
is  no  unimportant  part  of  a  factory  manager's 
duty  to  keep  a  sharj)  look-out  for  milk  that  is  not 
what  it  ought  to  be,  and  when  he  fluds  it,  to  reject 
it,  and  lodge  with  the  committee  a  eomjilaiut 
against  the  olfender. 

7.  Other  milk-suppliers  have  done  great  harm 
through  pure  carelessness  and  thoughtlessness. 
These  have  not  been  alive  to  the  importance  of 
keejiing  thoroughly  sweet  and  clean  all  vessels  that 
come  in  contact,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  \\ith 
the  milk'  they  send  to  the  factory.  They  are  not 
aware  that  milk  itself  is  one  of  the  worst  things 
imaginable  for  making  vessels  sour,  if  they  are 
not   thoroughly    cleaned    every   time    after   being 


used.  Milk  left  sticking  to  the  sides  or  bottoms 
or  in  the  seams  of  these  utensils  will  soon  make 
them  unfit  to  put  other  milk  in ;  if  the  pails  and 
pans  and  kettles,  and  all  other  vessels  that  are 
used  in  connection  with  milk,  are  not  well  scnibbed 
and  scalded  every  day,  they  will  in  hot  weather 
soon  be  sour;  the  milk  left  in  them,  in  decom- 
f)osing,  sets  up  a  putrefactive  ferment,  which  is 
communicated  to  and  spoils  the  next  milk  that  is 
put  into  them.  And  these  ferments  spread  at  an 
astonishing  rate  when  they  have  something  con- 
genial to  work  in,  as  milk  is,  and  they  do  their 
work  in  a  very  short  space  of  time.  The  cans  used 
in  carrying  milk  to  a  factory,  if  not  thoroughly 
cleaned  each  time  they  go,  will  sow  the  seeds  of 
sourness  in  the  next  lot  of  milk;  this,  in  its  turn, 
contaminates  other  people's  milk,  and  so  the  cheese 
is  ruined. 

8.  There  is  a  growing  suspicion  that  artificial 
manures  and  feeding-stuffs  have  an  ill  effect  on 
milk  that  is  produced  by  their  aid.  It  is  thought 
that  they  communicate  to  it  something  or  other 
that  greatly  increases  the  difliculty  of  making 
satisfactory  cheese  and  butter  from  it.  With- 
out endorsing  this  belief,  we  may  mention  that  we 
have  known  one  authentic  instance  in  which  the 
use  of  cotton-cake  had  a  most  injurious  effect  on 
the  butter,  making  it  soft  and  oily ;  and  when 
the  cake  was  suspected  and  cut  off,  the  butter 
was  all  right  again  immediately.  This  occurred 
in  autumn,  when  the  cows  were  eating  grass  on 
the  pastures,  and  were  receiving  the  cotton-cake 
as  supplementary  food.  One  swallow  does  not 
make  a  summer;  yet  it  is  not  by  any  means 
improbable  that  there  may  be  some  truth  in  the 
allegations  that  are  brought  against  purchased 
feeding-stuffs.  We  have  known  many  instances 
in  which  it  has  been  found  more  difficult  to  make 
satisfactory  cheese  from  land  that  had  been  recently 
boned  or  limed  rather  liberally.  Such  cheese  was 
quite  unmanageable,  unless  a  jJortion  of  the  milk 
was  skimmed — the  skimming  was  like  bleeding  a 
patient  for  inflammation.  We  ought  not,  from 
these  instances,  to  come  hastily  to  any  hard-and- 
fast  conclusions  ;  but  we  think  this  matter  is  well 
worth  careful  ex])eriment  and  investigation. 

9.  One  fniitful  source  of  mischief  lies  in  not 
properly  cooling  the  milk  before  it  is  sent  off  to  a 
factory  in  hot  weather.  Warm  milk  in  closely- 
lidded  cans,  jolted  a  mile  or  two  over  rough 
country  roads,  in  a  springless  cart  of  the  farm, 


270 


DAIRY    FAIIMING. 


and  hall'  chunicd  in  Itio  process,  is  in  no  fit  state 
to  be  made  into  clioese;  and  no  man  can  make 
fine  cheese  from  it.  In  cases  where  it  is  tlie  rnle 
to  send  the  milk  only  once  a  day,  the  intervening^ 
meal  of  milk  is  seldom  taken  proper  care  of  at  the 
farmstead,  as  it  would  be  at  the  factory ;  and  we 
think  the  once-a-day  system,  for  this  reason  if 
for  no  other,  ong'ht  to  be  abolished.  Many  milk- 
sii])p]iers  would  take  better  care  of  their  milk  than 
they  do  if  they  had  to  make  it  up  into  cheese 
themselves. 

10.  It  would  ajipear  that,  in  sufiicieut  instances 
to  do  a  great  deal  of  mischief,  both  manao-ers  and 
milk-suppliers  have  thrown  altof^ether  too  careless. 
If  there  is  a  careless  nuina>>-er  the  result  will  be 
disaster,  no  matter  how  careful  the  milk-suppliers 
maybe;  and,  in  like  manner,  one  careless  milk- 
su])plier  will  undo  the  carefulness  of  nineteen 
others.  "What  is  everybody's  business  is  nobody's, 
it  would  seem,  otherwise  many  careless  practices  in 
connection  with  cheese-factories  would  be  put  an 
end  to.  The  bulk  of  the  farmers  who  send  their 
milk  to  cheese-factories  are  alive  to  the  importance 
of  the  matters  we  have  here  discussed,  and  do  their 
utmost  to  conform  to  the  conditions  laid  down  for 
their  guidance;  but  in  too  many  instances  they  are 
thwarted  by  the  thoughtless  ones,  and  by  others 
who  are  even  more  blamable  than  these;  yet  "evil 
is  wrought  by  want  of  thought  as  well  as  by  want 
of  heart."  Carelessness  in  a  factory  manager  is 
fatal  to  progress ;  lethargy  brings  everything  to  a 
standstill ;  in  which  ease  imjjrovements  are  never 
adopted^never  even  considered  as  they  ought  to 
be.  The  lively  and  long-sustained  interest,  the 
almost  affectionate  eare,  the  cheerful  alacrity,  the 
unceasing  watchfulness,  the  steady  industiy  which 
American  cheese-makers  and  French  and  German 
butter-makers  carry  into  the  work,  are  things  that 
may  with  advantage  be  copied  by  jiersons  who  are 
engaged  in  similar  work  in  the  British  Islands. 
I'riile  ill  work  is  the  very  foundation  of  these 
things.  We  speak  now  of  what  we  have  seen  in 
other  lands,  atul  we  would  fain  see  the  same  sort 
of  thing  prevail  among  our  own  cheese  and  butter 
makers.  We  know  that  this  pride  in  work  is  not 
a  thing  that  can  be  created  at  will ;  it  is  a  matter 
of  small  beginnings  and  of  slow  growth,  but  when 
we  see  symptoms  of  it  in  ))laces,  we  desire  to  fosti'r 
and  promote  them  by  calling  attention  to  what  is 
being  done  in  other  countries,  aiid  by  suggesting 
what  ought  to  be  done  in  our  own. 


It  has  been  frequently  said  that  the  fact  of 
cheese-factories  not  having  become  so  numerous 
in  the  country  as  it  was  predicted  they  would  is 
a  jiroof  that  the  system  is  a  failure.  This  we 
em]'hatically  deny.  One  of  the  chief  reasons— 
probably  the  chiefest  of  them — why  factories  have 
not  so  multiplied  in  number,  is  the  enormous  ex- 
])ansion  in  recent  years  of  the  milk-trade  to  the 
towns  and  cities.  In  numerous  districts  where 
factories  were  in  contemplation,  this  expansion  has 
ojH'rated  to  prevent  their  establishment  ;  and  in 
others  where  they  have  been  established  it  will  in 
time  disestablish  them.  This,  however,  we  cannot 
regret;  for  the  milk-trade,  properly  conducted,  will 
out-i)rofit  cheese-making  anywhere,  if  only  a  rail- 
way is  handy  enough. 

Cheese-making  in  Factokies. 

The  first  requisite  at  a  cheese-factory  is  a  con- 
stant supply  of  pure  cold  water;  without  it  no 
factory  manager  can  be  uniformly  successful.  It 
must  be  cold  for  cooling  the  milk  in  hot  weather, 
when  cooling  is  indispensable,  and  it  must  be  pure 
for  washing  the  utensils.  During  the  .  heat  of 
summer  its  temperature  should  not  be  above  55", 
and  this  se.'ured,  the  rest  of  the  year  will  take 
care  of  itself.  Enough  running  water  to  fill  a 
pipe  whose  diameter  is  1?  inches  will  be  ample  to 
supply  a  factory  of  500  cows. 

One  of  the  most  important  jiarts  of  a  manager's 
duty  is  to  closely  watch  the  milk  he  receives  into 
the  factory.  He  is  perfectly  justified  in  rejecting 
any  of  it  that  is  sour,  dirty,  skimmed,  diluted, 
or  otherwise  impure  and  out  of  condition.  His 
success,  in  fact,  will  in  a  great  measure  dejiend  on 
his  vigilance  in  these  matters,  providing  all  his 
niilk-sup2)liers  are  not  strictly  careful  and  con- 
scientious, for  no  one  can  make  good  cheese  from 
milk  that  is  not  what  it  ought  to  be.  He  cannot, 
it  is  true,  detect  skim-milk  as  easily  as  he  can 
sour  or  dirty  milk ;  nor  can  he,  even  with  a  lacto- 
meter, decide  absolutely  whether  or  not  the  milk 
has  been  diluted  with  water;  but  carefully-acquired 
experience  will  enable  him  to  detect,  by  his  facul- 
ties of  sight  and  smell,  and  without  the  aid  of 
scientific  instruments,  the  more  flagrant  cases  of 
carelessness  or  adulteration. 

The  lactometer  is  simjily  a  hydrometer  apjilied 
to  milk,  and  it  indicates  only  specific  gravities. 
The  more  casein,  milk-sugar,  and  mineral  matters 
— the  more  solids,  that  is — there  are  in  milk,  the 


THE    USE    OF    THE    LACTOMETER. 


271 


greater  will  be  its  specific  gravity  or  density,  other 
things  being  equal,  and  the  higher  will  be  the 
indication  on  the  lactometer ;  and  it  is  on  account 
of  these  constituents — not  on  account  of  its  cream 
— that  milk  is  heavier  than  water.  Pure  milk 
has  a  specific  gravity  of  about  1-033,  that  of 
water  being  I'UOO;  milk  is  therefore  about  3 
per  cent,  heavier  than  water.  Now  the  fats  of 
milk,  of  which  cream  is  chiefly  comjwsed,  are 
lighter  than  water,  the  specific  gravity  of  milk-fat 
being  0'9,  and  of  water  I'O;  cream,  however,  is 
not  to  this  extent  lighter  than  water,  because  it 
contains  a  certain  amount  of  milk-solids.  But  in 
any  case,  cream  and  water  are  each  3  per  cent.,  or 
upwards,  lighter  than  milk.  Skimmed  milk  is 
heavier  than  pure  milk,  because  the  lighter  fats 
have  been  taken  out  of  it.  But  if  this  skimmed 
milk  be  again  cliarged  with  cream,  to  an  extent 
beyond  its  natural  quantity,  its  specific  gravity 
will  be  brought  nearer  that  of  water  than  it  was 
before  the  milk  was  skimmed,  and  sufficient  cream 
may  be  put  into  it  to  reduce  the  specific  gravity 
even  below  that  of  water,  because  cream  is  lighter 
than  water. 

That  portion  of  milk  called  "  strippings," 
which  is  the  small  quantity  of  milk  that  a  cow 
usually  lets  down  a  short  time  after  she  has  been 
milked,  is  known  to  be  richer  than  ordinary  milk 
in  fats,  and  its  specific  gravity  is  lower  than  that 
of  ordinary  milk.  The  specific  gravity  of  strip- 
pings  is  sometimes  found  to  be  as  low  as  1'020, 
when  the  proportion  of  cream  is  unusually  large, 
and  1'0'Zo  is  not  by  any  means  uncommon.  If 
ordinary  milk  is  found  to  have  a  specific  gravity 
of  1'0'Zb,  instead  of  its  normal  1032,  it  is  reason- 
able to  suppose  one  of  two  things :  either  that  it 
is  exceptionally  rich  in  cream,  or  that  it  has  been 
diluted  with  15  or  20  per  cent,  of  w'ater.  Hence 
it  follows  that  specific  gravity  is  not  by  any  means 
an  absolute  or  even  a  fair  test  of  the  purity  of 
milk,  for  while  it  can  be  raised  by  abstracting  the 
cream,  it  can  be  lowered  again  by  putting  in  some 
water;  and  as  cream  is  lighter  than  water,  a 
smaller  quantity  of  water  put  in  than  of  cream 
taken  out  will  suffice  to  restore  to  the  milk  the 
specific  gravity  it  had  before  it  was  skimmed. 
Hence  it  is  one  of  the  simplest  things  in  the  world 
to  cheat  a  lactometer. 

Yet  a  lactometer  in  the  hands  of  a  careful 
person  may  be  very  useful  in  a  cheese-factory,  as  a 
check  on  any  milk-sujiplier  who  may  be  inclined 


to  tamper  with  the  purity  of  his  milk.  In  making 
a  test  to  ascertain  with  how  much  water  the  milk 
may  have  been  diluted,  a  very  fair  conclusion  may 


Fig.  129.  Fig.  130. 

be  arrived  at  by  using  two  cream-gauges,  as 
shown  in  a,  b,  Eig.  129;  a  per  cent,  glass,  c; 
and  a  lactometer,  Fig.  1 30. 

Fill  one  of  the  cream-gauges  to  g;;uge-mark 
10  with  milk  which  is  known  to  be  pure,  and 
drawn  from  several  cows.  This  will  be  the  stan- 
dard of  pure  milk  for  that  day.  Fill  the  other  to 
the  same  number  with  milk  to  be  tested,  and  fill 
the  per  cent,  glass  with  water  to  gauge-mark  0. 
To  avoid  any  mistake,  mark  first  jar  by  pasting 
letters  p.  m.  on  the  side  or  bottom.  Set  the  jars 
away,  side  by  side,  a  sufficient  length  of  time  for 
the  cream  to  rise,  and  all  to  become  of  the  same 
temperature.  Now  note  the  c[uantity  of  cream  in 
each  jar  of  milk.  If  a  less  quantity  is  found  on 
the  milk  which  is  being  tested  thau  on  the  otliei', 
it  indicates  diluted  or  skimmed  milk. 

Now  remove  the  cream  from  each  jar;  intro- 
duce the  lactometer  into  the  jar  marked  p.  Ji.,  and 
note  on  the  scale-mark  where  it  fioats.  Then 
remove  it  to  the  other  jar,  and  note  also  where  it 
floats.  If  it  sinks  lower  than  in  the  first,  it  is 
j)ositive  evidence  of  dilution  with  water.  Rejjlaee 
the  lactometer  in  jar  marked  p.  m.,  and  from  the 
per  cent,  glass,  filled  with  water  exactly  to  0,  or 
zero,  pour  into  P.  M.  jar  until  the  lactometer  sinks 
exactly  to  the  same  point  as  in  the  other  jar. 
Now  count  or  number  on  per  cent,  glass  from 
zero  down  (each  mark  represents  one-half  of  1 
per  cent.),  and  we  have  precisely'  the  percentage  of 
water  with  wliieh  the  milk  we  are  testing  has  been 
diluted. 


27^ 


DAIKV    I'AU-MLXG. 


We  do  not  say  that  this  is  an  aljsohiti'ly  correct 
test,  for  the  milk  of  different  cows,  or  of  tlie  same 
cow  at  different  times,  varies  very  much  as  to  the 
proportion  of  cream  it  contains.  And  the  cream 
of  the  milk  of  some  breeds  of  cows,  or  of  indi- 
vidual cows  that  differ  from  the  f^enerality  of  the 
breed,  rises  so  much  more  slowly  than  that  of 
others,  that  to  make  the  cream-f^jauge  test  at  all 
a  fair  one  the  milk  must  stand  for  a  very  lonc^ 
time  to  cream.  And,  ajrain,  some  milk  will  not 
throw  up  more  than  a  portion  of  its  cream, 
however  long  it  may  stand,  while  other  milk  will 
throw  up  nearly  the  whole  of  it  in  a  c()mj)aratively 
short  time.  But  if  mixed  milk  from  ten  or  fifteen 
cows,  all  of  which  is  known  to  be  treuuiue,  is 
taken  as  a  standai-d,  all  other  milk  produced  under 
similar  conditions,  on  the  same  day,  in  the  same 
district,  on  similar  land,  and  from  cows  of  the 
same  breed,  ought  when  tested  to  a])proach  pretty 
near  to  it  in  quality.  So  the  test  is  not  by  any 
means  an  unfair  one,  its  results  are  tolerably  trust- 
worthy, and  it  is  the  quickest  and  cheapest  test 
that  an  ordinary'  person  can  employ,  providing  it 
is  used  intelligently  and  with  care. 

A  lactometer,  however,  requires  to  be  used  with 
the  greatest  nicety,  if  its  record  is  to  be  of  any 
value,  for  a  comparatively  small  change  in  the 
density  of  a  fluid  frequently  represents  a  consider- 
able change  in  its  composition.  If  we  take  milk 
as  an  instance  of  this,  we  find — leaving  cream  out 
of  consideration — that  9'2  per  cent,  of  milk-solids 
raise  the  density  of  milk  only  ;3'0  to  3"5  per  cent, 
above  that  of  water.  Mineral  substances  dissolved 
in  water  raise  the  density  more  rapidlj^  than  or- 
ganic substances,  and  the  mineral  matters  in  milk 
amount  only  to  about  0"75  per  cent.,  while  the 
milk-sugar  and  casein  amount  to  about  D-O  per 
cent.,  the  latter  being  twelve  times  as  great  as  the 
former  in  quantity. 

In  simjjly  testing  the  relative  percentages  of 

cream  in  various  sanijiles  of  milk,  a  set  of  sini])le 

glass  cream-gauges, 

as  seen  in  Fig.  l-'U, 

with    graduated 

marks    upon    them 

similar  to  those  on 

the     cream-gauges 

in  Fig.  H!),  will  be 

found  suilicient  for 

all  practical    ])urposes.     A   quicker    determinatidn 

of    cream     may    lie     made     by    the    centrifugal 


'^'JUJJJJJjJ^JJ- 


riy.  131.     L'heam  I 


cream  extractor,  illustrated  in  the  next  chapter. 
The  percentage  of  cream  is,  however,  no  infallible 
sign  that  milk  has  or  has  not  been  skimnieil, 
Ix'cause  the  ])roi)ortion  of  cream  in  pure  milk  varies 
greatly  and  dcjiends  on  many  causes.  The  food  the 
cow  eats,  the  kind  of  land  she  grazes  on,  the  weather, 
the  period  of  the  year,  the  breed  of  the  cow,  the 
state  of  health  she  is  in,  and  her  general  treatment 
are  all  causes  which  affect  the  quantity  of  cream 
in  milk.  And  there  are  other  causes  which  are 
not  at  present  understood,  because  the  proportion 
of  cream  in  a  cow's  milk  will  be  found  to  vary 
greatly  on  successive  days,  though  she  may  be 
kept  on  the  same  footl,  and  the  weather  and  her 
health  may,  for  anything  we  can  tell,  remain  un- 
changed. 

Different  kinds  of  land,  equally  valuable  per- 
haps from  an  agricultural  }X)int  of  view,  will 
produce  milks  that  differ  greatly  in  richness ;  one 
kind  of  land  will  produce  a  large  quantity  of  milk 
somewhat  inferior  in  quality,  and  another  kind  a 
smaller  quantity  of  milk  of  a  superior  quality ; 
while  yet  another  kind  of  land,  that  is  richer  and 
stronger  than  either  of  the  others,  will  produce  a 
large  quantity  of  milk  of  very  good  quality.  One 
sample  of  milk,  therefore,  that  contains  a  smaller 
proportion  of  cream  than  another  sample  against 
which  it  has  been  tested,  must  not  be  hastily 
condemned  as  having  been  denuded  of  a  portion 
of  its  cream ;  for,  if  they  were  tested  together  a 
week  later,  it  is  quite  jxissible  their  jxisitions  in 
the  cream-gauge  might  be  revereed.  Still,  as  the 
table  on  next  page  will  show,  the  variations  in  cream 
in  different  samples  of  milk,  tested  on  the  same 
days  and  produced  in  the  same  district,  though  on 
different  sorts  of  land,  are  found  to  bear  some  kind 
of  relationship,  and  for  the  most  part  to  rise  and 
fall  together  in  somewhat  irregular  unison.  The 
tests  were  made  by  a  painstaking  and  accurate 
friend  of  ours,  in  the  year  1^77,  at  one  of  the 
Derbyshire  cheese-factories,  and  they  may  be  ac- 
cepted as  presenting  a  trustworthy  picture  of  the 
true  state  of  things.  The  leading  feature  in  the 
picture  is,  however,  the  continual  fluctuation  that 
is  going  on.  The  samjiles  in  each  case  were  taken 
from  milk  that  was  l)elieved  to  be  perfectly 
genuine,  and  from  the  mixed  milk  of  the  number 
of  cows  mentioned  in  the  margin. 

The  least  jjercentage  of  cream  is  found  in  July, 
and  this  is  probably  owing  to  the  heat  of  the 
weather    jtreventing    the    milk    from    cooling    as 


VARIATIONS    IN    THE    QUALITY    OF    MILK. 


273 


much  as  it  ought  to  do  if  the  cream  is  to  rise  per- 
fectly. Cream  rises  hest,  though  not  quickest,  in 
a  slowly-falling  temperature,  and  the  longer  the 
temperature  continues  falling,  the  more  completely 
the  cream  will  rise  ;  so  that  the  smaller  quantity 
of  cream  indicated  in  the  hottest  month  may 
be  owing  in  part  to  the  cause  we  have  stated, 
and  in  part  to  the  milk  being  actually  poorer  in 
fats,  on  account  of  the  cows  drinking  more  and 
eating  less  than  when  the  weather  is  cooler. 

Notwithstanding  these  fluctuations  in  quality, 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  manager  to  repeatedly  test 
various  samples  of  milk  against  each  other  in 
the  manner  illustrated  by  this  specimen  table, 
and  it  is  no  less  the  duty   of  milk-suppliers  not 


of  standing  whilst  the  cream  was  rising,  hut 
the  taking  off  a  portion  of  the  cream  ia  a  direct 
act  of  petty  larceny  committed  against  the  Asso- 
ciaticm. 

We  have  referred  at  length  to  the  questions 
of  purity  and  quality  of  milk,  because  they  are  the 
lirst  cousiderations  in  factory  cheese-making ;  and 
we  have  spoken  plainly  as  to  the  duties  of  milk- 
suppliers  and  factory  managers,  because  success 
is  impossible  if  these  preliminary  duties  are 
neglected.  Cleanliness  is  a  prime  consideration 
in  cheese-making — cleanliness  in  everything  to 
which  the  word  can  be  applied.  We  also  consider 
it  to  be  an  important  thing  that  the  milk,  before 
being   sent   off   to   the   factoryj  especially  in  hot 


Variations  in  Cream. 


No.  of 
Cows. 

June. 

July. 

Adgust, 

SUPTE 

MB... 

Oct. 

November. 

E. 

E. 

E. 

E. 

M. 

M. 

E. 

E. 

M. 

M. 

E. 

M. 

M. 

M. 

6 

12 

27 

24 

26 

21 

29 

3 

13 

17 

29 

13 

8 

IS 

Per 
ceut. 

cent. 

Per 
cent. 

Per 
cent. 

Per 
ceut. 

Per 
cent. 

Per 

cent. 

Per 

ceut. 

fer 
cent. 

I'er 

Per 

Per 

cent. 

Per 

Per 

cent. 

1 

16 

10 

8 

8 

9 

8 

14 

n_ 

131 

9i 

10 

lit 

HI 

13'- 

11? 

2 

10 

9 

8 

8 

8 

8 

9 

9 

12| 

9 

9J 

11 

92 

llj 

lU 

3 

24 

10 

10 

9 

8 

8 

9 

9J 

12 

9 

8| 

Hi 

11 

14 

13i 

4 

9 

10 

11 

11 

10 

10 

15 

11 

14 

9i 

lOJ 

lOi 

9J 

13J 

13 

5 

24 

7 

8 

8 

8 

8 

9 

71 

llj 

7 

8 

10 

11 

13 

12J 

6 

30 

10 

9 

9 

8 

8 

10 

9 

Hi 

7 

8 

11 

91 

10 

lit 

M.,  Morning;  E.,  Evening. 


only  not  to  impoverish  their  milk  by  any  means 
— either  skimming  off  the  cream  or  putting  in 
some  water — but  also  to  be  very  particular  about 
keej)ing  scrupulously  clean  every  vessel  that  comes 
in  contact  with  the  milk.  Careless  members  of 
the  Association  do  injury  to  others  beside  them- 
selves, or  we  should  not  take  the  trouble  to  make 
complaint  against  them.  It  is  useless  for  nine- 
teen milk-suppliers  to  be  very  particular  as  to 
cleanliness,  if  the  twentieth  is  careless ;  the  one 
will  undo  all  the  good  the  nineteen  have  done. 
One  lot  of  dirty  or  sour  milk  will  taint  all  the 
milk  it  is  mixed  -vvith,  and  the  cheese  of  twenty 
j)eople  is  spoiled  through  the  culpable  negligence 
of  one  person.  But  however  blamable  such 
carelessness  may  be,  it  is  less  so  than  that  of 
skimming  the  milk  and  then  sending  it  to  the 
factory  as  pure  milk ;  for  not  only  is  skimmed 
milk  more  or  less  sour  in  hot  weather,  by  reason 


weather,  should  be  atjrated — well  stirred  about,  to 
let  the  gases  and  odours  escape  out  of  it — 
and  at  all  events  j'^i'tially  cooled.  In  cold 
weather  there  is  less  need  for  these  pi-ecautious, 
though  aeration  is  at  all  times  a  good  thing, 
wherever  it  can  be  done  in  a  pure  atmosphere. 
But  if  the  milk  is  neither  cooled  nor  aerated, 
and  the  weather  is  hot,  it  arrives  at  the  factory 
in  a  condition  very  unfit  for  cheese-making,  and 
seeds  of  desti'uction  that  cannot  be  afterwards 
removed  in  the  factory  are  already  sown  in  it. 
Yet  there  are  milk-suppliers  who  take  no  pre- 
cautions as  to  cooling  or  aerating,  no  matter 
how  hot  the  weather  is  or  how  great  the 
distance  to  the  factory  may  be;  their  chief  aim 
is  to  get  the  milk  to  the  factory  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  then  wash  their  hands  of  it.  They 
seem  to  think  it  a  matter  of  no  consequence 
whether    their   milk    be    quite    fresh    or   not ;     if 


274. 


DAIRY    FAR:\riXG. 


it  is  wruii'^  the  factory  will  set  it  rii>-lit,  tiu-y 
imagine,  and  the  result  is  that  they  are  more 
careless  with  it  than  they  would  be  it'  they  made 
their  cheese  at  home. 

Fig.  1:32  represents  the  kind  of  can  that  is 
generally  used  for  carrying  milk  to  a  factory. 
The  sides  are  perpen- 
dicular, and  the  lid  slips 
down  inside  until  it  rests 
on  the  surface  of  the 
milk,  thus  preventing 
a  too  violent  agitation 
III  riinte.  In  the  mid- 
dle of  the  lid  is  a  hole 
through  which  the  gases 
(.f  the  milk  can  escape. 
As  many  farmers  send 
their  milk  to  the  factory 
in  ordinary  farm  carts  that 
are  innocent  of  springs, 
the  milk  woiild  be  almost 
Fig.  132. — Fact. )KT  .milk-c.vn.  churned  on  its  way  if  the 
space  in  the  can  were  large 
enough  to  allow  the  milk  to  wash  about ;  the  sliding 
lid  of  the  can  obviates  this.  Arrived  at  the  factory, 
the  milk  is  poured  into  a  can  that  stands  on 
a  weighing-machine,  both  of  which  are  raised 
high  enough  to  atlmit  of  the  milk  running 
down  tin  pipes  direct  into  the  milk-vats,  and 
so  obviating  all  lifting  of  the  milk  after  it  is 
weighed ;  and  in  order  to  this  the  carts  are 
stood  ujion  raised  ground  outside  whilst  they 
arebeingunloaded. 
Fig.  l^i^i  represents 
the  can  in  which 
the  milk  is  weighed 
and  the  taj)  by 
which  the  milk 
empties  itself  into 
the  pipes.  In  many 
cases  the  weigh- 
ing-can has  a  plug- 
tap  in  the  bottom 
instead,  and  when  each  lot  of  milk  is  weighed  it  is 
let  out  by  raising  the  plug  with  a  chain  that  is 
attached  to  it.  In  the  ease  of  the  can  shown  in 
the  woodcut  the  bottom  of  the  can  inclines  toward 
the  shute,  so  that  all  the  milk  easily  runs  out;  and 
this  can  admits  of  being  placed  on  a  lower  plat- 
form than  the  other,  because  the  pipe  does  not  jwss 
under  it  to  abstract  the  milk. 


The  cheese  is  made  once  a  day,  except  in  very 
hot  and  bad-keeping  weather,  when  a  zealous 
manager  will  make  it  twice  a  day  if  he  has 
reason  to  think  the  evening's  milk  will  hardly 
keep  sweet  till  morning.  This,  however,  does  not 
occur  very  often,  and  need  Ijc  no  more  than  men- 
tioned. The  normal  routine  is  to  receive  the  even- 
ing's milk  into  the  milk-vats,  dividing  it  pretty 
equally  among-st  them ;  keep  it  cool  and  in  motion, 
so  that  it  may  remain  sweet  and  the  cream  may 
not  rise;  and  when  the  morning's  milk  arrives 
make  up  the  two  together.  There  are  two 
objects  kept  in  view  in  dividing  the  evening's 
milk  equally  among  the  vats  :  that  souring  is 
more  surely  prevented  by  having  the  milk  dis- 
tributed over  as  large  a  vat-surface  as  possible, 
and  that  it  is  advisable  to  have  the  evening's  and 
morning's  milk  mixed  together  as  evenly  as  may 
be  convenient. 

The  vats  (Fig.  1:5 1)   are  not  always  the  same 


Fig.  134.— Factory  Milk-vai-. 

size,  but  they  are  usually  capable  of  holding 
about  500  gallons  each,  being  14  feet  long, 
by  48  inches  wide,  and  20  inches  deep.  They 
are  made  of  stout  tin  of  the  best  quality,  and  are 
enclosed  in  and  suj)ported  by  a  stout  outer  case  of 
deal  or  pine,  between  which  and  the  tin  is  a  space 
\inder  the  bottom  and  around  the  sides  and  ends. 
Dui-ing  the  night  a  stream  of  cold  water  runs 
through  the  vats,  in  at  one  end  and  out  at  the 
other,  filling  the  space  between  the  tin  and  the 
wood,  and  thus  cooling  the  milk  which  the  vats 
contain.  And  the  water  is  made  to  perform  a 
second  duty,  for  as  it  issues  from  the  other  end  of 
the  vat  it  is  conducted  by  an  india-rubber  tube  to 
a  small  water-wdieel  that  is  sunk  in  the  floor  close 
l>y.  To  the  wheel  the  agitators  are  attached,  and 
the  water,  gradually  filling  the  buckets  that  arc 
on  the  periphery  of  the  wheel,  at  length  causes 
half  a  revolution,  whi(di,  l)y  crank  and  lever  over- 
head, stiis  the  a-i-itators  that  float  on  the  surface 


TREATMENT    AND    COAGULATION    OF    MILK. 


of  till-  milk.  The  agitators  are  simply  wooden 
rakes,  and  these,  pushed  to  and  t'ro  by  the  inter- 
mittent action  of  the  water-wheel,  move  tlie  milk 
every  half-minute  or  so,  and  thus  prevent  the 
risinof  of  the  cream. 

In  this  manner  the  milk  is  soon  cooled  down 
to  about  05'^,  j)rovidin<j^  the  water  is  cool  enough 
for  the  purpose;  below  60'^  it  is  not  considered 
advisable  to  cool  milk  for  chease-making  purposes, 
and  if  it  has  been  delivered  in  good  condition  at 
the  factory  it  may  be  safely  allowed  to  remain  at  a 
temperature  of  05"  to  70°,  even  in  very  warm 
weather.  But  if  it  is  cooled  below  60°  it  seems 
to  be  deprived  of  some  property  that  it  does  not 
regain ;  the  curd  from  it  is  dull  and  lifeless  as  it 
might  be,  and  the  cheese  appears  to  rijieu  after 
the  manner  of  fruit  on  the  wrong  side  of  a  wall. 

Whilst  the  milk  is  being  cooled  another  im- 
portant process  is  going  on,  for  the  agitators, 
whose  chief  office  is  supposed  to  be  that  of  pre- 
venting the  ri.sing  of  the  cream,  perform  the 
equally  important  though  less  obvious  duty  of 
aerating  and  deodorising  the  milk,  thus  enabling 
it  to  throw  off  the  heat  and  odour  and  cowy 
smell  peculiar  to  new  milk.  This  aeration  ought, 
however,  to  be  performed  before  the  milk  leaves 
the  farmstead,  for  the  longer  the  odour  and  warmth 
are  retained  in  the  milk,  the  quicker  will  it  decay. 
Milk  obtained  from  heated  cows  that  have  been 
tormented  by  the  attacks  of  flies,  or  have  been 
hurriedly  driven  on  a  hot  summer's  day,  is  already 
in  a  state  of  heat  and  ferment  which  are  the  fore- 
runners of  decomposition;  it  is  therefore  by  far 
the  best  that  milk  should  be  at  all  events  partially 
aerated  and  cooled  immediately  after  it  is  drawn 
from  the  cow  throughout  the  hot  weather  of 
summer  and  autumn,  or  it  will  acquire  a  taint 
that  cannot  afterwards  be  entirely  got  rid  of ;  and 
milk  very  quickly  becomes  tainted  if  it  is  put  into 
closely-lidded  cans  and  jolted  in  a  farm-cart  over 
a  mile  or  two  of  rough  roads,  on  its  way  to  the 
factory.  It  is,  of  coui-se,  less  necessary  to  take 
these  precautions  with  the  morning's  milk  than 
with  the  evening's  :  the  former  is  made  while  the 
cows  are  cool  and  tranquil  in  the  night  and  when 
the  flies  are  at  rest,  the  latter  is  made  in  the  heat 
of  the  day ;  the  former  is  made  up  into  cheese 
soon  after  it  arrives  at  the  factory,  the  latter  has 
to  wait  twelve  or  fourteen  hours  in  the  milk-vats. 

AVhen  the  morning's  milk  arrives  at  the  factory 
it  is  weighed  and  run  into  the  vats,  where  the 
38 


evening's  milk  is  waiting  to  recei\'e  it ;  and  when 
sufficient  of  it  has  gone  into  the  vat  that  is 
farthest  away  from  the  weighing-can,  the  tin  pipe 
is  shortened  to  adapt  it  to  the  next  vat.  Steam 
is  then  turned  under  vat  No.  1,  occupying  the 
space  that  has  been  tilled  with  a  stream  of  cold 
water  through  the  night,  and  the  milk  in  the  vat 
is  raised  to  a  temperature  of  78"  to  82",  according 
to  the  weather,  and  the  rennet  is  mixed  with  it. 
The  heating  of  the  milk  at  this  stage  and  the 
cooling  of  it  during  the  previous  night  are  modi- 
fied to  suit  the  state  of  the  weather  and  the  time 
of  the  year:  in  cool  weather  it  is  heated  up  to  81" 
or  S-Z°  at  "  setting "  time,  and  in  warm  weather 
to  78"  or  79° ;  in  cool  weather  the  space  between 
the  outer  and  inner  shells  of  the  vat  is  merely 
filled  or  f)artly  filled  with  cold  water,  the  stream 
of  it  being  then  conducted  to  the  water-wheel 
without  running  through  the  vat  on  its  way;  in 
warm  weather  it  is  not  easy  to  over-cool  the  milk, 
and  the  water  runs  through  the  vat  all  night. 
These  modifications,  if  carried  out  with  thought, 
not  only  save  trouble,  but  imj)rove  the  quality  of 
the  cheese. 

The  exact  quantitj^  of  rennet  to  be  added  to 
the  milk  will  depend  on  its  strength  and  purity, 
but  it  ought  to  be  so  that  half  a  jiint  of  it  will 
coagulate  100  gallons  of  milk  in  about  an  hour; 
and  it  should  always  be  as  pure  and  sweet  as  such 
an  unlovely  element  will  admit  of,  or  the  cheese 
will  taste  of  it.  A  test  of  the  strength  of  rennet 
is  that  the  milk  shall  have  jjerceptibly  thickened 
in  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  that  it  shall  be 
sufficiently  coagulated  in  an  hour,  the  vats 
meantime  being  covered,  if  the 
weather  is  cool,  to  preserve  uni- 
formitj'  of  temperature. 

The  test  of  coagulation  having 
advanced  far  enough  is  that  the 
curd  shall  break  cleanly  over  the 
finger  in  trying  to  lift  a  bit  of  it ; 
and  at  this  point  the  curd-knife 
(Fig.  135) — a  man3'-bladed  cutter, 
the  blades  of  steel,  tinned  to 
preserve  them  against  the  effects 
of  acid  in  the  curd,  sharp  on 
the  edges,  fixed  parallel  to  each 
other  about  half  an  inch  apart, 
and    perjaendicular    in    position  — 


1.S5.  -Curd- 
knife. 


slowly  through  the  mass  of  curd  Ijackward 
forwards,  from  one  end  of  the  vat  to  the 


passed 
;  and 
>ther, 


276 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Fig.    13(i. -Clrd- 

KXIFE. 


until  all  is  tut.  LatL'i-  on  the  curd-knife  (Fig.  136), 
the  blades  of  whieli  are  horizontal  in  position,  is 
also  passed  to  and  fro  through  the  mass  of  curd, 
cutting  it  into  cubes  and  strips 
about  half  an  inch  square ;  or,  in 
default  of  this  second  knife,  the 
curd,  having  rested  a  short  lime 
since  the  first  cutting,  is  turned 
over  gently  by  hand,  and  the  first 
knife  passed  repeatedly  about  in 
it  until  it  is  all  cut  into  small 
]iieces.  The  cutting  and  turning 
of  the  cui-d  at  this  period  are 
])erformed  in  a  very  gentle  manner, 
lii^'cause  the  newly-formed  coagu- 
lum  is  for  the  time  being  very 
tender,  and  it  is  desirable  not  to 
crush  or  bruise  it  liy  hasty  manipu- 
lation. 
Again  the  curd  rests  for  a  time,  during  which 
the  whey  is  rapidly  separating  from  it.  After  a 
short  time  a  little  steam  is  turned  into  the  space 
between  the  shells,  and  the  curd  is  kept  in  stirring 
— a  little  faster  than  before.  The  whey  now  exudes 
from  the  curd  very  rapidly,  and  the  latter  shrinks 
in  bulk,  becoming  firmer  and  tougher  as  it  shrinks. 
More  steam  is  now  turned  on,  and  the  curd  will 
bear  without  injury  a  little  rougher  usage.  It 
must  be  kept  constantly  moving,  or  the  bottom  of 
the  vat  will  scorch  it,  the  result  of  which  would 
be  that  a  thin  hard  shell  would  form  round  the 
scoi'ched  particles  of  curd  and  would  keep  the  wdiey 
inside  them.  The  bottom  of  the  vat  is  made  very 
hot  by  the  steam,  the  whey  is  rapidly  leaving  the 
cuixl,  and  the  curd  is  kept  in  rapid  motion  to 
prevent  scorching.  This  is  a  very  busy  period  of 
the  process.  Meantime  the  whey  has  almost  com- 
pletely left  the  curd,  the  particles  of  which  have 
shrunk  from  half  an  inch  to  about  the  size  of 
grains  of  wheat,  and  they  are  no  longer  tender 
and  delicate. 

This  steaming  of  the  mass  of  curd  and  whey 
is  called  the  cooking  process,  and  it  is  advisable 
not  to  liurry  it  too  much-^not  to  raise  the  tem- 
perature too  rapidly,  that  is.  When  the  thermo- 
meter marks  90"^,  the  steam  is  turned  off  and  the 
curd  kept  stirring  for  some  little  time  longer, 
until  the  bottom  of  the  vat  has  cooled  downi  some- 
what; at  this  stage  the  vat  and  its  contents  remain 
at  rest  for  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  during  which 
time  the  other  vats  are  being  attended  to.     Pre- 


sently the  steam  is  again  turned  on,  the  curd  and 
whey  are  kept  in  motion  by  a  curd-agitator,  or 
stirring-rake,  two  kinds  of  which  are  seen  in  Figs. 
137  and  13S,  and  the  temperature  of  the  contents  of 
the  vat  is  raised  to  98^  or  100".  Throughout  the 
steaming  part  of  the  process  the  manager  uses  hi-i 


Fig.  137.— Stikuing-raki'. 


Fig.  138.— Stirring-rake. 


thermometer  frequently,  as  it  is  advisable  not  to 
heat  up  the  mass  too  high  or  too  quickly,  and 
when  100^'  is  indicated  the  steam  is  turned  finally 
off.  Again  the  steaming  is  modified  to  suit  the 
weather — to  90''  or  98°  in  very  hot  weather,  and 
to  100"  or  lU^"^'  in  very  cold. 

The  direct  effect  of  the  steaming  is  to  expel 
the  bulk  of  the  whey  from  the  curd,  and  to  de- 
velop) lactic  acid,  which  expels  the  remainder. 
After  the  steam  has  been  finally  turned  off,  and 
the  curd  has  been  kejjt  in  stirring  a  short  time 
longer  to  prevent  scorching,  the  curd  settles  to 
the  bottom  of  the  vat,  and  it  is  left  at  rest  for 
the  longer  or  shorter  time  which  is  required  to 
develop  a  perceptible  (juantity  of  acidity ;  this 
will  depend  on  two  things  chiefly — whether  the 
milk  was  or  was  not  perfectly  sweet  and  fresh, 
to  begin  with,  and  whether  the  atmosphere  is 
hot  or  cold.  If  the  milk  is  quite  fresh  and  the 
weather  cold,  acidity  is  .sometimes  several  hours 
in  develojjing. 

It  is  a  common  practice  to  use  sour  whey  in 
the  milk  at  the  time  of  setting  it  for  coagula- 
tion, in  order  to  hasten  the  develoi)ment  of  lactic 
acid.  The  quantity  of  whey  to  be  used  will  depend 
to  a  very  great  extent  on  the  temperature  the 
evening's  milk  is  found  to  be  at  on  the  following 
morning,  for  the  higher  the  temperature  of  the 


THE    USE    OF    SOUK    AVIIEV, 


277 


milk,  tlie  smalliT  tlic  quantity  of  whey  that  will 
be  required  to  briiio^  about  the  desired  result.  By 
remainin;;-  through  the  night  at  a  temperature  of 
upwards  of  05*^,  the  milk  has  been  going  through 
the  incipient  stages  of  acidity,  and  when  warmed 
up  to  lOU"  the  acid  soon  becomes  perceptible;  but 
when  the  milk  has  been  kept  at  a  lower  tempera- 
ture, it  is  fi'ee  enough  from  acid  when  morning 
comes.  It  will  seldom,  if  ever,  be  found  necessary 
to  use  any  sour  whey  in  warm  weather,  or  when 
the  milk  is  over  63'-'  in  the  morning ;  and  even 
in  cold  weather  it  must  be  used  with  caution. 
We  assume  that  the  whey  to  be  used  is  distinctly 
acid,  though  not  extremely  so,  and  in  this 
case  the  quantity  to  be  used  will  be  about  as 
follows  : — 


Quantity  of  Milk. 

Temp,  of  Milk 
iu  the  moruiug. 

Sour  Wbey  to  be 
used. 

200  gallons 

63°  Fahr. 

R] 

quarts. 

200      , 

62°       „ 

6 

200      „         

61°       „ 

K'i 

200      „         

60=      „ 

11 

200      

SM"      „ 

14.1, 

200      „         

58°      „ 

IS 

200      

57°      „ 

221 

200       „         

58°      „ 

27 

This  borrowed  acidity  assists  the  rennet  in  its 
work,  and  the  milk  coagulates  in  less  time ;  hence 
it  must  be  cautiously  employed.  If,  however,  in 
this  case  all  the  whey  be  removed  soon  after  it  has 
left  the  curd,  the  cheese  will  be  firm  to  the  touch, 
sweet  and  mild  in  flavour,  rich  in  quality,  and  of 
the  finest  texture.  But  if  the  whey  is  left  for 
some  time  resting  on  the  curd,  it  is  a  matter  of 
the  first  importance  that  the  development  of  acidity 
be  closely  watched,  for  if  it  is  allowed  to  go  too 
far,  the  cheese  will  never  ripen  as  it  ought  to  do. 
And,  indeed,  whether  acidity  is  generated  by  using 
sour  whey,  or  whether  by  steaming  up  to  100*^,  it 
is  equally  necessary  to  watch  it  very  carefully,  and 
to  draw  off  the  whey  as  soon  as  the  acid  is  per- 
ceptible to  the  taste  or  smell.  The  formation  of 
acid  may  be  easily  seen  by  a  careful  watcher  in 
the  changed  appearance  of  the  whey — not  a  change 
of  colour,  but  a  sort  of  glimmer  or  brightness  on 
the  surface.  But  the  ordinary  test  is  to  take  a 
piece  of  curd  in  the  hand,  squeeze  the  whey  well 
out  of  it,  and  touch  hot — not  red-hot — iron  with 
it  J  if  sufficiently  acid,  or  if  the  "cheesing  process," 
as  it  is  termed,  has  advanced  far  enough,  the  curd 
will  adhere  to  the  hot  iron,  and  draw  out  in  fine 


threads  an  inch  or  so  long.  Whether  these 
threads  indicate  acidity,  or  a  given  stage  in  what 
we  may  term  the  digestion  of  the  curd,  is  a  matter 
not  yet  determined. 

The  Cheddar  system  of  ehecse-makiug  is,  per- 
haps, the  most  celebrated  of  all  systems,  and  the 
most  universally  useful ;  and  in  that  system  acidity 
is,  perhaps,  the  most  prominent  feature.  It  is 
brought  about  by  what  is  termed  slip-scalding— 
not  by  heating  up  the  whey  and  curd  by  steam. 
But  in  the  Cheddar  system  acidity  is  developed  in 
the  curd  alone  rather  than  in  the  curd  and  whey 
together ;  and  this,  we  believe,  is  the  soundest 
and  safest  way  of  employing  acidity.  The  method 
employed  in  the  factories  is  what  we  may  term  the 
American-Cheddar  method,  which  is  a  modification, 
though  not  necessarily  an  improvement,  of  the  old 
Cheddar  system.  The  chief  disparity  between  the 
two  lies  in  developing  acid  in  the  whey  on  the 
factory  system,  and  in  developing  it  in  the  curd 
on  the  Cheddar  system.  The  only  reasons  that 
can  justify  the  former  are — first,  that  in  factory 
cheese-making  the  milk  is  much  more  likely  to  be 
tainted  than  it  is  in  farm-houses,  and  acid  cheeks 
taint;  and,  second,  that  when  the  milk  is  very 
fresh  to  liegin  with,  it  is  very  tedious  to  develop 
acid  in  the  curd  if  the  whey  is  dipped  sweet. 
These  reasons  may  seem  paradoxical,  because  they 
are  founded  on  two  opposite  states  of  the  milk — 
perfectly  fresh  and  tainted  milk ;  they  are,  how- 
ever, not  by  any  means  as  paradoxical  as  they 
seem,  and  milk  that  is  neither  very  fresh  nor 
perceptibly  tainted  will  produce  a  curd  in  which 
acidity  will  develop  even  if  the  whey  is  removed 
as  soon  as  possible;  tainted  milk  would  also  do 
this,  but  in  this  case  a  stronger  acid  than  would 
develop  in  the  curd  alone  is  required  to  check  the 
taint,  while  in  the  case  of  perfectly  fresh  milk  it 
is  difficult  in  the  curd  alone  to  develop  the  amount 
of  acidity  that  is  desirable. 

It  is  open  to  doubt  whether  on  the  factory 
system  the  cooking  process  is  not  carried  too 
far  —  whether  the  end  aimed  at,  acidity,  could 
not  be  better  attained  by  the  use  of  a  small 
quantity  of  sour  whey  and  less  steaming.  But, 
however  this  may  be,  there  is  no  doubt  whatever 
that  the  practice  of  developing  the  required 
acidity  in  the  whey  and  curd  together  is  a 
dangerous  one  in  the  hands  of  a  careless  person. 
We  believe  a  better  plan  is  to  dip  the  whey  sweet 
— that  is,  before  any  acidity  is  perceptible — and 


27S 


DAIRY    FARMIXG. 


aftcivvanlH  packin<^  the  curd  in  tlio  l)ot(oin  of  (lie 
vat,  and  keeping  it  warm  until  the  whey  is  out 
of  it  and  the  acid  is  developed.  This  may  be  the 
move  easily  done  by  piling  the  curd  on  raeks 
in  the  bt>ttom  of  the  vat,  after  the  Cheshire 
manner,  and  covering  it  up  with  a  thick  cloth 
to  keep  it  warm.  The  object  of  piling  the  cui-d  on 
raeks  is  to  enaljle  it  to  avoid  being  scorched  if 
it  is  found  advisable  to  turn  on  a  little  steam 
now  and  then  to  keep  up  the  temjierature. 

AVe  are  not  advocating  drawing  off  the  whey 
while  the  curd  is  still  soft,  but  drawing  it  off  IjfiJ'orc 
ainj  acid  that  can  be  eaa'ilif  detected  has  formed 
in  it.  This  is  coming  very  near  to  the  pure 
Cheddar  system,  and  the  system  now  employed 
in  the  factories  is  midway  between  that  and  the 
first  modification  of  the  Cheddar  plan  that  was 
adoi)ted  in  America.  That  first  moditieatiou 
consists  in  develojiiug  all  the  acid  iu  the  whey, 
and  then  vatting  and  salting  the  curd  at  once 
when  the  whey  is  dipped  off  ;  the  midway  system 
consists  in  developing  part  of  the  acidity  iu  the 
whey,  and  the  remainder  iu  the  curd ;  while 
the  pure  Cheddar  consists  in  developing  all  the 
acid  in  the  curd.  But  to  return  to  the  modus 
operandi  that  is  followed  out  in  the  factories. 

When  the  whey  is  considered  ready  for  dipping 
— that  is,  when  the  acid  is  sufficiently  developed — 
the  perforated  strainer  (Fig.  139)  is  placed  close  to 
the  lower  end  of  the  vat 
and  sunk  to  the  bottom 
of  it,  and  the  syphon, 
also  seen  in  Fig.  130,  is 
filled  with  whey,  and  one 
end  of  it  placed  inside 
the  strainer,  the  other 
end  being  outside  the  vat. 
The  syphon  has,  or  ought 
to  have,  a  faucet  at  the 
long  end  and  a  valve  at 
the  other,  thus  prevent- 
ing   the    whey  from   es- 


Fig.   139.— .SVPHON   AND 

Stbaineb. 


(•;iping    when    filled;    by 
])lacina:     the    valve    end 


in  the  strainer,  which  is 
made  of  perforated  tin, 
the  whey  can  be  drawn  off  from  any  of  fho 
vats,  :is  it  will  immediately  commence  running 
on  opening  the  faucet.  "When  the  bulk  of  the 
whey  has  run  oil',  the  lilncks  of  wood  are 
ri'inoved     from    undiTiicalh    the    two    Icirs  of    the 


vat  at  its  lower  end,  and  the  vat  tips  on  the 
two  legs  in  the  middle,  causing  the  whey  to 
incline  to  the  spot  where  the  syphon  is  at  work. 
As  the  whey  runs  off  through  the  syphon  it  is 
conducted  away  either  to  the  whey-vats,  where 
it  is  allowed  to  remain  until  it  has  thrown  up 
its  cream,  or  it  j)asses  directly  away  to  the  tank. 
Meanwhile  the  curd  adheres  together  and  is  drawn 
to  each  side  of  the  vat,  leaving  a  space  down 
the  middle,  by  which,  as  the  vat  is  now  tilted, 
the  remaining  whey  can  drain  oft'  as  it  leaves 
the  curd.  The  curd  is  then  cut  into  lumps, 
which  are  piled  on  edge  in  the  ujjper  end  of 
the  vat;  the  lumps  are  turned  over  occasionally, 
as  well  to  exjxjse  them  to  the  action  of  the 
oxygen  of  the  air  as  to  facilitate  the  escape  of 
the  whey. 

After  the  curd  has  thus  lain  some  time  and  the 
whey  has  nearly  all  left  it,  it  is  ground  to  the 
size  of  raisins  and  currants  mixed,  and.  salted 
at  the  rate  of  2  j)er  cent. — that  is,  2  lbs.  of 
salt  to  100  lbs.  of  curd,  or  per  1,01)0  lbs.  of  milk, 
which  comes  to  about  the  same  thing.  The  mill 
used  is  similar  to  Fig.  93,  page  207,  except  that 
there  are  studs  in  it  instead  of  blades ;  it  is  placed 
across  the  milk- vat  when  iu  use.  The  salt  and  the 
curd  are  well  mixed  up  together  by  hand,  so  that 
the  former  may  be  equally  distributed  through  the 
latter.  The  curd  is  next  measured  into  the  press- 
vats  which  are  in  use,  and  for  a  while  at  first  is 
put  under  a  light  pressure,  so  that  the  remaining 
whey  may  leave  the  cheese  without  carrying  away 
with  it  too  much  of  the  solids.  The  grinding 
crushes  the  curd  to  a  degree  that  would,  if  possible, 
be  gladly  avoided,  and  if  a  heavy  pressure  is  put 
upon  it  immediately  afterwards  the  whey  that 
comes  from  it  is  quite  white,  with  minute  par- 
ticles of  curd.  In  the  course  of  an  hour,  the 
pressure  having  in  the  meantime  been  increased, 
tile  newly-formed  cheeses  are  taken  out  of  press, 
bandaged,  and  put  in  again;  but  they  do  not 
require  "  dry-clothing,"  like  farm-house  cheese. 
The  best  press  for  factory  use  is  the  compound 
press  seen  in  Fig.  110,  page  235.  A  heavy 
pressure  is  now  put  on  them  for  the  night, 
and  next  morning  they  are  finally  taken  out 
of  })ress  and  taken  to  the  cheese-room,  weighed — 
the  weight  booked — and  put  on  the  shelves  to 
ripen.  Before  being  placed  on  the  shelves,  how- 
ever, tiny  have  strong  tissue-paper  hot-ironed 
on   the   Hat   sides   of    them;    this   is    done  to   jire- 


SELF-TURNING    CHEESE    SHELVES. 


279 


vent  cracking  and  to  cxeliulc  the  air,  but  we  do      scarcely    possible    that    the    ripening,    checked    in 

not  consider  it  necessaiy  for  either  of  these  pur-      this    way   in  the   earliest   stages,  should  ever  be 

poses,  though  it  is,  no  doubt,  useful 

in  assisting  to  "coat"  the  cheese — 

the  hot-ironing,  that  is,  is  useful. 
The  shelves  used   for  cheese  in 

factories  are  self-turning.     In  each 

frame  are  three  or  more  "sets"  of 

shelves,  each  containing  three  rows 

of   cheese.      Each    of   these    sets  is 

turned  separately,  quickly,  and  easily 

in  about  the    time     it   would  take 

to   turn  a  single    cheese    by  hand ; 

and    they   have    the    advantage   of 

allowing  each  cheese   to  rest    on   a 

dry  place  every  time  the  turning  is 

done.     The  sets  are  held  in  position 

by  a  catch   and   carry-latch  in  the 

end,  and  the  strips  of  wood  at  the 

back  prevent  the  cheese  from  slipping 

off.      These   self-turners    are    great 

labour-saving  contrivances,  and  they 

offer  no  obstacle  to  a  due  examina- 
tion of  the  cheese.     Fig.   140  suffi- 
ciently  explains   their  general  con- 
.  struction. 

In  several  factories  that  we  know,  Fig.  140.— Self-tlkning  cm:i:>i:-.siu:L\ i;s. 

the  cheeses   are    first    placed    in    a 

damp  room  on  the  ground  flour;  this-,  we  think,      properly  completed.     It  is  not  by  any  means  an 

is  a  mistake.     "We  have  frequently  seen  the  young     uncommon  thing,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  that 

well-made  cheese  is  spoilt  in  the  ripen- 
ing. But  where  the  curing  or  ripen- 
ing rooms  are  well  adapted  to  the 
purpose,  dr}',  well  ventilated,  and  main- 
tained at  a  temperature  whose  limits  do 
not  exceed  75'^  on  the  one  hand  and 
6.5°  on  the  other;  ^vhere  the  milk  from 
which  the  cheese  is  made  is  brought 
to  the  factory  in  good  condition,  and 
where  the  cheese  has  been  carefully 
made  on  the  system  we  have  described, 
the  results  will  be  in  all  resjjects  satis- 
factory. Carefully  made  from  good  sound 
milk,  and  as  carefidly  ripened,  such  cheese 
w  ill,  at  two  months  old,  be  covered  with 
the  dark  green  coat  that  so  much  im- 
proves the  appearance  of  cheese,  and 
which  may  be  generally  taken  to  in- 
dicate   ripeness;    the    flavour    and  aroma 

cheeses    with    a    film    of    mould    covering    them,      will  be  rich,   delicate,    and   nutty,  and    the   tex- 

owiug  to  the  dampness  of   the   room,    and   it   is     ture   flaky    and    compact— not    waxy    or     soapy, 


Fig.  141.— Grouxd-plan  of  Bkailsford  Factory. 

1,  weighing-scale  ;  2,  milk-vats  ;  3,  steps  to  weigbing  platform  ;  4,  stairs  to  curing- 
room  ;  5,  office ;  6,  cream-scalder  ;  7.  cheese-presses  ;  8,  pillars ;  9,  vertical 
engine;  10,  boiler;  11,  pump  ;  12,  chimney-stack  ;  13,  whey-vats  ;  14,  steps  to 
whey-room  ;  15.  slate-shelf  ;  16,  Hathaway's  churn  ;  17,  steps  to  butter-cellar ; 
18,  wash-vat ;  19,  water-wheel. 


2  so 


DAIRY     FAinilXfi 


but    m  'How    and    salvy  betweon    tlic    tbumli  ami 
finger. 

In  Fig-.  Ill  we  g-ive  a  griiuiid-plan  of  llio 
Brailsfoi-d  cheese-factory,  near  Derby,  which  is 
one  of  the  best  in  the  country,  so  far  as  con- 
venience of  arrangement  and  excellence  of  con- 
struction are  concerned.  It  is  large  enough  to 
make  cheese  from  the  milk  of  700  to  800  cows. 
In  Fig.  112  is  given  a  view  of  the  interior  of  this 


cin-k's  liy  training  fanners  to  stricter  commercial 
ideas  with  regard  to  the  business  in  which  they 
are  engaged.  The  average  yield  which  dairy-cows 
return,  or  ought  to  return,  to  their  owners,  in 
order  to  ensure  a  profit  in  cheese-making,  is  no 
loTiger  arrived  at  by  hazy  conjecture  among  those 
who  send  their  milk  to  a  factory;  the  fiscal  equiva- 
lent of  a  gallon  of  milk  has  ceased  to  be  a  nelmlous 
entity;   the  fpinntitv  of  milk  required  to  make  a 


-HllAH.SFORD     FArrOIiT    'iNTKIlIdTtl. 


factory,  s'.iowing  the  wcigliiiig-can  and  llie  ]ii|K' 
from  it  which  conveys  the  milk  to  the  milk-vats, 
three  of  which  are  plainly  and  the  fourth  parlly 
seen ;  on  the  left  are  seen  two  of  the  lever-press(>s, 
which  are  now  iu  general  use;  in  ]']nglish  factories 
and  farin-hous^'S  alike. 

Tliongh  it  is  improbable,  owing  to  the  rapid 
expansion  of  the  milk-trade  in  this  country,  and 
to  the  facility  with  which  cheese  can  be  ])roduced 
in  enormous  quantities  in  America,  that  checse- 
factorips  will  bocnine  numerons  in  Cireat  Britain, 
their  introduction  lias  done  much  good  in  daiivir.i;- 


pound  of  cheese  iu  the  diil'ercnt  nioiitlis  of  the 
season  is  understood  with  tolerable  accaracy ;  and 
this  educational  process  has  brought  in  its  train 
a  great  deal  of  practical  inipiiry  into  the  most 
economical  methods  of  feeding  dairy-cows  and  of 
]iroducing  at  a  minimum  cost  a  maximum  quan- 
tity of  milk.  The  commercial  principle,  in  fact, 
is  being  developed  in  dairy-farming,  slowly  and 
fitfully,   perhaps,   but   none   the   less   surely. 

W'c  are  decidedly  of  opinion  that  dairy-farmers 
would  do  well  to  keep  a  record  i>l'  the  milk  their 
cows  produce  per  day.anrl  of  the  clieese  and  Imtter 
made  from   it.      In   an\'  ease  such  a  I'ccord  would 


WANT    OF    BUSINESS    MANAGEMENT. 


281 


be  a  means  of  filiictitidii,  and  would  be  valuable  This  i'orni   of   Ijook-keepiu^',  it  is   hardly  needful 

for  reference,  and  for  comparison  with  succeeding'  to  say,  would,  with    few   alterations,    do  equally 

years.     We  do  not  advocate  an  elaborate  system  well  for  farm-house  and  for  factory,  for  the  land- 

of   book-keeping,   because  we  know  that  such  a  owner  on  the  home  farm,  and  fur  the  lai"ge  and 

system  would  soon  be  thrown  aside,  but  a  simple  small  tenant-farmer  as  well, 
account  showing-  at  a  glance  the  daily  items  and  The  sound  eommereial  principles  and  methods 


Statement  of  Dairy  Producc- 


-Far 


for  the  Month  of_ 


_1S 


Gals.  qts.  Gals.qts. 


tuantity 
■     of 
Ullt. 


Made 
Butter. 


Made 
Cheese. 


Consumed  and 


Butter.      Cheese. 


Sold  and  Delivered. 


Milk.      Butter.      Cheese. 


the  monthly  totals.  In  the  annexed  form  Mr. 
Jemmatt,  the  well-known  agricultural  accountant, 
has  given  us  a  system  which  admits  either  of 
minute  details,  or  of  general  results  only,  being 
recorded.  An  account-book,  prepared  somewhat 
after  this  manner,  would  cost  very  few  shillings, 
and  might  save  a  great  many  pounds ;  while,  if 
faithfully  kept,  it  would  be  a  graphic  picture  of 
dairy  operations  one  year  after  another,  a  picture 
very    instructive    and    well   deserving    of    study. 


just  spoken  of  as  so  desirable  are,  perhaps,  less 
apparent  in  the  selling  of  cheese  than  in  any 
other  branch.  The  haphazard  way  still  exists 
of  selling  cheese  at  home,  the  seller  being  com- 
monly taken  at  a  disadvantage  when  a  sudden 
advance  in  the  price  of  cheese  takes  place;  and 
the  unwieldy  cheese-fairs  at  the  county  towns 
appear  as  yet  to  have  a  long  lease  of  life  to  run. 
We  think  exchange  rooms  and  commission  ware- 
houses provide  safer,  quicker,  and  more  equitable 


282 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


means  llian  the  present  eumlirous  metliods  ilo  for 
the  tlisiiosal  of  cheese,  and  we  should  be  ghid  to 
see  them  estabhslied  in  numbers.  Yet  it  is  pro- 
bable that  the  need  for  them  will  gi'ow  smaller  as 
the  years  pass  on,  for  it  is  clear  that  the  quantity 
of  cheese  produced  annually  in  Great  Britain  is 
diminishing,  and  in  all  probability  will  continue  to 
diminish.  Farmers  do  not  watch  the  markets  very 
closely,  as  a  rule;  nor,  indeed,  have  they  facilities 
for  doing  so  at  all  times.  They  but  seldom  have 
cheese  to  dispose  of,  say  five  or  six  times  in  the 
year,  so  that  they  are  not  often  enough  in  the 
markets  to  master  the  fluctuations,  and  to  save 
themselves  the  loss  of  selling  too  early  in  a  rising 
or  too  late  in  a  falling  state  of  the  trade.  The 
dealers,  on  the  contrary,  are  alwaj's  en  ra2ipnrt 
with  each  other  and  an  fait  with  the  tendency  of 
the  trade  and  with  the  relationship  between  the 
probable  sup2)ly  and  the  prosjjective  demand ;  they 
have  access  to  information  from  all  parts  of  the 
country,  and  of  the  world  in  fact,  from  which  the 
supplies  of  cheese  are  obtained,  and  they  have 
equal  facilities  for  gauging  the  probable  require- 
ments of  the  public.  Hence  it  follows  that  they 
are  constantly  in  a  position  to  do  a  favourable 
stroke  of  business,  with  the  farmer  for  the  victim. 
AA'e  know  that  the  general  lines  on  which  the 
business  interests  of  a  district  or  country  are  con- 
ducted, however  inconvenient  or  faulty  they  may 
be,  are  difficult  to  alter;  of  slow  growth,  framed 
from  time  to  time  to  meet  the  growing  wants  of 
the  people,  they  do  not  easily  give  jilace  to  some- 
thing totally  different.  We  are,  however,  glad  to 
welcome  the  gradual  rise  of  the  commission  system 
in  the  sale  of  cheese,  even  among  dealers ;  and  at 
Derby  there  already  exists  a  warehouse  to  which 
farmers'  and  factory  cheese  is  sent  to  be  sold  on 
commission.  Thus  the  commercial  leaven  is  per- 
meating our  dairying  districts,  which  may  fairly 
be  said  to  have  been  the  last  to  yield  to  its 
influence,  and  it  is  doing  the  good  which  was  to 
be  expected.  It  is  not  our  object  to  set  farmer 
against  dealer,  but  we  wish  to  see  dairy  products 
disposed  of  in  a  manner  more  in  keeping  with 
modem  practices  in  other  departments  of  hunuui 
industry,  and  so  we  venture  to  advocate  changes 
which  seem  to  us  to  promise  certain  advantages. 

Proportion  of  Solids  in  Mii.k. 

The  quantity  of  milk  required  to  make   1  lb. 
of  cheese  varies  in  dift'eicnt  districts,  in  dillVrent 


years,  and  at  different  times  of  the  year.  As 
N\-ill  have  been  noticed  in  the  balance-sheets  of 
the  Longford,  Holms,  and  AVindley  factories,  the 
average  f<ir  the  season  was  a  little  over  10  lbs.  of 
milk  for  each  1  lb.  of  green  cheese,  and  there  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  more  curd  is  produced 
from  a  gi\'en  quantity  of  milk  in  factories  than 
in  farm-houses.  A  neighbouring  farmer,  who  was 
opposed  to  cheese-factories,  made  a  careful  test  on 
the  7th  and  Sth  of  July,  and  from  715  lbs.  of 
milk  he  produced  61 J  lbs.  of  green  cheese;  this 
was  at  the  rate  of  11  lbs.  10  ozs.  of  milk  per  1  lb. 
of  cheese.  At  an  adjoining  factor}'  the  average 
weight  of  milk  per  1  lb.  of  green  cheese  for  the 
same  month  was  10  lbs.  O'-ll  ozs.,  which  was  more 
than  10^  ozs.  of  milk  per  lb.  of  cheese  less  at 
the  factory  than  at  the  farm-house.  There  was 
nothing  except  difference  of  system  to  account 
for  the  disparity  of  result  in  this  comparative 
test. 

IMuch  depends  on  the  quality  of  the  land  and 
on  the  breed  of  the  cows.  The  year,  also,  has  a 
good  deal  to  do  with  the  result,  for  the  milk 
"  3'ields  "  better  in  some  years  than  in  others.  It 
will  generally  be  found,  however,  that  the  longer 
the  cows  have  been  calved,  the  richer  in  curd  is  the 
milk.  Still,  this  is  not  an  invariable,  but  only  a 
general  rule,  as  the  following  table  will  show.  A 
wet  month,  for  instance,  succeeding  a  dry  one  will 
diminish  the  proportion  of  solids  in  the  milk  ;  it 
Mill,  however,  greatly  increase  the  total  quantity 
(if  milk,  and  in  some  measure  the  total  quantity  of 
curd,  and  the  result  is  more  favourable,  though 
the  milk  shows  a  less  percentage  of  solids  and  a 
greater  of  liquid.  For  the  table  we  arc  indebted 
to  ]\Ir.  John  Nadin,  the  able  and  painstaking 
secretary  of  the  Hartiugton  Cheese  Factory  As- 
sociation. The  figures  in  the  table  represent 
the  average  weight  of  green  cheese — that  is, 
cheese  as  it  leaves  the  ))ress — that  was  jiro- 
dueed,  in  each  mouth  respectively,  from  1,000  lbs. 
of  milk  :  — 

1876.»  1877.t 

lbs.  11)8. 


Ajiril    ... 

^Slh 

...         S^,\V,% 

Jliiy     ... 

yi;ic5i:'l)          ••• 

...      913^55? 

Juno    ... 

y'lisr 

...     ioo„v^„v. 

.July     ... 

09jif;s    ... 

...     101!  ?M^  J 

August 

i02,Vrt'A    - 

...    loonim 

September 

va\%m    ... 

...      107,«c»,Vr 

October 

112,Vt%       - 

...      112rYaW 

•  Orenc 

1  Ap, 

■il  3rd. 

t  Opei 

10(1  April  Sth. 

JUDGING    CHEESE. 


283 


Professor  Boelokcr,  with  a  view  to  arrive  at 
certain  results,  has  analysed  the  milk  of  a  healthy 
cow  at  different  periods  of  the  day.  The  ])rofessor 
found  that  the  solids  of  the  evening's  milk  (l."5 
per  cent.)  exceeded  those  of  the  moruiug's  milk 
(10  per  cent.),  while  the  water  contained  in  the 
fluid  was  diminished  from  Si)  per  cent,  to  80 
per  cent.  The  fatty  matter  gradually  increases 
as  the  day  progresses.  In  the  morning  it  amounts 
to  2|  per  cent.,  at  noon  3J  per  cent.,  and  in 
the  evening  5 J  per  cent.  The  practical  im- 
portance of  this  discovery  is  at  once  ajjparent; 
it  develops  the  fact  that  while  IG  ozs.  of  morn- 
ing's milk  will   yield  but  ^  oz.  of  butter,  about 


double  the  quantity  can  be  obtained  from  the 
evening's  milk.  The  casein  is  also  increased  in 
the  evening's  milk  from  'Z^  to  2f  per  cent., 
but  the  albumen  is  diminished  from  ^Vu  per  cent. 
tf>  tVo  per  cent.  Sugar  is  least  abundant  at  mid- 
night {-i-i  per  cent.)  and  most  plentiful  at  noon  (4| 
per  cent.).  The  percentage  of  the  salt  undergoes 
almost  ni)  change  at  any  time  of  the  day. 

Judging  Cheese. 

This  is  a  matter  which,  when  well  done,  in- 
volves great  nicety,  patience,  and  system,  par- 
ticularly where  the  samples  are  numerous.  The 
following  formula  may  be  found  useful : — 


Scale  of  Points  Jor  Judijhiij  Cheese  on  a  Basis  of  a  Total  of  100  as  Perfection. 


DeFINITIOV    of    roSITIVE     QUALITIES. 

Flavour  2.5. — Agreeably,  nutty,  buttery,  fine  and  full. 
Keeping  15. — Preservation,    inclination     to     slow     changing, 

retention  of  good  qualities. 
Quality  20. — Mellow,  salv)',  pasty,  flaky,  stoky,  rich,  soluble, 

melting  on  the  tongue. 
Texture  1.5. — Solid,  close,  firm,  compact. 

Colour      10. — Pleasing,  natural ;  not  appearing  artificial,  even. 
Mahe        15. — Includes  all  not  included  under  other  points,  as 
100         use  of  rennet,  proper  manipulations,  ripening 

curd,  salting,  pressing,  curing,   perfect   rind, 

cleanliness,  &c. 


Definition   of  Negative   Qualities. 
Off  flavour,  strong,  tainted,  sour,  bitter,  rancid,  vapid. 
Rapid    decay,   early   loss  of   good    qualities,    soon   taking  on 

bad  ones,  inclined  to  rapid  changing. 
Tough,  leather}-,  curdy,  sticky,  dry,  crumbly,  insoluble,  not 

melting  on  the  tongue. 
Porous,  spongy,  loose,  weak. 
E.xcessively  deep  or  pale,  unnatural,  uneven. 
Improper    use    of    rennet,    uneven   heating,    handling    and 

ripening  curd,  bad  salting,  curing,  imperfect  i-ind,  cracks, 

skippers,  uncleanliness,  &c. 


39 


CHAPTER      XIX. 


BUTTER-MAKIXG. 

The  Formation  of  Milk— The  Raising  of  Cream— Influence  of  Depth  and  Temperature— Scalding— The  Swartz  System  of  Cream- 
Kuising— American  Systems- Preservation  of  Ice  for  Milk-Cooling— Centrifugal  and  otlier  Most  Recent  Cream-Extractors— 
Skimming— Treatment  of  the  Cream— Cliurning  and  its  Difliculties— Washing  and  Worlcing  the  Butter— Various  Butter- 
Working  Machines— Salting-Glacialine— The  Aroma  of  Butter— Various  Churns— Steam  and  Horse  Power— JIarketing— 
»  .  ,, —  Carriage  of  Butter  and  Miscellaneous  Appliances— Judging  and  Quality  of  Butter- Present  Inferiority 

V^      j  '.'.'';  \         of  British  Butter  and  its  Causes— Devonshire  Cream. 


i^y^HE  production  of  milk  in  the 
'  system  of  an  animal  is  at 
once  one  of  the  most  neces- 
sary as  it  is  one  of  the  most 
1  curious  processes  in  the  eco- 
nomy of  Nature.  That  the 
milk  from  which  we  make 
butter  comes  from  the  cow  we  all  know, 
and  we  are  equally  familiar  with  the  fact 
that  it  is  primarily  derived  from  the  food 
\\hich  the  cow  eats.  These  two  facts 
taken  together  place  the  cow  in  the  j^osition  of 
a  machine — a  living  one  it  is  true,  but  still  a 
machine,  which,  receiving  the  raw  material  of 
grass  or  hay  or  corn,  transforms  it  into  a  pro- 
duet  which  is  indispensable  to  the  welfare  of 
mankind.  Or  we  may  liken  the  cow's  body  to 
a  laboratory  in  which  crude  materials,  some  of 
which  would  not  be  of  any  service  in  them- 
selves in  sustaining  human  life,  are  reduced  to 
a  form  in  which  they  are  of  the  greatest 
possible  service.  It  is  v.'orth  while  to  inquire  a 
little  how  this  is  done. 

The  most  advanced  investigations  into  the 
structure  of  the  mammal-gland  reveal  to  us  that 
the  interior  of  a  cow's  udder  is  composed  first  of 
all  of  a  wonderful  ramification  of  ligaments  and 
tissue  which,  interlacing  each  other,  support  the 
udder  in  position;  about  in  this  structure  blood- 
veins  pass  to  and  fro,  and  milk-duets,  cavities, 
glandules,  lobules,  and  vesicles  are  distributed. 
In  Fig.  14:3  we  have  an  illustration  of  the  network 
which  is  interwoven  in  the  milk-glands  of  the 
udder,  and  which  sustains  tliem  i/i  sllu.  If  we 
pass  a  pliable  probe  up  the  inside  of  the  teat  it 
traverses   a   du'l,  or   tube,   which    opens   into   a 


reservoir  comnuinicating  with  other  reservoirs  or 
with  ducts  ;  following  one  or  other  of  these  duets, 
the  probe  filially  comes  to  a  small  saccular  cavity, 
and  it  goes  no  farthei".  Within  this  cavity  and 
its  vesicles  and  cells  the  fats 
of  milk  are  produced,  and 
there  are  numbers  of  similar 
cavities. 

In  Fig.  111.  we  have  a 
portion  of  the  udder  showing 
the  main  ducts  and  the  lo- 
bules which  are  interplaced. 
A  microscopical  examination 
reveals  that  these  cavities,  or 
loLules,  themselves  irregular 
in  size  and  shape,  are  com- 
posed of  vesicles  which  also 
vary  in  the  same  particulars.  Fig- 143.— C.m'hi.ahy  Xet- 

T      TH-        T   I  r    •        1  WORK     OK    MlI.K-GLANU. 

In  Fig.  145  IS  shown  one      „.^„  Funtcnhcy.) 
of  the  lobules,  which  consists 

of  sixteen  vesicles,  and  it  also  shows  the  cells 
which  the  vesicles  contain ;  these  cells  are  won- 
derfully minute  and  delicate. 

Now  the  fat  of  the  animal  is  constantly  being 
supplied  to  these  cells,  and  they,  by  a  process  which 
may  be  likened  to  budding,  throw  it  off  in  the 
form  of  cream-globules.  These  globules  or  buds, 
or  fatty-pollen  as  we  may  term  them,  when  per- 
fected, drop  off  into  the  cavities,  in  which  they 
come  in  contact  with  and  are  taken  charge  of 
by  the  water  therein,  which  also  contains  casein, 
albumen,  and  milk-sugar  that  have  transuded  from 
the  tissties;  and  they  are  carried  along  through 
duct  after  duet  into  the  acini,  or  milk-cisterns, 
and  finally  they  arc  extracted  through  the  teats. 
The  product  is  an  emulsion  named  milk. 


FORMATION    OF    MILK. 


285 


When  milk  is  jilaced  under  a  jiowerful  micro- 
scope the  cream-globules  in  it,  like  the  lobules 
and  vesicles  in  which  they  were  formed,  apjjear 


Pig.  144. — Portion  of  Ufideb,  showing  Akh.ixgement  of 
Lobules  and  Main  Dlcts.     {Sturtevaut.) 

irregular  in  size;  their  form,  however,  is  always 
rounded,  having  a  rotund  and  not  an  angular 
exterior.  This  evenness  of  exterior  is  due  to  the 
semi-liquid  character  of  the  contents  of  the  glo- 
bules. It  follows,  then,  that  these  cream-globules 
have  actually  been  part  and  jiarcel  of  the  system 
of  the  animal ;  they  will,  consequently,  always 
partake  in  a  measure  of  the  nature,  charactei-,  and 
condition  of  the  animal  by  which  they  are  pro- 
duced ;  and  as  cows  differ  greatly  in  the  nature  of 
their  organisation,  so  must  there  be  differences  in 
the  quality  of  the  milk  they  give. 

The  subtle  process  of  animal  chemistry  by 
means  of  which  the  ordinaiy  fat  of  the  animal 
is  changed  into  the  peculiar  form  of  fat  which  we 
are  familiar  with  as  butter,  and  the  means  by  which 
is  obtained  the  no  less  singular  odour  and  flavour 
of  butter,  both  of  which  differ  so  much  from  any- 
thing else  we  know,  are — and  we  assume  must 
remain — among  the  occult  mysteries  of  Nature. 
But  it  is  evident  that  the  milk-glands  ai-e  the  seat 
of  a  wondrous  activity  to  supply  the  countless 
myriads  of  infinitesimal  globules  of  fat  which 
are  found  in  milk ;  and  they  are  the  no  less 
wonderful  theatre  of  mysterious  chemical  processes 
which  jjroduce  the  singular  and  delicate  flavour, 
aroma,  and  colour  of  butter. 

It  will  now  be  understood  that  milk  is  a  com- 


pound fluid,  made  up  in  a  beautiful  way  of  several 
distinct  elements,  and  as  such  is  subject  to  physical 
as  well  as  chemical  changes.  We  all  know  that 
when  milk  is  left  at  rest  in  a  vessel  for  a  time 
the  lighter  portion  of  it  rises  to  the  surface ;  this 
lighter  portion  is  called  "cream,"  and  is  easily 
distinguished  and  separated  from  the  "skim-milk" 
beneath.  These  cream-globules  were  first  found 
by  Leeuwenhock  in  the  year  1697  ;  andFleischmann 
in  our  own  day  has  calculated  that  the  largest  of 
them  weigh  about  •00,000, OUi  milligrammes,  and 
that  a  pound  of  milk,  containing  4  per  cent,  of 
butter,  contains  about  40,000  millions  of  them. 
Yet  for  all  this  they  are  not  so  crowded  as  we 
might  think,  and  it  has  been  discovered  that 
between  each  two  of  them  in  fresh  milk  there  is 
space  enough  for  a  third  to  pass  without  touch- 
ing either ;  this,  as  it  affects  the  rising  of  the 
cream,  is  an  important  matter.  These  globules 
never  all  rise  to  the  surface,  no  matter  how  long 
the  milk  may  remain  at  rest,  because  some  of  them 
are  so  very  minute  in  size  that  they  have  not 
buoyancy  enough  to  rise  through  the  superin- 
cumbent mass  of  milk,  and  we  never  find  skim- 
milk  which  does  not  contain  a  vast  number  of 
them.     Skim-milk,  indeed,  is  distinguished  under 


Fig.  145.— Lobule  of  Milk-gland,  showing  sixteen  Vesicles, 
WITH  THEIK  Cells  Indicated.     {Sturterant.] 

the  microscope  by  the  absence  of  the  larger 
globules,  and  by  the  lessened  number  of  globules 
in  a  given  space.  Cream-globules  contain  or 
are  composed  of  fatty  matter,  and  fat  is  lighter 
than  milk,   hence  they  may  be  regarded  as  tiny 


2S6 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


balloons  wliich  seek  tlie  jiositioii  to  wliich  their 
specific  gravity  entitles  tlicm.  Some  of  tliem, 
however,  are  so  tiny  that  the  amount  of  fat  they 
have  is  not  enough  to  float  them  to  the  surface, 
not  oven  enough  to  sustain  them  in  situ,  so  that  it 
has  been  noticed  that  instead  of  rising  or  remaining 
in  position,  a  few  of  them,  being  mere  granules, 
slowly  sink  toward  the  bottom. 

The  larger  globules  rise  quickest  atid  iirsl,  the 
medium  ones  next,  and  so  on.  Three  drops  were 
taken  froni  a  vessel  containing  milk  which  had 
been  at  rest  for  fourteen  hours  :  the  first  from 
the  surface  of  the  cream,  the  second  from  the 
lower  layer  of  the  cream,  and  the  third  from  six 
inches  below  the  surface.  The  difference  in  the 
average  size  of  the  globules  was  found  to  be  as 
follows  : — 

In  tho  surface  Jrop      ...         ...     iVjo  of  an  inch. 

In  the  second  drop       ...         ...     ^rij         i> 

In  the  tliird  dn.p  j^'ot;  „ 

If  these  different  qualities  of  cream  were  churned 
se]«irately,  the  first  would  be  churned  sooner  and 
easier  than  the  second,  and  the  second  much  sooner 
and  easier  than  the  third,  while  the  quality  of 
the  butter  would  be  found  to  vary  with  the  size  of 
the  globules.  The  average  size  of  the  globules 
is  largest  when  the  cow  has  recently  calved,  and 
the  longer  she  remains  in  milk  the  smaller  it 
becomes.  After  a  time  the  larger  globules  are 
no  longer  produced  in  numbers,  and  so  it  follows 
that  the  cream  of  old  milk  is  slow  to  rise  and 
tedious  to  churn.  It  may  be  borne  in  mind  that 
cream-globules  vary  in  size  from  mere  granules 
whose  diameter  is  less  than  g,ioo  of  an  inch, 
to  the  comparatively  large  one  of  tsVo  of  an  inch. 
As  the  results  of  some  experiments  in  churning 
different  qualities  of  cream.  Dr.  E.  L.  SturLcvant 
gives  the  following : — 


Averai^e  size  of  globule. 

Time  of  cburnin 

■d^  inch         

13  miuuU'9. 

TTTTO       )) 

...        30 

And  corresponding  results  have  been  met  with 
in  churning  milk  fresh  from  the  cows,  in  which 
the  average  size  of  the  globules  showed  still 
greater  variations  of  quality  ;  the  milk  was  cooled 
to  GO'^  Fahr.,  and  churned  in  a  Florence  cask. 
"  These  relations,''  it  is  said,  "  are  too  constant  to 
be  accidental,  and  are  useful  as  explaining  some 
of  the  actions  of  milk  in  the  hands   of  the  dairy- 


maid. AVhen  churning  takes  place  the  larger 
gloljules  are  broken  first,  and,  by  being  over- 
ehunied,  apparently  hinder  the  breaking  of  the 
smaller  globules."  AVhen  the  smaller  globules  are 
not  broken  in  the  churning,  many  of  them  pass 
away  in  the  buttermilk ;  the  rest  are  either 
retained  in  the  butter,  or  are  removed  by  wash- 
ing it.  Assuming  that  the  globules  have  actual 
shells,  and  that  the  shells  consist  of  casein  or  of 
albumen,  it  is  a  disadvantage  to  retain  them  in 
the  butter,  for  they  decompose  earlier  than  the 
butter-fats,  and  so  cause  the  butter  to  go  rancid. 

It  is,  however,  as  yet  undetermined  whether 
or  not  the  globules  have  shells  at  all,  properly  so 
called,  though  a  great  many  experiments  have 
been  made  with  the  object  of  deciding  the 
question.  It  is  probable,  still,  that  the  enclosed 
fats  have  a  covering  or  protection  of  some  kind, 
for  they  are  not  dissolved  when  ether  or  other 
agents  which  dissolve  fat  easily  are  added  to  the 
milk,  and  they  certainly  would  be  dissolved  in  this 
manner  were  it  not  that  they  have  a  covering 
of  some  sort.  In  any  case  the  globules,  and  the 
shells  which  encase  them,  if  shells  there  be,  are 
elastic  in  nature,  for  the  fats  will  expand  and 
contract  in  varying  temperatures  without  rup- 
turing the  rotund  form,  and  it  is  only  extreme 
heat  or  cold  that  will  cause  them  to  burst.  They 
soon  burst,  however,  by  violent  agitation  of  the 
cream  in  a  churn. 

TiiE  Raising  of  Ckeam. 

Every  one  is  more  or  less  acquainted  with  the 
natural  process  by  which  cream  rises  to  the  surface 
of  milk  which  is  at  rest  for  a  few  hours,  yet  there 
are  comparatively  few  who  understand  the  delicate 
and  interesting  theories  wliich  the  process  em- 
bodies and  the  influences  by  which  it  is  affected. 
Among  the  more  advanced  dairymen  of  Europe 
and  America  different  practices  in  the  setting  of 
milk  prevail,  and  some  of  these  are  so  diametrically 
opposed  to  each  other  in  their  theoretical  as  well 
as  their  practical  aspects,  that  it  is  as  difficult  to 
reconcile  them  as  it  is  to  ascertain  which  is  really 
the  best.  It  is  therefore  expedient  that  we  a]ipeal 
to  the  natural  laws  which  operate  in  the  raising 
of  cream,  in  order  to  gain  a  clear  \\c\v  of  what  is 
right  and  what  is  wrong  in  the  matter.  Professor 
L.  13.  Arnold,  one  of  the  leading  authorities  on 
dairy  matters  in  America,  writes  as  follows  : — 

"The  first  prominent  fuel  in  the  separation  of 


TEMPERATURE    AND    CREAM-RAISING. 


287 


cream  from  milk  is  that  it  rises  by  reason  of 
having'  a  less  sjiecific  gravity  than  the  milk  willi 
which  it  is  mingled. 

"The  average  specific  gravity  of  milk  is  ahout 
I'OSO.  The  difference  between  this  and  "tis.j 
brings  the  cream  to  the  surface;  it  is  so  little 
that  the  cream  makes  haste  very  slowly.  The 
globules  never  all  come  to  the  surface.  Other 
circumstances  being  the  sanie^  the  largest  ones  rise 
soonest,  as  they  are  specifically  lighter,  and  in 
rising  meet  with  less  resistance  in  proportion  to 
bulk  than  the  smaller  ones.  Many  of  these  never 
make  a  start  towards  the  surface  at  all.  Neither 
do  the  large  ones  always  rise ;  some  of  them  settle 
instead  of  rising.  In  placing  in  a  glass  tube 
16  inches  long  milk  on  which  the  cream  appeared 
to  rise  perfectly,  leaving  a  blue  skim-milk,  and 
letting  it  stand  twentj'-four  hours,  and  then  draw- 
ing milk  from  the  bottom  of  the  tube,  globules 
of  good  size  (yoVo  of  an  inch  in  diameter)  appeared 
mingled  with  the  smaller  ones.  As  globules  of 
unequal  size  remained  at  the  bottom,  it  is  e\ndent 
thev  did  so  because  of  a  difference  in  their  com- 
position which  made  them  specifically  hea\^er. 
Those  remaining  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  vessel 
appear  less  oj)aque  than  those  which  rise  to  the 
surface,  those  rising  first  being  the  most  opaque. 
Analyses  of  skim-milk  show  that  about  one-eighth 
of  the  fatty  matter  never  gets  to  the  surface. 

"  The  smaller  the  globules,  the  slower  they  rise; 
and  some  of  them  dwindle  down  to  such  minute- 
ness that  they  would  not  rise  through  3  inches 
in  a  week,  if  the  milk  could  be  kept  sweet  that 
length  of  time.  Cream  will  continue  to  rise  till 
the  milk  gets  thick,  be  that  time  short  or  long. 
The  best  part  rises  first.  If  milk  is  skimmed 
every  twelve  hours,  and  the  eream  of  each  period 
churned  separately,  the  product  of  the  first  period 
will  be  the  highest  flavoured  and  the  highest 
coloured,  and  the  colour,  quantity,  and  flavour  of 
each  successive  skimming  will  diminish  to  the 
last,  but  the  keeping  qualities  will  grow  better. 
The  fourth  and  fifth  skimmings  will  be  quite  jjale 
and  insipid.  Where  a  high-coloured  article  is 
desired  it  is  not  advisable  to  continue  the  process 
of  creaming  too  long.  What  will  rise  in  forty- 
eight  hours  at  60*^,  on  milk  4  inches  deep,  is  all 
that  is  generally  profitable  to  separate.  What 
comes  up  after  that  is  so  white  and  tasteless  as 
to  do  more  injury,  by  depressing  the  flavour  and 
colour,  than  it  can  do  good  by  increasing  quantity. 


"The  second  essential  point  is  the  fact  that  fats 
expand  and  contract  more  than  water  with  heat 
and  cold,  and  more  than  the  other  elements  of  the 
milk.  The  difference  of  specific  gravity  between 
milk  and  eream  is  varied  by  the  circumstance  of 
temperature.  It  is  greatest  when  hot  and  least 
when  cold,  and  this  faet  materially  affects  the 
rising  of  the  cream. 

"As  fat,  of  which  cream  is  chiefly  composed, 
swells  more  with  heat  and  shrinks  more  with  cold 
than  water,  of  which  milk  is  chiefly  composed,  it 
is  evident  that,  if  other  circumstances  are  alike, 
cream  will  rise  better  in  a  high  temperature  than 
in  a  low  one,  since  the  fat  in  cream,  by  swelling 
more  with  heat,  will  be  relatively  lighter  when 
both  milk  and  cream  are  warm  than  when  both 
are  cold — the  temperature  in  both  cases  neither 
rising  nor  falling,  but  standing  without  change. 
Most  people  seem  to  have  the  opinion  that  milk 
must  be  cooled  to  make  the  cream  rise  fast,  and 
that  the  colder  they  get  it,  the  faster  the  cream 
will  i-ise.  The  fact  is  exactly  the  reverse  when 
the  temperature  is  stationary.  The  colder  the 
milk,  the  slower  the  cream  rises,  because  there 
is  less  difference  between  the  specific  gravity 
of  the  cream  and  milk,  and  because  the  milk  is 
more  dense  and  offers  more  obstruction  to  the 
motion  of  the  cream-globules.  It  does  not  rise  so 
fast  at  GO''  as  at  160'^.  In  butter-making  the  waste 
of  butyraceous  matter  is  confined  almost  wholly 
to  the  minutest  particles  of  cream.  These  rise 
with  great  difficulty  and  very  slowly.  Those  who 
make  butter  from  whey  often  heat  the  whey  to  170'^, 
when  the  difference  in  specific  gravity  between  the 
fat  in  the  cream  and  the  water  in  the  whey  be- 
comes so  great  that  the  cream  all  rises  to  the  top 
in  a  short  time.  By  cooling  to  60*^,  five  or  six 
times  as  much  time  is  required  to  effect  the  same 
result. 

"  In  noting  the  difference  of  exjiausion  in  water 
and  fat  by  var3ing  the  temperature,  the  fat  in 
rising  from  60''  to  l-SC^  swelled,  as  near  as  I 
could  determine  by  graduated  tubes,  twice  as  much 
as  water  by  the  same  increase  of  temperature. 
Water  expands  unequally  by  an  equal  increase  of 
heat,  according  as  the  increase  is  made  at  a  high 
temperature  or  at  a  low  one.  Water  rising  from 
iO''  to  50^  swells  only  one-tenth  as  much  as  when 
rising  from  80°  to  OO'',  and  in  cooling,  of  course, 
the  same  law  is  followed  in  the  shrinkage.  In 
falling  from  a  high  temperature  to  a  low  one,  the 


288 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


water  in  tlio  milk  s^hriiikiiiiy  litllo  and  the  f:it 
much,  the  speeilic  gravities  come  nearer  alike,  and 
hence  the  fat  rises  more  slowly  at  low  temperatures 
than  at  high  ones  when  the  temperature  is  un- 
varying. Water  is  a  better  conductor  of  heat  than 
fat;  hence,  when  the  temperature  of  milk  varies 
either  up  or  down,  the  water  in  the  milk  feels  the 
effect  of  heat  or  cold  a  little  sooner  than  the  fat  in 
the  cream  does,  therefore  the  cream  is  always  a  little 
behind  the  water  in  swelling  with  heat  or  shrinking 
with  cold — thus  diminishing  the  difference  between 
the  si)eeific  gravity  of  the  milk  and  cream  when 
the  temperature  is  rising,  and  increasing  it  when 
the  temperature  is  falling.  The  difference  between 
the  specific  gravities  of  milk  and  cream  when  both 
have  the  same  temperature  is  but  little;  it  is 
barely  enough  to  give  a  sluggish  motion  to  tin; 
cream.  Where  the  difference  in  gravities  is  so 
very  small  a  slight  increase  or  decrease  is  sensi- 
tively felt,  and  the  careful  observer  will  have  no 
difhculty  in  noting  the  retarded  ascent  of  cream  in 
a  rising  temperature,  or  its  hurried  ascent  in  a 
falling  one.  The  fact  of  a  hurried  rising  of  cream 
in  a  falling  temperature  of  milk  has  great  sig- 
nificance in  butter-dairying  ;  but  though  always 
0])en  for  recognition  in  every  butter-making  es- 
tablishment, whether  corporate  or  private,  it  has 
failed  of  being  recognised  both  by  dairymen  and 
dairy-writers — perhaps  because  they  have  had  their 
minds  intently  bent  on  some  ideal  temperature  or 
depth  as  the  sine  quit  iion. 

"A  further  consideration  is  depth;  other  cir- 
cumstances being  equal,  it  must  be  evident  that 
it  will  take  cream  less  time  to  rise  through  a 
thin  structure  than  a  thick  one — less  time  to 
rise  through  3  inches  than  lli.  But  depth  in- 
volves temperature,  which  makes  the  question  of 
dejith  a  complicated  one.  It  cannot  be  con- 
sistently considered  alone,  for  there  is  no  par- 
ticular depth  at  which,  under  all  circumstances, 
cream  rises  better  than  at  every  other  depth ;  and 
of  temperature  it  may  also  be  said  that  there  is 
no  particular  temperature  at  which,  under  all  cir- 
cumstances, cream  rises  better  than  at  every  other 
tem])erature.  Depth  and  temperature  are  some- 
what correlative;  in  practice  they  affect  each 
other,  and  they  should  be  considered  in  con- 
nection. Further  experiments  are  necessary  to 
note  all  the  facts  which  result  from  the  com- 
bined influence  of  these  two  circumstances,  but 
a  little  exi)hnKition   iiuiy  hcli)  t,o  show   Imw  lhe.se 


general  statements  arc  connected  with  deep  and 
shallow  setting. 

"  If  two  vessels  of  milk  at  80^',  and  of  the  same 
depth  and  quality,  arc  set  in  a  room  which  has  an 
even  temperature  of  50" — one  being  cooled  to  50° 
before  setting,  and  the  other  not — the  vessel  which 
is  cooled  will  not  throw  up  cream  so  rapidly  nor  so 
perfectly  as  the  one  which  is  not  cooled  before 
setting,  because  the  former  will  receive  no  benefit 
from  an  increased  difference  between  the  specific 
gravities  of  the  milk  and  cream  by  reason  of  a 
falling  temperature.  If,  after  the  cooled  milk  has 
stood  at  .J  0°  until  the  cream  ceases  to  rise,  it  is  warmed, 
and  then  set  again  in  a  room  at  50°,  or  if,  without 
warming,  it  is  set  in  a  colder  room,  more  cream 
will  rise,  because  of  the  falling  temperature  that 
will  in  either  case  follow.  The  same  results  would 
be  obtained,  but  in  a  feebler  degree,  if  the  milk 
which  was  not  cooled  before  setting  were  treated 
in  the  same  way,  provided  it  was  set  shallow,  say 
2  inches  deep,  in  the  first  place.  Bearing  in 
mind  that  the  warmer  milk  is  kept,  up  to  a 
certain  point,  the  sooner  it  spoils,  05"  is  a  high 
temperature  to  set  milk  in  ;  yet  milk  set  2  inches 
deep  at  05°  will  throw  up  its  cream  quickly  and 
perfectly  when  it  would  not  do  so  if  set  at  50°, 
because  in  the  latter  case  it  would  too  soon  fall  to 
the  standard  of  the  room  and  cease  to  derive  any 
advantage  from  a  falling  temperature.  If  we  should 
set  warm  milk  in  vessels  ()  inches  deep  in  a  room 
at  05°,  it  would  take  the  cream  so  much  longer 
to  come  up  through  that  increased  depth,  and  it 
would  remain  warm  so  much  longer,  that  the  milk 
w()uld  sj)oil  before  it  had  all  risen.  But  let  the 
deep  vessels  be  i)laced  in  a  cold  room,  say  50°,  and 
the  result  will  be  altogether  different.  Unlike 
the  shallow  milk  in  the  cool  room,  the  increase  of 
depth  and  bulk  will  so  much  ])rolong  the  time 
of  cooling  that  the  cream  will  all,  or  very  nearly 
all,  rise  before  the  milk  has  dropped  to  the  tem- 
perature of  the  room. 

"  We  can  now  see  how  the  arguments  of  the 
advocates  of  deep  and  shallow  setting  are  derived. 
An  experimenter  having  observed  a  fact  like  the 
last,  in  which  the  cream  is  i)erfectly  raised  in  a 
deep  vessel,  declares  in  favour  of  deep  setting 
as  the  best  and  only  sure  way  to  get  all  the 
cream ;  and  another  one,  having  set  milk  2 
inches  deep  at  05°,  and  accomplished  the  same 
result,  takes  position  on  the  other  side,  and  be- 
comes an   advocate  of    shallow   setting    under    all 


EFFECTS    OF    TEMPERATURE. 


289 


cirpumstances.  Each  having'  wuinliuil  but  half 
tlie  facts,  his  arfruments  cover  but  half  the  g-round. 
Had  both  investigated  more  thoroughly,  they 
might  have  been  agreed  in  tlie  position  that  all  the 
cream  can  be  obtained  by  either  deep  or  shallow 
setting,  if  there  is  a  proper  adaptation  of  con- 
ditions ;  and  they  might  go  farther,  and  lay 
it  down  as  a  rule  that  the  warmer  the  room  in 
which  milk  is  set,  the  less  should  be  the  depth 
of  the  milk,  and  the  cooler  the  room,  the  greater 
may  be  the  depth  of  the  milk.  By  having  the 
foregoing  statements  well  grounded  in  the  mind, 
and  keeping  in  distinct  remembrance  the  relation 
between  temperature  '  and  depth,  especially  the 
important  effect  of  a  falling  temperature,  any 
one  can,  with  a  little  experience,  be  successful  in 
raising  cream  perfectly  at  auy  temperature  from 
40°  to  70°. 

"  It  will  become  clear  that,  though  certain 
temperatures  are  desirable,  they  are  not  absolutely 
necessary  to  obtaining  all  the  cream.  There  is  a 
great  deal  of  talk  about  an  even  temperature  for 
raising  cream,  and,  so  far  as  the  dairy-room  is 
concerned,  it  is  desirable  that  it  should  be  uniform, 
because  it  gives  regularity  to  all  the  ojserations  of 
the  dairy,  and  aids  in  securing  uniform  results ; 
biit  so  far  as  the  single  fact  of  raising  cream  is 
concerned,  it  is  better  that  the  milk  should  not  be 
kept  at  any  one  particular  degree,  but  at  a  tem- 
perature steadily  falling  as  long  as  jiossible.  It  is 
an  important  item  in  heating  milk  before  setting 
it  that  it  gives  a  wider  range  of  temperature  for 
it  to  fall  through.  Low  cooling  contributes  to 
the  same  result  at  the  other  end  of  the  scale ;  but 
it  is  neeessaiy  to  observe  that  in  using  low  tem- 
peratures the  depth  and  bulk  of  milk  should  be 
graduated  to  the  warmth,  so  that  the  rising  of  the 
cream  shall  not  be  arrested  by  too  soon  bringing 
the  temperature  of  the  milk  to  a  standstill.  If 
the  cooling  is  sufficiently  rapid  to  prevent  the  milk 
from  souring  before  the  cream  is  all  np,  the  slower 
the  cooling  the  better,  as  the  benefit  of  a  falling- 
temperature  will  be  more  fully  availed  of.  This 
is  one  reason  why  cooling  milk  in  cold  air  is  better 
than  cooling  in  cold  water;  the  water,  being  a 
better  conductor  than  the  air,  brings  the  tem- 
perature to  a  standstill  too  soon.  But  at  the 
beginning  the  rapid  cooling  will  throw  up  cream 
faster  than  slow  cooling,  but  the  slow  cooling 
jiroduces  the  best  results  in  the  end. 

"The  greater  the  number  of  decrees  of  tem- 


perature through  which  milk  falls  while  the  cream 
is  rising,  the  more  perfectly  does  it  come  up,  other 
circumstances  being  equal.  Milk  cooled  from 
80'^  to  60"  in  twelve  hours  will  not  throw  up  its 
cream  so  rapidly  nor  so  perfectly  as  when  falling 
from  80'^  down  to  40°  in  the  same  time.  Facts 
like  this  have  been  noticed,  and  a  wrong  inference 
drawn  from  them.  It  is  suj)posed,  because  cooling 
to  40"  instead  of  60°  makes  the  most  butter,  that 
cream  rises  better  the  lower  the  temperature. 
But  this  inference  is  unwarranted  and  untrue,  for 
if  a  mess  of  milk  is  divided,  and  one-half  cooled 
to  60°  and  the  other  to  40°  before  the  cream  is 
allowed  to  rise,  and  kej)t  at  those  temperatures 
respectively,  the  cream  will  rise  more  rapidly 
and  perfectly  on  the  portion  that  is  cooled  only 
to  60°.  This  fact  may  be  easily  verified  by 
experiment,  and  the  general  principle  confirmed 
that  cream  rises  better  at  high  temperatures  than 
at  low  ones  iclien  the  temperature  is  unvari/ing. 
The  other  experiment  will  prove  to  be  a  very 
satisfactory  demonstration  of  the  faet  in  regard  to 
the  influence  of  i-aising  cream  while  the  tempera- 
ture is  depressing.  Particular  attention  is  called 
to  these  general  facts,  because  some  experimenters 
who  are  regarded  as  authorities  have  fallen  into 
the  error  just  alluded  to.  In  effecting  a  separa- 
tion between  milk  and  cream,  the  influence  of  a 
falling  temperature  has  been  long  and  entirely  over- 
looked. 

"■  Another  important  faet  that  affects  the 
separation  of  cream  is  the  growth  of  minute 
organic  germs  in  the  milk,  which  up  to  a  certain 
point  is  greater  the  higher  the  temperature.  In 
all  milk  exposed  to  the  air  there  are  thousands  of 
germs  that  are  ready  to  start  up  and  gi-ow  when- 
ever the  milk  is  warm  enough  for  them  to  do  so, 
and  by  their  presence  hinder  the  upward  passage 
of  the  cream-globules.  The  sour-milk  spores  are 
the  principal  obstructions  in  the  way  of  raising 
the  cream ;  they  begin  to  form  long  before  the 
milk  begins  to  appear  thick.  The  growth  of 
other  germs  does  injury  by  altering  the  flavour. 
Organic  germs  are  prevented  from  interfering  with 
the  rising  of  the  cream,  either  by  retarding  their 
growth  by  cooling  the  milk,  or  by  killing  them  by 
heating  it." 

The  theory  of  eream-raising,  based  on  facts 
supplied  by  experiment,  is  clearly  enough  set  forth 
in  Professor  Arnold's  close  reasoning,  as  given  in 
the  preceding  paragraphs.     As   he  remarks,  the 


290 


DAIRY    FARMIXO. 


question  of  temperature  lias  been  wholly  disre- 
garded, or  at  all  events  very  imperfectly  under- 
stood, by  butter-makcre  in  the  ])ast.  It  is,  how- 
ever, true  that  the  practical  facts  connected  with 
temperature  in  a  milk-room  have,  consciously  or 
iinconsciously,  been  worked  out  long  ago  in  some 
cases ;  j'et,  not  being  clearly  understood,  and  there- 
fore not  publicly  announced,  they  have  not  been 
widely  made  use  of  until  the  present  generation. 
Some  may  think  that  Professor  Arnold's  theory  of 
a  temperature  falling  through  a  considerable  period 
being  the  best  for  cream-raising  is  disproved  b}'' 
the  Swartz  system  of  setting  milk  iu  ice-water 
whose  temperature  is  not  many  degrees  above 
freezing-point,  because  by  this  method  the  milk 
in  a  short  time  is  cooled  down  to  some  d-O"  or 
42"  Fahr.,  and  therefore  has  not  the  benefit  of 
a  slowly-falling  temperature.  It  would  appear, 
however,  that  a  rapidly-falling  temperature  does, 
though  somewhat  differently  and  with  a  varying 
result,  the  work  of  a  slowly-falling  one,  for  the 
cream  under  the  ice-water  system  rises  very 
quickly.  The  difference  is  this  :  the  cream  in  the 
ice-water  system  does  not  separate  so  ]ierfeetly 
from  the  milk  as  it  does  in  ordinary  shallow-pan 
setting — probalily,  in  part,  on  account  of  the 
diminished  surface  of  the  milk — but  it  all  rises 
into  the  upper  portion  or  layer  of  milk  and  remains 
there  intermixed  with  more  or  less  of  the  milk — is 
softer,  more  liquid,  and  thinner  than  cream  that 
has  risen  in  the  ordinary  way.  This  appears  to 
be  the  usual  result  of  deep-setting,  whether  the 
milk  be  cooled  in  ice-water  or  notj  and  there 
would  seem  to  be  little  or  no  advantage  in  cooling 
milk  in  ice-water  in  the  cold  weather  of  winter. 
The  advantage  of  such  cooling  lies  in  keeping  the 
milk  quite  free  from  sourness  in  the  hottest 
weather.  The  thinness  of  the  cream  in  the  deep- 
setting  systems  is  by  some  regarded  as  a  disad- 
vantage, and  by  others  not ;  these  say  that  it 
chui-ns  the  better  for  being  thin,  those  that  it 
does  not.  For  ourselves,  we  are  in  favour  of 
not  having  very  much  milk  churned  along  with 
the  cream;  and  yet,  where  milk  is  churned,  in- 
stead of  cream  only,  the  supposed  disadvantage 
of  churning  the  milk  with  the  cream  does  not 
appear  to  operate  seriously. 

The  i-eason  of  the  cream  rising  so  nuicli  quicker 
when  the  milk  is  set  in  ice-water  arises  from 
the  fact  that  the  cooling  operates  on  the  sides 
and    from    below    rather   than    on  the   surface  of 


the  milk;  the  surface,  in  fact,  being  covered 
over  with  a  lid,  is  in  a  measure  protected  from  the 
cooling  inlluence  which  is  operating  elsewhere, 
because  there  is  a  space  between  the  surface  of 
the  milk  and  the  lid  which  is  occupied  by  air, 
and  the  air  is  kept  warm  for  a  time  while  the 
process  of  cooling  is  going  on  around  the  sides 
and  at  the  bottom  of  the  can  which  holds  the 
milk. 

This,  however,  scarcely  holds  good  in  the 
deep-setting  of  the  Cooley  system  of  cream-rais- 
ing, which  resembles  the  Swartz  system  closely 
in  principle.  In  both  the  milk  is  set  in  deep 
cans  and  in  cold  water,  which,  if  not  cool  enough 
of  itself,  is  made  so  by  the  addition  of  ice  or  of 
snow;  the  only  difference  of  importance  between 
them  is  this  :  in  the  Cooley  system  the  cold  water 
not  only  surrounds  the  can  outside  as  high,  at  all 
events,  as  the  milk  rises  inside,  which  is  the 
practice  observed  in  the  Swartz  system,  but  it 
flows  over  the  lid  as  well,  and  so  the  can  is  com- 
pletely submerged.  The  water,  in  fact,  is  an 
inch  or  two  over  the  lid  of  the  can  which  eon- 
tains  the  milk,  and  so  it  follows  that  the  surface 
of  the  milk  is  cooled  in  a  measure  simultaneously 
with  the  rest  of  it,  for  the  air-space  between  the 
milk  and  the  lid  is  cooled  by  the  water  which  flows 
over  the  lid.  And  yet  the  cream  rises  quite  as 
quickly  in  the  Cooley  as  in  the  Swartz  system, 
which  goes  to  pi'ove  that  cooling  the  sin-face  of 
the  milk  does  not  retard  the  rising  of  the  cream, 
so  long  as  the  sides  and  bottom  are  cooled  as 
well. 

For  many  generations,  so  far  as  we  have 
means  of  finding  out,  no  change  or  improvement 
worth  speaking  about  took  jslace  iu  the  method  or 
methods  of  treating  milk  in  butter-making.  It 
is  only  in  our  own  day  that  many  and  great 
novelties  have  been  introduced,  that  improved 
utensils  have  been  invented,  and  that  the  rule-of- 
thumb  practice  of  the  olden  times  has  been  reduced 
to  an  intelligent  and  intelligible  system.  The 
last  twenty  or  thirty  years  have  brought  about 
a  thorough  transformation  in  matters  relating  to 
the  dairy — a  transformation,  in  fact,  which  is  still 
in  progress,  and  not  at  present  established  every- 
where. So  far  the  improvements  in  dairy  prac- 
tices have  made  headway  in  America  and  in 
scv('r;il  countries  on  the  continent  of  Europe 
rather  tlian  in  England  ;  and  it  is  to  those  coun- 
tries  that   we  have   to   <ro  in  search  of  the  most 


MILK-PANS    AND    MILK-SHELVES. 


291 


advanced  practices,  and,  in  most  respects,  for  im- 
proved appliances.  We  shall  try  to  verify  this 
statement  later  on. 

From  time  immemorial  butter-making'  in  Eng- 
land has  been  a  primitive,  simple  sort  of  business, 
the  principles  of  which  have  not  been  understood, 
and  until  the  second  half  of  the  present  century 
the  utensils  and  appliances  used  in  it  were  of 
a  simple  and  almost  rude  character.  The  vessels 
in  which  the  milk  was  set  to  cream  were  usually 
of  wood,  and  the  milk-rooms  were  generally  used 
for  a  variety  of  purposes,  and  not  kej)t  specially 
for  the  milk.  Later  on,  milk-pans  were  made 
of  brown  earthenware,  which  was  glazed  inside. 
These  earthenware  pans  were  a  great  imjirovement 
on  the  old  wooden  ones,  because  they  were  so  much 
easier  kept  sweet  and  clean  j  but  they  were  cumber- 
some and  brittle.  They  were  of  different  sizes,  but 
generally  of  one  sli  ipe ;  the  commonest  size  was 
about  12  to  18  inches  in  diameter  at  the  top  and  8 
or  10  at  the  bottom ;  their  sides  were  sloping,  and 
they  were  some  6  to  8  inches  deep.  In  recent  years 
these  pans  have  been  to  a  great  extent  superseded 
by  others  made  of  tin  or  of  galvanised  iron  pressed 
into  shape,  and  last  of  all  glass  ones  have  in  some 
jJaces  come  into  use.  But  for  its  extreme  brittle- 
ness,  glass  is  about  the  best  possible  material  that 
can  be  used  in  the  manufacture  of  small  vessels 
to  contain  milk,  and  when  the  art  of  making 
malleable  glass  shall  have  been  perfected  there 
can  be  little  doubt  of  this  material  coming  into 
general  use  in  butter-dairies.  The  chief  merits 
of  glass  are  that  vessels  made  of  it  do  not  become 
impregnated  with  taints  from  sour  milk,  that  they 
are  cleaned  with  the  greatest  ease,  and  that  they 
have  no  seams  in  which  impurities  can  lodge. 
In  Fig.  146  is  shown  a  milk-pan  of  modern 
shape  for  shallow  set- 
ting of  milk.  As  a 
rule,  these  vessels  are 
made  of  wrought-iron, 
pressed  into  form  so 
as  to  obviate  seams, 
and  then  tinned  over. 
But  they  may  be  made  of  glass  or  any  suitable 
material ;  made,  however,  of  the  material  indi- 
cated, they  are  very  durable,  and  are  kept  clean 
without  great  difTiculty.  The  common  practice  in 
England  is  to  have  them,  when  lilled  with  milk  for 
creaming,  arranged  on  shelves  running  round  the 
milk-room.  Some  persons  object  to  tin  milk-pans, 
40 


141.1.— Milk  PAN  for 
Setting  Milk. 


on  the  ground  that  they  impart  a  flavour  to  the 
milk,  particularly  when  the  tinned  surface  is  worn 
off,  and  the  iron  beneath  is  laid  bare.  This  objec- 
tion, no  doubt,  has  some  foundation  in  fact ;  but  if 
the  pans  are  well  cleaned  with  hot  water  and  soda 
each  time  before  milk  is  put  into  them,  the  objec- 
tion may  be  dismissed.  It  is  worth  while,  however, 
to  remember  that  no  such  objection  can  be  raised 
against  glass  or  glazed  earthenware ;  and  these  ma- 
terials, except  for  their  weight  and  brittleness,  may 
be  declared  better  than  any  others  for  milk-pans. 

In  Fig.  147  we  give  a  cut  of  an  ingenious  set 
of  milk-shelves,  copied  from  the  American  Agricul- 
turist of  March,  1876,  which  will  be  found  very 


Fig.  147.— Kevolving  Milk-shelve.s  for  a  Butter  Dairv. 

useful  where  space  is  limited  and  it  is  necessary  to 
make  the  most  economical  use  of  it.  The  whole 
arrangement  of  the  revolving  shelves  is  so  well 
shown  in  the  illustration  that  but  little  description 
is  needed.  It  consists  of  an  eight-sided  central 
shaft,  provided  with  an  iron  pin  at  the  bottom, 
which  works  in  a  socket  in  the  floor  beneath  ;  the 
upjier  p.'irt  is  carried  through  the  ventilator  in  the 
upper  floor.  Eight  arms  are  mortised  into  the 
shaft  to  support  the  shelves,  of  which  there  are 
six.  Strips  are  carried  from  the  upper  part  of  the 
shaft  over  the  edges  of  the  shelves,  as  a  further 
support  to  them.  The  shelves,  which  are  about 
1.5  inches  apart,  are  made  of  lattice-work,  thus 
furnishing  ventilation  to  the  bottoms  of  the  pans. 
The  lowest  shelf  is  6  feet  in  diameter,  and  about 
2   feet  above   the    floor.      The   whole   framework 


zn 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


revolves  ujion  the  pin  at  the  hottom,  and  is  readily 
moved  around  as  the  pans  of  milk  are  placed  upon 
the  shelves.  This  arrangement  makes  a  great 
economy  of  space.  The  pans  are  not  shown  upon 
the  shelves,  so  that  the  structure  may  be  seen. 
Tlie  whole  of  the  shelves  should  be  well  painted  in 
pure  white.  Tiie  two  sets  of  shelves,  one  of  which 
is  seen  on  either  side  of  the  room,  are  of  the  ordi- 
nary kind,  yet  with  the  ends  so  formed  that  more 
or  fewer  shelves  can  be  put  in  them  at  will,  and 
the  revolving  shelves  are  designed  as  a  supplement 
to  them  where  space  is  limited  and  it  is  desirable 
to  make  the  most  of  it.  The  revolving  shelves,  in 
fact,  may  be  placed  in  a  corner  anywhere,  and 
simply  need  to  be  turned  in  order  that  every  pan 
of  milk  may  be  skimmed  with  ease  and  celerity. 

It  is  necessary  to  remember  that  milk-rooms 
should  alwaj's  be  kept  scrupulously  clean,  well  ven- 
tilated with  pure  air,  free  from  impure  odours  of 
any  kind,  whether  from  within  or  Avithout,  and  as 
dry  as  is  convenient.  Almost  everything  is  cajwljle 
of  throwing  off  and  absorbing  efiliivia  or  vaporous 
compounds,  some  of  which  are  beyond  the  scope  of 
chemical  estimation ;  and  it  may  sound  strange  to 
some  when  we  say  it  would  be  next  to  impossible 
to  devise  a  compound  liquid  more  susceptible  than 
fresh  milk  is  to  effluvial  inlluences.  Nature  never 
intended  that  milk  should  be  exposed  to  the  air, 
but  to  be  taken  direct  from  the  body  of  the  parent 
to  that  of  the  offspring.  This  is  clear  enough  ; 
and  the  uses  to  which  the  requirements  of  civilised 
life  consign  the  great  bulk  of  it  are  just  as  clearly 
outside  its  natural  functions.  It  is  what  chemists 
call  a  transition  compound,  and  as  such  is  fickle 
and  transitory,  and  requires  the  most  intelligent 
and  careful  treatment.  Being  a  quick  and 
powerful  absorbent,  it  is  expedient  to  keep  it 
far  enough  away  from  any  kind  of  odour  that 
would  taint  it.  An  odour  of  any  kind,  be  it 
pleasing  or  nauseous,  will  surely  taint  the  butter, 
through  having  first  been  absorbed  by  the  milk. 
The  odour  of  oil,  for  instance,  of  onions,  of  decay- 
ing vegetable  or  animal  substances — any  odour 
whatever,  in  fact,  especially  if  it  be  of  a  pungent 
character — will  be  absorbed  by  the  milk  which 
comes  in  contact  with  it,  and  will  be  reproduced 
in  the  butter.  The  milk-room,  therefore,  must  be 
kept  perfectly  clean ;  floor  and  walls  and  ceiling, 
windows  and  doors — all  must  be  free  from  im- 
purities of  any  kind.  If  milk  is  spilt  on  the  floor 
it  must  be  carefully  cleaned  away,  and  not  allowed 


to  decompose  in  the  crevices  between  the  tiles  or 
pavement.  So  with  anything  else  that  is  at  all 
likely  to  emit  an  offensive  odour.  Ventilation  is 
no  less  useful  than  cleanliness,  providing  it  can  be 
done  with  pure  air.  But  if  the  air  from  the  out- 
side is  likely  to  be  tainted  with  inijjurities  from 
eess]iof)ls,  farm-yards,  or  what  not,  it  is  better  to 
exclude  it.  And,  lastly,  it  is  well  to  keep  the 
milk-room  dry,  so  that  the  gases  from  the  milk 
may  pass  off  into  the  atmosphere,  and  so  away, 
rather  than  that  the  moisture  in  the  atmosphere 
should  condense  on  the  surface  of  the  milk — a 
thing  it  is  apt  to  do  while  the  milk  is  warm.  It 
must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  all  vessels  with 
which  the  milk  comes  in  contact  must  be  well 
scalded  with  boiling — not  merely  warm — water, 
and  well  scrubljed  with  a  hard  brush  after  each 
time  of  using,  and  especially  so  if  they  are  matle 
of  metal  or  wood.  Glass  and  glazed  earthenware 
will  easily  be  kept  clean  with  heated  water  with- 
out the  scrubbing.  Sour  milk  has  a  great  faculty 
for  tainting  any  vessels  in  whose  pores  or  crevices 
it  can  find  a  lodgment ;  it  decomposes  there,  and  if 
not  removed  will  turn  fresh  milk  sour  in  a  short 
time,  so  each  time  a  vessel  is  emptied  of  its  milk 
it  must  be  thoroughly  cleaned  before  other  milk  is 
put  into  it.  If  these  matters  are  faithfully  attended 
to,  the  milk  will  throw  up  pure,  sweet  cream,  and 
the  cream  will  produce  butter  whose  flavour  and 
aroma  will  gratify  the  palate  of  an  epicure. 

A  good  deal  of  importance  is  attached  by 
many  people  to  the  practice  of  heating  the  milk 
soon  after  it  is  drawn  from  the  cow,  and  before  it 
is  set  for  creaming,  up  to  1;5U°  or  llO'-',  and  there 
can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that  this  pnicfiie,  if 
intelligently  carried  out,  is  a  sound  one.  In  the 
first  place,  it  will  expel  the  animal  odour,  the 
"eowy  "  smell,  from  the  milk ;  it  will,  for  the  time 
being,  checkmate  all  germs  leading  to  decay  that 
the  milk  may  naturally  contain  or  that  it  may  have 
absorl)cd  from  the  air ;  and  it  will  dissipate  the 
2ieeuliar  flavour  which  some  kinds  of  food — tnrnij)S, 
for  instance — imi)art  to  milk  that  is  produced  by 
their  aid.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that 
milk  at  a  high  temperature  will  quickly  go  sour, 
so  that,  especially  in  warm  weather,  and  unless  it 
can  at  once  be  ])laeed  in  a  very  cold  room,  it 
should  without  delay  be  cooled  down  again  to 
aljout  70*^  by  means  of  cold  water,  after  which  the 
cooling  may  be  allowed  to  proceed  more  slowly 
duriuir  the  time  when  the  cream  is  rising.     Whilst 


THE    SWARTZ    SYSTEM    OF    RAISING    CREAM. 


293 


it  is  being  cooled  from  the  high  temperature  it 
should  be  kept  in  motion,  or  an  albuminous  skin 
will  form  on  the  surface,  and  this  will  interfere 
with  the  rising  of  the  cream.  This  system  of 
heating,  and  then  cooling,  will  enable  the  milk  to 
remain  sweet  a  longer  time  than  cooling  without 
heating ;  and  after  the  cooling  has  been  done  it  is 
a  good  plan  to  place  a  cover  over  the  milk,  the 
more  nearly  air-tight  the  better,  in  order  to  keep 
the  milk  from  contact  with  the  atmosphere.  Only 
a  particularly  pure  atmosphere  could  do  the  milk 
anv  good  at  this  period,  therefore  it  is  safest  to 
exclude    it  altogether.     This    system  of   scalding 


the  cow — about  DS*^ — the  butter-globules  are  not 
perfectly  Huid,  but  when  it  is  heated  to  l-lo'^  the 
globules  which  come  in  contact  will  unite,  forming 
larger  globules.  These  enlarged  globules  not  only 
rise  quickly,  but  by  their  superior  attractive  power 
draw  up,  so  to  speak,  the  smaller  globules,  and 
thus  hasten  the  rising  of  all  the  cream." 

The  Swautz  System  of  Ciieajiixc,. 

In  recent  years  a  new  system  of  raising  cream 
has  spread  throughout  Scandinavia  and  Northern 
Europe  generally.  It  is  known  as  the  ice-water 
system,    and    was   discovered    by  Mr.  Swartz,  of 


produces  perfect  butter;  it  prevents  alike  the 
hasty  souring  of  the  milk  in  summer  before  the 
cream  has  risen  and  the  bitterness  so  commonly 
developed  by  long  standing  in  winter,  but  it  is 
a  perilous  system  when  left  in  the  hands  of 
a  careless  or  otherwise  incompetent  person ;  for, 
if  carried  too  far,  the  delicate  flavour  of  the 
butter  is  liable  to  be  dissipated,  and  if  the  after- 
cooling  is  not  carefully  finished  the  milk  is  apt 
to  turn  sour.  The  effect  of  scalding  milk  is  de- 
scribed by  Dr.  Hoskins  in  the  following  manner: 
— "  It  is  well  known  that  large-globuled  milk 
throws  up  its  cream  quicker  and  more  perfectly 
than  that  which  holds  its  fat  more  finely  divided. 
Now  the  effect  of  scalding  is  simply  to  enlarge 
the  globules  by  coalescence,  or  running  together. 
At  the  temperature  of  the  milk  when  dra\\'n  from 


Hofgarden,  near  Wadstena,  Sweden,  whose  name 
is  now  associated  with  it  wherever  the  system  is 
kno\vn.  It  has  completely  changed  the  character 
of  butter-dairying  in  many  northern  countries, 
and  the  high  reputation  which  Danish  and  Swedish 
butters  have  won  is  owing  to  it.  The  system  is 
simple  enough  from  beginning  to  end,  and  though 
it  may  not  have  introduced  any  previouslv  un- 
known element,  it  has  certainly  reduced  to  a 
system  the  best  features  of  the  various  old  prac- 
tices. The  salient  idea  embodied  in  the  system 
is  that  the  milk  is  set  in  ice-water  to  cream. 
This  is  really  the  foundation  and  the  essence  of 
the  system,  and  if  tliere  is  anything  new  at  all 
in  it,  this  it  is  that  is  new. 

For  cooling  or  "setting"  the  milk,  tanks  or 
cisterns  are  used,  whose  dimensions  are  governed 


294 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


by  the  refniirements  of  each  dairy.  They  are  not, 
however,  as  a  rule,  more  than  9  feet  loiigf  b}'  3  feet 
wide,  inside  measurement,  and  their  depth  is  24 
inches.  They  are  made  of  2-incli  i)lanks,  and  are, 
of  course,  water-tight.  In  Fig.  148  is  given  a 
top  view  of  one  of  these  tanks,  showing  the 
arrangement  of  the  milk-cans  in  it ;  and  in  Fig. 
14!)  is  given  a  section,  which  gives  an  idea  of  the 
depth,  and  also  shows  the  inlet  and  the  outlet 
water-pipes.  It  may  here  be  explained  that 
wherever  there  is  a  constant  supply  of  spring- 
water  which  is  cold  enough  for  the  purjjose,  there 
is  no  need  to  use  ice  at  all  to  cool  the  water,  and 
by  it  the  milk.  If  the  temperature  can  be  brought 
low  enough,  say  to  42°  Fahr.,  it  is  no  matter  whether 
ice  or  spring-water  be  the  agent  employed  ;  but  as 
it  happens  in  so  few  cases  that  water  alone  can  be 
depended  on  for  the  purpose,  it  is  much  more 
common  to  use  water  in  which  a  large  number  of 
small  pieces  of  ice  are  placed,  and  in  this  case 
there  is  not  a  stream  of  water  coming  into  and 
passing  out  of  the  tank,  but  the  tank  is  filled  to  a 
proper  depth  with  water  and  ice,  and  so  left.  In 
some  cases  the  only  fresh  supply  of  water  which 
these  tanks  receive  is  that  provided  by  the  melting 
of  the  ice  daily,  and  the  overplus  of  water  simply 
passes  away  by  the  outlet-pipe,  which  can  be 
raised  or  lowered  to  regulate  the  depth  of  the 
water  in  the  tank.  The  water  is  not,  and  has 
no  need  to  be,  frozen  at  any  time.  Such  a 
temperature  would  be  too  low,  and  would  do  more 
harm  than  good.  From  40"  to  45'-'  is  found  to 
be,  as  a  rule,  quite  low  enough,  even  in  summer  • 
in  winter  this  is  easily 
reached  with  a  small  em- 
ployment of  ice,  and  snow 
is  not  uncommonly  used 
instead  of  ice.  In  Fig. 
l.'JO  is  given  one  of  the 
milk-cans,  which,  when 
nearly  full  of  milk,  are 
placed  in  the  tank,  side 
by  side  and  about  3  inches 
apart,  as  seen  in  Fig.  148. 
Immediately  after  milk- 
ing, the  milk  is  strained 
into  the  cans,  and  the 
cans  are  placed  in  the  tank  at  once,  so  that 
the  milk  has  no  time  to  become  in  any  degree 
tainted,  even  in  the  hottest  weather,  because  of 
its  own  wannlli,  and  there   is   no  time   lost   in 


i 


pii 


loU    .'\1  ILK  CAN. 


raising  the  cream.  In  Fig.  151  is  seen  a  milk- 
strainer  which  fits  on  one  of  the  cans;  and  in 
Fig.  152  is  a  lid  which  in  hot  weatlier,  or  at  any 
time  when  it  is  de- 
sirable to  keep  the 
milk  from  contact 
with  the  air,  is 
used  to  cover  the 
cans.  Two  little 
funnels  will  be  no- 
ticed, one  at  each 
endof  thelid:  these 
permit  the  escape  of 
thegasesand  odours 
from  the  milk  in 
the  early  period  of 
the  cooling. 

The  milk-cans  are  made  of  iron  or  steel-plate, 
and  thoroughly  tinned  both  inside  and  out ;  their 
form  is  oblong,  because  this  shape  has  been  found 
to  be  the  most  eifective  in  cooling,  and  it  admits 
of  the  cream  being  easily  skimmed  off  the  milk ; 
their  depth  is  usually  that  of  the  tank,  viz.,  24 
inches,  aud  they  are  filled  with  milk  u\>  to  within 
some  2  or  3  inches  of  the  top. 

In  summer,  ice-water  is  vised  for  cooling ;  in 
winter,  snow-water,  or  water  alone  if  it  is  cold 
enough;  in  winter  a  stock  of  ice  is  stored  away  for 
summer  use.  In  the  hot  weather  the  water  in  the 
tank  is  regulated  so  as  to  reach  the  same  height 
outside  as  the  milk  does  inside  the  milk-cans, 
so  that  the  cream  as  well  as  the  milk  is  kept 
perfectly  cool  and  sweet ;  in  the  cold  weather  the 
surface  of  the  milk  is  usually  allowed  to  be  a  few 
inches  above  that  of  the  water.  Each  can  con- 
tains from  2  to  3  gallons. 

The  temperature  of  the  cooling-room  is  kept  as 
low  as  possible  in  summer,  and  the  milk  in  the 
cisterns  is  reduced  to  40"  or  42".  In  winter 
the  temperature  of  the  room  is  not  intentionally 
allowed  to  fall  l)elow  bO'\  The  time  required  for 
the  cream  to  rise  dei^cnds  on  the  temperature  of 
the  water  in  the  tank  and  of  the  atmosphere  of  the 
room,  especially  on  the  former.  If  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  ice-water  does  not  exceed  38"  at  the 
time  of  setting  the  milk  in  it,  and  does  not  rise 
much  above  that  point  during  the  cooling,  the 
cream  may  be  skimmed  twelve  to  eighteen  hours 
afterwards,  for  it  rises  quickly  at  this  low  tempera- 
ture. It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  35°  is  a 
much  lower  temperature  than  is  cither  necessary  or 


AMERICAN    SYSTEMS    OF    CREAMING. 


295 


advisable.  If  milk  is  set  to  cream  at  or  a  little 
above  freezing-point,  tlie  yield  of  butter  will  be 
less  tban  if  it  were  set  five  degrees  higber,  and 
40°  is  low  enough.  In  the  old-fashioned  way  of 
setting  milk  in  pans,  as  shown  in  Figs.  140  and 
147,  the  cream  has  not  all  risen  in  forty-eight 
hours,  and  this  is  a  dangerously  long  period 
to  allow  milk  to  stand,  unless  in  cold  weather. 

The  great 
merit  of  the 
Swartz  system 
lies  in  the  per- 
fectly sweet  and 
fresh  cream 
which  it  pro- 
duces, and  it 
is  only  from 
cream  in  this 
condition  that 
the  finest-fla- 
voured butter 
can  be  obtained 
— "  gilt-edged  " 
butter  the 
American  dairy- 
men term  it.   It 

is  by  some  laid  down  as  a  rule  from  which  there 
is  little  deviation,  that  the  fresher  and  sweeter  the 
crearn  is,  the  more  nearly  perfect  will  the  butter 
be.  Yet  even  in  Sweden,  where  the  system  was 
invented  for  the  very  purpose  of  producing  such 
sweet  and  fresh 
ei'cam,  the  Swartz 
system  is  in  some 
cases  robbed  of  the 
very  benefits  it  is 
designed  to  confer; 
in  these  cases,  as 
Mr.  H.  M.  Jenkins 
informs  us,*  though 

the  milk-house  has  been  altered  to  enable  the  ice- 
water  method  to  be  pursued,  yet  the  cream  is  still 
kept  to  go  sour,  and  the  butter  made  on  the  old 
system.  Where  the  system  is  followed  out  in  its 
integrity  the  cream  is  not  kept  more  than  two 
days  during  the  warmer  season,  and  three  days 
during  winter,  before  it  is  churned.  There  is, 
it  must  be  admitted,  much  diversity  of  opinion 
on    the    subject    of   sweet  versus   soiu'  cream  for 

*  Journal    of    the     Royal    Agricultural    Society,    1875, 
p.  224. 


Fig.  154.— JMlLK-P.lN  DETACHED. 


churning.  A  proper  degree  of  souring,  devehipod 
as  it  ought  to  be,  is  probably  a  useful  thing  in 
butter-making  in  some  cases ;  the  danger  lies  in 
having  too  much  of  it  in  the  cream  too  early. 
We  shall  return  to  this  topic  later  on. 

American  Systems  of  Cre.uiixg. 

Cxreat  and  intelligent  attention  has  for  some 
time  been  paid 
to  butter-mak- 
i  n  g  in  the 
L'nited  States; 
ill  farm-houses 
the  utensils  and 
appliances  have 
undergone  great 
improvement, 
and  more  re- 
rently  large 
"creameries'^ 
have  been  es- 
tablished, after 
the  pattern  of 
cheese-factories. 
Of  the  cream- 
eries we  shall 
speak  in  a  separate  section.  In  Fig.  153  is  seen 
an  arrangement  of  improved  milk-pans  for  raising 
cream,  suitable  to  a  considerable  farm-dairy.  It 
will  be  noticed  that  two  of  the  coolers  have  each 
two  pans,  making  in  themselves  a  complete  set, 
of  half  the  capacity 
of  the  full  set,  which 
may  be  used  as  such 
in  spring  and  au- 
tumn, when  milk  is 
not  plentiful.  The 
two  double  pans,  as 
will  be  noticed  in 
Fig.  154,  are  con- 
nected by  a  tube,  so  that  in  summer  each 
double  pan  may  act  as  a  single  one,  while  in 
winter  it  may,  by  stopjiing  up  the  tvibe,  be  made 
to  act  as  two  distinct  pans.  The  four  full  pans, 
made  to  order  accoixling  to  the  number  of  cows 
whose  milk  they  are  designed  to  hold,  are  intended 
for  a  creaming  process  of  forty-eight  hours'  dura- 
tion, if  necessary ;  or  they  may  be  made  to  answer 
for  a  thirty-six  hours'  process,  having  in  this  case 
one  pan  empty  and  ready  to  receive  the  next 
"  meal "  of  milk ;  or  they  may  answer  as  a  double 


296 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


set  for  a  twenty-four  hours'  process.  These  dif- 
ferent periods  will  be  governed  by  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  cream  can  be  made  to  rise  ])y  the 


t'l.lOLEK  DETACHEII. 


cooling  process.  In  Fig.  155  is  seen  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  interior  of  the  cooler.  Tranverse  bars 
of  wood  support  the  milk-pan,  and  direct  the 
course  of  tlie  stream  of  water  which  is  constantly 
running  through,  in  at  one  end  and  out  at  the 
other.  The  water  inlet  is  seen  at  a,  the  outlet 
at  B ;  at  c  is  a  brass  tube,  passing  through  the 
stuffing-box,  and  this  can  be  raised  or  lowered,  so  as 
to  increase  or  decrease  the  depth  of  the  volume  of 
water  inside.  At  D  is  seen  an  opening,  through 
which,  by  means  of  a  tube  from  the  bottom  of  the 
niilk-))an,  the  milk  can  l)e  drawn  off  from  beneath 


I-'ii".  l.'.i;.      DkaNi.K   I'l.r.NlV    Jlll.K  I'AN. 

the  cream,  leaving  the  latter  in  a  position  which 
admits  of  its  being  easily  gathered,  without  the 
ordinary  process  of  skimming,  and  without  any  of 
the  "  skim-milk"  being  intermixed  with  it.  The 
prices  in  America  of  complete  set.s  of  these  coolers 


are  as  follows: — 10  cows,  £li  ;  9.0  cows,  £10; 
;3t)  cows,  i-Zi) ;  10  cows,  tl^;  50  cows,  £^7.  The 
Orange  County  milk-pan  (Fig.  156)  is  a  good 
arrangement  where  room  is  an  object. 

Another  American  system  is  the  "  Cooley  .sys- 
tem," so  named  after  ^Ir.  Cooley,  of  Vermont,  who 
invented,  or  rather  adapted  it  in  187fi.  There  is  not 
much — if,  indeed,  there  is  anything  at  all — that  is 
new  in  principle  in  this  system  ;  it  is  based  on  the 
Swedish  ice-water  system,  which  was  discovered 
by  !Mr.  Swartz  many  years  ago,  and  which  is  now 
almost  universal  throughout  a  great  portion  of 
Northern  Europe.  The  Cooley  system  we  say  is 
based  on  the  Swartz  system,  but  it  has  one  or  two 
features  that  are  not  commonly,  if  ever,  found 
in  the  latter ;  and  yet  these  features  are  not,  if  we 
except  one  of  them,  wholly  original — if,  indeed,  that 
one  is.  The  two  features  are :  first,  setting  the 
milk-cans  in  a  lidded  box  or  tank  ;  and  second,  in 
completely  sul)merging  them,  that  is,  allowing  the 
ice-water  or  cold  sjiring-watcr  to 
flow  over  the  tops  of  the  cans  ; 
this  last  is  the  original  feature. 
The  milk-cans,  as  seen  in  the  one 
in  Fig.  157,  are  round  and  deep, 
and  have  a  lid  fitting  loosely  over 
the  top ;  they  have  also  a  tap  in 
the  bottom,  by  means  of  which 
the  milk  can  be  drawn  away 
from  beneath  the  cream,  thereby 
obviating  the  necessity  of  skim- 
ming the  latter  off  the  former. 
To  the  tap  in  the  bottom  it  will 
be  noticed  a  tube  is  attached ; 
the  tube  is  of  india-rubber,  and 
of  course  flexible;  at  the  other  end  of  it  is  at- 
tached a  metal  outlet,  and  this  slides  in  a  groove 
which  is  graduated  to  correspond  with  the  narrow 
pane  of  gla.ss  which  is  inserted  in  the  upper  por- 
tion of  the  can,  and  which  is  designed  to  show 
how  many  degrees  of  cream  have  collected  on 
the  milk.  By  raising  the  outlet  pipe  in  the 
groove  to  corresjiond  with  the  depth  of  the  layer 
of  cream,  the  whole  of  the  skim-milk  can  be  drawn 
off  by  the  tap  and  tube,  leaving  the  cream  only  in 
the  bottiim  of  the  can,  and  so  skimming  is  ob- 
viated. In  Fig.  158  is  given  a  representation  of 
the  box  or  tank,  and  inside  it  are  seen  two  milk- 
cans  fastened  down  by  means  of  bare  of  wood 
placed  a'cross  the  tup.  The  jiatentee  sjieaks  as 
follows  : — 


l-".7.— CdOLEV'.S 
JhLK-CAN. 


THE    COOLEY    SYSTEM    OF    CREAMING. 


297 


"These  engravings  illustrate  the  new  system 
of  setting  milk  in  submerged  cans.  The  cans  are 
20  inches  deep  and  8^  inches  in  diameter,  the 
covers  are  fastened  down,  and  the  air  under  the 
rims  of  the  covers  prevents  the  passage  of  any 
water  into  the  cans.  The  cans  are  set  in  the 
water-coolers,  which  are  lined  with  metal,  and 
fitted  with  inlet  and  overflow  pipes  for  using 
flowing  spring-water.  These  coolers  are  thoroughly 
built,  with  tight-fitting  covers,  to  exclude  wiirm 
air,  and  retard  the  melting  of  ice  when  used  to 
maintain  a  uniform  temperature.     A  thermometer 


Fig.  158. — The  Cooley  Che.vmeu. 

is  inserted  in  the  front  of  each  cooler,  in  order 
that  the  temperature  can  be  ascertained  with- 
out raising  the  cover.  This  ajiparatus  is  very 
simple,  disjjcnsing  with  costly  milk-rooms,  as 
but  little  room  is  recpiired,  and  is  the  only  sys- 
tem that  will  produce  uniform  results ;  and 
until  some  uniform  system  is  adopted  there  Avill 
be  as  many  grades  of  butter  in  the  market  as 
there  are  makers. 

"  If  the  temperature  of  the  water  in  the  coolers 
is  kept  at  40°  to  50*^  in  spring  and  summer,  and 
at  40"  in  winter,  the  cream  will  rise  in  twelve 
hours,  in  which  case  only  cans  enough  to  hold  a 
single  milking  are  required,  or  one-fourth  of  the 
ca])aeiti/  needed  with  ani]  of  the  i^atent  open-pan 
sydems  of  setting.  By  the  submerged  system  of 
setting  milk  we   have   sweet  cream  from   sweet 


jiiLK  raised  in  the  shortest  possible  space  of  time, 
a  uniform  (quality  and  quantity  of  butter  through 
hot  weather,  which  retains  all  the  rich  flavour  of 
new  milk,  possesses  superior  keeping  qualities,  is 
firm  in  texture  and  uniform  in  colour,  free  from 
casein  or  sour-milk  specks,  and  possessing  a  pecu- 
liarly rich  flavoui",  which  imparts  much  pleasure 
in  eating.  Gilt-edged  butter  can  only  be  made 
from  cream  taken  from  sweet  milk." 

Fiji'.  159  illustrates  a  convenient  arrangement 


Fig.  159.— Bexch  fok  Kinmm,  JIilk  irjm  C  \ns. 

for  running  off  the  milk  from  the  cans.  It  can  be 
made  of  pine  boards,  the  bench  about  a  foot  wide, 
the  sides  about  3  inches  high.  If  desired,  a  pipe 
can  be  arranged  for  conducting  away  the  skim- 
milk.  This  is  an  inexpensive  thing,  and  a  great 
convenience — it  saves  lots  of  "  slop.'" 

INIr.  Cooley's  experiments  were  of  an  interesting 
and  practical  kind.  He  commenced  setting  milk 
at  100",  maintaining  it  at  that  temperature  until 
the  milk  soured,  noting  carefully  the  quantity  of 
cream  and  the  time  it  was  rising ;  he  then  set 
other  samples  at  90°,  following  the  same  course  as 
above,  then  at  80°,  then  at  70",  then  at  60", 
then  at  55^,  then  at  50°,  then  at  45°,  then  at  40°, 
and  finally  at  35°,  this  being  as  low  as  he  could 
carry  the  temperature  by  the  use  of  ice. 

By  these  experiments  he  found  that  the  lower 
he  carried  the  temperature  the  faster  cream  would 
rise,  until  he  arrived  at  lO'',  or  the  greatest  density 
of  water,  the  best  results  being  attained  at  bet\\-een 
40°  and  45"-',  if  the  milk  were  cooled  immediately 
after  being  drawn  from  the  cow.  And  he  sums 
up  his  conclusions  as  follows : — "  If  we  want 
cream  to  rise  quickly,  and  in  the  best  possible 
condition  for  making  a  first-class  article  of  butter, 
we  must  cool  the  milk  thoroughly,  immediately 
after  milking,  down  to  at  least  45",  and  the 
nearer  we  approach  to  this  the  better  will  be  the 
results." 


298 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


t'uOLEY's  ChEjUIER. 


In  Fig.  IPiO  we  give  a  section  of  one  of 
Coolcy's  inilk-setting  cans  as  it  is  in  the  box,  with 
the  water  flf)wing  over  it,  and  the  cream  gathering 
on  the  top  of  the  milk.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the 
can  is  comi)letely  sub- 
-P  merged,  tlie  water 
flowing  over  the  top 
of  it.  The  covers  are 
held  iu  position,  as 
will  be  seen  in  the 
cut,  by  bars  of  wood. 
])laced  across  them. 
They  are  neither  air- 
tight nor  water-tight, 
}et  the  water  does 
not  get  into  the  cans, 
because  the  air  un- 
der the  rims  of  the 
covers,  acting  on  the 
principle  of  a  diving- 
bell,  prevents  it.  If 
the  milk  were  first  of  all  aerated  by  forcing 
through  it  a  volume  of  air  which  had  been  filtered 
through  cotton-wool,  or  in  some  other  effectual 
manner,  we  think  this  system  of  milk-setting 
would  be  as  nearly  as  possible  perfect;  but  if 
the  milk,  directly  it  is  taken  from  the  cow, 
is  put  into  these  cans,  and  hermetically  sealed 
in  the  manner  described,  it  would  almost  seem 
that  the  gases  of  the  milk,  being  confined  on 
the  surface,  can  hardly  fail,  particularly  in  hot 
weather,  to  injure,  however  slightly,  the  quality 
of  the  cream.  Aerating  the  milk  before  sub- 
merging it  would  remove  all  possible  danger  on 
this  score. 

It  is  at  the  same  time  true  that  the  rapid  cooling 
of  the  milk  fills  the  office  of  a  safeguard  against 
any  dangi>r  which  may  arise  from  the  action  f)f  the 
gases  and  odours  peculiar  to  milk  fresh  from  the 
cow.  That  such  sources  of  danger  exist  no  one 
who  knows  his  subject  will,  we  think,  deny  ;  and, 
especially  in  hot  weather,  when  cows  are  gadding 
about  the  fields,  is  this  danger  the  more  apparent 
to  one's  sense  of  smell  when  his  face  is  over  a  pail 
of  newly-drawn  milk.  These  remarks,  it  must  be 
understood,  Ix-ing  applicable  to  milk  from  healthy 
cows,  are  more  decidedly  so  to  milk  from  cows  who 
have  fi)ot-aiid-mouth  or  any  kindred  disease.  15ut 
in  any  case  the  cooling  at  once  checks  the  activity 
of  the  gases,  and  wc  may  reasonably  assume  tliat 
the    greater   part    of    them   become  dormant,  and 


remain  ;'//  situ  in  the  skim-milk,  the  risen  cream 
being  comparatively  free  fi'om  them.  Notwith- 
standing these  things,  the  best  safeguard  is  aeration 
— an  expedient  so  simple  and  cheap  that  to  neglect 
it  is  without  excuse. 

We  are  able  to  speak  practically  as  to  the 
simplicity  and  usefulness  of  the  Cooley  creamer ; 
it  is,  in  fact,  a  great  economiser  of  labour.  The 
cream  rises  perfectly  in  twelve  hours,  providing 
the  conditions  laid  down  are  complied  with,  and 
so  a  minimum  number  of  utensils  are  required 
for  raising  the  cream ;  the  cans,  in  fact,  on  being 
emptied,  are  at  once  re-filled  with  fresh  milk, 
which,  in  its  turn,  is  emptied  when  the  cows  arc 
again  milked;  and  so  the  system  goes  on,  the 
morning's  milk  taking  the  place  of  the  even- 
ing's, and  the  evening's  of  the  morning's,  and 
so  on  the  season  through.  The  milk  being  kept 
always  sweet,  by  reason  of  the  low  temperature, 
it  is  not  often  that  the  cans  require  even  washing 
out,  and  much  seldomer  scalding  and  scrubbing. 
At  the  same  time  we  would  advise  that  they  be 
carefully  cleaned  two  or  three  times  a  week  iu  the 
hot  weather ;  in  the  cold  this  is  a  matter  of 
less   consequence. 

The  Cooley  system,  indeetl,  of  all  the  various 
modifications  of  the  Swartz  system,  appears  to 
us  the  most  likely  to  meet  the  wants  of  British 
dairy-farmers.  Ice  is  not  necessary  to  it,  pro- 
viding enough  cold  water  is  at  hand  of  a  tem- 
perature from  40°  to  50°.  The  complete  exclusion 
of  the  air,  by  submerging  the  milk  in  water,  is 
no  doubt  a  most  valuable  feature,  no  matter 
whether  or  not  there  really  is  any  objection  to 
it  on  the  ground  we  have  suggested ;  and  it  is 
owing  to  this  perfect  exclusion  of  the  air  that 
the  system  answers  jjerfectly,  so  far  as  raising 
the  cream  is  concerned,  at  a  higher  temperature 
than  ajjpears  to  be  allowable  in  the  Swartz  system. 
In  the  average  of  winters  ice  is  not  easily  pro- 
curable in  many  parts  of  the  British  Islands,  and 
so  the  ice-water  systems  are  not  applicable  to 
our  wants ;  but  in  most  dairying  districts  springs 
of  water  are  available ;  and  where  there  are  no 
si)rings  on  the  sm-face,  there  is  water  to  be  got 
in  >\ells  below  it,  of  a  temperature  which  will 
answer  well  for  the  Cooley  system.  In  any  case 
wc  may  say  that  if  this  system  will  not  meet 
iiur  insular  wants,  none  of  its  rivals  will  meet 
tliini.  Tlu'  system  is  introduced  into  this  country, 
and  to  the  notice  of  British  farmers,  by  Messrs. 


THE    HAKDIN    SYSTEiM   OF   CREAMING. 


299 


Fig.   161. — Harijix's  MiLK- 

COOLEH. 


Neel,  Soiij  and  Anderson,  of  London,  from  whom 
the  apparatns  may  he  obtained. 

The  Hardin  System. 

This  system,  like  the  foregoing-  one — which  is, 
by  tlie  way,  its  junior  in  point  of  age — is  based  on 
the  Swedish  system;  but  ice  only,  not  ice-water, 
is  used  as  the  cooling  agent,  and  the  cans,  except 
4  inches  at  the  bottom,  are  under  the  influence  of 
cold  air  rather  than  cold  water.  In  Fig.  161  we 
gi\c  a  view  of  the 
apparatus  known 
as  the  Hardin  sys- 
tem of  creaming, 
which  was  in- 
vented by  Mr.  L. 
S.  Hardin,  who  is 
regarded  as  an  au- 
thority on  Ameri- 
can dairying.  The 
cans  which  eon- 
tain  the  milk  may 
well  be  identical 
with  the  Cooley 
cans ;  and  as  in 
the  Hardin  system  they  are  not  submerged  in 
water,  the  gases  of  the  milk  have  free  egress 
from  the  cans.  This  may  or  may  not  be  re- 
garded as  an  advantage. 

The  inventor  says  of  the  system  : — ''  About 
four  years  ago  I  started  a  butter-dairy  near  the 
city  of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  in  a  climate  hot  and 
humid,  where  animal  substances  decayed  rapidly, 
and  where  insect  and  parasitic  life  developed  spon- 
taneously and  without  limit.  To  spread  the  milk 
out  in  the  usual  manner  was  to  invite  the  enemy 
I  was  most  anxious  to  avoid.  To  overcome  my 
difficulties  I  began  a  series  of  experiments,  be- 
ginning with  shallow  pans  in  the  open  air,  and 
step  by  step  I  lowered  the  temperature  and  in- 
creased the  depth  of  my  milk,  until  I  reached 
what  is  called  the  Swedish  plan  of  setting  milk, 
in  water  at  40°,  with  cans  20  inches  deep.  I 
found  I  had  passed  the  profitable  point,  and  had 
to  reti'ace  my  steps,  until  I  decided  upon  49" 
as  the  best  temperature  for  raising  the  cream  per- 
fectly, and  made  my  cans  8  inches  in  diameter 
and  12  and  20  inches  deep.  My  butter  was  now 
all  I  desired,  but  the  use  of  ice  in  cooling  water 
that  was  in  immediate  contact  with  the  hot  air 
was  too  expensive.     I  soon  discovered  that  it  took 


less  ice  to  cool  a  given  cube  of  air  than  it  did 
to  cool  the  same  cube  of  water.  It  was  equally 
evident  that  it  was  a  useless  waste  of  ice  to  cool 
off  a  whole  roomful  of  air;  and  reasoning  from  these 
premisses,  I  concluded  to  confine  my  milk  and  air 
to  the  smallest  possible  space,  in  order  to  economise 
the  use  of  ice.  I  then  built  me  a  box  with  double 
sides  and  close-fitting  double  door,  putting  a  hood 
or  trap  over  the  waste-water  pipe,  so  as  to  entirely 
exclude  the  surrounding  atmosphere.  As  it  is  the 
nature  of  heated  air  to  ascend,  I  f)laced  the  ice- 
shelf  in  the  top  of  the  box  to  secui-e  a  uniform 
temperature.  A  space  of  1  inch  is  left  open  on 
each  side  of  the  shelf,  to  allow  the  air  to  pass 
around  the  ice.  The  drippings  from  the  ice  are 
utilised  to  the  extent  of  4  inches  in  the  bottom  of 
the  box.  The  cans  are  made  with  a  perforated 
rim  on  the  bottom,  to  allow  the  water  to  pass  under 
them.  The  covers  of  the  cans  fit  outside,  so  as  to 
shed  the  water  and  prevent  any  of  the  drijjpings 
from  the  ice  getting  into  the  milk.^' 

j\Ir.  Hardin  does  not  attach,  nor  does  Mr. 
Cooley,  any  importance  to  permitting  the  gases  of 
the  milk  to  escape ;  and  he  thinks  that  not  only  is 
there  no  disadvantage  on  this  score,  but  that  if 
there  were  it  would  be  more  than  balanced  by  the 
exclusion  from  contact  with  the  milk  of  any  foul 
odours,  or  of  parasitical  germs  or  fungi  which  the 
atmosphere  may  contain.  Mr.  Cooley  argues  the 
point  in  the  following  manner  : — "  This  objection 
to  the  submerged  system  may  be  raised — ^viz., 
that  there  is  no  way  for  the  '  animal  odours '  to 
escape,  or  no  venfilafion ;  to  which  we  reply  that 
while  new  milk  is  deemed  by  everybody  pure 
enough  to  feed  to  infants,  by  some  it  is  supposed 
to  be  an  impure  thing,  full  of  rank  taints,  when 
they  come  to  setting  it  for  butter,  and  we  hear 
volumes  of  nonsense  about  '  animal  heat '  and 
'  animal  odours.'  We  do  not  care  to  set  the  milk 
from  sick  cows,  or  from  cows  which  consume 
impure  water  or  food ;  such  milk  is  unfit  for 
butter.  In  making  butter,  the  light  gases  con- 
tained in  milk,  called  animal  odours,  are  condensed, 
as  they  will  be  if  the  milk  is  rapidly  cooled  to  the 
j)roper  temperature,  and  remaining  in  the  watery 
part  of  the  milk,  are  thus  effectually  disposed  of. 
On  the  other  hand,  when  milk  is  set  in  open  pans 
every  odour  about  the  premises  is  absorbed  by  it, 
every  breeze  which  blows  through  the  well  '  venti- 
lated '  milk-room,  laden  with  the  perfume  of  the 
barn-yard,  imjiarts  to  the  cream  flavours  neither 


800 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


pleasant  to  the  smell  nor  de]i<j;-htfal  to  the  taste." 
And  Mr.  Hardin  sa^s  : — "  If  the  milk  is  set  in 
water,"  in  open  jians,  "  and  thus  kept  cooler  than 
the  air,  it  of  course  condenses  the  moisture  of  the 
air  into  the  surface  of  the  cream,  thus  drawinj? 
down  into  the  cream  all  the  impurities  of  the  air." 
Mr.  Hardin  claims  that  the  cream  raised  by  his 
m^hod  is  firmer  and  solider  than  in  other  deep- 
setting  systems,  because  it  is  cooled  mainly  from 
the  top,  the  lumps  of  ice  being  on  a  shelf  just 
above  the  milk.  If  this  claim  be  substantiated 
it  is  no  doubt  a  point  in  favour  of  his  system, 
for  in  the  ice-water  systems,  whether  the  cans 
be  submerged  or  merely  set  in  it  to  a  depth 
equal  to  that  of  the  milk,  there  can  hardly  be  two 
opinions  as  to  the  cream  being  too  thin — that  is, 
having  too  much  of  the  skim-milk  with  it. 

It  appears  to  us  that  these  two  prominent 
advocates  of  setting  milk  to  cream  in  closed  cans 
are  going  just  a  little  too  far.  If  all  dairy-cows 
were  kept  in  a  healthy  and  tranquil  state,  and  if  all 
the  food  they  ate  and  the  water  they  drank  were 
quite  pure  and  good  in  all  respects,  then,  perhaps, 
the  question  of  animal  odours  in  milk  might  be 
dismissed  as  a  myth ;  but  as  things  are,  and  ever 
will  be,  they  cannot  with  impunity  be  ignored. 
It  is  a  fact,  too,  that  perfectly  sound  milk  has, 
when  it  is  taken  from  the  cow,  a  sickly  and 
nauseating  flavour  and  odour  which  many  people 
object  to,  and  that  this  flavour  and  odour  are  to  a 
great  extent  disjiersed  by  simply  aerating  the  milk, 
without  cooling  it  at  all ;  and  if  the  milk  is  cooled 
as  well,  and  again  heated  up  to  blood-heat,  the 
animal  odour  is  not  in  it.  By  cooling  the  milk 
without  aerating  it  the  odour  is  converted  into  a 
flavour.  Either  aerating  or  heating  to  110°  will 
expel  the  odour.  Now,  this  being  the  case,  it 
follows  that  the  cowy  odour  and  taste  of  new 
milk  cannot  be  any  advantage  to  the  butter,  and 
it  cannot  but  be  true  that  to  facilitate  the  escape 
of  these  offenders  before  the  milk  is  set  to  cream, 
wherever  such  can  be  done  in  a  pure  atmosjjhere, 
will  tend  to  the  imjDrovement  of  the  flavour  of  the 
butter,  though  it  may  not  affect  its  quality  in 
other  respects.  It  may  be  here  remarked  that  aera- 
tion is  the  more  effectively  done  if  a  gentle  wind 
blows  away  the  gases  as  they  escape  fi-om  the  milk. 

The  essence  of  all  these  statements  by  the 
advocates  of  deeji-setting  in  closed  cans  is,  first, 
that  pure,  sweet,  fresh  cream  can  with  greater 
certainty  be  obtained  on  the  ice-water  method,  be 


it  the  Swartz,  the  Cooley,  or  the  Hardin  method, 
or  any  other,  than  can  be  obtained  on  the  old 
system  of  setting  the  milk  in  open  pans,  and 
without  any  cooling  agency;  and,  second,  that 
from  pure,  sweet,  fresh  cream  only  can  the  best 
qualities  of  butter  be  obtained.  These  data  are 
strictly  true ;  still,  it  does  not  by  any  means  neces- 
sarily follow  that  fine  butter  cannot  be  obtained  on 
the  o))en-pan  system,  for  we  know  it  can ;  but  to 
attain  this  result  it  is  needful  to  use  more  eai-e, 
system,  patience,  scalding  water,  scrubbing-bi-ushes, 
and  soda  than  are  used  in  90  per  cent,  of  the 
butter-dairies  of  the  kingdom.  It  is  justly 
claimed  for  the  ice-water  or  cold  spring-water 
system  that  nothing  is  left  to  the  accident 
of  chance,  and  that,  being  a  correct  system, 
the  results  are  in  the  highest  degree  satisfactory, 
if  the  system  is  faithfully  carried  out.  But  in 
England  it  is  not  always  possible  to  lay  up  a  store 
of  ice  in  winter,  and  in  many  places  a  spring  of 
cold  water  is  not  always  at  hand  to  use  instead 
of  ice.  Where  neither  ice  nor  cold  water  is  ob- 
tainable, the  scalding  system  is  no  doubt  the  best, 
coupled  with  the  always  indispensable  care  and 
cleanliness.  At  a  temperature  about  60^,  deep 
cans  will  not  do ;  the  milk  will  usuallj^  sour  before 
all  the  cream  reaches  the  surface.  When  this 
temperature  is  unavoidable,  shallow  and  broad 
pans  will  give  the  best  results.  When  cold  water 
is  abundant,  and  the  means  of  keeping  it  at  50° 
or  lower  are  at  hand,  it  will  be  found  that  cans 
20  inches  deep  and  8  or  9  inches  in  diameter  will 
save  much  labour,  and  at  the  same  time  make 
quite  as  much  and  better  butter.  It  must,  how- 
ever, be  borne  in  mind  that  butter  made  from 
cream  that  has  been  raised  in  refrigerators  will  not 
keep  so  well  as  if  the  cream  had  been  raised  at  a 
temperature  near  to  that  in  which  the  butter  will 
be  afterwards  placed.  If,  for  instance,  the  cream 
is  raised  at  40",  and  the  butter  is  kept  at  55°, 
decay  will  sooner  set  in  than  if  the  cream  had  been 
raised  at  50°  to  55°. 

The  inventor  of  the  cream-raising  apparatus 
shown  in  Fig.  102  has  endeavoured  to  produce 
a  creamer  which  should  possess  all  of  the  good 
features  of  more  expensive  apparatus,  with  the 
advantage  of  cheapness.  The  tank  in  which  are 
placed  the  milk-cans  is  made  of  plank,  and  has  at 
one  end,  near  the  top,  a  water  inlet-pipe,  and  at 
the  other  end  an  ojioning  partly  closed  by  a  gate 
(a)  which  regulates  the  height  of  the  water.     The 


OTHER  AMERICAN   SYSTEIMS. 


301 


milk-eans  (b)  which  stand  in  the  water  have  per- 
forated foot-riins,  whic'h  admit  of  a  free  circulation 
of  water  under  the  cans,  and  weighted  covers  (c) 
are  provided  which  lit  loosely  and  extend  down- 


Fig.  162. — Weldon's  Cke.vji  raisim;  App.vr.iu's. 

ward  sufficiently  to  diji  in  the  water  and  thus 
hermetically  seal  the  cans.  A  conical  skimmer 
(d)  is  used  to  remove  the  cream  fi'om  the  milk. 
It  is  carefully  dipped,  apex  downward,  into  the 
milk  until  the  cream  flows  over  its  edges ;  it  is 
then  removed  and  emptied,  and  the  operation  is 
repeated  until  all  the  cream  is  removed.  This 
apparatus  is  designed  priiicipally  for  dairy  use,  and 
is  particularly  apj)licable  where  natural  flowing 
springs  are  available.  We  cannot,  however,  see  in 
what  respects  it  is  superior  to  the  Cooley  creamer, 
while  in  some  it  is  in  our  opinion  decidedly  inferior. 
The  skimming,  for  instance,  is  done  with  the 
"  dipper,"  while  in  the  Cooley  system  the  skim- 
milk  runs  out  through  a  tap,  so  that  no  skimming 
is  needed,  and  much  trouble  and  time  are  saved. 

Yet  another  creamer  commands  our  attention. 
It  is  called  the  Bureau  Creamery  and  Refrigerator, 
and  we  give  a  cut  of  it  in  Fig.  163.  It  differs 
£i-om  the  Hardin  creamer  chiefly  in  ha^'ing  shallow 
instead  of  deep  setting  of  the  milk.  The  inventor 
contends  that  the  best  keeping  butter  is  made  from 
cream  that  is  more  pierfectly  separated  from  the 
milk  than  is  the  case  in  the  deep-setting  system, 
and  which  has  "  ripened  "  by  remaining  a  longer 
time  on  the  milkj  and  he  provides  against  air- 
contamination  by  having  his  shallow  pans  ac- 
cessible to  only  a  limited  supply  of  air  which  has 
been  cooled  by  contact  with  ice  that  is  stored 
above  the  milk.     In  the  upper  part  of  the  biu-eau 


is  a  i-ack  for  holding  a  supply  of  ice,  and  a  metallic 
pan  with  rubber  tube  attached,  for  conducting  off 
the  waste  water  from  the  ice.  Immediately  below 
the  ice  are  four  large  pans,  each  pan  having  a 
capacity  for  one  w/iole  mUkhig  of  a  dairy.  Ai-ound 
each  pan  is  sufficient  space  to  admit  of  the  free 
circulation  of  cold  air  from  the  ice  above.  The 
pans  stand  on  suitable  rests,  and  are  each  -pro- 
vided with  metallic  castors,  so  that  they  may  be 
easily  drawn  out  of  the  bm-eau,  on  two  movable 
rests,  for  skimming  or  drawing  off;  these  rests 
are  very  strong,  and  are  easily  attached.  An  in- 
dependent door  is  provided  for  closing  the  bureau 
while  either  pan  is  drawn  out. 

Below  the  pans  is  a  closet  or  refrigerator  for 
cream  and  butter  (d  d)  ,  with  a  capacity  for  several 
tubs  ;  the  doors  to  this  closet  are  large  enough  to 
admit  a  50-lb.  tub  of  butter.  A  cream-can  (c)  is 
furnished  with  each  bureau  (two  with  the  larger 
sizes);  this  is  used  for  warming  the  bureau  in  cold 
weather,  by  filling  it  with  hot  water  and  setting 
it  in  the  closet  at  the  bottom.  Each  end  of  the 
bureau  is  supplied  with  four  ventilators  (a  a)  closing 
with  wooden  slides  and  covered  with  wire  screens, 
for  the  exclusion  of  flies  and  other  insects,  dust 
and  dirt.  These  ventilators  are  for  controlling 
the  temperatm-e  and  the  circulation  of  air  in  the 
bureau.  The  bureau  is  furnished  with  glass  doors, 
permitting  a  full  inspection  of  its  contents  with- 
out opening  it,  and  also  for  the  proper  admission 
of  light,  which  experience  has  proved  to  be  neces- 
sary for  the  full  development  of  the  natural  colour 


The  Bureau  Creamery. 


of  the  cream.  A  thermometer  (b)  is  provided  for 
regulating  the  temperature.  None  but  the  best 
material  is  used  in  their  manufacture,  and  great 
care  is  taken  to  have  them  made  in  the  most  sub- 
stantial manner,  and  perfect  in  every  particular. 
There  are  several  features  in  this  creamer,  but  the 


302 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


need  of  icr  is  fatal  to  its  employment  in  the  British 
Islands,  exeept  in  isolated  eases.  Sueh,  at  least,  is 
our  opinion. 

Sxow  .\ND  Ice  for  Cooling  Milk. 

Professor  Fjord,  of  Copenhagen,  has  made  many 
experiments  in  the  storing  of  snow  and  iee  for 
butter-making,  and  finds  that  if  snow  is  collected 
at  the  time  when  thawing  has  commenced  it  can 
easily  be  trodden  into  a  compact  mass,  having  all  the 
advantages  of  ice.  Dry,  newly-fallen  snow,  thrown 
loosely  together,  was  found  to  weigh  13-6  lbs.  per 
cubic  foot;  by  hard  treading  the  weight  was 
increased  to  2G-:i  lbs.  Thawed  snow  thrown  to- 
gether without  treading  gave  a  mean  of  3£-7  ll)s.  of 
dry  snow  per  cubic  foot,  and  when  well  trodden  a 
mean  of  13"G  lljs.  per  cubic  foot.  Ice  thrown  wit  bout 
special  care  into  the  ice-house  weighed  3G  to  3.S  lbs. 
per  cubic  foot.  With  extreme  care  in  packing,  so 
as  to  fill  all  crevices,  the  weight  may  be  raised  tn 
53  lbs.,  but  with  a  moderate  expenditure  of  labour 
the  weight  will  not  exceed  45  lbs.  the  cubic  foot. 

The  cooling  of  100  lbs.  of  milk  from  83" 
to  36*^  will  require  S^.^lbs.  of  thawing  ice,  and 
as  the  milk  has  not  only  to  be  cooled,  but  kept 
cool  from  twelve  to  twenty-four  hours,  a  further 
expenditure  of  ice  will  be  required.  With  a 
properly-constracted  cooler,  in  a  room  whose 
atmospheric  temi^erature  is  50",  39  lbs.  of  ice  \vill 
be  required  for  lOQlbs.  of  milk  skimmed  at  the 
end  of  twelve  hours,  and  ibl  lbs.  of  ice  if  the 
milk  is  to  remain  twenty-four  hours  in  the  vessel. 
If  the  cooling  vessel  has  no  double  casiug,  and  is 
not  provided  with  a  lid,  the  quantity  of  ice  will  be 
increased  to  44.'S  lbs.  for  twelve  hours,  and  to  57 
lbs.  for  twenty-four  hours. 

In  the  case  of  dairies  dealing  with  an  average 
quantity  of  milk  amounting  to  50  gallons  a  day, 
in  districts  whose  mean  temperature  for  the  year 
is  50",  the  quantity  of  ice  required  for  the  year's 
work  will  be  about  2:10x365  =  80,300  lbs.— about 
3(j  tons.  This  would  be  the  quantity  required  for 
use,  but  as  there  is  always  waste  in  the  ice-house,  a 
larger  quantity  than  this  must  be  stored,  say  50  tons. 
If  we  allow  each  cubic  foot  of  ice  or  snow  to  weigh 
43  lbs.,  the  space  required  for  storing  50  tons  will  be 
2,000  cubic  feet.  Snow  is  best  stored  when  it  has 
begun  to  thaw  a  little,  because  it  can  then  be  trodden 
into  a  smaller  space  and  a  more  solid  mass ;  and,  so 
far  as  England  is  concerned,  in  the  bulk  of  winters, 
snow  would  be  easier  than  ice  to  store  awa\'. 


An  ice-house  may  be  constructed  at  a  very 
moderate  cost  and  in  a  very  simple  manner.  The 
cheapest  kind  are  those  built  partly  underground, 
in  situations  and  subsoils  that  admit  of  thorough 
drainage,  not  only  of  rain  or  sjjring  water,  but  also 
the  waste  water  of  the  ice.  Between  the  outer 
and  inner  walls  must  be  a  space  which  must  be 
tilled  with  dry  sawdust,  or  other  non-conducting 
material ;  the  space  should  be  at  least  a  foot  wide. 
The  space  within  the  inner  walls  may  then  be 
compactly  filled  with  ice,  closely  i)acked  together, 
and  the  whole  should  be  surmounted  by  a  shed 
whose  walls  and  roof  are  made  non-conducting  in 
the  same  manner.     It  is  not  absolutely  necessary 


Fig.  104.— Section  Of  Ice-house. 

that  there  should  be  an  inner  wall,  for  the  saw- 
dust may  come  into  direct  contact  with  the  ice, 
but  they  are  much  better  kept  apart,  or  the  saw- 
dust will  become  wet  and  so  lose  its  non-conducting 
property.  The  inner  walls  should  if  possible  be 
impervious  to  water,  so  that  the  sawdust  may  be 
kept  dry.  The  drain-j)ipe  should  be  bent  in  one 
place,  the  bent  portion  always  remaining  full  of 
water,  and  so  forming  a  soi-t  of  trap  by  means 
of  which  the  outer  air  is  excluded.  Fig.  164 
gives  a  general  idea  of  the  construction  of  an  ice- 
house, and  on  this  plan  it  may  be  built  either 
above  or  below  ground.  The  entrance  to  the  ice- 
house should  always  be  above  the  level  of  the  ice, 
so  that  the  stratum  of  cold  air  above  the  ice  is 
disturbed  as  little  as  possible. 

It  is  a  matter  of  little  moment  what  the  mate- 
rials are  of  which  the  ice-house  is  constructed — 


CENTRIFUGAL    CREAM-EXTRACTORS. 


303 


wood,  l)i'ick,  stoue,  eoucreto,  or  irou — so  long  as 
the  following  requisites  are  secured :  first,  perfect 
drainage,  with  complete  exclusion  of  air  below; 
second,  good  ventilation  above  ;  third,  ample  non- 
conducting material  around  and  above  the  ice; 
fourth,  total  exclusion  from  the  ice  of  all  outside 
water  and  air;  and  fifth,  solid,  compact  packing 
of  the  ice  in  the  house  when  the  weather  is 
dry  and  cold. 

Centrifugal  Cream-exthactoks. 
The  most  recent  and  striking  methods  of 
separating  cream  from  milk  come  to  us  from 
Germany.  At  the  International  Dairy  Show,  held 
in  Hamburg  in  March,  1877,  we  saw  at  work  the 
instrument  of  which  we  give  an  illustration  in 
Fig.  165.  As  will  be 
noticed,  it  consists  of 
two  wheels  in  a  stand, 
one  of  which  actuates 
the  other  by  means 
of  a  belt.  In  the 
upper  wheel  four  glass 
tubes,  containingmilk, 
are  securely  placed  ; 
the  lower  wheel  is 
then  turned  by  hand, 
giving  the  upper  one 
upwards  of  1,000  re- 
volutions per  minute. 
Whirling  round  at 
this  great  speed  brings  centrifugal  force  to 
bear  on  the  milk  in  the  tubes,  and  the  cream, 
being  lightest,  collects  at  one  end  and  the  cream- 
less  milk  at  the  other ;  the  sejiai-ation  is  com- 
plete and  clearly  defined,  as  in  an  ordinary 
cream-gauge.  The  time  required  by  the  centri- 
fugal machine  to  complete  the  separation  of  cream 
from  milk  is  from  ten  to  thirty  minutes,  according 
to  circumstances.  Larger  machines  are  now  made, 
capable  of  dealing  with  as  much  as  200  quarts  of 
milk,  and  though  they  are  not  at  present  quite 
perfected,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  their  ultimate 
success.  By  a  later  imjirovement  the  cream  is 
drawn  off  while  the  machine  is  still  in  rapid 
motion,  instead  of  stopping  it  and  waiting  for 
the  milk  to  settle  down ;  while  still  in  motion  a 
quantity  of  skim-milk  is  caused  to  How  in,  and, 
as  the  vessel  was  full  before,  the  cream  is  crowded 
out,  and  escapes  through  an  opening  provided  for 
that  purpose.     By  means  of  this  new  invention 


Fig.    IbT  — \_  HF  m  I  \TR  ICTOR 


80  to  90  per  cent,  of  the  cream  may  be  obtained 
in  less  than  half  an  hour. 

A  more  recent  machine,  which  is  known  as 
De  Laval's  Centrifugal  Cream-separator,  is  wholly 
different  from  the  preceding  one  in  construction, 
but  acting  like  it  by  means  of  centrifugal  force. 
This  new  cream-separator  was  introduced  to  the 
notice  of  the  British  public  at  the  Kilburn  Show 
of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  in  1879,  and 
since  then  it  has  become  a  tolerably  familiar 
object  to  those  who  visit  the  leading  shows  of  the 
country  in  which  dairy  interests  form  a  special 
feature.  At  the  Kilburn  Show,  Dr.  Voelcker 
inspected  the  machine  at  work,  testing  the  quality 
of  the  milk  used  in  it,  and  the  cream  and  skim- 
milk  produced  by  it.  Subjoined  is  his  report 
on  these  tests,  as  given  in  the  Joiinial  of  the 
Royal  Agricultural  Society  : — 

"  The  following  is  the  composition  of  the  milk 
used  in  the  Kilbuni  trials  on  the  4th  of  July, 
1879,  and  of  a  sample  of  the  skim-milk  produced 
by  Laval's  cream-separator  : — 


New  Milk. 

Skim-milk 
from 
Laval's 
Cream- 
Separator. 

AVater      

Butter-fat           

*Casein 

Milk-sugar          

Mineral  matter  (ash)     ... 

87  •72 
3-15 
312 
511 
•60 

90-71 

•22 

3^31 

5-12 

-64 

100-00 

100-00 

*  Containing  Nitrogen 

•50 

•53 

"  Milk  well  skimmed  in  the  ordinary  manner 
contains  on  an  average  about  |  per  cent,  of  butter- 
fat,  whereas  the  skim-milk  obtained  in  Laval's 
cream-separator  did  not  retain  quite  \  per  cent. 

"  Thus  of  the  3|  per  cent,  of  butter-fat  (in 
round  numbers),  3?  jjer  cent,  were  obtained  in  the 
cream,  and  only  \  per  cent,  of  fat  passed  into 
the  skim-milk,  affording  a  striking  proof  of  the 
perfect  manner  in  which  the  butter-forming 
constituents  are  separated  from  milk  in  passing 
through  Laval's  rotatory  machine. 

"  Had  the  milk  been  set  in  pans  and  skimmed 
thoroughly  in  the  usual  manner,  instead  of  'd\  per 
cent,  of  pure  butter-fat  only  2f  ])er  cent,  would 
have  been  obtained  from  the  new  milk ;  or,  in 
other  words,  by  Laval's  separator  93  per  cent,  of 


304 


DAIRY    FAR]\riNG. 


the  butter-fat  were  obtained  in  the  cream  and  7 
per  cent,  only  left  in  the  skim-milk,  whilst  by 
the  usual  plan  of  skimming  only  78i  per  cent,  of 
the  butter-fat  of  milk  passes  into  the  cream,  and 
21J  per  cent,  remain  in  the  skim-milk. 

"  In  another  trial  at  Kilburn  on  the  8th  of  July 
the  sepai-ation  of  butter- fat  from  the  milk  was  not 
so  perfect  as  in  the  first  trial,  as  will  be  seen  by 
the  following  results,  showing  the  composition  of 
the  skim-milk  produced : — 


having  been  skimmed  in  the  usual  way,  contained 
in  1(10  parts  : — 


Water       ... 

...     90-49 

Butter-fat 

...       0-46 

•Casein 

...       3-01 

Milk-sugar 

...       5-31 

Mineral  matter 

(iuh)      '.'.'. 

...       0-73 

"  In  the  second  trial  it  will  be  seen  nearly  ^  per 
cent,  of  fat  was  contained  in  the  skim-milk. 

"  The  cream  obtained  by  means  of  the  sepa- 
rator had  the  following  composition  : — 


Water       

...     6612 

Butter-fat           

...     27-69 

■Casein       

...       2-69 

MUk-sugar          

...       303 

Mineral  matter  (ash) 

...       0-47 

"  Good  cream  obtained  in  the  ordinary  way  of 
skimming  milk  seldom  contains  as  much  as  ^5  per 
cent.,  and  generally  rather  less,  butter-fat;  and 
quite  as  much  casein  as  was  contained  in  the  cream 
from  Laval's  machine. 

"  The  Kilburn  trials  thus  show  that  cream  from 
milk  which  has  been  passed  through  Laval's  sepa- 
rator is  richer  iu  butter-fat  than  that  obtained  in 
the  usual  manner. 

"  On  the  occasion  of  the  dairy  show  held  last 
October  at  Islington,  I  had  another  o]iportunity 
of  examining  the  skim-milk  obtained  by  Laval's 
cream-separator.  This  sample  had  the  following 
composition : — 


Water       

...     90-82 

Butter- fat           

...       0-31 

JCasein      

...       3-31 

Milk-sugar           

...       4-77 

Mineral  matter  (ash)      ... 

...       0-79 

"  Another    portion    of    the    same    milk,    after 

•  Containing  nitrogen,  0-48. 
+  Containing  nitrogen,  043. 
J  Containing  nitrogen,  0-53. 


Water 
Butter-fat 

§Casein       

Milk-sugar 
Mineral  matter  (ash) 


89-25 
112 
3-69 
616 
0-78 

10000 


"According  to  these  trials  nearly  fnur  times  as 
much  butter-fat  was  left  in  ordinary  skim-milk 
as  in  the  skim-milk  obtained  in  Laval's  cream- 
separator. 

"I  may  state  that  in  these  experiments  the 
percentage  of  pure  butter-Cat  was  determined  with 
great  care,  and  the  results  were  verified  by  ajjpro- 
priate  checks." 

The  Laval  separator  is  shown  in  Fig.  166,  and 
in  Fig.  167  is  seen  a  section  of  it  which  shows  the 
arrangement  of  the  interior.  The  action  of  the 
machine  is  to  cause  the  separation  of  the  cream 
from  the  milk  by  means  of  centrifugal  mo- 
tion ;  this  causes  the  heavier  portion  of  the 
milk  to  be  thrown  to  the  outside  of  the  circle, 
whilst  the  cream,  being  the  lightest,  gathers  close 
round  the  axis  of  rotation.  The  milk,  while  still 
warm  from  the  cow,  is,  if  desirable,  j)laced  iu  the 
milk-can  shown  in  Fig.  167,  and  runs  through 
an  ordinary  tap  into  the  hollow  tube  a,  which  ter- 
minates in  a  T  outlet  near  the  bottom  of  a  spheri- 
cal vessel  of  about  10  inches  in  diameter,  which, 
enclosed  in  a  cast-iron  casing  (e),  rotates  at  the 
extraordinary  velocity  of  6,000  to  7,000  revolu- 
tions per  minute.  The  heavier  portion,  which  is 
known  as  skim-milk,  is  thrown  to  the  outside  of 
the  space  in  the  vessel,  and  is  forced  up  a  bent 
perforated  pipe  which  communicates  with  the 
open  space  c,  and  from  thence  is  delivered  to  the 
lower  of  two  block-tin  trays  or  covers,  which  is 
provided  with  an  outlet-pipe.  The  cream  gathers 
in  a  wall  around  the  inlet  tube,  and  rises  to  the 
upper  tin  tray  d,  w-heuce  it  is  delivered  by  an 
outlet-pipe.  The  rotating  vessel  and  shaft  are  of 
forged  steel,  in  one  piece,  which,  for  safety's  sake, 
is  tested  by  a  pressure  of  250  atmospheres.  The 
rate  at  which  the  milk  enters  the  machine  must 
be  regulated  according  to  the  velocity  at  which 
it  is  driven ;  the  greater  the  speed  the  more  rapid 
the  separation  of  the  cream  from  the  milk.  The 
advantages  claimed  for  the  machine  are  :  perfectly 

§  Containing  nitrogen,  0-59. 


DE   LAVAL'S   CREAM-SEPARATOR. 


:505 


fresh  cream  can  be  obtained  from  milk  warm  from 
the  cow ;  the  butter  is  free  from  the  taints  whicli 
commonly  develop  in  milk  as  it  stands  to  cream ; 
the  machine  occupies  but  a  small  space  in  the 
dairy ;  and  a  great  saving  in  pans  and  dishes  for 
milk-setting  is  secured.  But  whether  or  not  the 
machine,  exceedingly  clever  and  valuable  as  it 
undoubtedly  is,  will  supersede  all  the  old  systems 
of  cream-raising,  is  a  pi-oblem  whose  solution  we 
leave  to  time.  We  think,  however,  that  it  will 
bring:   about    somethins:    akin  to  a   revolution  in 


rated.  Methods  of  preservation  are  made  un- 
necessary, and  the  danger  of  loss  from  souring 
is  reduced  to  a  minimum.  In  the  various  cold- 
water  and  ice  or  ice-water  systems  this  advantage 
is,  however,  more  or  less  perfectly  secured,  but 
in  these  there  is  need  of  a  number  of  utensils 
which    are    not    required    where    the    mechanical 


Fig.  106. — Lav.vl's  C'keam-sepaeator. 

butter-making  in  most,  if  not  all,  large  dairies 
and  creameries.  The  saving  of  time,  and  of  the 
large  number  of  vessels  that  are  required  for 
cream-raising  in  such  establishments,  will,  in  all 
probability,  pro'S'ide  in  itself  enough  inducement 
to  employ  the  centrifugal  cream-separator.  But 
there  are  other  features  of  merit  in  the  invention. 
In  cases  where  the  skim-milk  is  sold,  or  where 
it  is  made  into  cheese,  it  is  a  matter  of  the  first 
importance  to  have  it  available  for  those  purposes 
while  it  is  still  quite  fresh  and  sweet.  In  the 
hot  months  this  advantage  cannot  be  easily  over- 


Fig.  167.— Section  of  Sep.\rator. 

cream-separator  is  employed ;  they  require  also  an 
elaborate  supply  of  cold  water  or  of  ice,  to  secure 
which  is  costly,  and  which  again  is  obviated  by 
the  separator.  Motive  power,  however,  is  needed 
to  drive  the  separator,  and  for  this  reason  it  is  not 
well  adapted  to  small  dairies,  where  the  cost  of  such 
power  would  be  out  of  proportion  with  the  work  it 
had  to  do. 

Skimming. 
When  milk  is  set  in  shallow  vessels  the  cream  is 
usually  skimmed  after  standing  twenty-four  hours, 
and  again  twelve  hours  later.     It  is  in  some  eases 


306 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


allowed  to  stand  the  whole  thirty-six  hours  before 
skimmiiif]!',  but  this  is  not  considered  a  g;ood  -prac- 
tice. If  fine  butter  only  is  required,  the  cream 
skimmed  after  standing'  twenty -four  hours  is  used, 
that  risiufi^  later  being  of  inferior  quality.  The  test 
of  cream  being  ready  to  skim  is  when,  after  passing 
the  finger  through  it,  it  does  not  flow  back  behind 
the  finger  and  re-unite.  In  hot  weather  the  cream 
will  need  skimming  earlier 
than  in  cold,  because  the 
milk  is  much  more  apt  to 
turn  sour.  In  the  depth  of 
winter  it  is  sometimes  left 
for  forty-eight  hours  before 
skimming.  In  the  case  of 
deep-setting  of  milk  in  water 
whose  temperature  is  about 
40°,  the  cream  remains  softer 
and  contains  more  milk,  is 
less  perfectly  separated  from 
the  milk,  and  is  in  a  very 
much  deeper  layer,  than  on  the  shallow-pan 
system,  and  the  finger-test  as  to  time  of  skim- 
ming is  not  applicable  to  it;  this  softer  cream 
is  not  "skimmed,"  but  "dipped"  instead  with  an 
instrument  of  which  we  give  an  illustration  in 
Fig.  168,  or  with  a  deep  skimmer,  as  in  Fig. 
169 ;  the  cream  is  too  liquid  for  a  shallow  skim- 
mer, as  in  Fig.  170  or  171.  The  skimmer.  Fig. 
169,  is  the  one  commonly  used  in  the  Swartz 
system  of  creaming. 

It  is  by  some  considered  advisable,  when  skim- 
ming, to  take   more  or   less  of   the  milk  along 


Fig.   108.— .Mli.K-cdiu.EB 
AND  CRKAM-DIPPEK. 


Fig.  KiS.  Fig.  170. 


Fig.  171. 
Skimming -DISHES. 

with  the  cream;  the  reason  fur  this  is,  that  if 
cream  only  is  churned,  the  grain  of  the  butter  is 
injured  by  having  too  large  a  proportion  of  butter 
for  the  quantity  of  liquid ;  the  butter-globules 
meet  with  too  much  friction,  and  are  apt  to  be 
over-churned  if  there  is  a  deficiency  of  liquid. 
This,  however,  will  depend  on  the  kind  of  churn 


used.  And  we  may  be  allowed  to  doubt  wliether 
the  su])posed  advantage  of  having  the  cream  in  a 
decidedly  diluted  condition  in  the  churn  rests  on 
more  than  a  fanciful  basis.  At  the  same  time  we 
freely  admit  that  cream  may  easily,  when  raised 
in  the  open-pan  system,  be  too  thick  and  clotted 
to  churn  at  all  satisfactorily.  In  this  as  in  many 
other  things  it  may  be  said  that  a  medium  state 
is  the  best.  In  some  large  dairies  it  is  the  prac- 
tice to  churn  the  milk  as  it  is  without  allowing 
the  cream  to  rise,  and  it  is  quite  true  that 
excellent  butter  is  made  on  this  plan ;  but  it  is 
believed  not  only  that  there  is  no  real  advantage 
in  the  system,  but  that  the  butter  made  on  it  is 
somewhat  less  firm  than  that  made  from  cream. 
The  milk  \vi\\  churn  the  more  easily  if  it  is  just 
beginning  to  thicken  with  souring,  and  the  butter 
will  be  the  firmer ;  yet  the  fine  flavour  will  be  more 
or  less  injured,  according  to  the  degree  of  sourness 
in  the  milk.  The  butter  comes  out  the  soonei', 
because  acidity  acts  on  the  shells  of  the  cream- 
globules,  making  them  more  easily  fractured  by 
agitation  in  the  churn.  The  rule,  in  fact,  is  :  the 
sourer  the  milk,  within  limits,  the  easier  it  churns. 
There  would,  of  course,  be  a  difficulty  in  preventing 
the  rising  of  the  cream  while  the  milk  was  souring, 
unless  the  souring  was  accelerated  purposely  or 
accidentally ;  and  we  only  mention  the  question 
to  dismiss  it  again,  because  it  is  not  in  the  least 
likely  to  become  a  .system  to  be  recommended  in 
Imtter-making. 

Different  kinds  of  cream,  from  the  milk  of 
different  cows  or  of  different  breeds  of  cows,  vary 
greatly  in  butter-yielding  capacity.  Some  kinds 
will  yield  twice  as  much  as  other  kinds,  and 
the  best  yielding  cream  is  generally  churned  the 
easiest.  Fastidious  butter-makers — and  we  con- 
fess we  have  admiration  for  these — in  some  cases 
go  so  far  as  to  make  two  qualities  of  butter  from 
the  same  milk.  That  is,  they  take  the  first 
skimming  of  cream  for  the  best  butter,  and  that 
which  rises  afterwards  is  kept  by  itself  and  pro- 
duces a  butter  somewhat  inferior  in  colour  and 
flavour  as  well  as  in  quality.  This  first  skimming 
contains  the  largest  of  the  cream-globules — the 
more  highly-developed  ones,  that  is;  the  smaller 
ones,  which  rise  later  because  of  inferior  buoyancy, 
would  seem  to  be  inferior  structures,  having  less 
of  colour,  of  flavour,  of  intrinsic  quality,  and  being 
of  a  lower  order  of  merit  in  all  respects.  They 
add,  it    is  true,  to  tlio  vnlunu'  of  the  butter,  but 


THE   MANAGEMENT    OF    CREAM. 


307 


they  diminish  its  quality.  They  delay  the  churn- 
ing because  they  are  the  longer  in  being  fractured 
themselves,  and  interfere  with  that  i^rocess  in  its 
application  to  the  others.  Hence  it  follows  that 
we  have  finer  butter,  though  less  of  it^  and  quicker 
chui'uing  without  them. 

Treatment  of  Cream. 

There  is  nothing  better  than  glass  or  glazed 
earthenware  jars  to  place  cream  in  directly  it  is 
skimmed  from  the  milk,  providing  it  is  not  wanted 
for  churning  at  once.  It  is  by  many  people  con- 
sidered an  advantage  that  cream  should  not  be 
churned  until  it  has  been  skimmed  at  all  events 
twelve  hours ;  by  standing  this  or  a  longer  time, 
according  as  the  weather  is  hot  or  cold,  it  obtains 
a  sort  of  ripeness  which  is  conducive  to  a  larger 
yield  of  butter.  But  it  must  not  be  kept  until 
it  is  bitter,  or  the  flavour  of  the  butter  will  be 
injured;  and  if  it  is  kept  till  it  is  more  or  less 
sour,  the  delicacy  of  flavour  will  be  gone.  By 
adding  a  small  tea-spoonful  of  powdered  saltpetre 
to  each  3-gallon  jar  of  cream,  the  usual  bitter 
taste  will  be  prevented.  The  question  of  sourness 
is  an  important  one  in  butter-maldng ;  for  if  old 
cream  that  is  sour  be  churned  along  with  fresh  cream 
that  is  sweet,  the  inequality  in  their  condition  will 
cause  more  or  less  of  the  butter  to  be  left  in  the 
buttermilk.  Sour  and  fresh  cream  that  are  in- 
tended to  be  churned  together  should  be  well 
mixed  and  allowed  to  stand  for  some  hours  before 
churning,  so  that  it  may  be  all  alike  in  condition ; 
and  the  colder  the  weather  the  longer  should  it 
stand,  because  the  souring  of  the  fresh  cream  will 
proceed  slower  than  if  the  weather  were  warm.  The 
temperature,  however,  may  be  artificially  regulated. 
While  the  cream  waits  for  churning  it  should  be 
occasionally  stirred,  especially  if  it  is  exposed  to 
the  air,  or  a  thick  crust  of  hardened  cream  will 
form  on  the  surface,  and  this  makes  churning 
more  tedious  and  uncertain ;  it  is  the  influence  of 
dry  air  which  causes  this  crust  to  form,  therefore 
it  is  better  to  keep  the  cream  covered  up  from  the 
air.  Yet  it  is  not  advisable,  even  in  cold  weather, 
to  keep  the  cream  more  than  half  a  week  before 
churning,  though  it  \vill  then  keep  sweet  a  much 
longer  time  than  it  will  when  the  weather  is  hot 
and  no  artificial  means  of  cooling  it  and  keeping 
it  cool  are  employed.  Good  butter  is  of  course 
produced  by  churning  once  a  week,  or  even  once  a 
fortnight,  in  cold  weather,  yet  it  would  be  better 
42 


if  churned  oftener.  And  it  may,  indeed,  be  laid 
down  as  a  sound  proposition  that  cream  is  tit  to 
churn  as  soon  as  milk  is  fit  to  skim. 

Sometimes  white  flecks  appear  in  the  cream, 
and  are  conveyed  to  the  butter.  They  are  usually 
a  result  of  a  faulty  condition  of  the  milk,  and  are 
often  developed  by  the  influence  of  light  and  air 
playing  on  the  milk.  The  surface  of  cream  that 
is  dried  and  hardened  by  absorption  into  the  air  of 
the  moisture  that  is  in  that  portion  of  the  cream 
will  sometimes  cause  these  flecks,  but  not  often. 
The  general  cause  of  them  lies  in  the  coagulation 
of  drops  of  milk  by  the  action  of  germs  in  them, 
and  these  germs  will  be  developed  sometimes  by  a 
strong  light  falling  on  the  milk,  as  in  the  case  of 
pans  set  near  to  a  window  ;  sometimes  again  by  a 
current  of  air  playing  on  the  surface  of  the  milk ; 
the  germs  may  be  in  the  air,  or  they  may  be 
latent  in  the  milk ;  in  either  case  the  air  will  tend 
to  develop  them.  Hence  it  is  better  to  cover  up 
the  pans,  or  set  them  in  a  darkened  room  through 
which  no  current  of  air  passes  beyond  what  is 
necessary  for  ventilation ;  but  the  safer  plan  is  to 
cover  up  the  milk :  this  keeps  it  alike  from  air  and 
light,  neither  of  which  it  requires  if  it  has  been 
properly  treated  beforehand.  Flecks  will  not  easily 
occur  in  milk  that  has  been  scalded  and  cooled, 
and  afterwards  covered  up ;  the  scalding  kills  the 
germs  which  are  the  cause  of  the  flecks,  and  the 
cooling  and  covering  prevent  their  re-introduction. 
Sometimes  they  will  appear  in  one  cow's  milk  and 
not  in  another's,  and  they  are  commonest  in  the 
autumn  when  the  cows  are  being  let  dry  and  the 
milk  remains  longer  in  the  udders ;  but  judicious 
treatment  of  the  milk  and  cream  will  checkmate 
them  at  all  times.  When  these  white  flecks  are 
in  the  cream  they  may  be  separated  from  it  by 
running  the  cream  through  a  fine  wire  sieve, 
pouring  on  warm  water  at  the  conclusion,  which 
washes  all  the  cream  through,  leaving  the  white 
specks  in  the  sieve. 

In  winter,  especially,  butter  is  commonly  so 
pale  in  colour  that  its  value  is  lowered  if  the 
colour  is  not  restored  by  artificial  means.  This  is 
done  in  various  ways,  but  the  colouring  matter 
must  always  be  mixed  with  the  cream  just  liefore 
churning — not  with  the  butter  after  it.  No  kind 
of  colouring  matter  can  be  incorporated  with  the 
butter  after  churning,  without  so  much  working 
in  that  the  grain  of  the  butter  would  be  injured ; 
and  none  is  yet  known  that  will  not  injure  the 


308 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


bultur  hy  coming  into  direct  contact  with  it. 
Some  people  use  the  juice  of  carrots,  and  this  is 
harmless  enough  except  that,  being  a  vegetable 
matter,  it  soon  decays,  and  so  injures  the  keeping 
property  o£  the  butter.  Others  use  a  preparation 
of  arnatto  made  specially  for  the  purpose,  and,  so 
long  as  the  public  demand  high-coloured  butter, 
this  is  on  the  whole  the  best  colouring  material 
to  use — in  moderation.  In  recent  times,  various 
people  have  produced  artificial  colouring  matters 
for  butter  which  are  quite  as  satisfactory  as  any- 
thing artificial  can  well  be  expected  to  be.  So 
clever,  indeed,  are  some  of  these  colours  that  they 
give  to  winter-butter  a  rich,  warm,  golden  tint, 
which  can  hardly  be  surpassed  by  the  natural  tint 
of  summer.  And  so  long  as  the  public  prefer  a 
coloured  to  a  ])ale  butter,  we  assume  that  these 
artificial  aids  will  continue  to  be  employed. 

Churning. 

The  temperature  of  cream  is  a  matter  not  to  be 
overlooked  at  churning-time.  It  must  needs  vary 
according  to  the  state  of  the  weather  and  the  time 
of  the  year.  In  the  hottest  weather  it  has  no 
need  to  be  below  55°,  or  the  labour  of  churning 
will  be  increased  without  any  advantage  to  balance 
it;  in  winter  it  may  without  detriment  be  raised 
from  60"  to  65°,  or  even  70*^  iu  very  cold  weather, 
and  when  the  cows  are  eating  dry  fodder,  in  order 
to  reduce  the  labour  of  churning ;  but  in  summer 
to  have  it  above  60°  will  cause  the  butter  to  be 
soft  and  spongy;  60°  in  fact  may  be  regarded  as 
the  normal  temperature,  to  be  varied  from  as  cir- 
cumstances may  require.  In  raising  or  lowering 
the  temjierature  of  cream,  the  process  should  be 
gradual ;  the  best  way  is  not  to  pour  hot  or  cold 
water  into  it,  but  to  place  the  cream  in  a  tin 
vessel  and  surround  it  with  either  hot  or  cold 
water  as  the  case  may  be.  It  is  seldom,  however, 
that  the  temperature  will  need  reducing  at  any 
time,  and  never  in  winter.  By  having  the  cream 
below  65°  in  cold  weather,  the  labour  of  churning 
will  often  be  great ;  and  if  it  is  below  60°  it  can 
hai-dly  be  churned  at  all  until  the  temperature  is 
raised.  It  is  in  winter,  when  the  cows  are  on  dry 
food,  that  difficulty  in  churning  is  exj)erienceu ; 
in  summer,  when  thej'  are  on  grass,  the  butter 
forms  rciidily  in  the  churn.  Cream  that  has 
soured  a  little  will  churn  easier  and  at  a  lower 
tcmperatiu-e  than  sweet  cream ;  but  care  must  be 
t;iken  that  it  is   not   veri/   war,  or  the  labour  of 


churning  will  be  increased,  the  quantity  of  butter 
diminished,  and  its  flavour  ruined ;  and  in  extreme 
cases  of  souring,  the  cream  may  be  so  far  injured 
that  the  butter  will  not  come  at  all  in  the  churn. 
A  very  good  system  of  introducing  the  desirable 
acidity  is  to  pour  a  little  sour  buttermilk  into 
the  cream,  say  a  quart  to  4  or  5  gallons,  when 
the  latter  is  put  in  the  chum.  This  system  takes 
away  the  bitter  taste  which  butter  commonly  has 
in  winter-time,  and  it  has  the  great  advantage  of 
introducing  the  acidity  at  the  right  moment.  Or 
it  may  give  to  cream  some  of  that  ripeness  which 
is  thought  by  some  to  be  essential,  by  being  added 
to  it  a  few  hours  before  churning. 

The  question  of  sour  versus  sweet  cream  for 
churning  has  been  much  discussed,  and  it  is, 
perhaps,  quite  as  unsettled  now  as  it  ever  was, 
except  in  the  minds  of  those  who  are  definitely 
committed  to  the  one  side  or  to  the  other.  We 
incline  to  the  opinion  that  a  little  sourness  in 
butter-making,  as  in  cheese-making,  is  really 
beneficial  when  judiciously  employed.  The  danger 
in  both  lies  in  developing  it  too  early  and  too 
far.  Sourness,  in  fact,  may  be  regarded  as  an 
incipient  stage  of  ripening,  but  it  is  a  stage 
which  should  be  held  in  check.  Both  cheese  and 
butter  will  be  the  firmer  for  a  little  employed 
acidity,  and  have  more  of  "  character "  about 
them,  but  it  should  in  both  cases  be  emjiloyed  at 
the  right  time.  We  do  not  hold  with  cream  being 
allowed  to  go  sour  as  it  likes  before  churning,  and 
we  think  it  would  be  far  better  kept  sweet  until 
churning-time,  or  nearly  so.  The  finest  butter 
we  remember  seeing — the  firmest,  having  the 
most  "body,"  the  clearest  and  richest  in  colour, 
with  a  mild  and  pure  flavour,  and  having  a  perfect 
"grain" — was  produced  from  sweet  cream  into 
which  a  little  sour  buttermilk  was  mixed  at 
churning  time.  This  butter  was  exhiliited  at  the 
International  Dairy  Show  in  Dublin,  iu  December, 
1879,  by  Mr.  Patton,  of  Glasslough,  who  has  on 
several  occasions  carried  off  the  highest  prize  for 
butter  in  the  leading  shows  of  Ireland.  He  milks 
only  some  fifteen  or  sixteen  cows,  and  his  daughters 
make  the  butter.  This  is  a  fine  example  of  the 
success  which  may  be  attained  by  care,  system, 
and  scrupulous  cleanliness  on  a  medium-sized  farm 
in  Ireland. 

When  cream  churns  reluctantly — that  is,  when 
the  butter  is  slow  in  coming — it  is  customary  to 
use  one  or  other  of  the  various  sorts  of  "  butter- 


CHURNING    AND    WASHING    THE    BUTTER. 


309 


powder"  tluit  arc  in  the  market,  some  of  wliieh 
arc  very  useful.  We  have  known  refractory 
cream,  that  refused  to  yiekl  up  more  than  a  small 
portion  of  its  butter,  quickly  reduced  to  submission 
by  the  use  of  butter-powder,  and  the  second  yield 
of  butter  has  been  larger  than  the  first.  In  winter, 
especially,  cream  is  apt  to  swell  out  very  much  in 
the  churn ;  at  such  times  it  is  well  to  put  a  little 
dissolval  carbonate  of  soda  in  the  cream  just 
before  churning  begins.  A  little  salt,  too,  pre- 
vents the  swelling,  and  helps  the  churning. 

It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  rule  that  the  longer 
it  is  since  the  cows  calved,  the  longer  time  will  the 
churning  occupy.  This  is  owing  to  the  average 
size  of  the  cream-globules  being  smaller  than  when 
the  milk  is  from  cows  that  have  been  calved  a 
shorter  time.  Thus  it  is  that  the  cream  of  the 
milk  of  Jersey  cows  churns  easier  than  most  other 
kinds — the  cream-globules  in  it  are,  on  the 
average,  larger ;  and  this  is  one  of  the  chief 
reasons  why  Jerseys  are  better  "  butter-cows " 
than  most  others.  Scalding  the  cream — that  is, 
bringing  it  nearly  to  boiling-heat — will  diminish 
the  time  and  labour  required  in  churning  it ;  and 
the  higher  the  scalding  the  easier  it  will  churn. 
Scalding  the  milk  while  still  fresh  has  a  similar 
effect  in  abridging  the  time  used  in  churning  the 
cream  from  it.  In  this  case,  however,  the  milk 
must  be  cooled  to  70"  or  75°  before  setting  it  to 
cream;  and  scalded  cream  must  be  cooled  to  60° 
or  6^°  before  churning  it. 

The  object  of  churning  is  to  denude  the  cream- 
globules  of  their  delicate  membranes  without  inter- 
fering with  the  structure  of  the  tiny  granules  of 
£;.t  inside  them.  If  these  granules  are  broken  up 
too  much  by  over-churning  or  over-working,  the 
"  grain  "  of  tlie  butter  will  be  destroyed.  But  if 
the  structure  of  the  granules  is  left  intact,  a  piece 
of  butter  at  60°,  if  fractured,  will  show  a  clear 
and  distinct  fracture  like  unto  that  of  cast-iron, 
and  if  seen  through  a  magnifying-glass  will  :how 
a  granular  appearance;  whereas,  if  the  grain  is 
destroyed  the  fatty  elements  are  mixed  up  to- 
gether, and  the  fracture  will  have  little  or  none  of 
the  granular  appearance  seen  in  the  other  ease. 
If  the  grain  of  butter  is  destroyed,  the  flavour  is 
more  easily  lost,  and  the  butter  will  not  remain 
sweet  so  long.  In  all  the  processes  through  which 
butter  passes,  the  grain  should  be  specially  con- 
sidered and  preserved;  too  much /rid  ion  either  in 
or  out  of  the  churn  will   injure  it;   therefore  in 


churning  the  process  should  bo  riffifnfion,  and  in 
working  the  hiittcr  press)ire,  wot  friction  in  either 
case.  At  the  commencement  of  the  churning  the 
motion  should  be  slow,  but  when  the  cream  is  well 
mixed  together  the  speed  may  be  gradually  increased 
until  it  has  reached  the  rate  for  which  the  churn  is 
adapted,  and  when  the  cream  begins  to  break  into 
butter  the  speed  must  be  reduced  again  so  as 
not  to  "  over-churn "  or  injure  the  grain  of  the 
butter.  It  is  not  advisable  in  any  case  to  subject 
the  cream  to  very  violent  agitation  ;  a  moderate, 
steady,  and  uniform  rate  of  churning  will  make  the 
best  and  most  butter;  and  in  summer  the  rate 
of  speed  must  be  slower  than  it  need  bo  in  winter. 

Washing  and  Working. 

It  is  advisable  to  stop  the  churn  before  the 
butter  is  fully  gathered;  that  is,  while  it  is  in 
grains  like  wheat,  and  before  it  is  compactly 
massed  together  in  a  lump  by  the  continued  action 
of  the  dashers.  The  reason  for  this  is :  that  as 
butter  immediately  after  churning  always  contains 
more  or  less  buttermilk  that  must  be  removed  by 
washing  and  working,  the  separation  is  more  easily 
done  before  the  butter  is  massed  together  than 
afterwards.  By  pouring  cold  water  into  the  churn 
just  at  the  time  when  the  butter  is  about  to  gather, 
and  lowering  the  contents  to  54°  or  55°,  the 
butter  does  not  mass  together  but  remains  in  small 
pieces  like  small  peas,  and  the  lower  the  tempera- 
ture the  smaller  will  be  these  pieces,  while  at 
a  temperature  of  60°  to  70°  they  mass  together. 
The  cold  water  may  be  put  into  the  churn  at  two 
or  three  different  times,  aud  the  churning  slowly 
finished.  The  advantage  derived  from  this  method 
lies  in  enabling  the  buttermilk  to  be  washed  out 
without  any  of  the  ordinary  working,  and  this  can 
be  done  by  draining  the  buttermilk  out  of  the 
churn,  putting  water  in  its  place,  stirring  the 
butter  carefully,  and  repeating  the  water  part 
of  the  operation  until  it  runs  out  clear  and  free 
from  buttermilk. 

Some  object  to  the  washing  of  butter,  on  the 
ground  that  both  the  flavour  and  keeping  proper- 
ties are  injured  by  it.  This  depends  entirely  on  the 
way  in  which  the  washing  is  done,  and  on  the 
kind  of  water  used.  If  perfectly  j)ure,  clear, 
spring-water  is  used,  and  if  the  washing  is  done 
with  care,  the  butter  is  improved,  not  injured,  by 
the  process.  In  the  absence  of  suitable  water  it 
is  of  course  better  to  get  the  buttermilk  out  by 


810 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


workino-  instead  o£  washing,  Init  where  good 
water  is  at  hand  it  may  be  used  to  advantage. 
Some  think  washing  the  butter  washes  out  tlie 
fhivour ;  but  this  is  not  the  case,  for  the  flavour 
of  Initter  consists  in  fatty  matters  that  do  not 
combine  with  water  at  all,  and  therefore  cannot 
be  washed  away  by  it.  But  washing  butter  may 
be  made  to  remove  the  flavour — if  impniities  are 
inirod tired  to  dexfro)/  it;  and  this  is  not  un- 
commonly the  result  of  using  improper  water, 
so  that  instead  of  the  water  purifying  the  butter, 
the  butter  purifies  the  water.  The  keeping  pro- 
perties, again,  are  not  injured  but  improved  by 
carefully  washing  the  butter  in  pure  water ;  the 
washing,  in  fact,  removes  the  casein,  which,  being 


acid.  In  hot  weather,  and  in  the  case  of  using 
water  that  is  not  quite  what  it  ought  to  be,  it  is 
better  to  use  brine  for  washing  out  the  butter- 
milk ;  by  dissolving  a  portion  of  salt  in  it  the 
water  is  less  liable  to  do  harm  to  the  butter,  and 
it  will  take  u])  the  buttermilk  better  than  water 
alone  will. 

For  the  making  of  butter,  and  without  always 
knowing  the  why  and  wherefore  of  the  matter,  a 
dairymaid  with  cold  haudu  has  been  for  genera- 
tions past,  and  still  is,  preferred  to  one  who  does 
not  possess  that  peculiarity;  a  warm  hand,  es- 
pecially in  hot  weather,  is  considered  unfit  to 
manipulate  butter,  and  some  dairymaids  have 
a  pail  of   cold  water   close   by  into   which  they 


a  nitrogenous  substance,  decomposes  earlier  than 
the  fats  of  birtter.  Imperfectly  washed  butter, 
indeed,  turns  rancid  early,  chiefly  because  of  the 
casein  which  is  left  in  it. 

Under  the  old  system  the  butter  is  first  of 
all  removed  from  the  churn  and  placed  in  a  tub 
containing  clear,  cold  water,  and  is  washed  there 
in  the  tub;  or  it  is  placed  on  a  sloping  bench 
or  table,  and  water  poured  over  it  to  wash  out 
the  buttermilk.  An  improved  plan  is  to  use  a 
small  watering-can  which  distributes  the  water 
in  a  shower  by  means  of  a  "  rose,"  and,  while  the 
spray  is  falling  on  it,  to  keep  the  butter  stirring 
about,  not  by  hand,  but  by  a  flat  wooden  ladle  made 
for  the  purpose  (Fig.  17-'5).  In  this  operation  the 
butter  is,  or  should  be,  used  gently  and  turned 
over  lightly,  and  the  water  after  falling  on  the 
butter  passes  freely  away,  carrying  with  it  more 
or  less  of  the  buttermilk,  milk-sugar,  and  milk- 


frequentlj-  dip  their  hands  to  cool  them  during 
the  time  they  are  making  the  butter.  These 
simple  facts  in  connection  with  butter-making 
have,  in  some  of  the  more  advanced  dairying 
countries,  led  to  the  invention  of  mechanical 
butter-workers,  by  means  of  which  the  butter  can 
be  thoroughly  washed,  worked,  and  salted  without 
being  touched  by  the  hand  at  all. 

It  is  well  known,  to  come  to  the  scientific 
aspect  of  the  question,  that  carbonic  acid  is  con- 
stantly being  thrown  oif  from  the  pores  of  the 
skin  of  the  human  body ;  and  it  is  no  doubt  trae 
that  this  physiological  process  is  less  active  in  the 
skin  of  a  cold  hand  than  in  that  of  a  warm  one, 
and  so  the  cold  hand  will  do  less  harm  than  the 
warm  one  to  the  flavour  as  well  as  to  the  con- 
sistency of  the  butter.  In  the  more  advanced 
butter-making  establishments  of  the  Continent 
of  Europe  and  of  America,  the  human  hand,  l)e  it 


BUTTER    WORKERS. 


311 


cold  or  warm,  is  allowed  to  conic  as  seldom  and  as  wooden    instruments    being    used    instead.       In 

little  as  possible  in  contact  witb  the  butter.     Dr.  Pig.   176   we   have    a  very   handy  butter-worker 

Fleiscbmann,  who  is  regarded  as  the  first  scientific  and  the  method  of  using  it :  one  end  ol:  it  rests 

authority  of   the  day  on   dairy   matters    on   the  on  the  edge  of  a  tub  into  which  the  buttermilk 

Continent,   considers  that  the  varying  states   of  drains,  and  the  fluted  roller  passes  backwards  and 

health   to   which  the  human   frame  is  liable  are  forwards    over   the   butter,   which   is   occasionally 

among    the    chief   causes    why  butter    varies    so  turned  over.     The  butter  in  the  trough  is  seen  at 


much  in  flavour  and  quality,  and  so  he  advocates 
that  such  a  delicate  product  should  never  be 
touched  by  hand,  but  that  butter-workers  should 
be  used,  and  spatulaj  for  turning  it  over. 

In  Figs.  17:i,  174,  175,  we  give  illustrations 
of  three  different  kinds  of  butter-workers  suitable 


a,  and  the  fluted  roller  at  h.  An  expert  hand 
can  so  manipulate  the  butter  with  the  roller  as  to 
scarcely  require  the  use  of  a  wooden  pat ;  if  need 
be,  the  butter  will  lick  up  round  the  roller,  from 
which  it  is  easily  disengaged  in  a  lump,  to  be  again 
rolled  out.      This  butter-worker  is  made  by  Mr. 


for   small   dairies.      These    may  be    used  by  one     Waide,  of  Leeds,  and  we  can  testify  to  its  sim- 


Fig.    17G.— BUTTER-WORKEE. 


hand,  while  the  other  is  employed  in  pourinc 
water  over  the  butter,  or  in  turning  it  over  with 
the  wooden  pat  or  ladle,  of  which  a  cut  is  given 
in  Fig.  173. 

There  really  can 
l)e  no  two  opinions, 
in  the  minds  of 
thinking  peoj^le,  as 
to  the  advantage  of 
using  wood  instead 
of  the  human  hand 
for  immediate  con- 
tact with  butter  in 
the  working  of  it. 
Apart  from  the  im- 
portant fact  that 
the  warmth  of  a 
hand  does  more  or  less  harm  to  the  grain  of  the 
butter,  while  emanations  from  the  skin  are  not 
calculated  to  improve  the  flavour  of  it,  it  is  more 
comely,  as  well  as  more  profitable,  that  wood 
should  be  used  instead  of  the  hands  in  the  making 
and  mixing  of  butter.  We  do  not  for  a  moment 
wish  to  insinuate  that  the  finest  butter  cannot 
be  made  without  these  modern  wooden  devices. 
By  observing  the  strictest  cleanliness  of  person, 
of  utensils,  and  of  dairy,  and  when  the  dairy- 
maid's hand  happens  to  be  a  cold  one,  it  is  no 
doubt  true  that  butter  will  be  produced  whose 
condition  is  such  as  to  leave  nothing  to  be  desired; 
but  this  strictest  cleanliness  is  too  commonly 
neglected  in  some  point  or  other,  and  oftener, 
we  may  say,  in  respect  of  the  person  than  of 
the  utensils  and  of  the  dairy,  while  the  cold 
hand  is  a  mere  accident  of  nature.  Consequently 
we  prefer  that  the  butter  should  be  touched 
by  the  hand  as  seldom  and  as  little  as  possible, 


plicity  and  great  usefulness ;  it  may  be  placed  at 
a  greater  or  lesser  inclination,  to  suit  the  taste  of 
the  j^erson  in  charge.  These  different  butter- 
workers  are,  how- 
ever, very  sparingly 
used  in  Englaml  as 
yet,  though  they 
have  been  in  com- 
mon use  for  a  long 
time  in  various  Con- 
tinental countries 
and  in  America. 
In  England  we  still 
depend  on  the  "cold 
hand"  of  the  dairy- 
maid. Yet  we  may 
state  our  conviction 
that  these  handy  tools  need  only  to  be  tried  to  be 
appreciated ;  there  is  no  difficulty  Avhatever  in 
using  them,  and  while  they  work  the  butter 
thoroughly  they  do  the  least  possible  harm  to  the 
grain  of  it. 

The  most  recent,  and  perhaps  the  most  useful, 
butter-worker  for  large  dairies  is  seen  in  Figs.  177 
and  178;  and  though  machines  of  this  pattern 
have  for  years  been  in  common  use  in  the  United 
States  and  on  the  Continent  of  Euroj^e,  they  have 
only  recently  been  introduced  into  this  country, 
and  are  not  yet  in  any  sense  general  amongst  us. 
This  machine,  of  which  the  illustrations  give  an 
excellent  idea,  consists  of  a  round  table  with  an 
inner  and  an  outer  rim  to  it,  which  circulates 
underneath  the  fluted  roller  that  is  seen  in  the 
woodcut.  The  wheel  by  which  motive  power  is 
communicated  to  the  machine  is  attached  to  the 
axle  of  the  roller,  and  they  go  round  together. 
To  the  same  axle    is  also  attached  a  cog-wheel. 


312 


DAIRY    FAR.^^TNG. 


whirli  (ipcratc's  on  projecting'  eo^s,  and  gives  a 
circular  motion  to  the  taljle;  but  the  projectinp; 
cogs,  thougli  shown  in  tlie  engraving,  are  so  pro- 
tected as  not  to  catch  the  dress  of  the  attendant. 
The  butter  is  thus  carried  round  repeatedly  on  the 


—  Rotating  Botter-worker. 


table,  passing  under  the  roller  eacli  time,  and  the 
attendant  turns  it  over  with  a  small  wooden  pat 
as  it  leaves  the  roller.  It  is  prevented  going  near 
or  adhering  to  the  inner  and  outer  portions  of  the 
table,  as  well  as  from  getting  under  either  end  of 
the   roller,  by  two    fixed  scraper.s — one    near  the 


jn 


Fig.  17S.— Plan  of  ]',iiti:i!  worker. 

A,  A,  Guide-scrai>ers,  for  conducting  the  butter  under  the  roller ;  n, 
semper  for  freeing  the  roller  from  butter ;  c,  c,  groove  for  con- 
voying the  buttermilk  to  the  pail. 

inner  and  the  other  near  the  outer  rim  of  the 
table — and  these,  as  it  comes  within  their  scope, 
continually  incline  the  butter  in  the  direction  of 
passing  under  the  central  part  of  the  fluted  roller. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  the  table  is  highest  in  the 
centre,  so  that  the  buttermilk,  or  the  water  con- 
taining it,  runs  toward  the  outer  edge  of  the 
table,  whence  it  is  conveyed  away,  by  means  of  a 
small  gutter  and  a  pipe,  to  a  pail  or  a  tub  under- 
neath.    Fi<j.  IT,)  shows  the  niauncr  td'  working. 


This  excellent  butter- machine  maj-  be  used 
efEectually  for  three  purjwses :  first,  for  getting 
the  buttermilk  out  of  the  butter  by  means  of 
water — and  this  is  called  "  washing  the  butter ;  " 
second,  for  getting  out  the  buttermilk  by  means 
of  working  only,  and  without  the  aid  of  water; 
and,  third,  for  thoroughly  ineoriwrating  the  salt 
with  the  butter.  It  ])erforins  these  various  offices 
hy pressure,  and  without /'/vV-f'io//,  so  that  the  grain 
of  the  butter  is  not  injured ;  and  it  is  highly  recom- 
mended, by  those  who  have  it  in  use,  as  a  most 
useful  and  convenient  addition  to  any  butter-dairy 
which  has  it  not.  It  is  made  in  different  sizes  to 
suit  the  requirements  of  either  large  or  small 
establishments;  for  the  latter,  however,  the  imple- 
ments shown  in  Fig.  174  and  170  are  perhaps 
better  than  any  other  kind,  being  simpler  and 
cheajwr,  and  more  easily  kept  in  order. 

A  large  machine  of  the  same  kind  suitalde  for 
butter-factories,  or  for  large  establishments  where 
different  farmers'  butter  is  worked  up  into  one 
uniform  quality — a  jiraetiee  followed  in  France — 
is  seen  in  Fig.  180.  This  machine,  it  will  be 
noticed,  is  intended  to  be  driven  Ijy  power  or  l)y 
hand,  and  is  capable  of  dealing  with  a  large 
quantity  of  butter.  It  is  made  by  Mr.  Edward 
Ahll)orn,  of  Ilildesheim,  who  is  well  known  in  this 
country  as  an  exhibitor  of  improved  utensils  and 
iinjjlements  for  the  dairy.  It  is  not  probable 
that  these  larger  machines  will  be  required  in 
England,  though  they  may  in  Ireland,  but  the 
smaller  ones  of  the  same  type  would  be  found 
very  useful  in  our  larger  dairies. 

Sat.ting. 

The  object  of  working  butter  is  threefold :  to 
get  out  the  buttermilk,  to  get  in  the  salt,  and  to 
make  the  butter  as  compact  as  may  be ;  and  the  less 
labour  required  to  attain  these  results,  the  better 
it  is  for  the  butter.  Some  butter-makers  put  a 
little  salt  in  the  cream  at  the  tii.'.e  of  churning, 
and  this  not  only  helps  the  churning,  but  after- 
wards assists  the  buttermilk  to  leave  the  butter. 
Others  get  out  all,  or  very  nearly  all,  the  butter- 
milk by  drawing  off  nearly  all  of  it  when  the 
butter  has  formed  into  grains  like  wheat,  and 
then  pouring  in  a  quantity  of  cold  water,  and 
going  on  with  the  churning  a  little  time  longer 
at  a  reduced  speed ;  the  pouring  in  of  water  in 
this  way,  previously  drawing  out  the  other,  is 
repeated   two    or   three  times,  and  butter  washed 


AVOUKING    AND    SALTING    TIIK    JUTTER. 


313 


in  this  manner  is  found  to  require  very  little  suli- 
se(|uent  working  to  get  out  the  water  and  with  it 


Fig.  170.— 'Working  the  Butter. 

the  remaining  buttermilk.  This  done,  the  butter 
should  be  spread  out  thin  on  a  table,  its  weight 
having  been  first  ascertained, 
and  the  requisite  quantity  of  the 
purest,  whitest,  and  finest  salt 
obtainable  scattered  over  it  at 
several  times,  and  gently  worked 
in  by  pressure,  repeatedly  fold- 
ing the  butter  up  in  a  lump 
and  pressing  it  out  flat  again. 
It  should  be  worketl  at  this 
stage  as  little  as  possible  beyoral 
what  is  necessary  to  get  the 
salt  tolerably  well  distributed 
throughout  the  mass.  It  should 
then  rest  awhile,  until  the  salt- 
crystals  are  dissolved,  after 
which  it  may  again  be  worked 
a  little  to  expel  the  residue  of 
the  buttermilk  that  the  salt 
may  have  set  at  liberty,  and 
all  surplus  moisture.  The  quan- 
tity of  salt  used  varies  greatly,  and  is  too  com- 
monly applied  by  guess-work ;  Ijut  where  system 
prevails  the  quantity  used  will  vary,  according  to 


taste  and  re(iuiivnient,  from  i  oz.  to  nearly  or 
quite  1  oz.  of  salt  per  lb.  of  butter.  The  best 
makers  seldom  if  ever 
exceed  |  oz.,  while  some 
use  only  ^  oz.  to  the  11). 
<if  butter.'  The  following 
is  found  to  be  a  good 
summer  mixture  : — Salt, 
1  li  ozs. ;  saltpetre,  one  tea- 
spoonful  ;  best  powdered 
white  sugar,  one  table- 
spoonful.  This  is  used  to 
22  lbs.  of  butter. 

Recently  a  new  agent 
for  preserving  butter  has 
been  invented  which  will 
do  away  with  common 
salt,  if  need  be.  It  is 
an  antiseptic  known  as 
"  Glacialiue,"  and  while 
it  is  tasteless,  odourless, 
and  perfectly  harmless, 
it  will  preserve  butter 
quite  sweet  for  a  much 
longer  period  than  com- 
mon salt  will.  We  have 
tested  this  chemical  salt  in  milk  and  In 
butter,   anil    In  both    with  the  most  satisfactory 


Fig.  180.— Compound  Butter-worker. 

results.  Used  in  winter  -  butter  it  entirely 
removed  the  bitter  taste,  while  common  salt 
entirely    failed    to    do    so.     This    in   itself   is    no 


314 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


light  merit,  for  winter-made  butter  commonly  has 
a  bitterness  of  flavour  which  is  given  to  it  by  the 
nature  of  the  food  which  the  cows  are  eating. 
Not  only,  therefore,  is  Glacialine  an  excellent  jire- 
servative,  but  it  has  the  property  of  neutralising 
taints  and  odours  to  which  butter  is  sometimes 
addicted.  Used  in  milk  it  has  the  effect  of  pre- 
venting the  faintest  approacli  of  souring,  for  at 
least  a  week,  in  the  hottest  of  weather,  so  that  the 
cream  has  ample  time  to  rise,  or  the  milk  may  be 
conveyed  long  distances,  no  harm  befalling  it  on 
the  way.  Being  tasteless  and  odourless,  this  new 
preserving  agent  is  not  in  the  least  objectionable, 
nor  can  it  in  any  sense  be  regarded  as  an  adultera- 
tion. With  eggs  and  with  flesh-meat  Glacialine 
is  equally  effective  as  a  preservative.  Eggs  dipped 
for  an  hour  in  a  solution  of  it  remain  perfectly 
fresh  for  months,  and  when  used  cannot  easily 
be  distinguished  from  new-laid  eggs.  This  most 
useful  article  may  now  be  obtained  almost  any- 
where, or  of  the  manufacturers,  the  Antitropic 
Company,  of  Renfield  Street,  Glasgow. 

Other  butter-preservers  are  also  being  brought 
out ;  among  these  we  may  mention  "  Butyrosoter  " 
and  "  Ozonia,'"  which  are  respectively  introduced 
to  the  notice  of  the  public  by  the  Aylesbmy  Dairy 
Company  of  London,  and  by  IMcDonald  and  Co., 
of  Dublin. 

The  Akoma  of  Butter. 

I.  R.  Segelcke,  Professor  at  the  Royal  Agricul- 
tural College  of  Denmark,  writes  : — "  Is  the  aroma 
of  butter  due  to  aromatic  principles  pre-existing 
in  the  milk,  or  not?  According  to  the  generally- 
received  opinion,  the  aromatic  principles  of  butter 
already  exist  in  the  milk  as  given  by  the  cow, 
and  pass  from  the  milk  into  the  cream,  and  from 
the  cream  into  the  butter,  unless  they  be  destroyed 
by  chemical  decomposition  during  the  process  of 
cream-raising  or  of  churning. 

"  My  experience  does  not  confirm  this  opinion. 
On  the  contrary,  it  puts  it  beyond  a  doubt  that 
the  aromatic  principles  of  butter  do  not  exist  in 
natural  milk,  and  that  it  is  the  decomiwsition  of 
the  ])rinciples  of  this  latter — probably  of  even 
utterly  inodorous  principles — that  gives  rise  to  the 
aroma  of  butter.  If  the  tcniiieraturc  of  the  milk 
when  set  for  cream  be  from  lU**  to  1;J°  Centigrade 
(50°  to  oS-G"  Fahrenheit)  or  more,  it  decomposes, 
forming  lactic  acid  and  several  other  new  prin- 
ciples,  among  them   aromatic   principles;    and  it 


needs  but  to  churn  the  cream  to  obtain  an 
aromatic  butter.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
temperature  of  the  milk  at  such  time  be  near 
freezing-point,  the  decomposition  necessary  for 
the  production  of  aromatic  principles  is  held  in 
check,  and,  consequently,  the  aroma  of  butter 
obtained  from  fresh  cream  is  so  feeble  that  it  is 
not  perceptible  to  persons  accustomed  to  butters 
prepared  as  above  indicated,  in  the  same  way  as 
French  butters  are  made  at  jn'esent.  But  if  it  be 
desired  to  obtain  a  more  aromatic  butter,  all  that 
is  required  is  to  place  the  cream  in  circumstances 
favourable  for  lactic  fermentation,  and  a  few 
hours  will  produce  the  required  result. 

"  In  either  case,  the  aroma  formed  may  be 
more  or  less  agreeable;  that  all  depends  on  the 
fundamental  principles  of  the  milk,  on  the  quan- 
tity of  the  principles  necessary  for  the  formation 
of  aromatic  piinciples  that  is  present,  and  on  the 
method  of  manipulation  emj)loyed. 

"  In  either  case,  again,  the  appearance  of  aro- 
matic principles  is  accompanied  by  that  of  lactic 
acid.  Whether  the  aromatic  principles  sought  for 
in  butter  are  produced  by  lactic  fermentation,  by 
a  simultaneous  general  fermentation,  or  by  several 
fermentations  combined,  I  do  not  know. 

"In  practice  it  will  often  be  noticed  that 
lactic  fermentation  is  accompanied  by  alcoholic 
fermentation,  and  even  by  butyric  fermentation. 
What,  then,  is  the  chemical  comjjosition  of  the 
aromatic  principle  so  much  admired  in  butter? 
Is  it  an  alcohol,  a  compound  ether,  or  perhaps 
even  a  fatty  acid,  nauseous  in  a  state  of  concen- 
tration, but  agreeable  in  a  more  moderate  fonn  ? 
I  know  not.  The  fact  that  the  valued  aroma  soon 
becomes  rancid,  and  that  it  is  always  met  with 
in  conjunction  with  fatty  matters,  leads  one  to 
suppose  that  there  is  some  relation  between  the 
fatty  acids  and  the  aroma.  To  solve  this  in- 
teresting question,  elaborate  experiments  would 
be  required;  but  meanwhile  this  is  certain,  that 
wdhonl  decompositivn  there  is  no  aroma — at  least  no 
aroma  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word." 

This  is  obviously  a  scientific  problem  which  is 
not  yet  solved,  nor,  perhaps,  does  it  admit  of 
complete  solution.  That  the  aroma  of  butter 
exists  already  in  freshly-drawn  milk,  in  a  greater 
or  lesser  degree,  is,  however,  a  fact  which  does  not 
admit  of  disj)ute,  for  Initter  made  from  such  milk, 
by  churning  the  milk,  has  the  aroma  in  it,  though, 
we  admit,  iu  a  feebler  measure  than  is  found  in 


THE    IIOLSTEIN    VERTICAL    CHURN. 


815 


butter  lli:it  Ims  boon  matlo  from  eroam  of  sovoral 
days'  a<^o.  At  the  same  time  it  is  no  doubt  true 
tliat  a  more  pronounced  aroma  is 
obtained  if  the  cream  is  allowed  to 
"  ripen  "  before  it  is  churned  ;  and 
unpleasant  flavours  are  produced 
in  the  same  way,  if  the  cream  re- 
mains too  long  without  churning. 
As  in  butter,  so  in  cheese — par- 
ticularly in  cheese — it  is  obvious 
that  incipient  docomjjosition,  which 
is  but  another  term  for  ripening, 
develops  the  flavours  which  we  so 
much  admire ;  and  it  is  equally 
obvious  that  these  pleasant  flavours 
become  unpleasant  after  a  time,  as 
decomposition  proceeds.  Thus  it 
follows  that  a  given  degree  of  acidity 
is  useful  in  both  cheese  and  butter 
making,  developing  as  it  does  the 


Fig.  181. — HoLSTEiN  Vertical 
Chukn. 


flavour  and  aroma;  but  if  it  is  allowed  to  go  too      181   is    given 
far  it  destroys  both  of  them,  or,  rather,  carries 
them  into  a  stage  in 


creaming  ]>rovails,  the  Holstein  vertical  churn 
is  the  most  jmpular.  In  Fig.  181  we  give  an 
illustration  of  one  of  these  churns, 
ol'  a  size  suitable  for  use  by  hand; 
and  in  Fig.  182  a  larger  one,  suit- 
able for  horse,  steam,  or  water 
power,  and  for  use  in  large  estab- 
lishments. Fig.  18;3  shows  the 
method  of  attaching  this  churn 
to  an  ordinary  horse-gear.  In 
the  inside  of  these  churns  three 
round-edged  pieces  of  wood  are 
fastened  in  a  perpendicular  position 
and  equi-distant  from  each  other; 
the  revolving  beater-frame  dashes 
the  cream  against  them,  and  they 
cause  the  cream  to  return  to  the 
centre  of  the  churn,  so  that  a 
continuous  and  somewhat  violent 
agitation  is  maintained.  In  Fig. 
a   section  of   the   churn    showing: 


this  interior  construction. 


which  they  are  no 
longer  attractive  to 
the  palate.  The  in- 
troduction of  extra- 
neous matter,  also, 
may  easily  induce  a 
sort  of  fermentation 
or  decomposition 
which  will  develop 
an  aroma  which  is 
foreign,  or  may  pre- 
vent the  development 
of  that  which  we 
should  naturally  ex- 
pect to  find  in  a 
well-ordered  article ; 
and  hence  it  is  that 
cleanliness  and  care  of 
the  minutest  kind  are 
neces.sary  in  handling 
so  delicate  and  vola- 
tile a  thing  as  milk. 

Churns. 


Fig.  182. — Holstein  Vertical  Chcrn, 
A   great  variety 

of  churns  are  in  use,  most  butter-making  countries 

having  several  very  good  and  favourite  kinds.     In 

Northern  Europe,  where   the    Swartz    system    of 

43 


The  fixed  dashers  are 
marked  a,  and  the 
revolving  ones  b, 
while  a  thermometer 
is  seen  at  c.  The 
churns,  being  simply 
constructed,  are 
easily  cleaned  when 
the  revolving  beater 
is  taken  out.  The 
larger  ones  are  bal- 
anced on  axles,  so 
that  they  are  easily 
emptied  when  the 
churning  is  com- 
pleted, and  as  easily 
cleaned,  without  re- 
moving them  from 
their  bearings.  It 
will  be  noticed  in 
the  smaller  one  that 
a  fly-wheel  assists  in 
the  turning.  These 
justly  celebrated 
churns  are  manu- 
factured by  ]Mr.  E. 
Ahlborn,  as  also  are 

the  rotating  butter-workers  which  are  illustrated 

and  described  in  the  preceding  jJages. 

The  old-fashioned  plunge-dash  churn  (Fig.  185) 


316 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


1S4.  — SliCTlu.N    Of   ]IuLSTliiN   C'HUKN. 


is  still    in  use  in  many   farm-houses,   hut  it   has      Fij,'.  ]S6.     To  the  hole  in  the  centre  of  the  "dash" 
not  much  to  rccommcud  it  except  hoaiy  anti<iuity.      the    uprii-ht    liaudie    is    firmly  attacheil,  and  the 

motiiiM  is  an  up-and-down  one  which  is  very 
wearying'  to 
(lie  person 
employed  in 
cli  u  ruing. 
That  this 
chum  should 
still  remain 
in  use  seems 
verystrauge, 
and  it  is 
strangerstill 
that  any  new 
ones  of  the 
same  kind 
should  he 
made  in  this 
age  of  pro- 
gress. 

An  excellent  churn,  superior  in  all  respects  to 
the  old  jilungc-churn,  is  seen  in  Fig.  187.  Churns 
of  this  huild,  made  now- 
a-days,  ai'e  excellent  im- 
j)lements;  there  are  no 
loose  dashers  inside  them, 
they  run  on  anti-friction 
wheels  and  are  easy  to 
work,  and  they  are 
cleaned  in  the  simplest 
manner  possible — by  put- 
ting boiling  water  into 
them  and  turning  the 
handle  for  a  minute  or 
two,  as  when  churning. 
The  bung  of  the  churn 
under  review  is  fastened 
on  the  inside,  and  can- 
not blow  out  in  churn- 
ing, and  the  joint  is 
seeui'ed  by  an  india- 
rubber  washer,  so  that 
there  is  no  waste  of 
cream  •  the  gases  evolved 
during  the  churning  are 
easily  let  out  on  touch- 
ing the  small  valve  seen  on  the  right  of  the 
It  will  of  course  produce  good  butter,  but  the  bung.  This  chum  is  made  by  Mr.  Waide, 
rwpiired  to  use  it  is  severe  and  monoto-  of  Leeds,  and  we  can  testify  to  its  simplicitv, 
The    "dash"   of   this   churn   is  shown   in      its    ellicary,    and    its    value.     It    is    etpially    well 


li.MiREI,-CHl'KN. 


lalx 

nous. 


BARREL    AND    STREAMLET    CHURNS. 


317 


O' 


Fig.  18G.— CniJUN  Dash. 


adapted  for  churn in<j^  milk  or  fream.  In  Fiji;. 
188  we  <>;ive  a  represeutatiou  of  a  cluxm  which 
the  same  maker  has  receutly  brought  out.  It  is 
called  the  Victoria  churn.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  it  is  likewise 
a  Ijarrel-churn,  but 
that  the  motion  is 
an  end-over-end 
movement.  The 
hd  occupies  the 
whole  of  one  end  of 
the  barrel,  and  is 
attached  hrmly  by 
four  thumb-screws, 
while  all  leakage  is 
prevented  by  an 
india-rubber  ring 
which  fits  in  between  the  end  of  the  barrel  and  the 
lid.  There  are  no  dashers  inside  the  churn,  as  it 
is  claimed  that  the  end-over-end  motion  produces 
enough  agitation  without  them,  the  cream  being 
dashed  alternately  against  the  lid  and  the  bottom 
of  the  churn ;  we  think,  however,  that  a  couple 
of  dashers  would  add  to  its  efficiency.  When  the 
lid  is  off,  the  churn,  poised  as  seen  in  the  engrav- 
ing, admits  of  the  butter  being  removed  with 
great  ease  and  facility,  and  equally  so  does  it  admit 
of  cleaning  the  inside.  The  buttermilk  is  let  out 
by  the  plug  seen 
in  the  lower  part 
of  the  barrel, 
while  the  butter 
itself  may  be 
easily  pouretl,  if 
need  be,  out  at 
the  end  when  the 
lid  is  removed, 
as  there  are  no 
dashers  in  the 
way  of  it.  This 
churn  is  very  easy 
to  turn. 

In  Fig.  189 
is  represented  a 
very  old  kind  of 
churn,  revived  in  a  somewhat  new  form.  The 
])rinciple,  we  are  led  to  understand,  has  long  been 
applied  to  churns  in  Ireland,  with  a  different 
arrangement  of  d-ash.  Oblong  in  shape,  this  churn 
is  divided  longitudinally  by  a  partition  (a),  which 
rises  from  the  bottom  to  the  lid;  in  this  partition 


Fig.  187.— 'WAmE's  Revolving 

EjVKREL-CHURN. 


-■Waide's  Victoria 

Chuun. 


are  two  holes,  in  the  bottom  of  it,  one  at  each  end, 
as  indicated  by  the  letters  li  B,  and  the  milk  or  cream 
can  freely  pass  from 
one  division  of  the 
churn  to  the  other. 
In  one  of  these 
compartments  the 
"  dash  "  revolves, 
and  it  causes  the 
cream  to  rush  round, 
like  water  down  a 
mill-race,  through 
one  hole  in  the  par- 
tition into  the  other 
division  of  the 
churn,and  backward 
through  the  other 
hole  in  the  parti- 
tion, and  so  under  the  "dash"  again.  In  the 
other  compartment  is  a  transverse  partition  or  mid- 
feather  (c),  which  slides  up  and  down  in  grooves; 
this  midfeather  is  not  allowed  to  go  to  the  bottom 
of  the  churn,  but  dips  down  an  inch  or  two  into 
the  cream.  When  the  butter  begins  to  form,  the 
particles  of  it  floating  on  the  surface  naturally 
collect  in  a  drift  against  the  midfeather,  and  they 
remain,  as  it  were,  in  still  water  inside  the  break- 
water. It  is,  no  doubt,  an  advantage  when  the 
butter  has  begun  to  form  that  its  particles  should 
not  come  again 
under  the 
"dash,"  and  in 
this  case  they 
adhere  together 
in  the  other  di- 
vision of  the 
churn,  so  that 
the  butter  can- 
not possibly  be 
over-churned. 
This  churn  is 
easier  to  work 
than  any  other  we  are  acquainted  with,  and  a 
child  of  ten  would  turn  it  for  a  considerable  time 
without  being  necessarily  fatigued ;  we  cannot, 
however,  affirm  that  it  possesses  any  other  advan- 
tage.    It  is  made  by  Messrs.  Eastwood,  of  Preston. 

Mechanical  Power. 

In  Fig.  190  we  give  an  illustration  of  a  small 
but   very  convenient   portable    engine   and  boiler 


Fig.  ISO.— Streamlet  Churn. 


318 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


coml>inc(l,  Puit:il)lo  for  use  in  lar<^e  dairies.     This 
one  is  made  liy  Messrs.  NiehoLson,  of  Xowark,  and 


Fig.  190. — Nicholson's  Portable  Engine  asd  Boiler. 

is  well  s\iit(d  (o  siiili  work  as  eliurnin<^,  while  it 
will  do  various  other  kiuds  of  work  which  helong 
to  dairy-farmiii<4',  such  as  chaff-cutting-,  pulping, 
grinding,  and  the  like.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  an 
cngiiie  of  this  kind  is  a  valuaLle  addition  to  a 
modern  dairy-farm. 

A  thoroughly  good,  simple,  and  eft'eetive  one- 
horse-)iower  engine  and  boiler  eoinbined,  like  that 


192.— C'HnRNINO   BV  DOG-POWEB. 


in  Fig.  190,  can  be  bought  for  £40,  and,  where 
water-power  is  not  available,  such  an  engine  and 
boiler    provide    the    cheapest    power    that    can    be 


employed  in  large  dairies.  But  where  a  horse  or 
pony  is  kept  for  general  purj)oscs,  and  can  always 
bo  had  for  churning  when  required,  it  may  be 
desirable  to  set  up  a  small,  handy,  and  cheap 
horse-gear,  as  shown  in  Fig.  191.  Such  a  gear 
may  be  bought  at  £5  to  £7  ;  it  is  easily  put  in 
position,  and  as  easily  attached  to  a  churn.  Ko 
power,  however,  is  so  cheap  as  water,  and  a  very 
small  stream 
may  be  uti- 
lised for  such 
a  purpose  as 
churning  at 
a  small  ex- 
pense ;  and 
where  such 
a  stream  is 
available  near 
to  a  dairy  it  is 
always  advis- 
able to  make 
use  of  it. 

In  some 
countries  large  dogs  are  trained  to  do  the  churn- 
ing, by  means  of  such  an  arrangement  as  that 
shown  in  Fig.  193.  Still,  as  it  will  hardly  do 
to  keep  a  large  dog  for  only  such  a  jiurpose  as 
churning,  and  as  he  could  not  actuate  a  large 
churn,  a  water-wheel,  a  horse-gear,  or  even  a  small 
steam-engine  will  be  found  to  be  cheaper  in  the 
end,  and,  all  things  considered,  more  satisfactory. 
The  dog-power  is  on  the  endless-chain  principle ; 
it  is  so  arranged  that  the  dog,  once  started,  must 
keep  going  until  some  one  stops  the  machine,  and 
so  he  may  be  left  to  mind  his  work.  Where  a 
dog  is  kept  for  other  purj)oses,  he  may  be  made 
useful  in  churning  also. 

IMarketisg. 

In  l^ngland  it  is  customary  to 
prepare    butter    for    market    by 
weighing  it  into  lbs.  or  half-lbs., 
and  for  the  weighing  no  machine 
is  better  adapted  than  one  simi- 
lar to  that  seen  in  Fig.  193.    The 
Square  slab  on  which  the  butter  is 
placed  should  be  either  marble,  or 
glazed  earthenware,  or  enamelled 
After  weighing,  the  butter  is  made  up 
lis,  or  is  moulded  in  a  circular  form  with  a 
stam])etl  on  the  top.      It  is  generally  taken 


metal. 


RETURN    BUTTER    PACKAGES. 


319 


193.— Bltter-scales. 


to  mai-ket  in  ordinary  baskets,  packed  in  tliem  in 
layers  with  cloths  between.  On  this  plan  the 
butter  is  often  much  crushed  and  disfigured,  and 
as  it  is  thus  less  inviting  in  appearance  it  has  to 

be  sold  for  less 
money.  In  such 
a  product  as 
butter  appear- 
ance counts  for 
much.  There  is 
still  a  good  deal 
of  crudity  in  the 
way  English 
farmers  sell  their  butter,  as  well  as  in  the  way 
they  prepare  it  for  sale.  It  is  not  uncommon, 
in  some  parts  of  the  country,  to  make  it  up  into 
"|-lb."  prints,  weighing  9  or  10  ozs.,  and  into 
"  lb."  ones,  weighing  18  or  20  ozs.  Most  farmers' 
wives  give  1  oz.  in  the  lb.  over-weight,  with  a 
pennyweight  added — this  seems  to  be  a  common 
practice  at  all  events  in  the  Midland  counties — 
and  others  we  have  known  to  give  2  or  3  ozs.  more 
for  the  sole  and  only  reason  of  being  able  to  sell 
for  a  penny  a  lb.  more  than  their  neighbours. 

In  the  City  of  New  York  fancy  butter,  sent  out 
in  a  neat  and  orderly  manner,  commonly  commands 
from  half-a-crown  to  four  shillings  a  lb.  Sent 
out  carelessly,  crushed  and  bruised  by  the  way, 
the  same  butter 
would  not  fetch 
much  moi-e  than 
half  the  money. 
In  Fig.  194.  we 
give  an  illustra- 
tion of  an  Ameri- 
can return  butter- 
package,  for  carry- 
ing "  prints  "  of 
the  best  butter  to 
market;  the  prints 
are  wrapped  in 
muslin  cloths  and 
placed  in  the  tins 
on  the  shelves,  and 
the  shelves  are  fastened  down  in  such  a  manner 
that  no  jolting  of  the  butter  takes  place,  and  it  is 
delivered  at  its  journey's  end  in  perfect  condition. 
For  sending  butter  in  bulk  to  the  retail 
dealers,  who  sell  it  out  in  small  quantities,  various 
kinds  of  tubs,  casks,  or  jars  are  vised.  In 
Fig.    195    we   give   an    illustration    of   a    newly- 


rj4.~AMERic,VN  Iii;riER- 

CAKRIER. 


invented  tub  that  is  used  for  this  purpose  in  the 
United  States.  It  is  made  of  white  ash,  white 
oak,  or  spruce ;  the  upper  hoop  is  adjustable, 
operated  on  by  a  malleable  iron  cam,  and,  when 


Fig.  19').— Return  Butter-tub. 

closed,  the  head  of  the  tub  is  as  tight  as  the 
bottom.  In  hot  weather  it  is  common  to  fill  the 
s]>ace  between  the  tub  and  the  butter  with  a 
solution  of  salt  and  water,  and,  being  free  from 
the  air  as  weU,  the  butter  is  well  preserved  during 
long  journeys.  In  Fig.  196  we  give  an  illustra- 
tion of  a  return  package  consisting  of  a  stone  pot 
or  jar,  around  the  top  of  which  are  projections 
that  serve  as  the  threads  of  a  bolt  or  screw,  while 
the  tinned  iron  hooks  on  the  wooden  cover  answer 
the  purpose  of  the  threads  of  a  nut.  The  cover  is 
grooved  so  as  to  shut  down  over  and  clasp  both 
the  inside  and  outside  of  the  top  of  the  jar.  Thus 
adjusted,  the  jar  is  air-tight;  a  strong  bail  attached 
to  the  cover  greatly  facilitates  the  handling  of 
this  jar.  This,  together  with  the  projecting 
wooden    cover,    ensures    it    against    all    ordinary 


Fig.  196.— Return  Butteh-jak. 

breakages.  In  Fig.  197  we  give  a  cut  of  a  crate 
which  holds  twelve  of  these  butter-pails,  or  it  may 
be  made  to  hold  any  other  number  as  desired. 
The  wooden  butter-packages  are  prepared  for  use 
by  soaking  them  first  in  cold,  then  in  scalding, 
and  again  in  cold  water.  They  are  then  either 
filled  with  brine  and  left  so  for  twenty-four  hours, 
or  the  inside  is  thoroughly  rubbed  with  dry  salt 
and  left  for  a  short  time.     The  butter  is  pressed 


320 


DAIRY    FARMIXG. 


Fig.  197. — Cb.vte  kor  Bltter-pails. 


together  in  them  as  solidly  as  possible,  so  as  to 
exeliuli-  the  air  from  the  inside,  while  the  outside  of 
tlie  hiitter  is  protected  from  it  by  the  brine,  which 
lills  all  the  intervening^  spaces  inside  the  cask. 
If  it  is  desiralile  to  send  the  butter  to  market  in 
rolls,  a  simple 
and  useful 
mould  for  mak- 
ing them  is  seen 
in  Fig.  198.  It 
may  be  made 
of  any  kind  of 
hard  wood,  such 
as  box,  yew, 
lignum-vitae, 
&c. ;  and  whilst  in  use  it  must  be  kept  wetted 
inside  to  prevent  the  roll  sticking  to  it.  Each  half 
of  the  mould  being  filled  with  butter,  the  handles 
are  brought  together,  and  the  butter  is  firmly 
compressed  into  a  solid  roll.  The  rolls  are  best 
wrapped  in  muslin  and  packed  in  a  box,  as  in 
Fig.  200.  When  the  box  is  full  the  lid  shuts 
down  and  is  looked,  and,  resting  lightly  on  them, 
keej)s  the  rolls  in  position.  These  appliances  are 
simple,  efficient,  and  inexpensive. 

DousET  Butter. 

In  Dorset  dairies  the  milk  stands  for  twenty- 
four  or  thirty-six  hours,  accoi-ding  to  the  season 
of  the  year,  and  in  some  eases  is  skimmed  a  second 
time  after  having  stood  a  second  peri(xl ;  the  cream 
is  considered  ready  for  churning  immediately  after 
it  is  skimmed,  and  during  the  hot  weather  is 
commonly  churned  every  day, 
while  in  cold  weather  the 
churning  is  done  only  on 
alternate  days.  To  this  prac- 
tice of  churning  the  cream 
while  it  is  quite  sweet  and 
fresh  is  owing,  in  a  great 
measure,  the  reputation  which 
Dorset  butter  has  long  jws- 
sessed ;  the  practice,  indeed, 
presupposes  the  strictest  cleanliness  with  respect  to 
milk-inins  and  other  vessels  used  in  the  dairy,  for 
without  this  primary  condition  tlie  daily  churning 
would  be  practically  valueless.  The  old-fashioned 
barrel-churn,  with  improved  beaters,  is  commonly 
used  in  Dorset  dairies,  and  aft<,'r  the  butter  is  taken 
out  of  the  churn  the  greatest  care  is  taken  to 
wash  out  all  traces  of  buttermilk,  so  as  to  avoid 


Fig.  198.— BCTTEB- 
MOULD. 


the  light-coloured  streaks  that  commonly  appear 
in  ill-made  butter.  The  coldest  and  clearest 
water  that  can  be  obtained  is  used  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  the  butter  is  rejieatedly  turned  and 
pressed  I)y  the  hand  on  a  slab  of  wood ;  a  dairy- 
maid whose  hand  is  naturally  cold  always  suc- 
ceeds best  in  butter-making,  all  other  things  being 
equal.  It  is  seldom  that  the  butter  is  salted 
in  a  systematic  manner :  the  dairymaid  gene- 
rally guesses  the  quantity  of  salt  to  be  used, 
and  an  experienced  and  careful  pereon  can  guess 
it  with  surprising  accuracy ;  it  is,  however,  gene- 
rally understood  that  the  butter  intended  for 
market  is  more  sparingly  salted  than  that  for 
home  consumption.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  the 
Dorset  dairymaids  have  got  into  a  better  system 
of  butter-making  than  most  of  their  sisterhood  in 


Fig.    199.— BUTTEB-BOX. 

other  parts  of  the  country  have  done,  for  Dorset 
butter  has  a  popularity  greater  than  the  butter 
of  any  other  county ;  and  much  butter,  made  far 
enough  away,  is  sold  in  London  under  the  adven- 
titious title  of  "  Dorset  butter.''  The  name  is 
pirated,  and  the  name  sells  the  butter.  This  sort 
of  thing  is  at  onee  an  honour  and  an  injustice  to 
Dorsetshire. 

Devonshire  Cream. 

^VIlcn  the  milk  is  brought  into  the  dairy  it 
is  at  once  strained  into  rather  large  and  deep 
pans,  in  which  it  is  allowed  to  stand  from  eight 
to  twelve  hours.  At  the  expiration  of  that 
period  the  pans  are  placed  in  a  vessel  containing 
boiling  water,  and  over  a  fire.  In  other  cases  the 
milk  is  placed  on  the  stove  immediately  after 
milking,  where  it  stands  the  prescribed  time,  and 
the  stove  is  then  lit ;  this  method  obviates  the 
carrying  of  the  pans  containing  the  milk,  and  re- 


SCALE    OF    POINTS    IN    JUDGING    BUTTER. 


321 


moves  tlic  cl;iTi<:for  of  disturliiii<i'  tlic  proam  that  has 
formed  on  the  surface.  When  the  time  for  heat- 
ing comes,  the  milk  and  cream  to<rether  are  gradu- 
ally warmed  up  to  ahout  200'^  Fahr.,  at  which  time 
there  is  a  wrinkled  circle  of  cream  towards  the  edge 
of  the  pan ;  a  sort  of  film  overspreads  the  cream, 
and  little  hlisters  rise  in  it,  but  the  cream  is  not 
allowed  to  boil,  and  when  the  first  bubble  appears 
the  pan  is  immediately  and  carefully  removed  to 
the  dairy,  or  the  fire  is  at  once  removed  from  the 
stove.  After  the  scalding  the  cream  remains  un- 
disturbed for  twelve  hours  longer,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  it  will  be  found  of  considerable  thick- 
ness ;  this  second  period  of  waiting  will  vary  from 
twelve  to  twenty-four  hours,  according  to  the 
weather.  The  cream  is  then  removed  in  squares, 
or  oblong  rectangular  pats,  an  inch  or  more  in 
thickness,  and  in  this  state  is  neatly  packed  in 
the  cleanest  straw  and  sent  to  market.  In  Devon- 
shire this   thickened   cream   is   not   uncommonly 


churned  into  butter,  by  simjily  beating  it  with 
the  hand  iu  a  bowl,  and  by  virtue  of  the  process 
it  has  previously  gone  through  butter  is  quickly 
produced  in  this  manner.  Devonshire  cream  is 
too  well  known  to  need  further  description ;  its 
reputation  rests  on  a  basis  at  once  so  ancient  and  so 
sound  that  it  is  not  in  any  danger  of  becoming  in- 
conspicuous. A  fame  such  as  this  does  not  easily  die. 

Judging  Butter. 

The  judging  of  butter  is  a  subject  on  which  very 
hazy  opini(Mis  prevail  in  many  places.  The  neces- 
sary merits  and  obnoxious  demerits  are  not,  as  a  rule, 
definitely  understood.  Most  peojile  know  when 
they  taste  good  or  bad  butter,  and  most  judges 
decide  correctly  between  various  samples,  but  very 
few  of  these  have  so  far  reduced  the  matter  to 
a  system  as  to  be  able  to  give  definite  reasons  for 
their  judgment.  The  following  formula  may  be 
found  useful : — ■ 


Scale  of  Points  for  Judging  Butler  on  a  Basis  of  a  Total  o/"  1 00  as  Perfection. 


Definition  of  Positive  Qualities. 

Flavour  25. — Agreeable,  clean,  nutty,  aromatic,  sweet,  pure, 
distinct  and  full. 

Keeping  20. — Inclined  to  slow  changing,  indicative  of  stability 
in  retaining  good  qualities. 

Solidity  10. — Stiffness  of  body,  firmness,  not  easily  melting  or 
becoming  soft. 

Texture  15. — Compactness,  closeness  of  grain,  breaking  with 
a  distinct  fracture  like  cast-iron,  fat  globules 
unbroken  and  perfect,  sticking  little  to  trier. 

Colour  15. — Pleasing,  natural,  not  appearing  artificial,  bright, 
even. 

Make  1.5. — Includes  all  not  included  under  other  points,  as 
100  cleanliness,  perfect  separation  of   buttermilk, 

proper  handling  of  milk  and  butter,  as  churn- 
ing, working,  salting,  skilful  packing,  &c. 


Definition  of  Negative  Qualities. 

Strong,  rancid,  tallowy,  cheesy,  bitter,  stale,  insijud,  too  s;tlt, 
too  fresh. 

Early  loss  of  good  qualities  and  assumption  of  bad  ones,  indi- 
cating rapid  change. 

Softness  of  bod}',  unable  to  stand  firm,  easily  melting  or  becom- 
ing soft. 

Openness  of  grain,  salvj-,  greasy,  sticking  to  trier  or  knife  iu 
cutting,  pasty,  not  breaking  with  distinct  fracture. 

Excessively  deep  or  pale,  appearing  artificial,  dull,  uneven. 

TJnoleanliness,  imperfect  churning,  or  at  bad  temperature, 
uneven  working,  salting,  bad  or  massy  handling,  packing, 
or  moulding,  &c. 


As  a  general  rule  it  must  be  confessed  that  the 
English  do  not  excel  as  butter-makers.  We  fail 
to  attach  to  the  subject  the  importance  it  merits, 
and  we  consequently  do  not  take  the  pains  we 
ought.  On  the  question  of  scruijulous  cleanliness 
we  are  often  at  fault,  and  we  simply  leave  that  of 
temperature  to  take  care  of  itself.  The  old  prac- 
tice of  heavy  and  indiscriminate  salting  is  still  in 
vogue,  and  we  entirely  lose  the  advantages  which 
come  of  using  neatness  and  attractiveness  in 
regard  to  the  way  in  which  the  butter  is  placed 
before  the  public. 

One  thing  is  abundantly  clear,  that  while  the 


marvellous  improvements  in  facility  of  transit 
have  introduced  a  great  variety  of  foreign  butters 
to  the  notice  of  British  consumers,  thereby  edu- 
cating our  taste  and  fancy  after  foreign  models, 
English  butter-makers  have  been  at  no  special 
pains  to  keep  pace  with  the  change  of  conditions. 
Very  large  quantities  of  butter,  much  of  which 
is  excellent  in  quality  and  delicately  pure  in 
flavour,  are  annually  imported  into  this  country 
from  various  countries  on  the  Continent;  and  it 
is  simply  impossible  that,  wherever  this  butter  is 
consumed,  the  taste  of  our  people  should  fail  to  be 
more   or  less  influenced,  modified,  educated,  and. 


S22 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


we  will  even  add,  improved ;  for  tliose  foreign 
butters  are,  as  a  rule,  purer  and  more  delicate  in 
flavour  than  our  own.  For  a  long  ]>eriod  certain 
French  butters,  to  wit  the  Brittany,  have  enjoyed 
the  leading  reputation  among  the  foreign  butters 
sent  to  us,  as  they  no  doubt  were  superior  in 
quality;  but  of  late  years  Danish  and  Dutch 
butters  have  greatly  improved  in  qvialit^^  so  that 
they  are  now  equal  to  any  others ;  and  while  the 
former  is  largely  sold  in  this  country  for  Brittany 
butter,  which  it  equals  in  every  respect,  the  latter 
commands  as  high  a  price  as  our  own  Dorset, 
which  is  commonly  regarded  as  the  finest  butter 
produced  in  the  British  islands. 

We  have  given  a  short  account  of  Dorset 
butter-making  only,  because  no  other  county  or 
district  has  gained  a  distinctive  reputation  for  its 
butter.  The  leading  faults  in  our  butter-making 
are :  want  of  system,  of  strict  cleanliness  of 
utensils,  of  regularity  in  attending  to  times  and 
temperatures,  of  knowledge,  and  of  pride  in  work. 
The  milk  is  kept  in  all  sorts  of  unsuitable  rooms, 
and  is  skimmed  at  all  sorts  of  irregular  hours ;  the 
cream  is  kept — or  is  allowed  to  keep  itself  in  the 
best  way  it  can — in  vessels  which  are  less  un- 
suitable than  the  rooms  they  stand  in,  and 
it  is  churned  many  days  after  skimming,  when 
it  has  had  time  to  become  thoroughly  sour,  and 
without  reference  to  temperature  or  speed  of 
motion ;  the  butter  is  more  or  less  imperfectly 
liberated  from  the  buttermilk,  and  is  salted  in 
a  haphazard  manner.  How  then,  Ave  would  ask, 
is  it  possible  to  secure  first-rate  butter  in  this 
way? 

The  simple  fact  of  the  matter  is  this :  excel- 
lent butter  can  be  made  anywhere,  providing  that 
proper  pains  are  taken  with  it;  yet  both  flavour 
and  quality  will  vary  more  or  less  with  change 
of  district,  of  cows,  of  herbage,  and  of  climate. 
Some  of  the  worst  butter  on  earth  is  made  in 
Ireland,  which  is  capable  of  producing  the  finest. 
In  our  own  dairying  districts  the  bulk  of  the 
butter  produced  is  of  second  and  third  rate  (juality  ; 


and  we  are  informed*  that  the  manager  of  the 
Midland  Hotel,  Derby,  imjxtrts  all  his  fresh  butter 
from  Normandy,  because  he  cannot  get  the  same 
quality  in  his  own  district,  which  is  one  of  the 
best  in  England.  The  superiority  of  Continental 
butter  over  English  arises  from  the  greater  care 
which  is  taken  in  the  management  of  it,  and  its 
popularity  rests  in  no  small  degree  on  the  neat 
and  cleanly  garb  in  which  it  is  presented  to 
the  British  public.  France,  Holland,  Denmark, 
Sweden,  all  send  us  more  or  less  of  fine  butter, 
which  is  increasing  in  popularity  amongst  us. 
This  is  not  because  their  butter  is  really  better 
than  ours  in  inherent  quality ;  much  less  that  they 
have  a  better  raw  material  to  work  with  than  we 
have ;  but  in  their  manipulation  of  it  the  various 
excellences  of  the  butter  are  perfectly  preserved, 
while  in  our  own  country,  as  a  rule,  they  are  not. 
In  no  part  of  England  has  any  general  imjjrove- 
ment,  based  on  a  recognised  sj'stem,  taken  jilace  in 
butter-making,  though  there  are  many  individual 
cases  in  which  the  desired  reforms  have  taken 
place ;  and  in  these  instances  as  fine  butter  as  any 
in  the  world  is  produced.  We  wish  to  see  these 
cases  lose  their  individuality  in  a  common  and 
general  adoption  of  the  principles  on  which  they 
are  conducted,  or  on  others  equally  efficacious; 
and  in  order  to  this  we  place  before  our  readers 
the  best  systems  that  are  in  vogue  in  this  and  in 
other  countries.  The  old  days  of  heav}'  salting  to 
keep  the  butter  fresh  until  it  reached  the  consumer 
have  passed  away  with  the  old  coach  and  waggon 
era,  and  what  the  public  now  demand  is  fresh 
butter,  with  little  or  no  salt,  delivered  to  them 
scores  of  miles  away  from  the  place  where  and 
within  a  few  hours  of  the  time  when  it  was  made. 
In  hot  weather  it  must  be  kept  fresh  by  ice,  or 
by  the  exclusion  of  the  air,  and  not  by  salt ;  and 
the  greatest  care  must  be  taken,  not  only  in  the 
making  of  it,  but  also  with  the  garb  in  which 
it  is  presented  to  the  public. 

*  Joiirna!  of  the   Eoyal   Agricultural   Society,    vol.   xv., 
p.  H-2.     1879. 


CHAPTER    XX. 


Artificial     Butter. 


Origin   of   Artificial   Butter— The   Process— Washing    the   Fat— Disintegrating— Melting— Pressing— Churning— Differences    between 
Oleomargarine    and    Real    Butter— Merits    of     the    Artificial     Product -Tests    for    Adulteration    of 


^'\]^-^ 


'^^ — =s^v'  >  Jj};  history  of  artificial,  or,  as 
!;>  Y*  it  is  strangely  termed,  "  oleo- 
-1  rnargarine "  butter,  unlike 
"^  that  of  real  butter,  belongs 
'^  wholly  to  modern  times. 
Its  discovery  dates  back  only 
about  a  dozen  years,  and  as 
''W^^  it  is  not  regarded  as  a  very  respectable 
Y^  IW  compound  it  has  met  with  more  enemies 
than  friends  among  those  who  have  dis- 
^  cussed  it  in  public.  It  is  an  imitation 
— professedly  so — of  butter,  and  it  has 
met  with  the  hard  words  generally  accorded  to 
such  productions ;  but  as  it  is  already  a  very  ex- 
tensive article  of  commerce,  and  likely  to  become 
more  so  as  time  rolls  on,  and  has  really  a  purpose 
to  serve  in  the  world,  it  is  expedient  that  we  should 
give  some  account  of  it. 

The  discovery  of  a  product  which  should  form 
a  not  unsuccessful  substitute  for  butter  belongs  to 
M.  Hijjpolite  Mege,  of  Paris.  Aware  of  the  grow- 
ing scarcity  and  dearness  of  butter,  this  gentleman 
conducted  a  number  of  elaborate  experiments  on 
auimal  fat,  and  on  the  17th  of  July,  1869,  peti- 
tioned for  a  patent  at  the  office  of  the  Commissioner 
of  Patents  in  London,  for  the  invention  of  "  The 
Preparation  and  Production  of  Certain  New  Ani- 
mal Fatty  Bodies,"  and  it  was  granted  to  him  on 
the  1st  of  January,  1870. 

The  object  of  the  invention,  as  stated  by  Mege, 
"  is  to  make  neutral  products  new  by  their  nature 
and  superior  in  quality.  The  invention  is  based 
on  the  deduction  of  modern  science,  which  proves, 
first,  that  odoriferous  colouring  matters,  volatile 
and  becoming  rancid  [aeres  et  rancissaiites),  do 
not  pre-exist  in  the  natural  fats  called  suets 
[graisses  en  branches)  ;  second,  that  tbey  are  de- 
veloped by  the   action  of    the    organised   tissues 


under  the  influence  of  fermentation,  of  heat,  or 
of  chemical  agents;  third,  that  the  fats  of  milk, 
called  butter,  are  only  fatty  bodies  from  fat  modi- 
fied, first,  bj'  its  cellular  tissue,  and  afterwards  by 
the  organised  tissues  of  the  udder. 

"  In  applying  these  facts  industrially,  there  is 
obtained  from  suet,  first,  a  virgin  fat,  without  any 
smell  or  odour  of  fat,  and  like  the  best  fatty 
bodies ;  second,  a  variety  of  true  butter  taken  at 
its  source,  formed  as  in  ordinary  lactation,  and 
superior  to  butter  from  milk  by  the  length  of  its 
preservation." 

The  two  leading  features  in  the  manufacture  of 
this  artificial  product  are  :^First,  the  separation 
from  fat  at  a  low  temperature  of  a  pure,  s\^'eet  oil, 
free  from  disagreeable  odour  or  taste.  Second,  the 
churning  of  such  oil  with  milk  or  cream  for  the 
manufacture  of  artificial  butter. 

^Ir.  H.  A.  Mott,  E.M.,  Ph.D.,  writes  as  follows 
on  the  manufacture  of  oleomargarine  butter  : — 

"  The  first  step  to  be  attended  to,  when  a  good 
product  is  to  be  manufactured,  is  cleanliness.  I 
start  off  with  this  most  important  point,  to  which 
the  strictest  attention  must  be  paid.  The  floor 
of  the  factory,  the  tubs,  the  cars,  the  cloths,  the 
tanks,  the  hasher,  the  press,  the  press-plates,  the 
churns,  and  in  fact  every  utensil  used  must  be 
the  model  of  cleanliness ;  with  this  understanding 
we  proceed. 

"Washixg  Process. 
"The  fat,  on  arriving  at  the  factory,  is  first 
weighed,  and  then  thrown  piece  by  piece  into 
large  tanks  containing  tepid  water,  care  being 
taken  to  throw  all  pieces  covered  with  blood  into 
a  separate  tank,  to  be  washed  and  afterwards 
added  to  the  other  tanks.  The  fat  now  in  the 
tanks  should  be  entirely  covered  with  tepid  water, 


'3U 


r>Aii!v   FAinriNG. 


and  left  at  rest  for  about  one  hour,  when  the 
tejiid  water  should  be  removed  and  the  fat 
thoroughly  washed  with  cold  water,  then  covered 
with  fresh  cold  water  and  allowed  to  rest  for  one 
hour  lon<jer,  when  the  water  is  again  removed  and 
tlie  fat  thoroughly  washed  for  the  last  time,  with 
fresh  cold  water,  when  it  is  ready  for  the  next 
operation. 

"  Disintegrating  Piiocess. 

"Tliis  operation  consists  in  disintegrating  the 
fat  by  passing  it  through  a  '  meat-hasher.'  To 
do  this,  the  fat  in  the  tank  is  removed  by  means 
of  a  wooden  car  to  the  side  of  the  hasher,  where 
it  is  cut  with  a  knife  into  small  pieces  about 
5  or  6  inches  square.  Piece  by  piece  it  is 
introduced  into  the  hasher,  which,  by  means  of 
the  revolving  knife  within,  cuts  the  fat  very 
fine,  and  forces  it  through  a  fine  sieve  at  the 
opposite  end,  to  which  it  is  introduced,  and 
finally  forces  it  out  of  the  hasher  in  a  disin- 
tegrated state,  when  it  is  received  in  a  tub,  ready 
for  the  next  operation. 

"  Care  must  be  taken  not  to  introduce  the  fat 
into  the  hasher  too  rapidly,  as  the  sieve  or  knife 
is  apt  to  snap,  for  it  requires  considerable  force 
for  the  disintegration,  which  of  course  is  accom- 
plished by  steam  power. 

"  i\lELTiNG  Process. 

"  The  fat,  now  in  a  disintegrated  state,  is  re- 
moved to  the  melting  tank,  care  being  taken  not  to 
introduce  into  the  tank  any  of  the  water  which  is 
forced  out  of  the  fat  during  the  disintegrating  pro- 
cess. The  fat  is  then  heated  by  means  of  the  water 
surrounding  the  tank,  until  the  temperature  reaches 
about  IW  Fahr.,  when  the  steam  which  heats  the 
water  is  turned  off.  The  water  surrounding  the 
tank,  being  much  warmer  than  the  molten  fat,  in- 
creases the  temperature  of  the  fat  to  122 — 124° 
Fahr.,  when  the  fat  completely  melts.  During 
the  whole  operation,  from  the  time  the  steam  is 
turned  on  until  the  melted  fat  is  allowed  to  rest, 
the  fat  must  be  continually  stirred,  so  that  an 
even  temperature  may  be  maintained.  The  a<liiwse 
tissue,  or  scrap,  of  the  fat  separates  and  settles 
to  the  bottom,  on  leaving  the  melted  fat  at  rest, 
and  a  clean,  yellow  oil  floats  on  top,  covered  by  a 
film  of  white  emulsion  of  oil  with  the  water  con- 
tained in  the  fat. 

"When  the  scrap  has  cnnipKtcly  settled,  the 
thin  la^er  of  emulsion  is  baled  off,  and  the  clear. 


yellow  oil  is  drawn  and  received  into  wooden  cars, 
which,  when  fiiknl  to  within  IJ  inches  of  the  top, 
are  removed  to  allow  the  oil  to  crystallise  or  granu- 
late. Care  must  be  taken  in  drawing  off  the  last 
of  the  oil  not  to  allow  any  of  the  scrap  to  mix 
again  with  it.  It  is  better  to  receive  the  last 
portion  of  oil  and  scrap  in  a  small  galvanised  iron 
cylindrical  can  and  allow  it  to  cool  by  itself,  and 
when  cool  to  melt  it  over  again  by  placing  the  can 
in  one  of  the  wash-tubs  and  surrounding  it  with 
water  heated  to  about  12.j°  Fahr.,  and  thus 
separate  from  the  scrap  all  the  oil  that  is  pos- 
sible. The  scrap  may  then  be  sold.  It  sometimes 
occurs  that  the  scrap  refuses  to  settle,  and  rises  to 
the  surface,  forming  a  layer  on  top  of  the  dear 
oil ;  if  such  be  the  case,  the  melted  fat  and  scrap 
must  be  stirred  up  together  for  at  least  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes,  and  then  allowed  to  settle  by  standing, 
which  it  will  generally  do  ;  if  not,  then  it  should 
be  stirred  once  more  and  allowed  to  stand  ;  if  it 
does  not  settle  this  time,  which  is  rai'cly  the  case, 
a  quart  or  two  of  salt  must  be  thrown  on  the 
scrap,  and  the  mixture  stirred,  when  the  scrap  will 
settle  to  the  bottom  on  standing.  (An  acid  solu- 
tion of  the  active  principle  of  the  stomach  of  a 
calf  was  used  for  some  time,  as  proposed  by  Mege, 
in  the  melting  process.  It  was  thought  to  co- 
agulate the  '  scrap '  and  cause  it  to  settle  more 
rapidly.  Experiments  have  shown  it  to  be  un- 
necessary, however.) 

"The  melting  process,  when  conducted  with  suc- 
cess, occupies  about  two  or  three  hours.  The  oil  in 
the  cars  will  require  at  least  twelve  to  twenty-four 
or  more  hours  to  granulate,  and  the  temperature  of 
the  room  shoidd  be  about  70°  Fahr.  This  is  a 
very  important  operation,  and  must  not  be  hurried, 
otherwise  the  stearine  in  the  oil  will  not  have  time 
to  crystallise.  The  granulated  oil  is  now  ready 
for  the  nest  operation. 

"  Pressing  Process. 

"The  car  containing  the  solidified  oil  from  the 
melting  tank  (which,  for  convenience,  I  will  call 
refined  fat  hereafter)  is  removed  to  the  press-room, 
which  is  kept  at  a  teni])erature  between  8.^°  and 
00^  Fahr.  The  refined  fat  must  not  be  so  solid 
that  it  cannot  be  worked  with  the  fingers  with 
cMse  ;  if  it  i.s,  it  must  be  left  in  the  )iress-room 
until  it  softens. 

"When  in  the  right  c<indition  it  is  packed 
in  cloths,  set  in  moulds  to  form   packages  about 


ARTIFICIAL    15UTTKR. 


3:^ 


4  inclioR  wide,  8  inelies  loiij;',  1  .|t  iiiflies  thick  ; 
these  packages  are  then  placed  on  galvanised 
plates  in  the  press  at  equal  distances  apart. 
The  plates  with  these  packages  are  piled  one 
above  the  other  in  the  press,  until  the  capacity 
of  the  press  is  thus  utilised.  The  packages  are 
then  suljjected  to  a  slight  pressure,  which  must  be 
increased  very  gradually,  and  only  after  the  oil 
is  pressed  out,  or  begins  to  flow  very  slowly,  is 
it  taken  off  again.  The  oil  is  received  in  a  tin 
vessel,  which,  when  fdled  with  oil,  is  replaced  by 
another. 

"The  pressing  is  continued  until  no  more  oil 
can  be  obtained,  at  the  temperature  of  the  room. 
The  pressure  is  then  removed,  and  the  plates  un- 
packed, when  cakes  of  pure  white  stearine  are  ob- 
tained, having  the  dimensions  of  about  8  inches  by 

5  inches  by  \  inch.  The  stearine,  after  the  removal 
of  the  cloths,  is  ready  for  sale.  The  cloths  are  put 
in  one  of  the  tanks  containing  hot  water,  until  all 
oil  and  stearine  are  melted  off,  when  they  are  washed 
in  another  tank  and  then  hung  up  to  dry.  The 
oil  and  stearine  in  the  first  tank  are  solidified  by 
means  of  cold  water,  collected  and  sold  as  soap- 
grease. 

"  The  oil  obtained  from  the  press  is  removed 
to  a  cool  place,  until  it  assumes  a  temperature  of 
about  70'^  Fahr.,  when  it  is  ready  for  the  next 
Of)eration. 

"Churning  Process. 

"  The  treatment  of  the  oil  from  now,  on,  is 
conducted  by  my  own  process,  and  success  in  the 
business  depends  on  the  result  of  this  operation, 
which  is  always  successful  in  producing  a  good 
product  (provided  the  oil  has  been  properly  made) , 
where  the  following  is  closely  adhered  to  : — 

"The  oil,  now  at  the  proper  temperature  (70"^ 
Fahr.),  is  removed  to  the  churning-room.  One 
hundred  pounds  of  the  oil  are  introduced  into 
the  churn  at  a  time,  with  from  15  to  20  lbs.  of 
sour  milk  (just  turned).  About  3  or  2|  ozs.  of 
annatto,  to  which  has  been  added  from  |  to 
I  oz.  of  bicarbonate  of  soda,  may  now  be  added, 
and  the  whole  agitated  for  about  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes,  until  milk,  colouring  matter,  and  oil 
are  thoroughly  mixed  together,  when  the  whole 
mixture  is  withdrawn  from  the  churn,  through  a 
hole  at  one  end,  and  allowed  to  fall  into  a  tube 
containing  powdered  ice.  As  the  oil  flows  on  the 
ice  it  must  be  kept  in  constant  motion  until  the 
tul)  is  filled  with  solidified  oil,  when  another  tub 


is  put  in  its  place.  Tlie  ffraiii  is  liy  this  simple 
process  completely  removed.  The  solidified  oil, 
which  has  a  slight  orange  colour,  is  left  for  about 
two  hours  in  contact  with  the  ice  in  the  tubs, 
when  it  is  dumped  on  an  inclined  table,  where 
it  is  crumbled  up  so  that  the  ice  may  melt  and 
leave  it;  it  is  then  crumbled  up  fine  by  hand,  and 
about  30  lbs.  of  it  at  a  time  introduced  into 
churns,  with  about  20  to  25  lbs.  of  sour  milk, 
which  may  have  been  previously  churned,  and 
the  whole  is  agitated  for  about  fifteen  minutes. 
During  this  agitation  the  solidified  oil  takes 
up  a  certain  percentage  of  milk,  and  with  it 
the  flavour  and  odour  which  the  melting  ice  had 
w^ashed  out  of  it  before.  It  is  then  removed  from 
the  chui-n  to  the  working  table,  where,  after  stand- 
ing and  draining  for  a  time,  it  is  salted  at  the  rate 
of  f  to  1  oz.  of  salt  to  the  lb.  of  butter,  and  it 
is  packed  into  firkins  and  is  ready  for  sale." 

This  product  is  not  buffer,  however  much  it 
may  be  ma<le  to  resemble  it  in  taste,  colour,  and 
smell.  Butter  is  one  of  the  most  comijlicated  fats 
known ;  it  contains  in  varying  proportions  niue 
different  so-called  fatty  acids  in  combination  with 
glycerine,  and  it  consists  therefore  of  glyeeroids. 
These  glyeeroids  are  butine,  stearine,  palmatiuc, 
myristine,  caprine,  capryline,  caproine,  butyrine,  and 
oleine.  But  artificial  butter  contains  only  three  of 
these,  palmatiuc,  stearine,  and  oleine,  with  a  trace 
of  caprine.  The  stearine  is  not  all  removed  in  the 
process  of  manufacture,  for  artificial  butter  still 
contains  47  per  cent,  of  it.  The  name  oleomargarine 
is  taken  from  palmatine,  which  is  sometimes  called 
margarine ;  but  of  this  particular  substance  arti- 
ficial butter  contains  much  less  than  it  does  of 
either  of  the  other  two.  By  churning  animal  oil 
in  milk  an  attempt  is  made  to  introduce  into  arti- 
ficial butter  the  six  missing  fats  which  are  found 
in  real  buttei',  yet  with  very  indifferent  success,  for 
only  a  mere  trace  of  one  of  them  is  secured.  The 
followino;  table  shows  the  difference  between  them  : 


Palmatine 
Stearine  ... 
Oleine 
Butyrine  .. 
Caproine  ... 
Caprine    .. 
Capryline 
Butine 
Myristine.., 


Fats  in 
Eeal  Butter. 

Fats  in 
Artificial  Butter. 

20-33 

22-32 

42-77 

46-91 

27-71 

30-42 

32G 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


The  substances  aV)seiit  from  artificial  butter  are 
limited  in  quantity,  but  on  them  rest  the  sin<ijular 
excellences  of  real  butter;  and  it  is  their  jirodue- 
tion  in  the  mammal  glands  that  invests  those 
organs  with  so  mueh  interest — that  makes  them 
one  of  the  most  wonderful  of  nature's  laboratories. 
Butter  is  a  peculiar  product,  and  its  Havour,  o<lour, 
and  eom]x)sition  are  found  in  nothing  else  in 
nature  in  the  same,  or  nearly'  the  same,  combina- 
tion. Animal  fat,  on  the  contrary,  is  not  produced 
by  the  mammal-glands  but  by  other  tissues  of 
the  animal's  body,  hence  it  is  not  invested  with 
those  peculiar  properties  on  account  of  which 
butter  is  at  once  famous  and  unicjue.  It  may  be, 
and  probably  is,  as  wholesome  and  nutritious  as 
inferior  natural  butter,  but  it  is  not  butter  any 
more  than  chalk  is  alabaster,  though  in  each 
comparison  there  is  a  good  deal  of  similarit}' ;  yet 
chalk  has  its  uses,  and  so  has  oleomargarine 
butter. 

One  thing  is  clear:  the  inferior  kinds  of  butter 
will  have  to  succumb  before  oleomargarine,  because 
it  can  be  produced  so  much  more  cheaply  than  they, 
and  because  it  is  an  infinitely  more  reliable  article. 
Common  butter  is  made  every  shade  of  colour  and 
very  irregular  in  quality  and  flavour;  but  oleo- 
margarine is  made  imiform  in  appearance,  inquality, 
and  in  taste,  and  these  qualities,  being  reliable, 
will  carry  it  over  the  prejudice  which  exists  against 
it  at  present.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  more  desirable,  a 
more  marketable,  and  a  really  more  valuable  article 
than  our  commonest  kinds  of  milk-butter,  and  very 
much  more  so  than  bad  whey-butter ;  it  is  being 
used — the  better  brands  of  it,  that  is — for  ordinary 
table  use  already  to  a  very  large  extent,  and  in 
course  of  time  its  consumption  in  this  manner 
will  altogether  su])ersede  that  of  the  poorer  and 
commoner  kinds  of  natural  butter.  To  say  the 
least,  it  is  a  great  and  dangerous  rival  to  natural 
butter ;  and  our  dairy-farmers  will  have  to  bestir 
themselves  so  as  to  produce  the  best  possible  butter 
from  the  good  raw  material  of  milk,  or  the  oleo- 
margarine nuikers  will  run  them  very  hard  in  the 
competition  for  public  approval ;  for  the  item  of 
aost  of  production  is  very  much  in  favour  of  the 
artificial  goods,  as  it  is  a  heavy  handicap)  on  those 
who  produce  the  real  ones. 

Artificial  butter  is  being  commonly  sold  under 
the  name  of  "  buttcrine,"  and  this  is  by  far  prefer- 
able to  oleomargarine  as  a  commercial  designation 
of  the  article.     Though  the  taste  of  it  is  not  posi- 


tively olijectionable,  it  is  negatively  so,  for  there 
is  a  disappointing  absence  of  flavour  of  any  kind. 
Comparatively  speaking,  it  is  both  tasteless  and 
odourless,  and  while  it  can  never  find  much  favour 
with  those  who  have  been  accustomed  to  and  can 
.still  obtain  good  milk-butter,  it  is  sure  to  be  pi'e- 
ferrcd  by  those  who  have  been  used  to  eating  the 
inferior  qualities  of  natural  butter.  The  retail 
dealers  have  every  inducement  to  sell  it  to  those 
customers  who  have  no  particular  objection  to  it, 
because  they  can  get  a  very  good  profit  out  of  it ; 
then,  again,  they  can  dejjend  on  a  regular  sui)ply 
of  an  article  that  is  quite  uniform  in  quality, 
colour,  and  flavour;  and,  in  the  commercial  world, 
these  qualities  are  of  great  importance  between 
salesman  and  customer.  But  with  all  the  inferior 
grades  of  natural  butter  the  ease  is  quite  different ; 
the  dealers  cannot  depend  on  getting  uniformity  of 
anything,  and  their  customers  are  of  course  equally 
uncertain.  Then,  further,  the  keeping  properties 
of  buttorine  are  very  much  superior  to  those  of 
inferior  butter,  and  this  fact  provides  both  dealer 
and  customer  with  cogent  reasons  for  preferring 
the  former  to  the  latter.  It  is  only  really  good 
butter  that  can  compete  with  success  against 
butterine. 

A  good  deal  of  oleomargarine  is  worked  off 
in  adulterating  real  butter.  The  two  are  simply 
mixed  up  together  in  a  more  or  less  thorough 
manner,  and  then  sold  as  the  real  article.  In  this 
way  butter  is  degraded.  We  consider  that  a  law 
should  be  made  under  which  such  ])ractices  cjm  be 
dealt  with  in  a  prompt  and  special  manner.  The 
sale,  indeed,  of  oleomargarine  requires  a  special 
Act  of  Parliament  for  its  control.  None  of  it 
ought  to  be  allowed  to  be  sold  in  any  shape  or 
form,  except  under  a  designation  which  shall 
plainly  declare  its  real  character,  so  that  no  cus- 
tomer be  deceived  in  buying  it.  If  the  jmblic  will 
then  buy  it  from  preference,  there  is  nothing  more 
to  say;  but  they  have  a  right  to  protection  against 
being  supplied  with  a  spurious  when  they  ask  for 
a  genuine  article.  This  artificial  butter  is  an  in- 
vention of  modern  times,  and  its  development 
should  be  controlled  by  a  law  which  is  sufficiently 
elastic  to  cover  every  phase  into  which  the  article 
may  enter.  And  this  is  the  more  necessary  be- 
cause the  public,  cannot  detect  butter  which  has 
been  adulterated  with  oleomargarine ;  nor  can 
they,  indeed,  always  distinguish  between  genuine 
butter  and  its  counterfeit  rival. 


ARTIFICIAL    BUTTER. 


327 


Professor  G.  C.  Caldwi'll  writes  as  follows  on 
tliis  topic  : — 

"The  detection  of  olcomariiai-iiie  in  butter, 
when  the  adulterating  material  is  made,  as  it  can 
be,  in  a  careful  aud  cleanly  manner,  is  not  easy, 
nor  certain,  except  by  methods  which  only  a  skilled 
chemist  can  execute.  Several  simple  tests  have 
been  given,  but  my  own  experience  with  them 
has  shown  that  they  can  be  relied  upon  only  when 
the  oleomargarine  is  poorly  or  carelessly  made,  or 
when  the  butter  consists  entirely  of  oleomargarine 
simply  flavoured  by  the  small  proportion  of  cream 
with  which  it  is  churned.  Of  these  tests  the 
following  has  given  the  best  results  within  my 
hands : — Over  a  piece  of  good  butter  as  large  as  a 
chestnut  in  a  wine-glass  pour  about  twice  its  bulk 
of  ether;  stir  it  up  until  the  fat  is  all  dissolved. 
Let  it  stand  for  a  few  minutes  till  the  undissolved 
salt  has  settled  to  the  bottom.  Pour  the  clear 
solution  ofE  into  a  table-spoon  and  set  it  aside  for 
an  hour  or  two,  or  till  all  the  ether  has  entirely 
evaporated.     Perform  the  same  operation  with  a 


jjiece  of  oleomargarine,  and  on  comparing  the 
two  fatty  residues  the  latter  will  be  found  to  have 
a  more  or  less  distinct  tallowy  odour,  which  may 
become  more  apparent  if  the  spoon  is  held  for  a 
moment  in  the  hot  steam  from  the  boiling  tea- 
kettle. The  residue  from  good  butter  has  no  such 
odour ;  but  geiuiine  butter  may  be  adulterated 
with  half  its  weight  of  oleomargarine,  and  the 
adulteration  cannot  be  detected  by  this  test.  When 
genuine  butter  is  heated  to  a  temperature  of  several 
degrees  above  the  boiling-point  of  water,  it  foams 
much  more  than  oleomargarine  does  when  treated 
in  a  similar  manner.  I  have  found  that  this  test 
enables  us  to  distinguish  genuine  butter  from 
genuine  oleomargarine,  but  it  is  no  more  service- 
able than  the  other  for  detection  of  adulteration  of 
the  one  with  the  other.  No  one  should  place  much 
dependence  on  either  of  these  tests  without  going 
throvigh  with  the  same  operation  with  genuine  butter 
at  the  same  time,  or  at  least  not  until  thoroughly 
familiar  with  the  different  results  given  by  the 
two  substances  under  the  conditions  of  the  test/' 


CHAPTER     XXI. 

CoXDKNSKD    MlI.K. 

Usefulness  of  Condensed  Milk— Its  Nutritive   Value— First   Miinufacturo   by  Professor  Horsford,  of   Massachusetts— Mr.  Borden's 
Experiments— He  Discovers  the  Necessity  of  Protection  from  Atmospheric  Influences- Adopts  the  Vacuum-Pan— Other  Minute 
Precautions  Necessary— Cause  of  Ferment  and  Decomposition    Mr.  Dorden's  Hules  for  Milk-Sellers 
—Description  of  the  Borden  Apparatus  and  Process-Growth  of  tlie  Trade  in  Condensed  Milk. 

r  ^ 


~V 


of  our  readers  are 
'  doubtless  acquainted  with 
condensed  milk ;  travellers 
by  sea  are  familiar  with  it, 
and  it  is  carried  to  dis- 
tant parts  of  the  earth  for 
use  where  it  is  impossible 
fresh  milk.  As  a  rule  its 
consumption  is  at  present  for  the  most 
part  confined  to  those  who  cannot  pro- 
cure fresh  milk  at  all,  or  cannot  pro- 
cure it  regularly,  and  it  is  not  commonly 
usal  to  the  exclusion  of  fresh  milk  where  the 
latter  is  available,  unless  in  cases  where  it  is 
difficult  to  obtain  a  pure  and  genuine  article 
in  the  fresh  state.  It  is  probable  that  the 
Adulteration  Acts,  under  the  operation  of  which 
pure  milk  is  now  obtainable  almost  everywhere 
in  our  towns  and  cities,  have  cheeked  somewhat 
the  growing  consumption  of  condensed  milk;  and 
it  is  more  than  probable  that  it  would  by  this 
period  have  come  to  be  very  extensively  used  as  a 
regular  article  of  diet  in  private  families,  if  the 
saj)])Iy  of  fresh  milk  to  our  urban  populations  had 
remained  in  the  unsatisfactory  state  of  a  dozen 
years  ago.  But  as  matters  now  stand,  fresh  milk 
of  fairly  good  quality  is  almost  everywhere  obtain- 
able, though  not  always  at  a  moderate  price,  and 
the  vacancy  which  condensed  milk  would  other- 
wise have  been  called  on  to  fill  no  longer  exists,  or 
exists  on  a  much  diminished  scale.  But  outside 
the  bounds  of  family  use  there  is  a  very  wide 
demand  for  condensed  milk ;  for  the  army  abroad, 
the  navy,  the  merchant  service,  for  travellers 
almost  everywhere,  for  hotels  and  various  large 
public  institutions,  it  is  a  most  valuable  adjunct 
to  the  supply  of  food.  In  former  times  sailors, 
soldiers,    and     travellers     l)evouil     the     limits    of 


civilisation  have  felt  severely  the  loss  of  milk, 
which,  jjrevious  to  the  invention  of  the  condensing 
process,  they  were  unable  to  take  with  them 
except  in  the  forms  of  cheese  and  butter,  and  it 
is  only  in  our  day  that  the  deprivation  has  been 
removed. 

Cheese  is  a  condensed  form  of  milk,  and  butter 
consists  chiefly  of  the  fats  of  milk  without  any  of 
the  casein;  both  are  most  excellent  and  valuable 
• — nay  iudisj^ensable — articles  of  food,  and  though 
the  former  may  be  regarded  as  in  most  respects  a 
very  tolerable  substitute  for  milk  in  a  dry  form, 
while  butter  is  extremely  valuable  as  consisting  of 
the  carbonaceous  elements  of  milk,  neither  one  nor 
the  other  can  by  any  practical  process  be  re-invested 
with  the  projierties  on  account  of  which  milk  is 
placed  in  the  front  rank  of  the  world's  food  pro- 
ducts. Condensed  milk  differs  essentially  from 
cheese  in  this  :  the  casein  in  it  is  still  soluble,  as  in 
new  milk,  while  in  cheese  it  is  precipitated.  It 
differs  again  in  this  :  it  contains  the  whole  of  the 
sugar  of  milk,  the  bulk  of  which  passes  off  in 
the  whey  in  the  process  of  cheese-making.  But 
the  chief  difference  is  the  first  mentioned,  for, 
when  once  precipitated,  the  cunl  of  milk  cannot 
be  restored  to  its  former  condition.  In  cheese- 
making,  as  in  milk-condensing,  the  salient  residt  is 
the  removal  of  the  bulk  of  the  water  which  milk 
contains,  but  in  this  it  is  done  without  precipita- 
tion of  the  casein,  while  in  that  it  is  not;  in  this 
also  all  the  sugar  is  retained  in  the  product,  while 
in  that  the  bulk  of  it  escapes  in  the  whey.  The 
process  of  cheese-making  is  much  simpler  and  less 
ex]iensive  than  that  of  milk-condensing,  but  the 
product  in  one  case  is  totally  different  in  character 
from  that  of  the  other ;  and  while  cheese  cannot  be 
re-invested  with  the  characteristics  of  the  milk 
from  which  it   was   made,  cuiideiised  milk,  by   the 


CONDENSP^D    ]\IILK. 


o-2^ 


f;ini)ile  additinn  of  a  i^'ivi'ii  ([uantity  nf  water,  can 
easily  and  quickly  bo  made  to  re-assume  all  the 
character  of,  and  to  again  become  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  identical  with,  new  milk  as  taken 
from  the  cow.  Hence  it  follows  that  condensed 
milk,  as  apjilied  to  certain  purposes,  possesses  a 
value  which  is  not  shared  by  any  other  producit  of 
the  dairy. 

America  claims  the  first  production  of  a  satis- 
factory, merchantable  article  of  condensed  milk. 
Experiments  in  this  direction  began  in  that  country 
in  1816,  and  were  quite  independent  of  the  efforts 
in  England  and  France  ten  and  twenty  years 
before.  To  Professor  E.  N.  Horsford,  of  Cam- 
bridge, ]\Iassachusetts,  is  due  the  credit  of  the 
first  experiments  which  established  the  two  points 
of  evaporation  at  a  low  temperature  and  the 
requisite  proj)ortion  of  sugar  for  preservation.  A 
chemical  assistant  of  his  joined  some  business  men 
and  succeeded  in  making  in  Dutchess  County,  New 
York,  an  article  of  solid  condensed  milk,  which 
was  found  practically  useful  in  California  as  early 
as  l.S.5-2,  and  was  proved  by  the  Subsistence  De- 
partment of  the  United  States  Army  upon  the 
plains  in  1853-4.  It  was  also  tried  on  ship-board, 
and  orders  filled  from  Liverpool.  The  same  parties 
prepared  in  1856,  for  the  Arctic  Expedition  of 
Dr.  Kane,  600  lbs.  of  condensed  milk  in  solid 
blocks,  which  was  very  valuable  during  that 
memorable  voyage.  Professor  Horsford  has  still 
in  his  possession  (1880)  a  little  block  of  this  very 
lot  in  a  condition  of  perfect  preservation,  although 
protected  from  the  air  only  by  an  envelope  of  loose 
tin-foil  during  these  four-and-twenty  years.  This 
enterprise  was  not,  however,  a  commercial  success, 
and  the  manufacture  ceased. 

In  the  introduction  we  stated  that  the  credit  of 
being  the  first  to  produce  a  thoroughly  successful 
article  under  the  name  of  condensed  milk,  which 
was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  actual  milk  minus 
the  bulk  of  its  water,  is  ascribed  to  the  late  Mr. 
Gail  Borden,  of  the  United  States.  It  is  not 
claimed  by  Mr.  Boi-den's  friends  that  he  was  the 
inventor  of  milk-condensing,  nor  did  he  make  any 
such  claim  on  his  own  account,  but  only  that  he 
was  the  first  to  reduce  the  process  to  a  thoroughly 
successful  and  satisfactory  form.  Before  he  com- 
menced operations  at  all,  various  kinds  of  con- 
densed milk  were  being  produced,  some  of  which 
were  in  a  solid,  others  in  a  liquid,  and  others  again 
in  a  powdered  form,  each  of  which  when  re-mixed 


with  water  rcjjrcscntcd  milk  witli  more  nr  less 
fidelity.  Most  of  these  require  some  extraneous 
substance  or  other  to  assist  in  preserving  them, 
and  sugar  was,  and  indeed  still  is,  extensively 
employed  for  that  purpose,  so  that  much  of  the 
condensed  milk  on  the  market  was,  and  still  is, 
unpleasantly  sweet.  It  is  still  necessary,  even 
under  the  best  methods,  to  intermix  more  or  less 
sugar  in  condensed  milk  that  is  required  to  be  kept 
a  considerable  time  before  it  is  used ;  but  plain 
condensed  milk,  intended  for  early  consumption,  is- 
now  successfully  prepared  without  the  help  of  any 
foreign  preserving  agent,  and  Mr.  Borden  was 
the  first  who  made  an  article  answering  to  this 
description. 

Thirty  years  ago  Mr.  Borden's  attention  was 
directed  to  producing  suitable  food-supplies  for 
the  use  of  emigrants  and  travellers  across  the  vast 
plains  of  America — food  of  a  highly  nutritive 
character,  and  at  the  same  time  easily  portable, 
containing  in  a  concentrated  form  food-elements 
that  could  not  with  any  regularity  or  surety  be 
obtained  on  the  plains,  and  he  produced  a  "meat- 
biscuit,'"  which  soon  became  popular.  From  this 
his  thoughts  turned  toward  the  preserving  of  milk 
for  similar  uses.  His  aim  from  the  onset  was  to 
accomplish  the  preservation  of  the  milk  by  simply 
removing  the  water,  and  to  guard  carefully  against 
any  possible  detriment  from  the  time  when  the 
milk  was  drawn  from  the  cow  until  the  process  of 
preservation  was  completed.  He  examined  various 
preparations  of  solidified  and  otherwise  jsreserved 
milk  that  were  on  the  markets  of  England,  France, 
and  America,  and  found  in  none  of  them  a  near 
approach  to  his  ideal  standard  of  what  condensed 
milk  ought  to  be ;  the  high  price  at  which  these 
preparations  were  sold,  their  properties  and  qualities, 
and  the  fact  that  most  of  them  contained  alkaline 
salts  and  other  foreign  substances,  prevented  them 
becoming  popular,  and  Mr.  Borden  saw  that  there 
was  a  broad  margin  between  what  these  products 
supplied  and  what  the  public  required;  this  opening 
he  determined  to  fill. 

He  discarded  from  the  first  all  thought  of 
condensing  skim-milk,  although  scientific  friends 
warned  him  that  he  aimed  too  high  iu  trying  to 
retain,  uninjured,  all  the  butter  in  connection  with 
the  remaining  solid  constituents  of  the  milk;  this, 
they  told  him,  could  not  be  attained  in  practice, 
however  clear  it  might  seem  in  theory,  and  they 
advised  him  that  the  removal  of  a  portion  of  the 


330 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


CR'ani  would  lie  I'uuml  iiwrssary  as  a  first  step; 
but  he  "  pushed  ou  regardless  of  the  advice, 
ix'rsevering-  with  characteristic  euer<^y  and  deter- 
mination until  his  object  was  attained." 

After  testinij  the  processes  employed  by  others, 
and  carefully  observing  results,  he  became  con- 
vinced that  protection  from  itijiirious  atmospheric 
influences  during  the  process  of  evaporation  was 
an  essential  requisite  to  success;  but  he  soon  found 
that  serious  difficulties  stood  in  the  way  of  graft- 
ing this  principle  of  protection  on  any  existing 
process  of  milk-condensing.  The  chief  difficulty 
was  the  adhesion,  in  the  form  of  a  crust,  of  the 
albuminous  constituents  of  the  milk  to  the  inner 
surface  of  the  vacuum-pan  (this  was  at  length  pre- 
vented by  oiling  the  inner  surface  of  the  pan)  ; 
and  the  foaming  of  the  milk  under  the  lessened 
atmospheric  pressure  was  such  that  an  experienced 
sugar-boiler,  whose  aid  he  sought,  pronounced  it 
sheer  folly  to  persist  in  trying  to  employ  the 
vacuum  method  in  the  evaporation  of  milk,  because 
it  was  utterly  impracticable.  These  and  other 
difficulties  were,  however,  at  length  overcome,  and 
success  was  assured. 

Mr.  Borden's  first  application  for  a  patent  to 
cover  his  marked  improvements  in  niilk-eoudensiug 
was  made  in  May,  1853,  but  owing  to  technical 
objections  he  did  not  obtain  the  grant  until 
August,  1856.  In  his  claim  he  stated  that  evapora- 
tion in  vacuo  was  a  leading  feature  of  his  process, 
and  in  reply  the  Acting  Commissioner  said : 
"  You  allege  great  importance  to  working  entirely 
in  vacuum.  This  office  does  not  have  any  faith 
in  such  an  allegation."  Y'et  while  these  learned 
officers  could  see  no  advantage  in  evaporation  in 
vacuo  over  that  in  open  pans,  they  did  grant  a 
patent  for  "conveying  the  steam  and  flavour 
arising  from  the  evaporation  of  milk  through 
another  vessel  containing  sugar,  the  purpose 
being  to  thus  distil  milk  and  condense  the 
same  in  sugar  to  preserve  the  pure  flavour," 
as  if  in  the  water  and  odours  of  milk  lay  all 
its  virtue  1  The  importance  of  protecting  the 
milk  from  contact  with  the  air  was  a  point  in 
which  Mr.  Borden  strongly  believed,  and  which 
he  asserted  in  his  apjilication  for  the  patent; 
but  though  the  Examiners  and  Commissioner 
admitted  the  superiority  of  his  condensed  milk 
over  that  of  other  makers,  they  were.for  the  time 
wedded  to  the  belief  that  an  equally  satisfactory 
result  might  be  obtained  under  any  other  method 


of  evaporation,  providing  equal  skill  and  care  were 
employed  in  the  manii)ulation,  and  that  it  was 
not  due  to  any  special  superiority  of  ]\Ir.  Borden's 
ajiparatus.  This  objection  was  finally  overcome 
by  scientific  evidence  to  the  fact  that  by  no  other 
method  could  condensed  milk  of  equal  quality  be 
obtained,  and  the  patent  was  granted. 

Mr.  Borden  was  not,  at  all  events  at  the  outset 
of  his  experiments  in  the  preservation  of  food,  a 
scientific  man,  though  his  mind  had  a  decided 
scientific  tendency.  He  had  no  knowledge  of  the 
germ  theory,  but  he  had  a  wholesome  dread  of  in- 
cipient decomposition  of  milk,  and  he  hit  upon  the 
scientific  fact  that  if  he  could  prevent  its  beginning 
before  and  during  the  process  of  condensation,  it 
would  be  easy  to  secure  the  product  against  its 
inroads.  Hence  the  adoption  of  the  vacuum-pan,  by 
means  of  which  the  milk,  properly  taken  care  of 
previously,  was  completely  protected  from  atmo- 
si)heric  taints  whilst  its  water  was  evaporating  at 
a  comparatively  low  temperature.  This  process 
Mr.  Borden  made  so  completely  successful  that  it 
su])erseded  all  others  in  effectiveness,  and  it  is 
affirmed  that  all  the  brands  of  good  or  even  of  fair 
quality  now  sold  are  prepared  substantially  under 
the  system  originated  by  him. 

At  an  early  stage  in  his  experiments  he  came 
to  the  conclusion,  from  which  he  never  wavered, 
that  milk  could  not  be  satisfactoril}'  preserved  in 
a  dry  form,  either  as  dessicated,  or  powdered,  or 
solidified,  but  must  be  left  in  a  semi-liquid  state. 
It  also  became  evident  that  to  secure  long-keeping 
properties  some  preservative  agent  must  be  em- 
ployed, and  sugar  was  found  to  be  the  only  proper 
thing  to  use  for  that  purpose.  Without  taking 
from  the  milk  any  constituent  except  water,  and 
adding  to  it  nothing  excejit  sugar,  condensed  milk 
is  now  produced ;  it  is  semi-liquid,  of  the  consis- 
tency of  honey  or  molasses,  and  when  re-mixed 
with  water  is  actual  milk  once  more,  possessing  all 
the  characteristics  and  properties  of  fresh  milk,  and 
differing  from  it  only  in  so  far  as  it  is  a  little 
sweeter.  The  preserved  milks  that  are  in  a  solid 
or  powdered  state  require  to  be  di.ssolved  in  hot 
water,  but  the  condensed  milk  prepared  under  Mr. 
Borden's  system  dissolves  readily  in  cold  water, 
hence  there  is  an  essential  difference  between  it  and 
them;  for  domestic  purposes  generally  this  dif- 
ference places  the  semi-liquid  condensed  milk  far 
before  the  other  forms  in  which  milk  has  been 
preserved,  so  far  as  value  and  convenience  are  con- 


CONDENSED    MILK. 


331 


eerned  ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  practically 
identical  with  new  milk,  when  the  proper  quantity 
of  water  is  restored  to  it,  and  they  are  not. 

The  successful  manufacture  of  condensed  milk 
demands  the  utmost  and  unceasing  care  during  the 
whole  of  the  process,  scrupulous  cleanliness  every- 
where, and  minute  attention  to  details.  To  use 
Mr.  Borden's  own  words: — "The  making  of  a 
good  article  depends  not  so  much  upon  the  formula 
in  the  best  specification,  as  upon  ike  condition  of 
the  milk  lo/ien  brought  to  the  factory,  and  the  care 
and  attention  given  to  every  part  of  the  process, 
from  the  washing  of  the  vessels  and  the  thorough 
cleanliness  which  should  be  observed  in  every  de- 
partment. The  success  of  the  milk  manufactured  at 
our  three  factories  is  due  to  the  attention  which  we 
give  to  the  jjersonal  inspection  of  every  department 
of  the  dairies  on  the  farms,  which  is  assigned  to 
one  person  at  each  factory,  and  to  the  constant 
examination  of  every  mane's  milk,  by  samples  taken 
and  subjected  to  tests  as  to  cream,  sweetness,  and 
the  time  it  will  keep  after  being  brought  from  the 
dairies.  In  short,  there  is  nothing  manufactured 
that  requires  so  much  care  and  everlasting  vigilance 
and  attention  as  milk.  From  the  time  it  is  drawn 
from  the  cow  until  hermetically  sealed  in  cans  it 
requires  that  everything  sh<juld  be  done  with  the 
utmost  integrity." 

]Mr.  X.  A.  Willard,  of  Little  Falls,  New  York, 
to  whose  early  and  long-sustained  efforts  after  im- 
provement American  dairying  owes  more  than  to 
any  other  man,  writes  as  follows  on  the  subject  of 
condensed  milk  : — •"  In  Mr.  Borden's  early  experi- 
ments the  nature  and  cause  of  a  peculiarly  bad 
behaviour  of  milk  from  time  to  time  were  im- 
perfectly understood.  Under  certain  circumstances 
and  conditions  the  milk  could  be  readily  handled, 
and  gave  no  trouble  in  its  manipulation.  When 
in  this  state,  comparatively  inexperienced  operators 
— men  who  simply  followed  a  set  of  rules,  with 
little  or  no  knowledge  of  principles — were  enabled 
to  turn  out  a  good  product,  whether  it  was  con- 
densed milk,  or  butter,  or  cheese.  Sometimes  these 
conditions  would  continue  for  days,  for  weeks,  or  for 
months;  but  there  was  no  reliability  on  their  con- 
tinuing for  a  specified  time,  or,  indeed,  in  different 
localities  during  the  same  time.  The  milk  might 
be  easily  worked  one  day,  and  the  next  would 
refuse  to  be  controlled  under  ordinary  treatment. 
The  fault  was  at  first  supposed  to  originate  in  some 
want  of  cleanliness,  either  at  the  factory  or  among 
45 


those  who  produced  and  delivered  the  milk.  Tliis 
was  a  part,  but  not  the  whole  of  the  trouble.  The 
importance  of  cleanliness,  and  of  what  seemed 
to  many  to  be  'an  absurd  fastidious  neatness,^ 
became  apparent  to  INIr.  Borden  at  an  early  stage 
of  his  investigations.  He  therefore  instituted  a 
set  of  rules  for  the  government  of  dairymen  in  the 
care  and  management  of  milk;  and  as  he  bought 
only  such  milk  as  would  pass  the  closest  scrutiny 
of  an  expert,  he  was  able  after  a  time  to  enforce 
an  observance  of  his  printed  regulations.  He 
adojjted  also  the  practice  of  cleaning  and  steaming 
at  the  factory  his  patrons'  delivery  milk-cans, 
because  he  feared,  and  with  good  reason  too,  that 
this  work  might  not  be  properly  done  at  the  farm. 
But  even  when  farmers  had  become  educated,  and 
all  his  conditions  of  cleanliness  had  been  observed 
and  carried  out  to  the  letter,  milk  not  unfre- 
quently  came  to  his  factories  which,  though  appa- 
rently perfect,  or  at  least  so  perfect  as  to  pass  the 
rigid  scrutiny  of  his  experts,  was  in  a  condition 
that  rendered  it  impossible  to  be  converted  into  a 
good  product.  The  reason  for  this  was  not  easy  of 
solution,  and  it  has  been  the  cause  of  heav}'  losses 
and  the  closing  up  of  factories  which  were  not 
under  Mr.  Borden's  immediate  supervision. 

"  It  may  be  observed  here  that  good  condensed 
milk  is  more  reliably  clean  and  healthy  than  most 
milk  that  goes  to  the  city  consumer.  Dirty  milk, 
foul  with  the  drippings  of  the  stable,  cannot  be 
condensed  into  a  clean-flavoured  product.  The 
success  of  the  condensing  factory  depends  entirely 
upon  the  ability  to  put  a  fine-flavoured,  perfect 
article  upon  the  market.  The  milk  must  be  uni- 
formly good.  An  inferior  condensed  milk  is  more 
readily  detected  than  an  inferior  article  of  cheese ; 
at  least,  imperfections  in  cheese  may  be  tolerated, 
and  the  article  may  find  a  place  in  the  market,  but 
a  factory  sending  out  imperfect  or  badly-flavoured 
milk  must  soon  cease  to  be  remunerative,  and  must 
inevitably  close  its  doors.  To  obtain  any  success 
in  this  business  there  is  an  absolute  necessity  for 
clean  healthy  milk  in  the  first  instance,  and  it  may 
be  well  to  warn  those  who  propose  to  enter  upon 
condensed  milk  manufacture  that  more  than  ordi- 
nary difficulties  lie  before  them." 

Microscopical  investigations  by  various  scien- 
tific men  have  revealed  the  nature  of  the  active 
agents  which  bring  about  the  decomposition  of 
milk,  changing  it  from  its  attractive  and  palatable 
form  to  one  that  is  repulsive  and  unwholesome. 


33a 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


The  processes  of  decomposition  are  v.arious,  accord- 
ing]^ to  tlie  nature  of  the  ferment  applied  and  of 
the  substance  acted  upon.  The  f^erms  of  decay 
exist  in  the  air,  sometimes  in  <j;'reat  plenitude,  and 
are  ever  ready  to  seize  on  substances  whose  inhe- 
rent life-principle  does  not  for  the  time  protect 
them.  The  air  we  breathe,  which  is  indispensable 
to  life,  contains  the  germs  which  disinteg'rate 
org'anisms  whose  life  has  departed,  or  substances 
which  have  become  detached  from  the  organisms 
which  produced  them.  Some  substances  are  sub- 
ject to  much  more  rapid  decay  than  others  are, 
because  they  are  composed  of  ingredients  on  which 
the  decay-germs  feed  with  greater  avidity.  Few 
things  are  more  liable  than  milk  to  early  and 
rapid  decay  if  it  comes  in  contact  with  air  that 
is  charged  with  the  germs  of  ferments — some  of 
which  are  easily  perceived  by  the  offensive  odour 
which  they  emit. 

Professor  G.  C.  Caldwell,  of  Cornell  University, 
writes  as  follows  on  "  Organised  and  Unorganised 
Ferments  "  : — 

"  Within  these  last  ten  years  the  line 
of  demarcation  between  organised  and  un- 
organised ferments  has  been  more  plainly  laid 
down.  Fermentation  in  general,  inclusive  of 
putrefaction,  is  now  defined  to  be  a  chemical 
change,  in  which  an  organic  body,  some  product  of 
vegetable  or  animal  life,  is  modified  in  a  certain 
way  i;nder  the  influence  of  another  organic  sub- 
stance, which  is  likewise  some  product  of  vegetable 
or  animal  life,  and  is  called  the  ferment.  The 
products  of  the  chemical  change  produced  in  the 
first  body  are  formed  exclusively  at  the  expense  of 
that  body ;  thci-e  is  no  union  of  the  ferment  with 
the  fermented  body,  or  with  any  product  of  the 
decomposition  of  that  body,  to  form  a  new 
chemical  compound.  One  of  the  most  striking 
features  of  this  process  of  fermentation  is  the  great 
power  of  the  ferment,  manifested  in  the  decomposi- 
tion of  many  hundred  or  thousand  times  its  weight 
of  the  substance  attacked  by  it. 

"  Now  we  find  that  in  certain  classes  of  cases  the 
ferment  is  not  only  organic — that  is  to  say,  some 
product  of  vegetable  or  animal  life — Ijut  also 
organised,  itself  a  living  being,  either  vegetable  or 
animal,  and  the  fermentation  is  accomplished  in 
some  yet  unexjilained  way  in  connection  with  the 
o])eration  of  the  vital  processes  of  the  living  being. 
The  form  and  structure,  and  in  many  cases  the 
movements,  of  these  living  beings  are  made  out 


with  the  aid  of  the  microscope,  and  often  without 
the  use  of  very  high  magnifying  powers. 

"  An  eminent  writer  on  this  subject  has  lucidly 
stated  the  difference  between  the  two  kinds  of 
ferments.  15oth  ferments,  he  says,  are  derived  from 
living  organisms  ;  the  one,  the  uuorganisetl  ferment, 
or  the  soluble  ferment,  as  it  is  sometimes  called, 
can  act  indeixjndently  of  the  living  organism 
which  is  necessary  to  produce  it;  but  in  the  other 
ease  the  living  organism  itself  must  be  in  the 
fermenting  liquid  in  the  actual  performance  of  its 
vital  processes,  growing  and  multipljnng  there. 

"  In  some  cases  these  unorganised  ferments 
will  withstand  quite  high  temperatures  without 
the  permanent  loss  of  their  fermenting  power,  as 
compared  with  the  organised  ferments.  Pepsine,  one 
of  these  ferments,  Inis  been  heated  to  2'ii)'-'  Fahr. 
without  destroying  any  of  its  fermenting  power ; 
the  ferment  found  in  the  pancreatic  juice  which 
brings  about  certain  changes  in  the  albuminoids 
and  fats  of  the  food  that  it  meets  in  the  intestines 
has  been  heated  to  320°  without  the  entire  de- 
struction of  its  power,  and  to  225''  for  half  an 
hour  and  to  208°  for  five  hours  without  the  loss  of 
any  power. 

"  In  some  cases  we  find  several  of  these  fer- 
ments in  one  and  the  same  liquid,  as  in  the 
pancreatic  juice  of  the  animal,  where  there  is  one 
ferment  that  alters  the  albuminoids,  another  that 
breaks  up  the  fats,  and  still  a  third  that  converts 
the  starch  into  sugar;  and  these  ferments  may 
be  in  a  measure  separated  from  one  another  by 
treating  the  pancreatic  glands  with  solutions  of 
different  salts,  one  salt  serving  to  extract  one  fer- 
ment only,  and  leaving  the  others.  A  solution  of 
roehelle  salt  or  of  nitrate  of  ammonia  will  extract 
nothing  but  the  ferment  that  acts  on  the 
albuminoids,  while  the  one  that  converts  the  fats 
is  taken  up  by  bicarbonate  of  soda. 

"There  are  other  points  of  difference  be- 
tween unorganised  and  organised  ferments,  some 
of  which  furnish  us  with  quick  and  ready  means 
of  determining  whether  in  any  given  case  we 
have  to  deal  with  the  one  kind  or  the  other;  a 
brief  consideration  of  these  reactions  will  serve  to 
bring  out  in  a  still  more  striking  manner  the 
strong  line  of  demarcation  between  the  two  kinds 
of  ferments.  When  an  organised  ferment  is  ex- 
jiosed  to  the  action  of  oxygen  gas  under  pressure 
it  is  killed;  an  unorgani.sed  ferment  is  not.  Cer- 
tain chemicals  which  stoji  alcoholic  fermentation. 


CONDENSED    MILK. 


33;3 


or  any  othor  kind  oh'  fernu'ntation  of  a  siniihir 
character,  havu  no  elfect  at  all  on  the  action  of 
diastase :  these  are  prussic  acid,  alcohol,  ether, 
chloroform,  and  oil  of  turpentine;  on  the  other 
hand,  citric  and  tartaric  acids,  which  hinder 
alcoholic  fermentation  but  slightly,  stop  the  action 
of  diastase  completely ;  borax  stops  the  action  of 
the  soluble  but  not  of  the  organised  ferments. 
Acids  in  general  hinder  the  action  of  the  soluble 
ferments ;  carbolic  acid,  which  is,  however,  not  a 
true  acid,  has  but  little  effect  upon  them ;  no 
organised  ferment  will  work  in  a  solution  contain- 
ing more  than  0'5  per  cent,  of  carbolic  acid,  while 
a  soluble  ferment  like  pepsine  continues  its  action 
without  hindrance.  Another  and  an  important 
point  of  difference  between  the  two  kinds  of  fer- 
ments is  found  in  the  difl'crent  kinds  of  chemical 
changes  which  they  produce ;  the  change  produced 
by  the  organised  ferment  is  much  more  complicated 
than  that  produced  Ijy  the  unorganised." 

Contact  with  impure  air  quickly  communicates 
to  milk  the  elements  of  decay,  and  it  would  appear 
that  the  ferments  given  to  milk  in  this  way  are 
chiefly  organised  ferments,  or  fungi  of  one  kind  or 
another ;  but  whatever  they  may  be,  and  whether 
they  act  by  souring  the  milk  or  by  tainting  it, 
their  action  proceeds  to  decomposition  and  decay. 
When  deposited  on  substances  rich  in  nitrogen,  as 
milk  is,  and  if  the  temperature  is  suitable  to  their 
propagation,  these  ferments  usually  multijsly  at  a 
wonderful  rate,  causing  a  rapid  destruction  of  the 
substance  in  which  they  operate.  Some  of  them 
pass  through  a  variety  of  forms  as  they  develop, 
multiplying  in  number  at  each  stage,  and  the 
course  is  finished  in  a  very  short  time.  At  a  tem- 
perature of  only  bO°  to  60"  the  fungus  Peiicilliiim 
crusfaceum  (blue  mould)  runs  through  its  course  in 
forty-eight  hours  at  the  most.  The  spores  of  the 
fungus  are  extremely  minute,  and  each  one  of  them 
produces,  in  the  time  named,  several  hundred  other 
spores,  and  these  again  multiply  at  the  same  rate, 
and  so  on.  Under  different  conditions,  at  least 
six  different  kinds  of  spores  are  produced  from 
those  of  PencilUiim,  each  one  representing  a  dif- 
ferent kind  of  decomposition ;  these  are  only  so 
many  different  stages  in  the  development  of  the 
original  fungoid  spore,  and  under  proper  conditions 
these  new  and  different  spores  are  just  as  surely 
re-converted  into  PencilUum  spores  as  they  were 
in  the  first  place  produced  from  them.  Thus  it 
is  that  putrefactive  ferments  act,  feeding  on  and 


destroying  a  ]>reviously  sound  and  fresh  substance, 
and  converting  it  into  the  same  decomposed 
elements  as  those  from  which  they  sprang  them- 
selves. 

Milk  will  ([uiekly  absorb  any  kind  of  taint  that 
may  happen  to  be  in  the  air  to  which  it  is  expcjsed, 
whether  it  be  a  putrefactive  taint  or  not.  The 
taint  may  consist  of  germs  thrown  off  by  some 
adjacent  animal  or  vegetable  substances  in  a  state 
of  decomposition ;  it  may  arise  from  cesspools 
reeking  with  a  hideous  mixture,  or  from  manure- 
heaps  and  liquid-manure  tanks ;  or  it  may  not  be 
a  decay  agent  at  all,  but  simply  an  odour  thrown 
off  by  various  liquids  or  substances,  as  paraffin, 
asphalte,  &c.  &e.,  and  the  odour  itself  agreeable 
or  otherwise,  as  the  case  may  be.  These  can  only 
be  expelled  by  immediately  heating  the  milk  to 
about  15U'^.  There  are  few  if  any  odours,  how- 
ever mild,  with  which  milk  will  not  become  im- 
pregnated, if  they  have  access  to  it,  and  in  extreme 
cases  the  milk  will  have  acquired  the  intensely  dis- 
ao-reeable  property  of  tadiiig  like  the  smell  of  the 
odom-  it  has  absorbed.  Once  acquired,  this  pro- 
perty cannot  easily  be  got  rid  of,  and  whatever  is 
made  from  the  milk,  be  it  cheese,  butter,  or  con- 
densed milk,  will  be  more  or  less  injured  accord- 
ingly ;  and,  strange  to  say,  the  extent  to  which  the 
property  is  acquired  seems  to  depend  less  on  the 
volume  of  the  milk  and  of  the  infectant  odour 
than  on  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  cream  in 
the  milk.  The  food,  too,  and  the  treatment  of  the 
cows,  as  we  have  seen  in  another  part  of  this  work, 
have  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  condition  and 
quality  of  the  milk,  and  by  these  means  alone, 
without  the  help  of  extrinsic  influences,  milk  may 
be  much  reduced  in  value. 

Such,  then,  are  the  enemies  with  which  the 
maker  of  dairy  products  has  to  contend,  and  the 
condensed-milk  producer  is  affected  by  them  in  an 
especial  manner.  Suspecting  this,  Mr.  Borden 
was  led  to  locate  his  factories  in  favourable  dis- 
tricts for  obtaining  good  milk,  to  select  as  milk- 
suppliers  persons  whose  long  experience  in  furnish- 
iuo-  milk  for  city  consumption  had  instilled  habits 
of  care  and  cleanliness  to  a  degree  which  is  uncom- 
mon among  dairy-farmers  in  general,  and  to  frame 
for  his  own  security  and  for  guidance  of  the  sup- 
pliers of  milk  the  following  set  of  rules  :— 

"1.  The  milk  shall  be  drawn  from  the  cow  in  the  most 
cleanly  manner,  and  strained  through  wire-cloth  strainers. 

"2.  The    milk    mast    Le    tlioruuyhly    cooled,    immediately 


334 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


after  it  is  drawn  from  the  cow,  by  placing  the  can  in  which  it 
is  contained  in  a  tub  or  vat  of  cold  water,  deep  enough  to  come 
up  to  the  height  of  the  mUk  in  the  can,  containing  at  least 
three  times  as  much  water  as  there  is  milk  to  be  cooled ;  the 
milk  to  be  occasionally  stirred  until  the  animal  heat  is  expelled, 
as  below. 

"  3.  In  summer  or  in  spring  or  fall,  when  the  weather  is 
wami,  the  biith  shall  be  spring  water,  not  over  .52°  temperature 
(a  day  or  night  after  a  heavy  rain  excepted),  constantly 
running  or  pouring  in  at  bottom,  necessary  to  reduce  the 
temperature  of  the  milk  within  forty-five  minutes  to  below 
58°  ;  and  if  night's  milk  (to  remain  in  such  batli  until  the  time 
of  bringing  it  to  the  factory)  to  below  55°.  Tho  morning's 
milk  not  to  exceed  60°  when  brought  to  the  factorj'. 

"4.  In  winter  or  in  freezing  weather  the  bath  shall  bo 
kept  at  the  coolest  point  (it  need  not  be  running  spring  water) 
by  the  addition  of  ice  or  snow  suCScient  to  reduce  the  tempera- 
ture of  night's  milk  speedily  below  50°. 

"  5.  In  spring  and  fall  weather  a  medium  course  will  be 
pursued,  so  that  the  night's  milk  shall  be  cooled  within  an 
hour  below  50°,  and  morning's  milk  below  55°. 

"  C.  The  bath  and  su]iply  of  water  shall  be  so  arranged  as 
to  let  the  water  flow  over  the  top  to  carrj'  off  the  warm  water. 
The  can  in  which  the  milk  is  cooled  shall  be  placed  in  the 
water  immediately  after  the  milking,  and  shall  remain  therein 
until  the  process  of  cooling  shall  be  finished. 

"  7.  The  night's  and  morning's  milk  shall  be  separately 
coolotl  before  mixing. 

"  8.  Js  o  milk  shall  be  kept  over  to  deliver  at  a  subsequent 
time. 

"  9.  The  milk  shall  be  delivered  on  the  platform  at  the 
factory  every  day,  except  Sunday. 

"  10.  Suitable  cans  of  proper  dimensions  to  transport  the 
milk  from  the  dairy  to  the  milk-works  shall  be  furnished  by 
the  seller,  and  the  cans  shall  be  brought  full. 

"11.  The  Company  shall  clean  and  steam  the  cans  at  the 
factory  free  of  charge,  but  milk-suppliers  shall  keep  the 
outsides  clean.  The  pails  and  strainers  employed  shall  be  by 
the  seller  thoroughly  cleaned,  scalded  in  boiling  water,  and 
dried  morning  and  night. 

"  12.  Immediately  before  the  milk  is  placed  in  the  cans 
they  shall  be  thoroughly  rinsed  with  clean  cold  water,  and 
great  care  shall  be  taken  to  keep  the  cans  and  milk  free  from 
dirt  or  impurities  of  any  kind.  When  the  cans  are  not  in  use 
they  should  be  turned  down  on  a  rack,  with  the  tops  off. 

"  13.  All  the  stoppings  as  well  as  the  first  part  of  the  milk 
shall  be  brought.  No  milk  will  be  received  from  a  cow  which 
has  not  c,^Ived  at  least  twelve  days,  unless  by  consent  of  the 
superintendent  or  agent,  who  may  determine  its  fitness  sooner 
by  a  sample  of  the  milk. 

"  14.  The  cows  are  not  to  be  fed  on  turnips  or  other  food 
which  would  impart  a  disagreeable  flavour  to  the  milk,  nor 
upon  any  food  which  will  not  produce  milk  of  standard  rich- 
ness. 

"  15.  It  is  further  understood  and  agreed  by  the  parties 
hereto,  that  if  the  superintendent  or  agent  of  the  Company 
shall  have  good  reason  to  suspect,  either  from  evidence 
furnished  or  from  the  state  of  the  milk  itself,  that  water  has 
been  added,  or  that  it  has  not  been  cooled  as  provided,  or  that 
it  has  been  injured  by  carelessness,  he  shall  have  a  right  to 
refuse  to  receive  such  milk,  or  any  further  quantity  of  milk, 
from  the  person  so  violating  these  directions  and  stipulations." 

The  issuing  of  these  ehiLorale  rules — which, 
by  the  way,  are  apjilic.ihle  to  the  produt-tion  and 


trealniont  of  milk  that  is  devoted  to  other  \>m- 
poses  than  that  of  milk-eondensin<j — proves  that 
their  author  was  alive  to  the  necessity  of  pre- 
servin<j  milk  with  the  tjreatest  care  from  injury 
by  lilth,  from  the  absorption  of  ferments,  and 
from  carelessness ;  but  the  most  effective  thin" 
in  connection  with  them  is  the  strictness  with 
which  they  were  enforced.  Such  rules  are  all 
very  well,  but  unless  they  are  scrupulously 
obeyed  they  are  not  worth  the  paper  on  which 
they  are  printed. 

There  are  various  methods  and  reci])es  for  con- 
densing and  preserving  milk,  among  which  the 
following  may  be  mentioned  : — (1)  Add  sugar ; 
evaporate  to  one-fourth  ;  solder  in  cans,  (i)  Add 
carbonate  of  soda  and  white  sugar;  evaporate  to 
dryness;  cut  into  cakes.  (^)  Add  sugar  and  alkali; 
evaporate  to  dryness  ;  crush,  powder,  and  bottle. 
(■i)  Evaporate  to  one-half ;  beat  up  white  of  egg ; 
simmer,  skim,  strain,  and  boil.  (5)  Carbonate  of 
soda  one-half  drachm,  water  one  fluid  ounce ;  dis- 
soK^e ;  add  fresh  milk  one  quart,  sugar  one 
pound ;  reduce  to  syrup  in  a  steam  bath,  and 
finish  the  evaporation  on  plates  in  an  oven.  In 
many  milk-condensing  factories  the  milk  is  first 
cooled  to  GO'^  and  then  heated  in  a  hot-water  bath 
for  about  half  an  hour  until  it  has  reached  160*^ 
to  180*^,  when  it  is  poured  into  the  large  con- 
densing-j)an,  directly  above  which  are  two  large 
fans  that  are  kept  in  motion  by  machinery ;  the 
fans  carry  off  the  water  from  the  milk,  forcing  it 
through  ventilators  out  of  the  building  as  fast  as 
it  is  formed  into  vapour.  In  this  way  75  per  cent, 
of  the  bulk  of  the  milk  is  carried  off  in  about  seven 
hours. 

In  Borden's  method,  which  is  protected  by 
patent,  nothing  excej)t  sugar  is  added  to  the  milk, 
hence  its  superiority  over  most  of  the  others.  It 
is  obvious  that  the  addition  of  carbonate  of  soda, 
however  useful  it  may  be  in  preserving  the  milk, 
cannot  but  detract  more  or  less  from  its  value  and 
attractiveness  when  it  comes  to  be  used  as  food ; 
while  sugar  alone  affects  it  in  no  other  way  than  to 
make  it  more  or  less  sweeter  than  new  milk.  The 
process  in  question  is  described  by  j\Ir.  "Willard  as 
follows  : — 

"  The  factory  at  Brewster  is  an  immense  estab- 
lishment, and  every  part  of  the  business  is  con- 
ducted with  the  regularity  of  clockwork.  The 
building  is  located  on  a  small  stream  where  there 
is  a  7-foot  fall,  and  the  water  is  thus  utilised  for 


MILK    CONDENSING. 


335 


niniiiiig'  tlio  pumps,  wliieli  is  a  considerable  saviiio^ 
(lurinjjj  the  j-ear  hy  way  of  fuel.  The  factory  has 
two  vucuum-paus,  one  of  which  is  a  6-foot  pan 
with  two  coils  of  pipe,  and  2,000  quarts  of  milk  per 
hour  is  the  usual  rate  of  condensing.  Mr.  Borden 
believes  in  doing  the  work  rapidly,  and  says  the 
sooner  you  can  get  the  milk  from  the  cow  into 
a  condensed  form  the  better.  There  are  two 
boilers  of  S.j  horse-power  each  for  supplying 
steam  to  the  pans,  and  the  average  pressure  of 
steam  in  the  pipes,  at  the  pan,  is  55  to  60  lbs. 
to  the  square  inch.  The  evaporation  goes  on  best 
in  clear  dry  weather ;  in  damp,  foggy  weather 
it  takes  a  little  longer  to  get  the  water  out  of 
the  milk.  About  10,000  quarts  are  being  con- 
densed per  day. 

"  The  milk  as  it  is  received  goes  into  squ:ire- 


amount  of  sugar  is  calculated  for  the  given  quan- 
tity of  milk,  and  then  turned  into  a  movable  tank 
or  well,  where  hot  milk  is  poured  upon  it  till  it  is 
thoroughly  dissolved.  The  hot  sugared  milk  is 
drawn  up  last  into  the  pan,  and  mingles  there 
with  the  milk  that  has  been  partially  condensed. 
The  sugared  milk  must  be  eliminated  of  more 
water  than  plain  milk,  since  the  addition  of 
sugar  partially  liquefies  the  mass — a  curious  fact. 
Three  pints  of  milk  make  1  lb.  of  sugared  con- 
densed milk.  The  best  quality  of  white  granu- 
lated sugar  is  used,  in  the  proportion  of  l;^lbs.  of 
sugar  to  the  gallon  of  milk. 

"  The  milk  remains  in  the  vacuum-pan  for 
about  three  hours,  during  which  time  about  75  per 
cent,  of  its  bulk  in  water  is  eliminated,  when  it  is 
di-awTi  off  into  cans  holding  about  40  quarts  each. 


Fig.  20O.—M11.K  Condensing  Factory  at  Brewster,  N.Y. 


like  boxes  or  va<s,  the  receiving-room  being  4 
or  5  feet  higher  than  the  bath  and  heating-room. 
The  bath-tubs  are  circular,  aud  have  a  coil  of  steam 
jiipe  at  the  bottom;  they  are  filled  within  6  or 
8  inches  of  the  top  with  water.  The  heating 
wells  are  of  copper,  egg-shaped,  and  stand  opposite 
the  bath-tubs,  a  raised  platform  running  between 
the  two.  The  milk  is  drawn  through  a  hose  from 
the  receiving-tanks  into  copper  cans  setting  in 
the  bath-tubs,  each  can  holding  about  40  quarts, 
and  here  it  is  heated  to  from  150°  to  175°  ;  it 
then  goes  to  the  heating  wells,  which  have  a 
jacketed  bottom  for  steam,  and  is  heated  up  to 
the  boiling-point;  it  is  then  immediately  drawn 
into  the  vacuum-pan,  into  which  a  stream  of  milk 
is  kept  flowing  about  as  fast  as  the  evaporation 
goes  on,  or  at  the  rate  of  about  2,000  quarts  per 
hour.     When  the  sugared  milk  is  to  be  made  the 


The  cans  are  only  partially  filled,  and  are  then  set 
in  a  large  vat  containing  cold  water,  the  water 
being  of  a  height  equal  to  the  milk  in  the  cans. 
Here  it  is  stirred  until  the  temperature  of  the  con- 
densed fluid  is  reduced  to  a  little  below  70°.  It  is 
then  turned  into  large  drawing-cans  with  faucets, 
in  order  to  facilitate  the  filling  of  the  small  cans. 
The  drawing-cans  stand  in  a  room  set  apart  for 
the  purpose,  and  around  the  outside  of  which  runs 
a  table  or  work-bench.  Here  the  milk  is  drawn 
from  the  faucets  into  the  small  tin  cans,  holding 
1  lb.  each,  when  they  go  to  the  table,  and  are 
immediately  soldered  to  exclude  the  air.  The  cans 
next  have  the  proper  labels  pasted  upon  them  and 
are  ready  for  market.  The  work  of  filling  the 
cans,  soldering  the  tops,  and  labelling  is  usually 
performed  by  females.  A  number  of  small  solder- 
ino'  furnaces  are  located  along  the  tables,  where  the 


336 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


f^irls,  oneh  witli  a  Sft  of  sulilfring'  irons,  seal  llio 
caus  as  fast  as  they  arc  brought  forward  l)y  the 
fillers." 

An  article  called  "  Phiiu  Condensed  Milk"  is 
now  made  in  cousiderahle  quantities,  and  in  llie 
American  cities  it  is  daily  retailed  to  customers 
after  the  manner  of  fresh  milk,  in  preference  to 
which  it  is  bouf^ht  by  many  jieople.  It  consists 
of  milk  from  which  the  bulk  of  the  water  has  been 
evaporated,  and  to  which  no  preserving  agent 
whatever  has  been  added.  It  is,  therefore,  made 
for  comparatively  early  consumption,  though  it 
will  keep  sweet  for  a  considerable  time  when 
scaled  up  in  cans.  It  is  in  this  form  more 
easily  portable  than  new  milk,  and  becomes  new 
milk  to  all  intents  and  purposes  when  water  is 
added  to  it.  In  its  condensed  form,  however,  it  is 
convenient  to  use  in  the  place  of  cream,  and  its 
consistency  may  be  regulated  at  will. 

The  building  is  16  by  50  feet,  witli  verandah,  or 
shed,  4  feet  wide  on  two  sides.  The  ground-floor 
is  divided  into  four  dej)artments  :  the  first  to  the 
right  is  the  can-washing-room,  16  by  16  feet, 
containing  the  hot-water  washing-tank,  with  coil 
of  steam-pipe,  the  hot-water  sink  and  scalding 
jacket,  the  cold-water  sink  and  platform  for  clean- 
ing cans.  The  steam-pipe  leads  from  the  boiler 
to  this  room. 

The  next  is  the  receiving,  condensing,  and 
delivery  room,  16  by  16  feet.  It  contains  the 
receiving  and  cooling  tanks,  the  heating  vat,  and 
the  vacuum-pan.  Then  comes  the  engine-room,  7 
by  16  feet,  containing  dujalex  engine  and  pump, 
with  steam-pipes  leading  to  the  other  rooms.  The 
rooms  to  the  left  are  the  coal-shed  and  boiler-room, 
9  by  11  feet,  where  is  situated  the  boiler  (60  horse- 
power) and  the  boiler-j)ump.  Communication  is 
easy  from  one  department  to  the  other  by  wide 
doors,  and  the  whole  is  arranged  for  convenience  in 
.loing  the  necessary  work. 

Formerly  vacuum-pans  were  made  of  copjcr, 
but  the  high  price  of  that  metal  tempted  peojjle  to 
make  them  as  thin  as  possible,  and  the  collajise  of 
the  ])an,  owing  to  external  atmosiiheric  pressure, 
was  a  not  iinf  requent  occurrence.  The  use  of  cast- 
iron  instead  of  copper  has  obviated  these  disasters, 
and  cast-iron  pans  arc  nciw  successfully  used  for 
milk-condensing  and  lor  other  purjioses.  The 
illustration  (Fig.  iJUl)  shows  the  construction  of 
one  of  these  vacuum-pans. 

The    pan   A    is    10   feet  6   inches   in  diameter. 


and  is  cast  in  four  pieces ;  B  is  the  dome,  con- 
nected by  the  \apour-pii)e  c  to  the  catcher 
D,  the  latter  being  a  cylindrical  vessel,  divided 
part  way  by  a  partition  or  apron  D^,  against 
whicli,  in  case  of  boiling  over,  the  liipior  would  be 
dashed  and  would  gather  in  the  bottom,  where  the 
amount  can  be  seen  at  the  glass  gauge  d^,  and, 
if  necessary,  emptied  into  the  pan  by  means  of  the 
faucet  and  pipe  d.  From  the  top  of  the  catcher 
D  the  vapours  are  conducted  by  pipe  e  to  the 
condenser  E*,  which  is  jilaced  33  feet  above  the 
water-level  in  the  basin  o,  to  which  the  condenser 
is  connected  by  the  stand-])ipe  F.  The  water  rises 
in  the  latter  to  about  30  feet,  more  or  less,  accord- 
ing to  the  amount  of  vacuum,  and  is  held  therein 
by  atmospheric  pressure  on  the  surface  of  the 
water  in  basin  G,  tlie  condensing  water  added 
flowing  off  from  G  by  overflow  ff.  The  water 
enters  the  condenser  at  E^,  falls  over  the  sieve- 
plates  e  e,  and  comes  in  direct  contact  with 
the  vapours,  which  have  to  pass  also  through  the 
openings  in  the  sieve-plates  e  e,  by  which  ar- 
rangement the  greatest  condensation  is  produced 
with  the  least  amount  of  water. 

At  E^  the  vacuum-pump,  in  this  case  a  dry 
one,  is  connected.  To  prevent  the  condensing 
water  from  being  drawn  along  with  the  vapours  to 
the  pump,  the  opening  E^  is  guarded  by  an  apron. 
11  is  the  pipe  through  which  the  liquor  enters  the 
pan.  I  is  the  drop-valve,  composed  of  a  rubber 
disk  between  two  plates  on  the  end  of  a  lever — 
a  sim])le  and  most  effective  construction,  the  pres- 
sure of  the  outside  air  holding  the  valve  perfectly 
tight ;  1^  is  a  semi-globular  casing  which  prevents 
the  liquor  from  spreading  too  much  when  it  is  dis- 
charged. On  the  end  of  the  valve-stem  is  fastened 
a  scrajjcr,  intended  to  break  any  crust  of  crystal- 
lised sugar  that  may  have  formed,  as  any  such 
crust,  unless  removed,  would  of  course  obstruct  the 
exit  of  the  liquid. 

The  regular  mountings  of  the  pan  consist  of  a 
man-hole;  a  thermometer  (l),  the  tube  of  which  is 
enclosed  in  a  pipe,  and  reaches  to  the  centre  of 
the  boiling  liquor;  a  vacuum-gauge  (m)  ;  a  glass 
gauge  (k),  by  which  the  quantity  of  liquor  in  the 
])an  is  observed;  a  butter-cup  (n),  butter  quieting 
the  liquor  if  it  shows  a  tendency  to  boil  over ;  an 
eye-glass  (o),  opposite  to  which  is  another  similar 
glass  through  wjiich  a  lamp  gives  light  to  the  in- 
terior of  the  pan.  Q  is  a  light  glass  on  the  top  of 
the  pan,  tlirongh  which  tiie  entire  surface  of  the 


MILK    C'ONl)ENSlN(i    APPARATUS. 


n.xl/orm 

Fig.  COl. -Ai'i'AiiATUs  AKii  Gkound-plan  ok  BriuiiNr,  nou  foNiiENsiNo  Mji.k. 


333 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


lj()ilin<^  li(mnr  may  be  illuniiiuiti'd,  ;iiul  R  is  the 
fester,  by  wliieh  ]>roofs  are  drawn  to  see  how  far 
the  process  has  advanced. 

Heat  is  applied  in  the  following  manner  : — The 
bottom  of  the  pan  is  double,  and  steam  is  admitted 
thereto  by  the  pipe  P,  the  uj)per  shell  which  forms 
the  heating-  surface  being  generally  of  copper.  The 
steam  also  passes  through  one,  two,  three,  or  even 
four  coils,  according  to  the  size  of  the  pan  and  the 
amount  of  water  to  be  evaporated  in  a  specified 
time,  p  is  the  steam-branch.  The  pipe  s  leads 
to  the  bottom,  s^  to  the  lower  coil,  s*  to  the 
upper  one.  As  fast  as  the  steam  is  condensed,  the 
wat«r  is  led  by  the  pipes  u  u  from  the  bottom 
and  coils  to  a  steam-trap. 

It  might  at  first  sight  be  supposed  that  cast- 
iron  would  fail  to  resist  the  coiToding  action  of 
solutions,  but  the  results  of  practice  show  that  the 
scale,  which  in  every  case  covers  the  metal,  protects 
the  pan  completely;  and  as  the  liquor  is  in  all 
cases  charged  to  some  extent  with  lime,  the  pan 
speedily  becomes  covered  with  a  fine  scale,  or  fur, 
which  effectually  prevents  all  injurious  action. 
This  is  especially  the  case  if  the  pan  be  worked 
continually,  but  if  long  stoppages  are  made,  copper 
possesses  decided  advantages  over  cast-iron. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances,  however,  the 
cast-iron  vacuum-pans  answer  every  purpose,  and 
they  can  be  constructed  in  such  a  perfect  manner 
that  one  similar  to  that  described  will  retain  a 
vacuum  of  29  inches  for  a  space  of  twelve  hours 
without  losing  more  than  one  inch. 

Under  the  most  promising  conditions,  however, 
it  is  probable  that  no  condensed-milk  makers  will 
be  uniformly  successful ;  because  no  system  of  in- 
specting the  milk  on  its  arrival  at  the  factory  can 
at  all  times  succeed  in  detecting  all  the  faults  to 
which  it  is  liable,  and,  after  all,  the  result  depends 
in  a  great  measure  on  the  milk-suppliers,  who  are 
not  all  as  careful  as  they  ought  to  be. 

Mr.  Willard  fitly  sums  up  this  part  of  the 
question  as  follows  : — "  Under  the  best  manage- 
ment and  most  careful  examination  losses  will 
inevitably  occur  from  time  to  time  on  ac- 
count of  imperfect  milk,  and  a  certain  per- 
centage must  be  allowed  in  making  up  an 
estimate  of  expenses  to  cover  this  item.  But 
unless  there  be  some  reliability  for  obtaining  good, 
clean,  healthy  milk,  it  would  not  be  advisable  to 
enter  upon  condensed-milk  manufacture.  To  this 
end  the  character  of  the  country  where  the  milk  is 


])r()du('cd  should  be  studied.  The  pastures  should 
be  u]i()n  high,  undulating,  or  well-drained  soils  j 
the  farms  should  have  an  abundance  of  clear, 
sweet,  running  water;, while  extra  attention  must 
be  given  to  the  care  and  management  of  herds, 
never  over-driving  in  hot  weather,  milking  with 
regularity  and  with  fastidious  neatness,  together 
with  absolute  cleanliness  in  dairy  utensils  and 
dairy  buildings." 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  cleanliness  of  the 
most  scrupulous  and  comprehensive  character  is  the 
first  requisite  in  milk-condensing.  The  milk  must 
not  only  be  sound,  produced  bj'  healthy  cows  from 
sound  and  healthy  food  and  under  generous  and 
thoughtful  treatment,  but  it  must  be  kept  scru- 
pulously clean  afterwards,  and  perfectly  free  from 
the  influence  of  taints  and  ferments;  to  th-'s  is 
added  careful  watching  of  the  ])roeess  and  atten- 
tion to  details.  Lacking  these  precautions,  first- 
class  condensed  milk  cannot  be  produced,  and  the 
attempt  will  be  a  failure.  They  are  equally  neces- 
sary to  the  production  of  first-class  cheese  and 
butter;  their  neglect  is  the  explanation  why  there 
is  such  a  large  proportion  of  third  and  fourth-class 
cheese  and  butter  in  the  country. 

During  the  year  1879  there  have  been  ten  or 
twelve  milk-condensing  factories  in  operation  in 
the  United  States,  the  largest  being  in  New  York, 
Connecticut,  ISIassachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  Mary- 
land, and  Illinois.  The  Borden  patents  have  now 
expired,  and  the  right  to  manufacture  is  free  to 
all.  But  a  pretty  large  capital  is  required  for 
establishing  and  maintaining  a  factory;  favourable 
surroundings  are  necessary;  also  skilfully  trained 
managers ;  and  so  the  business  remains  in  a  few 
hands.  The  largest  factories  are  still  controlled 
by  members  of  the  Borden  family.  It  is  certain 
that  well-conducted  establishments  yield  a  large 
profit ;  for  while  within  a  few  years  the  price  paid 
for  milk  at  the  factories  has  varied  from  six  to 
twenty  cents  per  gallon,  the  selling  ])rice  of  the 
condensed  article  has  changed  very  little.  So 
quietly  do  the  proprietors  manage  their  affairs, 
however,  that  the  data  are  very  meagre  for  es- 
timating the  extent  or  the  profits  of  this  manu- 
facture in  America.  It  is  known  that  the  factory 
at  Elgin,  Illinois,  uses  from  3,000  to  4,000 
gallons  of  milk  a  day,  and  the  one  at  Brewster^'s, 
in  New  York,  a  quantity  as  large.  The  total 
product  of  condensed  milk  in  America  may  be 
roughly   placed  at  10,000,(100  lbs.   a   year.      The 


MILK    CONDENSING    IN    ENGLAND. 


339 


following  is  a  statement  of  the  aumial  value  of 
Domestic  Condensed  Milk  exported  from  the 
United  States  during  the  eleven  years  named  : — 

1869 81,758  dollars. 

1870 HU.O'J'J 

1871 91,U24 

1872 86,808 

1873 94, .38.5   „ 

1874 ...  79,018 

187-5 123,565   „ 

1876 118,549   „ 

1877 123,801   „ 

1878 128,118   „ 

1879 119,883    „ 

Various  milk-condensing  factories  have  been 
established  from  time  to  time  in  the  British  Islands, 
but  they  have  not,  as  a  rule,  been  successful.  The 
price  of  milk,  wages,  and  general  expenses  are  too 
high  in  this  country  to  enable  our  condensed-milk 
makers  to  compete  on  even  terms  with  those  of 
foreign  countries.  In  Switzerland,  for  instance, 
plenty  of  milk  can  be  bought  for  4d.  to  5d.  per 
gallon,  whereas  in  England  it  is  worth  7d.  to  8d., 
and  in  the  winter  even  more  than  that.  Only  in 
summer-time,  when  milk  is  most  cheaply  produced, 
is  it  likely  that  milk-condensing  in  England  can 
be  successfully  carried  on,  generally  speaking,  and 
there  are  obvious  disadvantages  in  having  a  factory 
closed  during  one-half  of  the  year.     In  this  case 


it  eould  not  be  well  done  except  in  connection 
with  large  iirms  in  the  milk  trade,  whose  outlet 
for  milk  in  winter  is  so  profitable  that  the  supply 
then  must  be  kept  up,  even  at  the  expense  of  having 
to  convert  a  considerable  quantity  into  condensed 
milk  in  summer,  and  in  this  way  to  keep  the 
farmers  going  all  the  year  round. 

We  do  not,  in  fact,  expect  to  see  milk-con- 
densing factories  established  and  permanently 
successful  in  England,  because,  however  low  a 
price  milk  may  be  at  in  this  country,  it  must 
of  necessity  be  still  lower  in  the  countries  where 
the  manufacture  is  at  present  carried  on ;  and 
as  condensed  milk  is  so  easily  portable,  it  is 
just  the  thing  we  maj'  expect  to  import  from 
foreign  countries,  in  the  place  of  its  equivalent  in 
cheese  or  butter.  America  appears  to  us  to  be  the 
country,  jmr  excellence,  where  the  manufacture 
of  condensed  milk  has  the  most  promising  future, 
because  she  is  bound  for  a  long  time  to  come  to 
export  a  large  proportion  of  her  dairy  products 
in  some  form  or  other ;  and  if  so,  why  not  in  part 
as  condensed  milk  ?  Clearly  cheese-making,  from 
several  causes,  is  on  the  decline  in  this  country ; 
whether  or  not  milk-condensing  is  a  business 
which  will  take  its  place  is  a  problem  whose 
solution  we  leave  to  time. 


C  n  AFTER      XXII. 


The  ]\riLK  Tkadk. 


Recent   nrowtli  of   the  Milk  Trade-Consequent  Changes   in   Dairy  Farming-Milk-Trains-Refrigerators-Cans-Diffloulties  with 
City   Salesmen  -Prices -Town   Dairies -Recent    Changes-The   Cows— Improved    Stalls   and    Sheds- 
-*^^/     .  Holland    Park  Farm-Thc  Aylesbury  Dairy  Company-Other  Jloderu  Examples  of  London  Milk  Dairies. 


■■'r-. 


^1^  M^ 

?  S  we  have  previously  stated,  the 
\  trade  in  country  milk  to  our 
A  cities  and  towns  has  expanded 
%  greatly  in  the  past  fifteen  years, 
and  has  now  attained  enormous 
dimensions,  though  it  is  not  pos- 
mMc  to  obtain  exact  statistics  about  it. 
In  many  dairying  districts  throug-hout 
tlie  entire  country,  wherever  there  is  a 
contiguous  railway,  cheese-making  has  succumbetl 
to  the  milk  trade.  Entire  parishes  which  but 
a  few  years  ago  were  wholly  devoted  to  cheese 
and  butter  making  now  scarcely  produce  any 
cheese  at  all,  and  very  little  butter.  The 
change  is  striking  and  complete.  In  other 
parishes,  too — one  side  only  of  which  is,  per- 
haps, within  sufficiently  easy  reach  of  a  rail- 
way— the  revolution  is  making  its  way.  The 
farms  lying  nearest  to  the  railway  commonly 
send  off  the  whole  of  their  milk  the  year 
round,  while  those  on  the  other  side  make  cheese 
in  the  summer  and  autumn  months.  But  when 
winter  approaches  and  milk  becomes  scarce,  when, 
in  consequence  of  colder  weather,  it  can  be  de- 
livered in  town  in  better  condition,  the  demand 
for  it  increases  according  to  its  scarcity,  and  the 
farmers  who  are  constantly  engaged  in  the  milk 
trade  hunt  up  the  milk  of  those  who  are  not,  in 
order  to  supplement  their  own  deficient  winter 
production.  During  at  least  five  months  of  the 
winter  season  the  price  of  milk  is  such  that 
cheese-making  farmers  are  glad  to  dispose  of  all 
they  can  possibly  spare,  and  the  milk-selling 
farmers  are  equally  glad  to  buy  it  and  collect  it 
from  the  outlying  farms,  sending  it  off  to  town 
alou"-  with  their  own.      And  they  have  two  great 


reasons  for  doing  so.  First,  it  follows  that  he  who 
can  send  to  the  city  salesman  the  largest  winter 
supply — for  milk  is  never  too  plentiful  in  winter — 
will  be  the  better  able  to  dispose  of  his  summer's 
milk  on  favourable  terms ;  the  salesman,  in  fact, 
is  always  willing  in  summer  to  hold  by  the  former 
who  can  send  him  most  milk  in  winter,  and  thus 
the  winter's  milk  in  a  sense  sells  the  summer's. 
And,  secondly,  as  it  is  much  more  costly  to  pro- 
duce a  large  quantity  of  milk  in  winter  than  in 
summer,  it  follows  that  it  is  much  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  milk-selling  farmer  that  he  should 
buy  all  the  milk  he  can  in  winter  from  his  neigh- 
bours, even  if  he  pays  for  it  a  price  which  leaves 
him  but  little  direct  profit ;  and  his  neighbours,  in 
their  turn,  cannot  do  better  than  sell  it  to  him 
at  the  price  he  can  afford  to  pay. 

It  follows  then,  on  this  system,  that  many 
farmers  are  in  a  sense  milk-dealers,  but  they  buy 
in  a  retail  and  sell  in  a  wholesale  way,  and  that 
only,  or  chiefly,  in  the  winter-time.  We  know 
cases  in  which  farmers  have  bought  up  the  winter 
milk  of  the  patrons  of  one  or  other  of  the  cheese- 
factories.  The  patroTis  deliver  it  at  the  factory,  as 
a  central  depot,  and  the  farmer  fetches  it  away. 
This  arrangement  is  about  as  good  as  any  that 
can  be  thought  of  for  profitably  and  conveniently 
disposing  of  the  small  quantities  of  milk  which 
cheese-making  farmers  usually  produce  in  winter. 
The  plan,  in  fact,  may  Ix'  adopted  so  early  in  the 
autumn  and  continued  so  late  in  the  spring  as 
the  price  at  which  milk  is  selling  may  suggest. 
AVhen,  for  instance,  the  milk  is  only  worth  7d.  a 
gallon  for  cheese-making,  and  sells  at  8d.  to  the 
trade,  then  should  cheese-making  cease  for  the 
time.     A  comparison  of  values  will  thus  go  hand- 


THE    MILK    TRADE. 


341 


in-liand  with  the  law  of  supply  and  ilemaiiil  in 
the  milk  trade ;  and  in  this  is  provided  a  basis  on 
which  dairy-farming  will  henceforth  be  conducted. 

Tiiese  influences  are  now  changing  the  asiiect  of 
dairy-farming  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  England.  Numbers  of  farms  which  were  at 
one  time  devoted  to  the  one  speciality  of  cheese- 
making — farms  whose  every  operation  was  de- 
signed to  be  subsidiarj^  to  this  one  thing  chiefly — 
are  now  devoted  to  a  greater  variety  of  pursuits, 
and  their  eggs  are  no  longer  all  in  one  basket. 
Though  they  are  themselves  too  far  from  the  rail- 
way to  adapt  themselves  to  the  milk  trade,  they 
yet  contribute  no  insignificant  quota  to  that  trade. 
Cheese-making  is  followed,  of  course,  but  less  ex- 
tensively than  it  used  to  be,  and  butter-making 
has  in  some  measure  taken  its  place.  But  the  way 
in  which  these  outlying  farms  contribute  to  the 
milk  trade  is  in  producing  autumn  and  winter 
calving  cows,  which  are  sold  when  on  note  to  the 
milk-selling  farmers,  and  in  order  to  keep  up 
the  supply  a  maximum  number  of  young  stock 
are  raised.  Thus  it  follows  that  even  on  farms 
that  cannot,  by  reason  of  distance  from  a  railway, 
cultivate  ths  milk  trade  profitably,  except  in  the 
indirect  manner  already  spoken  of,  cheese-making 
has  greatly  diminished,  and  it  is  probable  that 
there  is  at  least  one-third  less  cheese  made  in  the 
country  than  there  was  ten  or  a  dozen  years  ago. 

The  milk  trade  is,  of  course,  a  ponderous  affair, 
for  milk  is  a  heavy  and  bulky  product.  A  man 
who  milks  thirty  cows  sends  his  half-ton  of  milk 
away,  day  by  day,  scores  of  miles  to  be  consumed. 
Without  railways  this  could  not  have  been  done. 
Stephenson  was  greater  than  Macadam,  and  the 
iron  road  is  doing  what  the  turnpike  must  for 
ever  have  left  undone.  Ten  miles  of  turnpike 
place  an  effectual  bar  on  the  milk  trale,  hut  one 
or  even  two  hundred  miles  of  railway  do  not, 
and  it  is  possi])le  that  some  day  Scottish  and  even 
Irish  milk  will  find  a  daily  market  in  the  metro- 
polis. As  the  matter  already  stands,  the  counties 
of  Derby,  Stafford,  Nottingham,  Wilts,  Hants, 
Gloucester,  Somerset,  and  many  others,  are  largely 
employed  in  feeding  London  with  milk.  We  have 
not,  however,  as  yet  advanced  so  far  as  to  have 
special  milk-trains,  as  they  have  in  America, 
running  hundreds  of  miles,  with  milk  only,  or 
milk  chiefly,  as  freight ;  but  to  most  of  the  fast 
long-distance  morning  and  evening  trains  a  milk- 
van  is  attached,  and  we  learn  that  a  train,  mainly 


loaded  with  milk,  runs  daily  from  the  Cheshire 
di.strict  to  Liverpool.  The  distance,  it  is  true,  is 
not  great,  but  once  the  principle  of  milk-trains  is 
adopted  we  shall  expect  to  find  it  spread  to  the 
distant  counties  whose  milk  custom  is  in  London. 
During  the  warm  weather  the  farmers  always 
aerate  and  cool  the  milk  before  sending  it  away, 
generally  in  one  of  Lawrence's  refrigerators,  a 
cut  of  which  we   give   in   Fig.  20-Z ;  and  even  in 


Fig.  202.— Lawrence's  Refrigerator. 

winter  it  is  a  good  thing  to  gel  the  warmth 
and  odoiu"  of  the  cow  out  of  it.  The  warm  milk 
is  poured  into  the  receiver  a,  and  after  running 
in  a  thin  stream  over  the  outside  surface  of  the 
series  of  tubes,  from  b  downwards,  is  collected 
at  the  bottom,  and  has  its  exit  at  c.  The  cold 
water  enters  by  the  pipe  d,  and  passes  upwards 
through  the  inside  of  the  tubes,  finally  emerging 
at  E,  so  that  the  descending  milk  passes  last  of 
all  over  the  tube  which  contains  the  coldest 
water.  The  matter,  indeed,  is  so  arranged  that 
the  water  at  its  warmest  comes  in  contact  with 
the  milk  at  its  warmest ;  and  as  the  milk  descends, 
cooling  as  it  falls,  it  comes  last  in  contact  with 
the  water  where  both  are  at  their  coldest;  thus 
the  cooling  is  gradual.  As  the  milk  flows  over 
the  tubes  it  is  thoroughly  aerated,  so  that  the 
two  processes  are  completed  together.  Various 
patterns  of  refrigerators  suitable  for  cooling  milk 
have  been  invented,  but  they  have  all  given  way 
before  the  one  we  have  illustrated ;  of  this  pattern 
it  must  be  understood,  however,  that  there  are 
several  nnxlifirations,  though  the  principle  is  iden- 


342 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


tical  in  all  of  them.  On  the  continent  of  l"]urope 
this  valuable  machine  has  been  copied,  with  more 
or  less  fidelity  and  success,  the  deviation  consistinjj 
chiefly  of  a  difJerenee  in  the  shape  of  the  tube, 
affordintj  more  surface  for  cooling.  At  the  Inter- 
national Dairy  Show  in  Hamburg  in  1877  we  saw 
one  of  these  coolers,  whose  efiiciency  was  even 
superior  to  that  of  Lawrence's  cooler,  against 
which  it  was  tested  in  our  presence.  The  prin- 
ciple was,  however,  the  same  in  both,  and  the 
German  was  but  a  copy,  perhaps  a  piracy,  on  the 
English  invention. 

The  milk-cans,  or  "  churns,"  as  some  i)Cople 
awkwardly  term  them,  do  not  deviate  much  in 
general  i)atleni,  but  some  of  them  are  more 
strongly  constructed  than  others,  and  consequently 
more  serviceable ;  the  best  of  them  have  the 
f<!west  possible  seams  in  which  the  milk 
can  lodge,  and  the  lids  are  so  made  as  to 
be  easily  attached 
and  detached.  The 
best  railway  milk- 
can  we  have  ever 
seen  is  the  one 
shown  in  Figs.  203 
and  204,  and  made 
by  Mr.  Alway,  of 
London.  This  can  is 
made  of  two  pieces 
only,  so  as  to  have  a 
minimum  of  seams; 
the  bottom  hoop  is 
double  the  ordinary 
strength,  and  is  put 
inside  instead  of 
outside  the  body,  as 
shown  in  the  cut ; 
the  cover  or  lid  is 
also  made  of  one 
piece  only,  and  the 
method  of  fastening 
and  unfastening  it 
is  very  simple,  while 
the  whole  structure  is  so  substantial  that  the 
liability  to  breakage  is  very  small. 

One  of  the  chief  annoyances  to  the  farmer 
in  the  milk  trade  is  the  knocking  and  smashing 
which  the  cans  undergo  en  rouie.  They  are 
treated  with  no  tenderness  at  all  by  the  railway 
officials,  whose  carelessness  is  soon  imitated  by 
the  servants  of  the  farm.     It  is  chiefly  the  empty 


Fig.  203.— Railway  Milk-can. 


Fig. 


Lid  ok  Milk-can. 


cans  which  suffer  most;  the  full  ones,  being  heavy, 
cannot  be  tumbled  about  so  easily,  and  they  may 
not  be  turned  topsy-turvy,  or  the  milk  would  be 
lost.  But  the  empty  cans  are  pitched  here  and 
there  with  all  the  contemjDt  which  comes  of 
familiarity;  the  lids  and  the  rims  are  smashed, 
the  sides  are  crushed  in,  the  paint  is  knocked  off, 
and  it  is  not  easy  to  imagine  a  more  forlorn-looking 
object  than  a  railway  milk-can  of  six  or  eight 
months'  service.  From  this  cause  the  farmer's  loss 
is  heavy,  because  the  cans  usually  are  his  property  ; 
it  is  therefore  necessary  to  use  only  those  cans  that 
are  made  in  the  best  manner  and  of  the  strongest 
material. 

Another  cause  of  annoyance  and  loss  is  found 
in  the  bad  debts  which  the  farmers  too  often 
contract  with  the  city  salesmen.  A  few  years 
ago  this  evil  was  more  frequent  than  now,  for 
at  that  period  too  many  men  of  straw  went  into 
the  milk  trade — men  who  had  nothing  to  lose, 
and  whose  commercial  morality  was  much  feebler 
than  their  acumen.  At  the  period  when  the  trade 
began  so  rapidly  to  exj^and,  numbers  of  new  sales- 
men in  the  towns  sprang  up,  and  farmers  were 
not  awake  to  the  dodges  of  the  trade.  Hence 
many  of  them  were  let  in  smartly  at  times  by 
means  of  bad  debts.  Time,  however,  has  purged 
the  trade  of  the  greater  part  of  this  unpleasant 
feature,  and  it  is  settling  down  into  business-like 
and  trustworthy  channels. 

Again,  the  London  demand  for  milk  fluctuates 
day  by  day,  unless  the  weather  remains  fine  and 
bright ;  in  wet  cold  weather  it  falls  off  instantly. 
Now  the  city  salesmen  have  to  watch  these 
fluctuations  closely,  or  they  will  often  have  a 
quantity  of  milk  on  their  hands  which  they  cannot 
dispose  of,  and  which  is  commonly  wasted ;  and 
when  they  see  symptoms  of  a  falling  off  in  the 
demand,  they  at  once  telegraph  to  the  farmers 
to  hold  back  one  or  two  meals'  milk ;  thus  the 
farmer  has  the  milk  thrown  on  his  hands,  and 
he  must  at  once  make  either  butter  or  cheese 
of  it.  Another  and  a  less  satisfactory  dodge  of 
the  salesmen  is  to  keep  back  the  empty  cans,  so 
that  the  farmer  cannot,  if  he  would,  send  his 
milk ;  this  is  worse  than  a  telegram,  for  the 
farmer  is  uncertain  what  to  do,  and  thinks  it 
j)ossible  that  the  cans  have  gone  astray  en 
route,  which  they  sometimes  do;  he  tries  then 
to  borrow  cans,  thinking  the  salesman  is  want- 
in<r  the  milk    all    the    while,    and    his    own    cans 


TOWN    DAIRIES    AND    THE    MILK    TRADE. 


343 


are  probably  standing  in  the  salesman's  yard  all 
the  time. 

The  wholesale  price  of  milk  varies  with  the 
season,  though  the  public  seldom  gain  the  benefit 
of  a  reduction.  The  farmer  usually  sells  his  milk 
by  the  "  barn  gallon,"  as  it  is  termed — that  is,  17 
pints  to  the  gallon,  or  half  a  pint  over-measure  at 
each  imperial  gallon.  Many  of  them  are  not 
aware  that  it  is  illegal  to  sell  by  such  measure, 
and  we  would  refer  them  to  the  Weights  and 
Measures  Act,  1878,  41  and  42  Viet.,  eh.  49, 
sections  15  and  19.  The  selling  by  a  barn  gallon 
is,  of  course,  an  old  custom,  in  which  the  extra 
pint  was  thrown  in — for  the  same  reason  that 
extra  lbs.  of  cheese  are  thrown  in  at  the  ewt.,  and 
extra  ozs.  of  butter  at  the  lb. — in  order  to  improve 
the  bargain  to  the  buyer.  At  first  these  additions 
were  part  of  the  bargain,  but  they  soon  became  a 
custom.  Other  farmers,  again,  sell  their  milk  at 
so  much  "  a  dozen  " — that  is,  a  dozen  quarts ;  this 
custom  is  not  illegal,  but  it  is  rather  clumsy.  A 
few  sell  l)y  the  standard  imperial  gallon,  which, 
we  think,  is  the  best. 

Milk  is  generally  cheapest  in  the  months  of 
April,  IVIay,  and  June,  when  the  price  the  farmer 
receives,  less  the  carriage,  is  IGd.  per  barn  gallon. 
In  the  following  three  months  he  gets  17d. ;  in 
October  and  November  20d. ;  in  the  next  three 
months  2]d. ;  and  in  March  20d.  These  are  actual 
prices  contracted  for  by  one  who  has  been  in  the 
trade  many  years,  but  they  are  subject  more  or 
less  to  variation  in  different  eases,  in  different 
years,  and  in  different  localities.  The  carriage 
from  the  midland  counties  to  London  is  usually 
2d.  per  barn  gallon,  the  empty  cans  being  returned 
free  of  charge. 

Town  Dairies  and  the  Milk  Trade. 

The  condition  of  town  dairies,  particularly  in 
London,  has  greatly  improved  during  the  past 
twenty  years ;  they  are  cleaner,  hotter  ventilated, 
more  commodious,  and  as  a  rule  much  superior 
to  what  they  formerly  were  at  the  other  end  of  the 
jieriod  named.  The  rate  of  progress,  which  has  been 
marked  in  most  departments  of  human  industry,  has 
not  25assed  by  the  cow-sheds  in  our  cities  and  towns  ; 
the  spirit  of  improvement  has  inHuenced  most 
things  greatly,  and  one  prominent  feature  is  seen 
in  the  better  and  more  comfortable  and  healthier 
accommodation  which  has  been  given  to  live-stock 
of  most  kinds,  and,  among  bovine  stock,  to  dairy- 


cows  in  particular.  They  are  now  housed,  for  the 
most  part,  whether  they  be  in  the  country  or  in 
the  town,  in  buildings  of  an  altogether  superior 
class,  less  crowded  than  they  formerly  were,  better 
fed,  and  better  attended  to  in  all  respects.  The 
principles  of  hygiene  are  better  understood,  and 
are  more  widely  applied  to  the  keeping  of  cows, 
whose  prolonged  imprisonment  is  made  as  tolerable 
as  it  possibly  can  be  in  the  absence  of  green  fields 
and  hedgerows.  It  does  not  and  cannot  be  made 
to  ajipear  that  the  existence  of  a  cow  in  a  shed  in 
the  heart  of  a  city,  or  even  in  the  suburbs,  is  a 
desirable  thing  in  comparison  with  that  of  a  cow 
in  the  country,  but  everything  that  can  be  done  to 
make  the  disparity  as  small  as  p)ossible  is  done 
with  assiduity  and  regularity.  We  may  now 
fairly  say  that  dairymen  in  towns  have  well  learnt 
the  lesson,  not  only  that  cleanliness  and  kindly 
treatment  is  no  small  aid  in  averting  the  outbreak 
of  disease  among  their  cows,  but  that  their  reward 
is  found  in  an  increased  quantity  and  an  improved 
quality  of  milk.  Kindlier  treatment  is  of  com'se 
necessary  in  urban  cow-sheds,  but  necessity  has 
not  in  the  past  been  always  found  to  contain 
sufficient  reason  to  bring  it  about,  and  we  wai-mly 
welcome  all  kinds  of  amelioration  which  can  be 
brought  to  bear  on  the  condition  of  so  useful,  so 
indispensable  an  animal  as  the  cow. 

The  suburban  dairyman  has  several  advantages 
over  his  urban  confreres.  It  not  uncommonly 
happens  that  he  is  so  situated  that  he  can 
frequently  give  his  cows  a  turn-out  in  the  fields,  or 
in  some  park,  during  the  summer — a  convenience 
which  cannot  but  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a 
great  advantage;  his  cow-sheds  have  no  need  to  be 
underground  for  want  of  room  above  it ;  his  cows 
are,  at  all  events,  where  they  can  have  plenty  of 
air,  which  circulates  more  freely  and  is  compara- 
tively pure ;  and  he  is  always  nearer  to  the  source 
of  his  supplies  of  forage,  which,  particularly  in 
summer,  is  a  matter  of  great  importance.  The 
spread  of  railways,  however,  and  the  facilities 
which  they  afford  for  the  rapid  conveyance  of 
all  kinds  of  produce  that  need  early  consumption, 
have  materiall}'  lessened  the  prominence  of  the 
last-named  advantage ;  the  first,  wherever  it  exists, 
cannot  well  be  over-rated,  and  the  second  is  no 
mean  factor  in  a  dairyman's  success.  Yet  the 
suburban  dairyman  has  one  or  two  disadvantages, 
at  all  events  in  London.  Unless  his  milk  is 
absorbed  by  a  strictly  local  demand,  he  is  further 


344 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


away  from  his  customers ;  ami  in  any  case  lie  is, 
as  a  rule,  further  away  from  some  portions  of  the 
cattle  food  which  he  extensively  employs,  to  wit, 
brewers'  grains,  and  foreign  feeding-stuffs  whicli 
lie  at  the  docks  or  at  the  railway  termini.  Yet 
again,  the  railways  do  much  to  obviate  such  dis- 
advantages. In  any  case  the  labour  of  bringing 
in  the  forage  and  taking  out  the  exuviaj  of  the 
cows  in  the  city  sheds  is  an  enormous  work,  which 
is  obviated  only  by  the  advent  of  country  milk ; 
and,  look  at  the  question  almost  how  we  will,  it 
would  appear  to  be  a  mistake  to  keep  cows  within 
the  purlieus  of  a  large  city. 

But  the  sources  of  our  towns'  and  cities'  milk- 
supply  arc  not  where  they  formerly  were,  except 
to  a  limited  extent.  It  is  hardly  too  much  to  say 
that  twenty  years  ago  no  appreciable  quantity  of 
milk  was  sent  into  town  by  rail,  except  over 
short  distances;  and  it  is  equally  pertinent  to 
remark  that  the  cities  of  the  kingdom,  and  many 
of  its  towns,  now  receive  the  greater  portion  of 
their  milk  from  the  country  districts,  brought, 
in  many  cases,  long  distances  by  rail.  This  new 
order  of  things  had  begun  to  recommend  itself  to 
the  milk-salesmen  some  time  before  the  advent  of 
the  cattle  plague,  or  rinderpest,  had  destroyed  so 
many  town  dairies  in  a  wholesale  manner,  and  so' 
created  an  extraordinary  demand  for  country  milk. 
Many  of  the  cow-sheds  that  were  ruthlessly 
emi)tied  by  the  plague  in  ISGf>  were  never  filled 
again,  and  so  the  country  milk  trade  sprang  at  one 
bound  into  a  prominence  which  has  since  gone  on 
and  promises  to  go  on  increasing. 

There  are,  however,  still  many  milch-cows  kept 
in  the  cow-sheds  of  our  large  towns,  specially  in 
London,  and  many  more  are  kept  in  suburban 
dairies,  within  easy  reach  of  the  thickest  po]nilatcd 
districts.  In  some  instances  very  large  herds  are 
kept,  containing  hundreds  of  cows  ;  but  there  are 
also  many  herds  of  medium  size,  say  of  forty  or 
fifty  cows,  while  others  are  small.  It  is,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  quite  a  common  thing  for  a  man 
to  start  as  a  dairyman  with  tw'o  or  three  cows, 
gradually  increasing  the  number  as  funds  and  his 
trade  permitted.  In  many  cases  where  large  herds 
are  kept,  it  will  be  found  that  the  business  has 
descended  from  father  to  son,  in  some  instances 
through  several  generations. 

Just  before  the  advent  of  the  dreadful  rinder- 
pest the  number  of  cows  in  the  metropolitan 
district  was  estimated  to  be  ^l',000;  and  the  quan- 


tity of  milk  bro\iglit  in  by  the  different  lines  of 
railway  in  the  year  ISCJ.'J  was  upwards  of  S,OO0M)0 
imperial  gallons,  whicli  in  two  years'  time  had  more 
than  doubled.  This  enormous  and  rapid  exjiansion 
of  the  trade  in  country  milk  was  due  chiefly  to 
the  cattle  plague.  To  provide  London  with  milk 
would  now,  on  the  old  system,  require  a  much 
larg.n-  numbsr  of  cows  than  in  1S65;  and  if  this 
increased  number  had  been  provided  for  within 
the  metropolitan  area,  the  danger  in  time  of  con- 
tagious diseases  would  have  been  proportionately 
increased.  Happily,  however,  the  tendency  is  to 
keep  fewer  cows  in  London  and  its  suburbs,  and 
to  obtain  a  larger  supply  of  milk  from  the  country. 
Most  of  the  London  dairymen  are  required  to 
keep  up  a  supply  of  milk  which  is  fairly  constant 
the  year  through.  This  holds  good  in  all  the 
metropolitan  districts  e.\cept  the  West  End.  In 
the  last-named  district  the  demand  for  milk  is 
greatest  during  the  "season" — that  is,  in  the  spring 
and  summer  months,  when  London  is  full ;  in  the 
remaining  districts  the  population  does  not  migrate 
to  anv  marked  extent,  and  so  the  quantity  of  milk 
required  is  fairly  regular  the  year  through.  The 
dairymen  in  these  districts,  then,  need  to  be  buy- 
ing calving  cows  almost  all  the  year  round,  but 
mostly  in  the  spring  and  autumn,  iu  order  to  keep 
up  the  flow  of  milk.  These  fresh  relays  of  cows 
on  note  were,  and  are,  of  course  derived  from  the 
country,  and  the  farmers  of  many  districts  lay 
themselves  out  to  provide  them  in  the  periods  when 
they  are  most  in  demand.  In  times  gone  by  these 
cows  were  usually  milked  for  a  few  years  in  the 
farmers'  herds,  until  they  had  arrived  at  full  ma- 
turity, aiul  in  many  cases  until  they  were  a  little 
past  their  best.  During  this  time  they  calved 
regularly  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  but  when  it 
became  expedient  to  sell  them  off,  they  were  kept 
barren  for  six  months  longer  than  usual,  and  timed 
to  calve  in  the  autumn,  at  which  period  good  prices 
were  realised  for  them ;  or  cows  that  failed  to  be 
in-calf  for  spring,  even  though  it  had  not  been  in- 
tended to  dispose  of  them  so  soon,  were  then  timed 
to  calve  the  following  autumn  or  winter,  and  sold 
off  a  year  or  two  earlier  than  they  otherwise  would 
have  been.  The  system  in  these  cases  was  to  milk 
them  on  through  the  winter  and  spring  and  part 
of  the  summer,  when  they  were  let  dry,  and  allowed 
to  get  into  good  condition  by  the  time  when  they 
were  wanted  b}'  the  city  milkmen  ;  and  if  a  heifer 
turned  out  on   llie   farm  to  be  an   inferior  milker, 


LONDON    COW    SHEDS. 


345 


the  same  system  was  pui'sued  witli  her;  indeed,  the 
same  system  is  carried  out  still,  ou  an  extended 
scale,  but  not  so  much  to  be  sold  to  city  milkmen 
as  to  those  dairy-farmers  who  make  the  supply  of 
milk  to  city  salesmen  a  speciality. 

In  former  times  o-i-eat  numbers  of  Dutch  cattle 
have  been  imported  to  till  the  metropolitan  dairies, 
but  they  are  so  inherently  liable  to  pleuro-pneu- 
monia  th.at  the  practice  has  been  almost  discon- 
tinued, and  now  those  dairies  are  filled,  many  of 


lated  to  promote  the  development  of  a  latent 
malady ;  and  it  is  equally  necessary  to  avoid  such 
fitting's  as  are  likely  to  perpetuate  a  disease,  once 
it  has  taken  possession  of  the  premises.  The  old- 
fashioned  wocxlen  stalls,  racks,  and  feeding'-troug-hs 
would  retain  the  germs  of  a  contagious  disease  for 
a  long  time,  in  a  manner  which  almost  placed 
disinfecting  processes  at  defiance;  the  germs 
would  get  into  the  poi-es,  or  interstices,  or 
joints,    or    worm-holes    of     the    woodwork,     and 


Fig.  20.5.— Interior  of  Improved  London  Cow-shed. 


them,  with  high-qiiality  Shorthorns,  and  among 
them  other  British  breeds.  The  Dutch  cows,  having 
for  generations  been  specially  cultivated  for  that 
end,  are  extraordinary  milkers,  but  their  liability 
to  disease  detracts  greatly  from  their  value,  and 
they  do  not  so  well  as  British  cows  bear  transplant- 
ing to  the  close  confinement  of  a  London  cow-shed 
— it  induces  the  disease  which  too  commonly  is 
latent  in  the  system. 

It  is  oljvious  that  with  cattle  wdio  are  pre- 
disposed to  disease  it  is  highly  expedient  to  use 
every  precaution  against  it,  when  they  are  placed 
within  the  iufiuonce  of  conditions  which  are  calcu- 


there  they  would  defiantly  stick,  only  to  com- 
municate the  disease  again  and  again.  Hence  it 
has  become  the  practice  to  use  iron  and  earthen- 
ware fittings,  wdiieh  afford  but  scant  lodgment  for 
contagion,  and  admit  of  being  thoroughly  cleansed 
and  disinfected  ;  the  roof-supports,  too,  are  of  iron, 
and  the  roof  itself  is  designed  to  diminish  infection. 
Of  such  a  modern  cow-shed  we  give  an  illustra- 
tion in  Fig.  20.5.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  interior 
of  the  shed  is  spacious,  and  that  there  are  ample 
means  of  ventilation.  Such  arrangements  are  not 
only  easy  to  clean,  but  easy  to  keep  clean,  as  they 
afford  but  little  opportunity  for  dirt  of  any  kind  to 


346 


DAIRY    FA  U:\I1XG. 


oiillcft,  ami  where  no  dirt  is,  there  is  but  little  fear 
of  contaf^ion,  providing  due  outside  precautions  are 
taken.  Yet,  sliould  the  premises  become  infected, 
tiiev  admit  of  being  so  perfectly  disinfected  that  it 
will  be  safe  to  bring  other  cattle  into  them  after  a 
reasonable  time. 

Many  of  tlie  London  dairymen  obtain  large 
quantities  of  milk  from  the  country  to  supple- 
ment what  their  own  cows  produce,  particularly  in 
the  seasons  when  milk  is  scarce.  Others,  again, 
in  addition  to  their  cow-sheds  in  town,  have  a 
farm  or  farms  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  metro- 
polis, where  they  produce  a  quantity  of  milk  as 
may  be  required,  cultivate  the  necessary  forage, 
roots,  and  green  crops  for  town  consumption — pro- 
viding they  cannot  more  chea])ly  purchase  them, 
raise  their  young  stock,  rusticate  their  town 
cows  that  are  dry  for  calving  or  are  out  of  health, 
and,  in  fact,  perform  a  number  of  operations,  all  of 
which  are,  of  course,  subsidiary  to  the  one  great 
speciality  of  milk-production  for  town  consumers. 
And  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  such  arrangements 
are  beneficial  in  many  ways ;  the  dairyman  feels 
that  he  has  a  reserve  and  an  opening  to  fall  back 
upon  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  his  trade ;  it  is  no 
longer  a  hand-to-mouth  system,  depending  wholly 
on  the  markets  for  a  supply  of  newly-calved  cows  ; 
and  he  is  relieved  from  the  necessity  of  selling  off 
his  cows  as  they  begin  to  fail  in  their  milk.  Other 
dairymen,  who  have  no  farm  to  fall  back  on,  who 
have  to  buy  all  their  cows  as  they  want  them  or 
can  get  them,  and  all  the  food  they  eat  as  well, 
are  bound  under  an  inelastic  system,  which  admits 
of  no  variation;  and  it  is  their  practice  to  feed 
their  cows  to  the  utmost  of  their  ca])acity,  pi-acti- 
cally  fattening  and  milking  thcni  all  the  while,  so 
tiiat  when  a  cow  falls  off  in  her  milk,  is  infectc(l 
with  a  contagious  disease,  or  meets  with  an  acci- 
dent, she  is  at  once  ready  for  the  butcher.  They 
cannot  in  fact,  as  a  rule,  for  want  of  accommoda- 
tion, allow  their  cows  to  calve  again  on  their  hands, 
and  milk  them  on  through  a  second  or  a  third 
])eriod  ;  consequently,  however  good  a  milker  a  cow 
may  be,  she  commonly  goes  to  the  butcher  soon 
after  she  ceases  to  yield  a  paying  quantity  of  milk. 
We  do  not  find  fault  with  the  system  of  fattening 
a  cow  as  far  as  may  be  done  while  she  is  giving 
milk,  for  we  consider  it  a  good  system  to  pursue, 
when,  on  accoimt  of  age  or  for  other  reasons,  it 
is  considered  that  her  career  as  a  milk-cow  is  no 
longer  desirable  to  prolong,  and  because  in  case  of 


an  accident  which  requiies  that  she  be  killed,  she 
is  not  in  any  sense  a  dead  loss  to  her  owner;  but 
we  certainly  object  to  a  system  which  inexorably 
sends  to  the  butcher  a  cow  which  is  still  in  the 
prime  of  life,  and  would  pay  well  in  milk  for  a 
year  or  two  longer.  This  necessity  does  not  hamper 
the  dairyman  who  has  a  farm  in  the  country. 

Holland  P.\rk  Farm. 

We  select  this  suburban  dairy-farm  for  de- 
scription, because  it  is  the  best  and  completest  we 
have  seen.  It  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a 
suburban  farm,  for  Mr.  Tisdall,  the  owner,  has 
70  acres  of  land  close  by  his  premises,  consisting 
mainly  of  the  park,  which  is  still  attached  to  the 
renowned  Holland  House,  once  the  residence  of 
Charles  James  Fox,  and  it  is  situated  in  Kensing- 
ton, one  of  the  most  beautiful  suburbs  of  Londoc. 
In  F'ig.  206  we  give  an  illustration  of  the  interior 
of  the  premises,  which  are  very  pretty  and  con- 
venient, choicely  ornamented  with  Mintons'  tiles 
and  with  evergreens,  devoted  wholly  to  the  retail 
sale  of  milk,  and  very  attractive  iu  all  respects ; 
and  in  Fig.  207  we  give  a  ground-plan,  which  will 
convey  a  clear  idea  of  the  arrangement  of  the 
cow-stalls  as  they  were  until  recently.  Before 
the  cows  were  removed  they  could  be  seen  from 
the  interior  of  the  shop,  standing  in  rows,  the 
folding  doors  having  large  panes  of  glass.  There 
are  yet  other  premises  adjoining,  where  the  milk- 
cans  are  cleaned,  the  cream  raised,  and  the  vehicles 
stowed  away  at  night.  The  premises  we  illustrate 
were  devoted  to  the  cows  themselves  and  to  the 
retail  sale  of  milk ;  and  as  a  description  of  ihe 
business  as  a  whole  we  cannot  do  better,  with  a 
few  additions  and  excisions,  than  quote  from  a 
writer  in  the  Lire  Stock  Journal  of  November  1, 
1.S78  :— 

"  We  will  enter  by  the  handsome  building, 
which  is  practically  the  'shop''  of  Messrs.  Tunks 
and  Tisdall,  a  firm  which  is  of  a  hundred  years' 
standing  as  suppliers  of  milk  and  other  dairy  pro- 
duce to  the  iidiabitants  of  the  old  Court  suburb. 
The  firm  began  its  business  on  freehold  premises 
just  opposite  Lord  Holland's  gates  in  the  Kensing- 
ton Road,  but  in  1S.J2  took  the  Holland  paiks 
and  the  adjacent  fields,  and  has  held  them  ever 
since.  The  '  shop,'  as  we  call  it,  is  built  on 
ground  which  formed  a  corner  of  HolTand  Park, 
and  is  a  prominent  object  in  the  great  western 
road  out  of  London.     All  the  details  of  the  build- 


TIIK    HOLLAND    PARK    IWTRV. 


31.7 


inr;  avo  siifrgestive  of  its  use.      Outsiilo  it  luis  a      whose  pedij^Tces  sliall   iippeav  in  llio   Herd   Book 
line  of  tilos,  made  specially  by  MintonSj  each  tile     and   wliieli   are   bred   entirely    for   their   milkin< 


1„  JOi      iMHiidU  cjt  11  ii\\nl\ii    I)ur\  (1  ri  ui  Dpimimint) 


containing' 
important 
centre  tile 


a  portrait  of  a  cow,  representing  some  qualities.  It  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Tisdall  thinks 
strain  of  the  Shorthorn  breed.  The  that  the  breed  which  does  so  much  as  a  meat- 
contains  the  portrait  of  a  magnificent      bearer  is  also  the  best  milk-producer,  and  that  by 


3NV1     HyVd    QNVTIOH 


f^ELBURV      ROAU 


Fig.  237.— Ground-plan,  before  Removal  of  the  Stalls. 


bull,  which  is  the  present  lord  of  the  Holland  Park 
herd.  Mr.  Tisdall  looks  at  his  dairy-farming  as  a 
business,  and  he  has  made  up  his  mind  that  the 
liest  animals  for  his  purpose  are  Shorthorns,  and  he 
restricts  himself  to  the  use  of  that  breed.  He  is 
fast  making  his  herd  one  of  jmre-bred  Shorthorns 


careful   selection   of    sires   and    dams  he    can   the 
sooner  reach  his  object  in  dairy-farming. 

"  Entering  the  '  shop,'  we  find  it  admirably 
cool  and  sweet.  The  floor  is  tiled,  the  windows 
are  filled  with  plants  and  flowers.  On  each  side 
are  couches,  and  near  arc  marlilcd-toppcd  tables,  at 


318 


DAIRY     FAK:\IINC!. 


which  ladii'S  out  for  a  loiin<^e,  or  who  arc  f'ati<;'ucd 
with  their  shopping,  can  have  a  dainty  glass  of 
mili'C,  or  can  rest  while  they  give  their  orders  for 
the  same  article  for  home  use.  In  the  centre  is  a 
fountain,  which  seems  to  send  up  its  column  of 
spray  jierpetually.  There  are  chairs  distributed 
l)lentifully  about,  and  in  each  of  the  two  farther 
corners  is  a  marble-topped  counter,  at  which 
lemonade,  soda-water,  milk,  and  dairy  produce 
generally  are  served  out.  We  should  not  omit  to 
mention  that  in  each  corner  there  is  a  statuette, 
the  four  representing  the  four  seasons.  These  sta- 
tuettes are  the  work  of  j\Ir.  Pa])worth,  the  sculptor, 
and  interested  many  of  the  visitors  of  the  Inter- 
national Exhibition  of  1802.  Round  the  walls 
there  is,  as  outside,  a  line  of  pictured  tiles.  Those 
inside  represent  almost  every  conceivable  subject 
associated  with  a  farm,  and  are  all  from  special 
designs,  and  made  at  the  famous  pottery  of 
Mintons'  at  Stoke. 

"  Right  opposite  the  entrance  are  glazed  doors, 
wliich  open  straight  into  one  of  the  cow-houses, 
and  there  the  cows  are  to  be  seen  standing,  some 
there  to-day  being  prize-\\-inners  at  the  late  Dairy 
Show.  The  an-angements  are  noteworthy;  and 
we  may  mention  that  the  chief  cow-house  is 
modelled  upon  the  late  Emperor  Napoleon's  dairy 
at  Viucennes,  but  here  there  are  improvements 
introduced.  The  cows  stand  head  to  head,  and 
over  the  head  of  each  is  her  name-tablet.  Down 
the  centre  is  a  passage,  and  on  each  side  of  it  a 
row  of  stone  mangers  at  which  the  cattle  feed  and 
drink,  a  clear  run  of  water  going  from  end  to  end. 
All  that  could  be  thought  of  to  secure  cleanliness 
has  been  done ;  and  an  idea  of  the  purity  of  the 
atmosphere  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that 
the  many  hanging  plants  which  depend  from  the 
roof  thrive  well.  Here,  again,  the  floor  is  tiled. 
Each  cow  has  a  sej)arate  stall.  At  the  far  end  of 
this  cow-house,  and  separated  from  the  cows  by  a 
covered  yard,  the  lord  of  the  harem  has  liis  separate 
and  very  roomy  residence.  He  is  a  magnificent 
specimen  of  the  Shorthorn  breed,  and,  according 
to  Mr.  Strafford,  comes  from  the  best  tribe  of 
Shorthorns  for  milking  purjioses — the  well-known 
Princesses  of  Mr.  Cheney,  of  (laddesby  Hall.  IIo 
figures  in  the  Herd  Book  as  Karl  of  Leicester  \l. 
(No.  .•38,^:30). 

"  From  the  cow-house  we  go  into  the  jjarks, 
anil  think  how  fortunate  Mr.  Tisdall  is  to  have 
such   a  lovely  place  for   tlie   |)asture  of  his    cattle. 


Taking  Ibjlland  House  as  its  centre,  and  dcsiiing 
for  a  moment  to  enter  and  look  at  its  historic 
treasures,  we  pass  from  point  to  point,  at  every 
step  finding  some  new  beauty  or  some  suggested 
association  with  one  or  many  great  names.  Then 
the  parks,  with  their  walks  and  drives,  and  the 
studied  displa}'  of  landscape  art,  make  one  wonder, 
and  feel  certain  that  the  great  world  which  teems 
and  tumbles  just  outside  does  not  dream  of  the 
paradise  from  which  it  is  shut  out.  At  this  point 
and  at  that  are  portions  of  the  herd,  each  adding  to 
the  many  attractions  of  the  place. 

"  Then  we  go  back,  chatting  with  the  owner 
about  his  views  of  dairy-farming.  We  have 
already  spoken  of  his  preference  for  Shorthorns. 
This  is  the  result  of  long  study,  not  of  caprice, 
or  for  the  sake  of  being  in  the  fashion.  The  cows 
are  kept  largely  on  grass,  which  up  to  July  is  cut 
and  carried  to  them  in  the  houses ;  still,  they  have 
a  run  outside  of  a  few  hours  daily.  After  that 
period  they  are  out  at  pasture,  with  the  additional 
help  of  hay,  grains,  and  meal,  always  being 
milked  in  the  houses.  The  winter  feed  is  mangel- 
wurzel,  hay,  grains,  and  meal.  In  breeding  Mr. 
Tisdall's  aim  has  been  to  get  hold  of  the  principal 
tribes  of  milkers  and  to  develop  and  perpetuate 
their  best  qualities.  In  some  cases  these  qualities 
are  almost  obliterated  through  want  of  care.  He 
ado])ts  the  belief  of  an  American  writer,  that 
milking  quality  is  lost  by  fattening  for  show  pur- 
poses, and  instances  two  eases  of  dams  which  were 
grand  milkers,  and  had  young  which,  being  fatted 
for  show,  have  been  practicallj^  useless  since. 

"  One  means  of  testing  the  value  of  the  plan 
adopted  here  is  that  of  keeping  a  strict  account  of 
the  milk  yielded  by  each  cow.  Each  milker's  lot 
has  a  separate  record,  and  from  time  to  time  Mr. 
Tisdall  collects  these,  and  makes  entry  of  them 
in  a  book  kept  by  himself.  His  overlooker  has 
instructions  to  see  that  these  records  are  kept 
regularly  and  properly.  The  information  thus 
obtained  is,  of  course,  of  great  value,  and  aids 
in  the  object  of  improving  the  lierd.  We  have 
seen  these  records,  and,  congratulating  Mr.  Tisdall 
on  his  method  and  exactness,  make  use  of  the 
privilege  of  extracting  some  of  the  entries.  Take 
one  instance.  There  is  the  cow  Charmer,  milked 
by  James  Justice,  a  man  grown  grey  in  the  ser- 
vice. She  was  bought  of  a  good  breeder  ia 
Buckinghamshire  for  10  guineas,  and  is  the 
i-hcapcst     cow     the     owner    ever    bought.        She 


MODERN    LONDON    DAIRIES. 


319 


ealvod  at  tlio  end  of  Ni)Vcinbor,  1875,  and  was 
in  milk  for  twelve  months,  that  is  until  De- 
cember, 1876.  She  g'ave  1,368  gallons  in  that 
time,  being  an  average  of  15  quarts  of  milk  a 
day  over  the  whole  period.  She  calved  again  at 
the  end  of  February,  1877.  She  was  again  in 
milk  for  twelve  months,  and  yielded  1,531 
gallons,  or  an  average  of  16'91  quarts  daily. 
She  calved  a  third  time  in  the  beginning  of 
May  last,  and  she  has  since  yielded  an  average 
of  18  quarts  1  pint  a  day.  A  second  case  is 
that  of  a  pure-bred  cow,  Venus,  bred  by  Mr. 
Hobbs,  of  Maisey  Hampton.  Last  season  she 
gave  10  quarts  daily,  being  910  gallons  in  the 
year.  The  year  before  she  gave  12  quarts  daily. 
Another,  Infant,  a  cross-bred  cow,  with  one  cross 
of  Shorthorn,  last  year  averaged  1025  quarts 
daily,  the  total  record  showing  935  gallons;  and 
the  year  before  the  yield  averaged  12 "63  quarts 
for  eleven  months,  the  total  being  1,095  gallons. 
These  Holland  Park  farmers  are  careful  to  show 
us  their  failures  as  well  as  their  successes.  For 
instance,  there  is  the  record  of  the  doings  of 
INIaj'flower,  a  grand  roan  cow,  prize-winner  at 
the  Bucks  Show  of  1874,  and  daughter  of  one 
of  the  best  milkers  in  the  herd,  Meatlowflower 
14th.  She  calved  a  fine  bull-calf  21st  Feb- 
ruary last,  and  is  now  quite  dry,  having  lasted 
in  milk  only  full  six  months,  and  during  that 
time  the  yield  averaged  only  3" 75  quarts  per 
day.  Then  there  is  Miss  Pearl,  a  beautiful  de- 
scendant of  a  favourite  milking  tribe.  She  calved 
a  red-and-white  cow-calf  (since  dead)  on  the  23rd 
December  last,  kept  in  milk  till  August,  and 
yielded  only  an  average  of  2"78  quarts  a  day  for 
seven  months.  In  these  two  cases  the  results  are 
meagre,  and  neither  cow  returned  the  cost  of  her 
keep.  It  says  something  for  INIr.  TisdalFs  at- 
tention to  his  business  to  say  that  he  has  kejrt 
these  careful  records  for  nearly  thirty  years. 

"  Dairy  work  is  carried  on  by  a  daily  system 
of  churning,  which,  although  more  troublesome, 
is  considered  more  desirable  by  Mr.  Tisdall,  to 
secure  freshness  of  product,  and  to  prevent  the 
decomposition  of  the  cream.  He  thinks  the  fewer 
changes  permitted  in  the  composition  of  the  cream 
the  better  will  be  the  butter.  The  system  of 
weekly  churning  admits  of  such  changes  in  the 
cream  as  are  not  favourable  either  to  the  flavour 
or  the  keeping  qualities  of  the  butter.  In  the 
method    of    cooling    the    dairy    Mr.    Tisdall    has 


departed  from  the  orthodox  plan.  The  walls  are 
made  double,  and  the  air  is  permitted  to  circulate 
between  them.  Thus  the  inner  wall  is  m\ich 
cooler  than  the  outer.  In  place  of  a  cornice  to 
the  milk-setting  room  a  perforated  pipe  is  placed 
there,  and  being  connected  with  a  huge  cistern 
in  the  baru  adjoining,  the  walls  can  be  made 
to  resemble  a  sheeted  waterfall  at  will.  In  the 
centre  of  the  room,  in  place  of  a  chandelier,  is 
a  depending  pipe,  fitted  with  a  boat-shaped  finial, 
and  from  this,  day  or  night,  a  perfect  shower-bath 
of  cold  water  can  be  made  to  descend  on  the  closed 
milk-cans  below.  In  order  to  aid  in  the  pro- 
cesses of  the  dairy  there  is  a  steam-engine  with 
a  large  boiler;  by  means  of  this  the  food  is 
prepared,  and  the  cans  and  churns  used  in  the 
conveyance  of  the  milk  cleaned  rapidly  by  being 
placed  over  jets  of  steam. 

"  We  should  say  that  the  firm  has  also  two 
large  farms  at  Epsom,  worked  on  the  same  system 
as  that  at  Holland  Park,  and  that  from  the 
various  sources  of  supply  they  obtain  nearly  300 
gallons  of  milk  daily.  Messrs.  Tunks  and  Tisdall 
have  invested  no  less  a  sum  than  £1,650  in  plant 
for  the  mere  distribution  of  milk — that  is,  in 
carts,  cans,  fee.;  and  they  supply  regularly  1,200 
families  in  the  West  End  of  London,  besides 
hotels,  clubs,  and  other  public  institutious.'' 

The  Aylesbury  Dairy  Company  also  sup- 
plies a  great  number  of  families  in  the  West 
End  of  London  with  milk  from  the  country.  This 
milk  is  chiefly  produced  in  the  western  counties, 
and  comes  to  town  by  the  Great  Western  Rail- 
way; it  is,  however,  derived  from  other  districts 
too.  The  Company  have  built  a  receiving-house 
and  cheese-factory  at  Swindon,  in  Wiltshire;  here 
a  great  number  of  farmers  deliver  their  milk, 
under  very  stringent  terms  of  agreement  as  to 
adulteration  and  freshness  of  the  milk,  cleanliness 
of  the  milk-cans,  hours  of  delivery,  &c.,  and  in 
many  cases  the  Company  provide  their  milk-sup- 
pliers with  refrigerators,  so  that  in  hot  weather 
the  milk  may  be  cooled  and  aerated  immediately 
it  is  drawn  from  the  cows,  when  it  will  travel 
without  injury  and  arrive  in  good  condition. 
From  this  receiving-house  the  milk  is  sent  to 
London — as  much  of  it,  that  is,  as  may  be 
wanted ;  the  rest  is  set  to  cream,  for  there  is  a 
great  demand  for  cream  in  the  West  End  of 
London,  and  the  skim-milk  is  made  into  cheese, 
which  finds   a   ready   sale  at  a  moderate  price  in 


S50 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


lli«  South  Wak-s  Colliery  districts.  By  ineaus 
of  the  reeeiviiin-house  and  the  various  arrauye- 
ments  connected  with  it,  the  Comiiany  are 
enalded  to  ret^ulate  their  supply  of  milk  to  the 
business  in  town  according  to  the  demand  there 
is  for  it,  a  demand  which  is  liable  to  fluctuate 
more  or  less  day  by  day ;  and  so  loss,  arising 
from  overplus  of  milk,  is  avoided,  such  overplus 
being  diverted  to  other  uses. 

We  need  not  cite  a  more  favourable  instance  in 
the  milk  trade  of  London  than  that  of  Mr.  Col- 
linson  Hall,  of  Brentwood,  in  Essex.  We  have 
here  a  farmer  of  some  2,000  acres,  milking  his  700 
cows,  and  delivering  his  milk  direct  to  his  cus- 
tomers without  the  intervention  of  a  dealer  or 
middlenian.  It  would  be  diflicult  to  find  a  better 
example  of  successful  farming,  either  in  the  milk 
trade  or  out  of  it.  The  cows  are  kept  at  the 
farms,  but  they  are  stall-fed  the  year  round,  re- 
ceiving grass  and  a  variety  of  green  crops  in  tlie 
summer,  and  in  winter  roots,  brewers'  grains, 
chaffed  forage,  cake,  and  other  feeding-stuffs ; 
cake  and  corn,  in  fact,  are  freely  used  in  summer, 
when  grass  and  otheK  green  crops  stand  in  the 
place  of  hay  and  roots  and  grains.  Thus  the 
soiling  system  is  carried  out  thoroughly,  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  in  connection  with 
a  milk  business  of  this  kind,  it  is  the  system  from 
which  the  most  profit  can  be  obtained.  The  use 
of  large  quantities  of  purchased  feeding-stuffs 
greatly  enhances  the  quality  of  the  farm-yard 
manure,  Avhich  in  its  turn  increases  the  bulk 
while  it  strengthens  the  quality  of  the  various 
crops  of  the  farm.  There  is,  in  fact,  no  better 
way  of  improving  the  land  than  by  the  liberal 
consumption  of  purchased  feeding-stuffs  l)y  the 
animals  kept  on  the  farm ;  indeed,  we  may  go 
so  far  as  to  say  that  this  is  the  best  way 
of  all. 


Another  most  favourable  instance  of  successful 
suburban  dair3--farniing  is  that  of  Mr.  Stapleton, 
of  Brookland  Dairy  Farm,  Stoke  Newington, 
though  it  differs  in  one  essential  feature  from 
those  of  Mr.  Tisdall  and  Mr.  Hall.  The  difference 
is  this  :  IMr.  Stapleton's  cows  are  kept  quite  away 
from  the  farms  which  support  them,  and  instead 
of  taking  the  milk  from  the  farm,  the  forage  is 
taken  and  the  manure  returned  to  it.  In  this 
there  is  more  labour ;  but  there  is,  as  a  set-off, 
the  convenience  of  having  the  cows  kept  in  the 
midst  of  the  people  whom  they  suj)ply  with  milk. 
We  incline  to  the  system  of  keeping  the  cows 
at  the  farm,  because  there  is  less  labour  and  less 
waste  involved  in  it;  it  is  easier  to  convey  the 
product  than  the  machinery. 

Several  attempts  have  been  made  to  enable 
farmers  at  a  distance  to  sell  their  milk  to  Lon- 
doners without  the  intervention  of  middlemen, 
who  i^ick  up  a  handsome  profit  between  the  pro- 
ducer and  the  consumer.  It  seems  feasible  enough 
to  establish  co-operative  milk-supply  companies, 
with  the  j)roducers  and  consumers  only  as  share- 
holders, but  as  yet  no  such  scheme  has  taken  root. 
And,  indeed,  even  were  such  companies  to  be 
formed,  we  have  reason  to  fear  that  the  shares 
would  eventually  gravitate  into  the  custody  of 
directors  and  mere  speculators  in  stock.  The 
time  will,  however,  come  when  the  producers  and 
consumers  will  have  direct  intercourse,  without 
the  aid  of  interlopers  who  are  mere  distributors 
of  produce,  who  reap  the  lion's  share  of  the 
j)rofits  fur  the  lamb's  share  of  pains  ;  and  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  such  intercoin-se  will  be 
an  immense  gain  to  the  community  at  large. 
We  speak  now  not  in  respect  of  milk  only,  but 
of  most  other  products  of  the  farm — of  cheese 
and  liutter,  beef  and  mutton,  poultry,  eggs, 
and  vegetables. 


CHAPTER     XXIII. 

Villa  Dairying. 

neral  Character  of  tlic  Villa  rtairy-Suitable  Kinds  of  Cows— Importance  of  a  Good  Jlilkcr— Stalls  and  Shedding— Land  Ucqiiired- 
i  ,  ^    J\  ^  Method  of  Management  for  a  Villa  Dairy. 


c'lLLA  dairyin<r  is  usually  sujj- 
posed  to  be  amateur  farmiug 
on  a  small  scale,  and  generally 
the  supposition  is  correct,  but 
not  always  so.  It  is  not  un- 
fair to  conclude  that  a  man 
who  lives  in  a  villa,  and  beguiles 
some  of  his  non-business  hours  wth  the 
details  of  a  miniature  farm,  can  hardly 
]>e  a  practical  farmer  in  the  tnie  sense 
of  the  word,  and  yet  he  may  be,  and 
often  is,  intensely  practical  in  a  way. 
He  IS  usually  a  ct)untry  gentleman,  a  professional 
or  a  business  man,  who  delights  in  a  country 
home  and  in  the  possession  of  a  small  but  select 
variety  of  domesticated  animals,  and  fowls  as 
well.  His  agricultural  education,  as  a  rule,  has 
been  derived  from  books,  and  he  has  served  no 
apprenticeship  to  the  somewhat  monotonous  plod- 
ding after  the  plough,  lacking  which  no  farmer's 
training  is  complete.  He  has  never  done  any 
ploughing  and  sowing,  or  reaping  and  mowing, 
and  he  has  not  in  his  youth  been  initiated  into  the 
intricacies  of  live-stock  management,  as  it  is  con- 
ducted on  a  farm.  No  doubt  he  has  read  Jethro 
TuU  and  Arthur  Young,  more  or  less,  as  all 
cultured  Englishmen  who  love  a  country  life  must 
have  done ;  he  may  have  waded  through  a  disser- 
tation on  the  theory  and  practice  of  under-draining, 
have  studied  the  laws  of  animal-reproduction  and 
the  mysteries  of  plant-nutrition,  and  he  has  surely 
wandered  through  the  delightful  "  Chronicles  of  a 
Clay  Farm ;  "  but  these  studies,  however  nsefid 
they  may  be  and  are,  are  not  enough  to  make  a 
man  a  farmer,  and  the  practical  part  is  never  so 
well  learnt  as  in  youth. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  farming  can  only  be   made  remunerative  by 


those  who  have  been  brought  up  to  it  from  thuif 
childhood.  It  is  no  doubt  true  that  many — the 
great  majority — of  amateur  farmers  lose  money 
by  the  business;  but  there  are  exceptions  to  the 
rule,  and  instances  are  not  far  to  seek  in  which 
men  who  were  bred  to  other  occupations,  and  fol- 
lowed them  for  a  time  successfully,  have  turned  to 
farmiug  and  made  it  pay.  Others,  again,  while 
still  engaged  in  mercantile  or  professional  pur- 
suits, have  done  great  service  to  agriculture  by 
]X)inting  out  other  tracks  than  the  old  beaten  ones 
of  many  generations — paths  which  those  who  are 
actively  engaged  in  a  business  cannot  always  so 
quickly  see  as  an  outsider  can,  one  whose  habits 
of  life  and  thought  lie  in  the  direction  of  reforms 
and  discoveries. 

As  a  rule,  however,  villa  farming,  in  which 
dairj'ing  is  almost  always  a  conspicuous  because  a 
necessary  item,  is  not  undertaken  with  a  view  to 
profit  so  much  as  to  convenience  combined  with 
pleasure.  Yet  to  make  it  pay  adds  much  to  tlie 
pride  of  it.  To  most  city  men  who  can  afford 
it,  a  home  in  the  country  has  many  charms,  and 
such  a  home  comes  not  up  to  the  owner's  taste 
unless  a  little  dabbling  in  farming  can  be  had 
along  with  it.  This  is  all  as  it  should  be — if  kept 
to  a  small  scale.  What  so  natural  as  to  keep  a 
cow,  a  pig  or  two,  and  a  pony,  where  a  few  acres 
of  land  can  be  had,  and  the  premises  are,  or  can  be 
made,  suitable  for  the  purpose  ?  One's  own  milk 
and  cream  and  butter,  jjroduced  by  a  petted  cow 
who  is  fed  on  the  daintiest  bits  that  can  be  had, 
are  always  better  than  we  can  buy,  or  at  least  we 
fancy  they  are — which  is  much  the  same  as  being 
so,  whether  they  are  or  not.  And  what,  again,  is 
so  choice  in  the  way  of  pork  and  bacon  as  those 
fed  on  the  premises  ?  The  milk  and  cream  and 
butter,  the  pork  and  bacon,  may  each  and  all  cost 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


more  than  wc  could  buy  them  for,  but  the  jjleasure 
of  prochiciiijj  them  is  worth  more  than  the  differ- 
ence in  cost.  The  butter,  it  is  time,  may  not  always 
be  a  success  on  so  small  a  scale  as  one  cow,  and 
particularly  so  when  part  of  the  milk  is  used 
as  it  is;  but  the  cream  is  delig'htful  and  simple 
to  raise,  and  the  skim-milk  comes  in  well  IV.r 
the  ])i<j. 

Take  her  for  all  in  all,  there  is  no  cow  so 
suitable  for  villa  dairying  as  the  Jersey  or  the 
Ayrshire  among  our  British  breeds;  next,  we 
should  say,  comes  the  hardy  little  Kerry — the 
Irish  cottier's  cow.  The  other  breeds  are  cither 
inferior  milkers,  or  they  are  too  large  individually. 
We  may,  indeed,  take  it  for  granted  that  large- 
framed  cows,  even  if  they  are  proportionately  deep 
milkers,  are  not  well  adapted  to  villa  dairying; 
they  are  too  unwieldy,  and  there  is  a  self-evident 
disparity  between  them  and  the  office  they  are 
designed  to  fill.  For  purely  dairying  or  milking 
purj)osos,  large  cows  are  not  desirable,  particularly 
on  land  that  becomes  sticky  in  wet  weather  and 
treads  up  into  mud ;  on  such  land  small  cows,  by 
virtue  of  their  lesser  weight,  do  less  harm  in  a 
wet  time — they  waste  less  grass  by  treading  it 
underfoot  and  pressing  it  into  the  softened  soil. 
Quantity  and  quality  of  milk  are  the  first  points 
to  be  sought  for  in  a  cow  that  is  kept  at  a  villa, 
and  these  ought  to  be  considered  in  relation  to  the 
size  of  the  animal.  It  may  be  true  that  larger 
cows  give  more  milk  than  smaller  ones,  as  a  rule, 
but  they  do  not  give  so  much  in  proportion 
to  the  size  of  the  animal — at  least,  it  is  very 
seldom  they  do.  Again,  small  cows,  as  a  rule, 
give  richer  milk  than  large  ones — richer,  that  is, 
in  the  fats  of  milk — and  so  they  are  better  butter- 
cows,  which  is  an  important  point  in  villa  dairying. 
This  is  accounted  for  in  the  relative  size  of  the 
animals :  the  smaller  cow  moves  about  with  less 
exertion,  so  there  is  less  respiration  and  a  smaller 
consumption  of  fat  in  the  process,  the  balance 
going  into  the  milk;  less  fat,  too,  is  needed  to 
maintain  the  heat  of  the  cow's  body,  because  her 
body  is  smaller.  The  rate  of  eonsum])tion  of  fat 
in  the  animal  economy,  and  the  (piality  of  the 
milk,  have  a  direct  relation  to  the  amount  of 
exercise  a  cow  takes  in  the  search  for  food  or 
otherwise  :  these  are  well  -  ascertained  facts. 
Again,  the  cow  which  an  owner  of  a  villa 
should  keep  ought  to  be  a  pretty,  graceful  sort  of 
cow,  for  ornament  added   to  utility   is  not  to  be 


overlooked;  and  no  man  Wduld  like  to  see  a  big, 
ugly  cow  about  his  premises. 

We  will  not  discuss  the  question  of  size  in  its 
bearing  on  beauty  in  a  cow ;  but  there  can  be  no 
question  that  the  Jerseys  are  the  most  elegant,  the 
most  graceful,  and  the  most  feminine-looking  cows 
we  have,  ])articularly  in  their  beautiful  deer-like 
countenances ;  their  fawn-like  colour  of  skin,  too,  is 
more  pleasing  in  the  distance,  and  so  is  more  orna- 
mental, more  park-like,  more  in  kee))ing  than  any 
other  with  the  surroundings  of  a  gentleman's  resi- 
dence ;  and  to  these  qualities  we  may  add  the  great 
docility  of  the  Jersey  cows — a  virtue  that  cannot 
be  too  highly  commended.  It  must,  however,  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  Jersey  is  not  a  hardy  cow-,  and 
so  is  not  at  home  in  a  cold  and  barren  district.  Her 
island-home  is  warm  and  sunny,  and  for  many 
generations  she  has  been  treated  with  great  tender- 
ness, so  that  she  has  become  somewhat  delicate  in 
constitution,  and  needs  the  kindliest  treatment  if 
she  is  to  make  the  best  return  to  her  owner. 

Given  these  conditions,  there  does  not  exist 
a  more  profitable  cow  than  the  Jersey.  Her 
milk  is  richer  than  that  of  most,  if  not  all,  other 
kinds  of  cows,  the  average  size  of  the  cream- 
globules  in  it  is  larger,  and  the  butter  has  a  deeper 
and  richer  colour.  For  these  reasons  she  is 
essentially  a  butter-cow ;  her  milk  or  cream  churns 
with  great  ease,  because  the  fat-globules  are 
comparatively  large,  and  her  butter  is  of  that  deep 
primrose — almost  marigold — colour  which  is  so 
highly  prized  by  connoisseurs  and  epicures. 

But  for  cold  districts,  where  the  land  is  none 
of  the  richest,  the  Ayrshire  or  the  Kerry  would  be 
more  suitable  than  the  Jersey ;  and  it  must  not 
be  supposed  that  they  are  suitable  only  to  such 
districts,  for  their  productiveness  is  increased  on  a 
richer  soil  and  in  a  warmer  climate.  They  are  not  so 
ornamental  as  the  Jersey — this  must  be  admitted; 
but  they  do  not  require  such  tender  treatment,  and 
they  are  better  able  to  shift  for  themselves.  So 
far  as  form  is  concerned  the  Ayrshire  is  almost  per- 
fect as  a  milch-cow,  and  she  is  not  too  big,  and, 
though  she  is  often  very  pretty,  her  colour  is  not  so 
aristocratic  as  that  of  the  Jersey.  Villa  farmers  not 
uncommonly  have  a  keener  eye  for  the  ornamental 
than  for  the  useful  in  the  tout  enwmhle  of  a  cow's 
looks,  and  the  Jersey  is  more  a  j)atrician  than  the 
Ayrshire,  while  the  Kerry  is  quite  plebeian  in 
character,  though  eminently  useful  as  a  milker.  A 
practised  dairy-farmer  will  almost  tell  by  the  look 


THE    cow     FOR    TIIK    VILLA. 


.35:5 


of  a  cow's  face — certainly  by  the  sweep  of  her 
outlines — whether  or  not  she  is  a  good  milker,  or  a 
better  beef-maker;  and  no  build  of  a  cow  comes 
nearer  than  the  typical  Ayrshire  to  what  a  deep- 
milker  ought  to  be,  and  generally  is,  in  most  of 
the  best  dairy  breeds. 

Hence  the  choice,  in  our  diiiiiiim,  lies  between 
the  Jersey  and  the  Ayrshire  for  the  villa,  within 
the  limits  we  have  spoken  of.  Yet  are  there  many 
who  will  fancy  the  Kerry  cow,  because  she  is 
small  and  very  useful ;  yet  others  will  have  a 
Welsh,  a  Devon,  or  a  Shorthorn  as  the  case  may 
be,  and  not  a  few  there  are  who  chose  the  quaint 
little  Brittanies.  The  choice  will  be  the  result  of 
taste,  or  of  convenience  where  no  taste  is.  In 
any  case  the  cow  of  the  villa  usually  has  a  good 
time  of  it;  she  is  well  fed  and  well  tended,  and 
though  not  always  well  milked,  is  usually  a  good 
milker,  because  of  the  generous  treatment  she 
receives,  and  the  comparative  retirement  of  her 
life.  Where  one  or  two  cows  only  are  kept,  they 
almost  invariably  milk  better  than  larger  numbers 
do — the  result  of  tranquillity  and  of  kindlier  treat- 
ment. 

There  is  yet  another  breed,  an  English  one, 
which  we  think  well  suited  to  this  purpose, 
chieHy  on  account  of  one  surpassing  merit  that 
very  few  breeds  of  cows  possess :  this  is  the 
Norfolk  Polled  cow;  and  the  merit  we  allude  to  is 
the  absence  of  horns.  As  a  milker  she  is  not  equal 
to  the  Jersey  or  the  Ayrshire,  yet  she  is  a  goud 
milker;  and  she  is  larger  than  either  of  them, 
w'hich  may  or  may  not  be  a  disadvantage  in  the 
estimation  of  the  amateur  farmers  of  whom  and 
for  whom  we  are  now  writing ;  her  colour,  too,  is 
usually  a  bright  red,  which,  though  more  con- 
spicuous, may  not  be  regarded  as  so  ornamental 
as  that  of  the  Jersey,  or  even  that  of  the  Ayrshire, 
which  is  generally  a  pale  red  with  many  patches  of 
white,  or  white  with  many  patches  of  pale  red.  But 
while  the  Ayrshire  is  rather  pugnacious,  the  Nor- 
folk Polled  is  a  quieter  cow,  and  this  is  jsrobably 
owing  to  the  absence  of  the  weapons  of  war.  As 
a  cow  can  do  much  mischief  with  her  horns  when 
she  is  so  inclined,  it  is  certainly  better  that  she 
should  have  no  horns  to  do  mischief  with,  and  it  is 
no  loss  in  any  sense  that  she  should  not  possess 
them.  As  with  a  knife  in  the  hands  of  a  boy,  so 
with  horns  on  the  head  of  a  cow :  the  weapon  is 
there;  if  used  at  all,  it  is  used  to  injure  some- 
thing; the  ability  suggests  the  temptatiijn,  which 


in  its  turn  is  a  sure  prelude  to  the  act.  To  those 
who  are  not  used  to  her,  a  hornless  cow  seems  odd 
at  first;  a  hornless  bull  seems  yet  more  odd,  but 
the  oddity  in  this  case  is  of  the  character  of  a 
pleasant  surprise.  Soon  the  odd  feeling  wears  off, 
and  then  the  polled  cattle  are  seen  to  have  a  kind 
of  beauty  all  their  own. 

An  important  matter  in  villa  dairying  is  to 
have  a  man  who  understands  the  management  of 
cows,  and  who  is  a  good  milker.  We  have  pre- 
viously expatiated  on  the  importance  of  good  milk- 
ing, and  we  recur  to  it  because  where  only  one 
or  two  cows  are  kept  it  is  less  a  speciality  than 
in  dairy-farming  proper,  and  is  consequently  very 
often  imperfectly  performed.  The  man  who  milks 
the  cow  is  commonly  groom  and  gardener  too, 
at  a  villa,  and  it  is  hardly  to  be  expected  that 
he  should  excel  in  every  detail  of  his  duties ;  but 
it  is  important  that  he  should  be  a  good  milker, 
for  we  have  known  cows  spoiled  under  such 
conditions,  and  we  are  persuaded  that  this  is  a 
common  fault  in  villa  dairying.  When  such 
is  the  case,  the  cow  falls  off  in  her  milk,  and  is 
so  far  a  disappointment  to  her  owner,  who  has  to 
change  her  for  another  more  frequently  than  he 
would  otherwise  need  to  do.  And  another  fault 
lies  in  this  :  as  there  is  only  one  or  perhaps  two 
cows,  the  milking  is  known  not  to  be  a  heavy 
duty,  and  it  is  therefoie  often  done  at  irregular 
hours,  just  as  it  ha2:)pens  to  suit  the  convenience 
of  the  milker ;  this  irregularity  is  a  thing  we  wish 
to  protest  against  once  more.  Cows  should  be 
milked  pretty  quickly,  always  cleanly,  and  at 
regular  hours. 

We  consider  cows  should  be  kept  apart  from 
horses  in  the  buildings.  They  may,  of  course,  be 
under  the  same  roof,  but  there  should  be  a  di\4sion 
wall  between  them,  so  that  they  cannot  see  each 
other,  otherwise  the  horses  would  disturb  the  cows 
too  much ;  and  as  cows  are  ruminants  they  like  to 
be  where  they  can  be  still  and  quiet.  A  cow-house, 
we  think,  should  be  spacious  overhead,  and  it 
should  always  be  well  ventilated,  though  never 
cold  and  draughty.  It  is  not  necessary  that  the 
house  should  be  open  to  the  roof,  for  a  loft  over- 
head is  useful  to  store  forage  in,  and  for  other 
purposes,  but  the  space  from  floor  to  floor  should 
be  8  or  9  feet ;  this,  with  proper  and  efficient 
ventilation,  will  provide  ample  breathing-room. 
Nor  should  the  stalls  be  too  wide  or  too  long;  if 
too  wide,  the  cows  are  ajit  t<i  turn  mund  in  them. 


:iU 


DAFHV    FARMING. 


unci  tlioy  somofimo^!  jj^ct  hiin<^  in  doiiiLj  sd — wlu'ii 
they  cannot  Imn  back  a<jain ;  and  it'  tm)  long-,  tlie 
excreta  do  not  fall  into  the  channel,  clear  of  where 
the  eows  have  to  lie.  A  space  0^  feet  square  is 
sufficient  to  accommodate  two  moderate-sized  cows, 
say  two  Ayi-shires,  and  it  is  usual  to  have  two  cows 
in  one  stall,  one  tied  to  either  side  of  it,  vvitl)  a 
smaller  division  between  them,  which  serves  tlie 
useful  i)urpose  of  keeping  each  cow's  food  separate 
from  tlie  other's. 

•  In  Fi<ij.  208  we  give  an  illustration  of  a  stall  fur 
two  cows.  In  this  jiaftt'rn  it  will  be  noticed  that 
the  fodder-racks  are  arranyed  vertically  instead  of 
overhead,  whit'h   enables  the  cow  to  cat  her  food 


cows  cannot  get  tii'ir  heads  together.  Projections 
against  which  the  cows  might  iiurt  themselves 
are  carefully  discarded.  Tiie  floors  arc  either 
paved  with  stone  or  cement,  or  with  tiles  firmly 
set  in  cement,  and  they  slope  slightly — veiy 
slightly — toward  the  channel.  A  strong  course 
of  freestone,  we  think,  ought  to  be  next  to  the 
channel,  for  the  cow's  hind  feet  to  stand  upon,  and 
tile  channel  itself  should  be  about  2  feet  wide,  so 
that  the  solid  will  not  prevent  the  liquid  exereUi 
from  passing  away  into  the  drain  which  leads  to 
the  liquid-manure  tank.  We  assume  that  there  is 
such  a  tank,  for  it  is  almost  a  necessity  in  premises 
that  are  always   required  to  l)e  ke])t  dean  and  in 


Tig.  208.  -Stall  fob  Two  Cows. 


as  she  lies — a  thing  wliieh  some  cows  rather  like 
to  do.  There  are  also  troughs  for  chaffed  food  or 
for  water,  as  may  be  required.  There  are  many 
different  jiatterns  of  cow-stalls,  made  by  such  firms 
as  Musgrave  and  Co.,  and  the  St.  Pancras  Iron- 
works Company.  In  some  of  them  a  water-trough  is 
so  ])]aced  that  the  cow  can  easily  drink  out  of  it;  it 
does  not  communicate  with  the  other  cows'  troughs; 
it  may  be  filled  by  hand  or  by  Jiipes,  and  the  food 
is  not  apt  to  get  into  it.  The  stalls  are  made 
of  wrought  and  east  iron  throughout,  combining 
strength  with  elegance  of  design.  The  cows  arc 
secured  by  chains  round  their  necks,  and  the  chains 
themselves  are  usually  attached  by  rings  to  a  bar 
which  is  fixed  to  the  side  of  the  stall  in  each  <ase  ; 
the  chains  slide  easil\-  uji  and  down  the  b  n-,  and  llu' 


nice  order ;  yet  if  the  land  slopes  away  from  the 
buildings,  the  drain  may  be  laid  to  carry  the  urine 
direct  on  to  it ;  but  for  all  this  a  tank  is  useful, 
and  its  contents  may  be  more  useful  in  the  garden 
than  on  the  land. 

The  area  of  land  required  will  depend  chiefly 
on  its  quality,  and  on  the  way  in  which  it  is  used. 
The  cows  may  be  ke])t  indoors  all  the  year  round 
and  the  grass  cut  and  brought  in  to  them,  by  which 
system  less  land  will  do,  for  none  of  the  grass  is 
wasted  by  depasturing  the  land.  A  plot  of  early 
rye  or  vetches,  to  Ik  cut  green,  for  use  before  there 
is  grass  fit  to  cut,  will  be  found  very  useful,  and 
enough  land  .should  be  meadowed  for  winter  forage, 
and  the  cows  niav  just  as  well  eat  the  aftermath 
where   it  grows.      Or,  if  the   meadow  I'aii    be  irri- 


FEEDINC    THE    VILLA    COW. 


gated,  a  dressing  of  artificial  manure  applied  to  the 
meadow  as  soon  as  the  hay  is  savfed,  and  washed 
into  the  soil  by  irrigation,  providing  there  is  not 
rain  enough  for  the  purpose,  will  be  found  to  pro- 
duce an  early  and  abundant  crop  of  aftermath, 
which  may,  if  preferred,  be  cut  and  carried  to  tlie 
cows,  while  a  portion  of  it  may  be  made  into  hay 
in  the  autumn.  By  judicious  management,  a  few 
acres  of  land  may  be  made  to  do  a  "good  deal  of 
business  this  way.  "There  iu  such  a  thing,  how- 
ever," says  tiie  author  of  an  interesting  work  on 
the  dairy,  "  as  applying  liquid  manure  too  strong, 
in  which  case  it  surfeits  the  growing  crops ;  land 
may  be  manured  to  sterility."* 

In  the  winter  a  small  supply  of  hay  may  be 
made  to  serve,  if  a  part  of  it  is  chaffed,  mixed 
with  brewers'  grains,  and  improved  by  the  addition 
of  meal  of  one  kind  or  another — maize,  rice,  pea, 
palm-nut,  or  any  other  kind  that  happens  to  be 
cheap  in  the  market ;  and  the  mixture  should  be 
damped  and  allowed  to  slowly  ferment  for  half  a 
day  or  more,  to  soften  the  fibre  and  make  it  more 
easily  digestible.  For  butter-making,  cows  should 
always  lie  fed,  when  fed  this  way,  on  food  that  is 
rich  in  starch  and  fats,  as  meals  usually  are,  and  is 
easily  digested ;  but  they  should  always  have  a 
little  hay  as  it  is  twice  a  day,  because  it  helps 
i-umination  and  so  prevents  maw-bound. 

In  villa  dairying  it  is  better,  we  think,  to  churn 
milk  instead  of  cream,  because  sufficient  cream 
cannot,  as  a  rule,  be  gathered  whilst  it  remains 
sweet,  and  because  fewer  milk-jxins  will  be  needed. 
The  "streamlet"  churn,  a  cut  of  which  is  given 
on  page  317,  will  be  found  a  veiy  good  one  for 
churning  milk  ;  and  milk  that  has  turned  sour  may 

*  "  Dairy  Farming."    By  Euricola.     Lovell  Eeeve,  Covent 
Garden,  LonJon.     1856. 


be  churned,  yet  the  butter  will  1)0  iiifciii.r.  ]\Iilk, 
however,  yields  more  butter,  and  is  easier  cliuriied, 
when  it  has  turned  a  little — just  a  little — sour, 
than  when  it  is  quite  fresh;  and  either  milk  or 
cream  yields  more  butter  and  churns  easier  when 
the  cows  are  liberally  fed  on  good  food. 

No  food,  we  think,"  equals  good  grass  in  the 
month  of  June  for  butter-making ;  and,  in  fact, 
grass  from  the  beginning  of  May  to  the  end  of 
September — providing  it  is  grown  in  a  good  sound 
soil,  and  the  cows  ean  have  a  weekly  change  of 
pasture,  so  that  their  food  is  repeatedly  fresh  to 
them — is  calculated  to  produce  pleasanter  butter 
than  any  kind  of  winter  food  will  j^roduce.  At  the 
same  time  it  is  true  that  a  little  dry  concentrated 
food  is  a  good  thing  along  with  the  bulky  succu- 
lent grass;  it  keeps  the  cows  stronger,  and  gives 
a  tone  to  the  system.  A  change  of  food — even  a 
change  of  pasture — will,  as  every  dairy-farmer 
knows  or  ought  to  know,  be  of  use  to  the  cows, 
and  the  result  of  it  will  be  found  in  the  milk-pail. 
Winter  butter  often  has  a  bitter  taste  and  a  some- 
what pungent  odour,  both  of  which  may  be  greatly 
mitigated,  if  not  entirely  prevented,  by  treating 
the  food  in  the  way  we  have  recommended,  for  to 
make  forage  more  easily  digestible  is  to  remove 
the  chief  part  of  the  cause  of  unpleasant  butter; 
but  if  this  fails,  scalding  the  milk  up  to  ISO'^  will 
drive  off  the  volatile  oils  to  which  the  unpleasant 
taste  and  odour  are  owdng,  and  scrupulous  cleanli- 
ness is  necessary  both  in  winter  and  summer, 
particularly  in  summer,  for  it  is  then  that  putre- 
factive ferments  are  most  active.  The  use  of  a 
little  sour  buttermilk  in  the  cream  at  churning- 
time  will  neutralise  the  bitter  taste  and  smell  of 
winter  butter ;  and  glacialine  used  instead  of  salt 
will  remove  it. 


48 


CIIAPTKR    XXIV. 


Dairy  Farming  in  Irei.axc. 

Number  of  Small  Farms  in  Ireland— Primitive  Character  of  the  Management— Letting  Cows  to  Dairymen— General  Want  of  Care 
and  Cleanliness— B'raud  in  Manipulation— Small  Co-operation  and  its  Evils— Butter  Companies- Little  Cheese  made  in  Ireland- 
Statistics  of  Cork  Butter  Market— Mr.  Bence  Jones  on  the  Facilities  for  Dairying  in  Ireland-  Mr.  Barter's  Syslem  of  Manage- 
ment-Need of  Improvement  in  Irish  Practice— Mr.  Barter's  Code  of  Rules— Ireland  the  Finest 
Butter-making  Country  in  the  World. 


,  ,L  AIRYING  in  Ireland  is  pursued 
on  a  large  scale  chiefly  in  the 
province  of  Munster,  where  we 
occasionally  find  as  many  as  60 
or  70  cows  in  one  dairy.  It 
forms,  however,  an  important 
object  of  industry  amongst  the  small 
farmers  in  the  province  of  Ulster,  many 
of  whom  do  not  possess  more  than  three 
or  four  cows.  Over  one-half  of  the  total  number 
of  niileh-cows  in  Ireland  belong  to  occupiers  whose 
holdings  do  not  exceed  50  imperial  acres  in  ex- 
tent. These  men  are  therefore  the  great  rearers 
of  young  cattle ;  that  is,  they  breed  the  calves, 
which  they  sell  at  six  months  old,  or  as  yearlings, 
to  graziers,  who  carry  them  on  until  they  are  fit  to 
be  transfeiTed  to  the  fattening  pastures  in  Leinster, 
or  the  stalls  of  the  large  tillage  farmers  in  Ireland 
or  in  Great  Britain.  Large  numbers  of  year- 
old  cattle  are  also  purchased  from  the  breeders  by 
dealers  who  export  them  to  England  and  to  Scot- 
land. This  trade  is  carried  on  extensively  from 
Ulster. 

In  many  in.stanccs  the  winter  management 
of  dairy-cows,  at  least  in  the  south  of  Ireland, 
is  conducted  in  a  very  primitive  manner.  It  con- 
sists simply  in  allowing  the  cows  to  graze  upon 
the  bare  pastures  night  and  day.  In  very  bad 
weather  some  hay,  usually  of  an  inferior  kind, 
is  shaken  down  upon  the  surface  of  the  field. 
ThosL>  who  follow  the  system  consider  that  it  is 
"  unlucky  "  to  house  cows  during  winter,  alleging 
that  housing  causes  abortion ;  which  may  be  the 
case,  o\ving  to  the  extremely  filthy  state  in  which 
the  cow-houses  arc  usually  kept.  Of  late  years 
more  attention  has  been  given  to  the  winter  treat- 
ment  of   cows.       They    are    regularly    housed    at 


night,  and  arc  fed  .upon  straw,  or  good  natural 
meadow-hay,  a  few  roots,  some  bran,  ground  oats, 
or  Indian  corn.  When  the  cows  are  fed  altogether 
on  hay,  about  30  cwts.  of  it  are  consumed  by  each 
cow.  Several  farmers  use  furze  (gorse)  as  winter 
food  for  cows  with  manifest  advantage.  The  furze 
is  bruised  or  prepared  by  passing  it  several  times 
through  a  chaff-cutter.  When  cows  giving  milk 
are  fed  liberally  on  furze,  the  milk  is  rich,  and 
the  butter  has  as  good  a  colour  as  gra.ss  butter. 
Vetches  are  given  to  the  cows  in  autumn,  also 
second  cuttings  of  clover,  and  cabbages  in  the 
end  of  autumn  and  early  part  of  winter. 

Cows  are  rarely  house- fed  all  the  year  round, 
even  in  Ulster,  where  house-feeding  was  at  one 
time  more  generally  practised  than  it  is  at  pre- 
sent. The  cows  are,  of  course,  practically  house- 
fed,  but  that  system  is  now  followed  in  com- 
bination with  partial  grazing.  Wc  have  known 
a  system  of  house-feeding  carried  out  on  a  farm 
in  Ulster  under  close  cropping,  the  cultivation 
of  forage  and  root  crojis  being  a  prominent 
feature  in  the  management.  The  farm  to  which 
we  refer  was  between  70  and  80  imjierial  acres 
in  extent,  and  a  stock  of  40  to  45  cows  was 
regularly  kept,  besides  pigs  and  horees.  The 
juirehased  food  consisted  chiefly  of  distillery 
grains,  sufficient  to  give  one  meal  j)er  day  to 
each  cow.  The  milk  w\as  chiefly  sokl  A\arm 
from  the  cow. 

We  have  mentioned  that  some  dairy-farmers 
in  the  south  of  Ireland  consider  that  it  is 
"  unlucky  "  to  house  cows  during  winter,  and  the 
idea  that  "luck"  is  an  element  in  dairy  manage- 
ment is  rather  prevalent.  When  anything  goes 
wrong  in  churning  it  is  set  down  to  the  in- 
terference   of    some    evil-dispo.Kcd    person    who    is 


DAIRY    MANAGEMENT    IN    IRELAND. 


357 


supposed  to  have  the  power  to  take  the  "  luek  " 
from  the  cows.  We  have  heeii  told  by  some  other- 
wise well-informed  persons  that  they  have  watched 
their  wells  on  the  first  morning  in  ]May,  to  prevent 
any  one  from  skimming  the  water,  the  result  of 
such  skimming  being  supposed  to  be  the  abstrac- 
tion of  the  butter  from  the  milk  of  the  cows  on 
the  farm  during  the  succeeding  summer.  Other 
beliefs  of  a  similar  nature  exist  amongst  the 
peasantry. 

In  the  south  of  Ireland  it  is  common  for  the 
owners  of  a  herd  of  dairy-cows,  who  object  to  the 
drudgery  of  dairying,  or  have  not  skilled  assistants, 
to  let  their  cows,  for  the  year,  to  men  whose  wives 
and  daughters  are  competent  for  the  work.  The 
annual  rent  of  a  cow  is  from  £9  to  £11  or  £12, 
and  the  gain  to  the  dairyman  who  rents  the  cows 
is,  in  ordinary  years,  about  £3  per  cow.  The 
owner  of  the  cows  supplies  hay  and  litter,  and 
allows  the  dairyman  a  piece  of  ground  to  grow 
potatoes,  and  sometimes  a  patch  of  wheat  or  oats ; 
and  the  dairyman  is  also  allowed  to  feed  pigs  on 
any  spare  sour  milk  or  other  refuse  he  may  have. 
The  year  begins  on  the  1st  of  January,  and  each 
cow  for  which  the  dairyman  pays  rent  must  calve 
before  the  loth  of  May.  The  usual  season  of 
calving  is  from  the  25th  of  IMarch  to  the  1st  of  May. 
In  the  case  of  average  dairy  land  it  requires  fully 
3:^  imperial  acres  to  graze  a  cow  during  summer 
and  produce  hay  for  her  winter  keep.  In  some 
poor  dairy  districts  we  find  that  fully  3  Irish 
acres,  equivalent  to  5  acres  imperial  measure, 
are  requii'ed  to  keep  each  cow. 

The  annual  yield  of  milk  on  good  pastures  is 
estimated  at  500  to  700  gallons  per  cow,  but  on 
poor  pastures  the  yield  does  not  exceed  350  to  400 
gallons.  Milk  of  fair  quality  will  produce  1  lb.  of 
butter  from  12  to  13  quarts  of  milk.  This  de- 
pends, however,  on  the  period  of  lactation ;  the 
longer  it  is  since  the  cows  calved  the  richer  is  the 
milk  in  solids,  and  the  more  butter  per  gallon  will 
it  therefore  yield.  Depreciation  of  value,  casual- 
ties, &c.,  or  wear  and  tear,  are  estimated  at  about 
£2  per  cow  per  annum. 

In  the  south  it  is  chiefly  cream  which  is 
churned,  but  in  the  north  the  whole  milk  is  used 
for  that  purpose.  The  churns  chiefly  in  use  are 
the  ordinary  barrel-ehunis,  which  are  driven  by 
power  on  large  farms,  the  "  power "  being  gene- 
rally a  mule  or  pony.  The  firkins  into  which 
butter  is  packed  are  supposed  to  weigh  each  1-t  lbs., 


but  from  the  clumsy  manner  in  wliich  they  are 
made  they  sometimes  weigh  as  much  as  1ft  lbs. 
The  firkins  in  which  Irish  butter  is  too  commonly 
packed  are,  in  fact,  so  rude  and  uninviting  as  to 
actually  depreciate  in  the  market  the  value  of  the 
butter  within  them.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
garb  in  which  an  article  is  presented  for  sale  has 
an  influence,  for  good  or  ill,  on  the  price  which  the 
article  commands ;  and  in  the  case  of  so  delicate  a 
thing  as  butter,  which  is,  or  ought  to  be,  one  of 
the  most  comely  and  cleanly  of  the  adornments  of 
the  festive  board,  this  consideration  has  unusual 
weight  with  the  buyer.  But  the  clumsiness  of  the 
firkins  is  not  all  we  complain  of  ;  the  railway  and 
shipping  companies,  and  the  farmers  too,  do  not 
take  pains  to  keep  the  firkins  clean  on  the  outside; 
too  commonly  they  are  rolled  about  on  the  muddy 
quays  or  along  the  streets,  when  they  ought  not  to 
be  allowed  to  go  near  dirt  of  any  kind.  If  we 
notice  the  neatness  and  cleanliness  of  firkins  from 
France  or  Holland,  Germany  or  Denmark,  those 
from  Ireland  suffer  painfully  in  comparison.  We 
desire  to  press  this  point  on  the  notice  of  our  Irish 
friends,  knowing  as  we  do  that  the  present  state 
of  things  is  detrimental  to  their  interests ;  it  is, 
moreover,  an  evil  whose  presence  is  gratuitous, 
and  the  result  of  sheer  carelessness. 

In  preparing  mild-cured  butter  about  3  pints 
of  salt  are  used  to  the  firkin  of  70  lbs.  of  butter, 
but  in  preparing  heavy- cured  butter  6  pints  of 
salt  are  used.  Over-salting  is  a  common  fault  in 
Irish  butter,  the  alleged  inducement  being  that 
the  extra  salt  sells  at  the  price  of  butter;  but  that 
is  a  short-sighted  reason,  because  butter  which  has 
been  over-salted  will  not  fetch  as  high  a  price  as 
butter  of  equal  quality  moderately  salted.  High 
salting  was  more  necessary  when  the  means  of 
transit  were  slow  and  uncertain,  but  it  is  not 
required  now  that  Irish  butter  can  be  placed  in 
the  English  markets  within  twenty-four  hours 
after  it  leaves  the  dairy  where  it  was  made. 

The  want  of  proper  accommodation  for  keejiing 
the  milk  until  it  is  fit  for  churning  is  a  very  com- 
mon defect  in  the  case  of  Irish  dairy-farms,  espe- 
cially amongst  small  farmers.  In  such  cases  the 
milk  is  usually  kept  in  the  barn,  and  becomes 
sjjoiled  from  the  dirt  which  falls  into  it  from  the 
roof.  The  clay  floor  also  absorbs  spilt  milk,  which 
sours  and  gives  forth  offensive  smells.  In  many 
cases  milk  is  set  in  dishes  which  are  placed  in  the 
sleeping  compartments    of    the    family,    where   it 


358 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


si)i'cdily  becomes  taiutc.l  by  absurlniin'  iiniiiKil 
odours.  Even  in  cases  where  the  niilk-ioonis  are 
tolerably  well  eonstruetcd,  the  benefit  is  lost  from 
the  ])roximity  of  the  ajiartmeut  to  the  farm-yard 
duii<>'-hill.  On  some  estates  encouragement  is 
j^iven  to  the  tenants  by  the  proprietors  for  the 
erection  of  improved  daiiy  accommodation;  but 
even  with  such  encouragement  there  are  some 
serious  defects  per])etuated  in  the  construction  or 
arrangement  of  the  building,  and  we  are  of  oj)inion 
that  the  dairy  should  be  erected  by  the  landlord, 
who  could  charge  a  reasonable  percentage  upon  the 
outlay.  It  would  be  necessary,  of  course,  that  the 
builder  should  work  under  proper  speciKcations, 
and  it  is  by  no  means  essential  that  the  building 
should  be  of  an  expensive  nature.  The  chief 
points  to  be  observed  are — (1)  a  proper  aspect  and 
situation ;  (3)  internal  cleanliness,  as  afforded  by 
])lastered  walls  and  ceilings,  and  especially  by  a 
well-laid  door  of  stone  or  tiles ;  (8)  ventilation  ;  (l) 
floors,  &c.,  constructed  of  non-absorbent  material. 
For  this  purpose  there  is  nothing  equal  to  Caith- 
ness pavement,  which  can  be  obtained  sawn  to 
any  dimensions  for  floors  or  shelving. 

Inferior  quality  of  butter,  caused  by  imjjroper 
accommodation,  is  not  directly  a  fault  of  the  maker, 
but  the  case  is  altogether  different  when  butter  be- 
comes deteriorated  from  fraudulent  manipulation. 
This  is  the  case  in  a  class  of  butter  known  to  the 
Cork  trade  under  the  title  of  "cocks."  These 
consist  of  butter  into  which  a  large  proportion  of 
\vater  has  been  introduced  during  the  process  of 
manufacture.  From  81bs.  to  lUlbs.  of  water  are 
frequently  worked  into  60 lbs.  of  butter.  Butter 
adulterated  in  this  manner,  if  sent  to  market  when 
newly  made,  will  stand  as  first  quality;  but  af ten- 
it  has  been  kept  over  for  a  week  or  ten  days  it 
deteriorates  so  much  that  it  will  scarcely  rank  even 
as  fourth  quality.  This  dishonest  practice,  in 
which  some  dairywomen  are  very  exjjcrt,  of  course 
injures  the  character  of  the  Cork  or  other  market 
butter;  because  if  sent  to  England  with  a  brand  of 
first  quality  it  must  bring  discredit  on  that  brand, 
as  by  the  time  it  would  reach  the  consumer  its 
(|uality  would  have  fallen  greatly  in  comparison 
with  that  assigned  to  it  at  first.  It  must  not  be 
su])posed,  however,  that  the  owners  of  dairies  in 
which  "  cocks  "  are  manufactured  are  aware  of  the 
fact  in  all  cases;  for  it  is  well  known  that  dairy- 
women,  who  have  the  sole  charge  of  dairies,  fre- 
(|Uently  iiraclise  it  for  Iheir  own  private  advantage. 


Of  lad'  years  a  system  of  co-operation  in 
butter-making  has  sprung  up  amongst  small 
farmers — that  is,  two  or  three  join  in  filling  a 
firkin.  The  different  contributions  are  mixed  toge- 
ther and  worked  up  so  as  to  produce  a  firkin  of 
l)utter  tolei'ably  even  in  quality ;  but  the  system  is 
not  calculated  to  improve  the  manufacture,  as  each 
contributor  is  ])aid  out  of  the  general  proceeds 
according  to  the  quantity  he  contributed,  without 
reference  to  its  quality.  In  fact,  if  the  quality  of 
one  lot  is  sui)erior  to  that  of  the  other  lots,  the 
maker  of  the  best  contribution  loses  all  the  benefit 
of  the  superior  quality  of  his  butter,  which  goes  to 
improve  the  inferior  lots. 

Various  plans  have  been  suggested  for  raising, 
the  character  of  Irish  butter  in  the  English  market, 
but  the  most  practically  useful  system  set  on  foot 
for  that  purpose  is  the  system  carried  on  by  the 
"Golden  Vein  Mild-cured  Butter  Com])any," 
which  has  been  established  at  Mallow,  County  of 
Cork.  The  distinctive  name  of  the  Company  is 
derived  from  a  rich  tract  of  pasture  which  traverses 
the  counties  of  Tipperary,  Limerick,  and  Cork, 
and  has  long  been  known  as  the  "  Golden  Vein." 
The  premises  occupied  by  the  Company  at  Mallow, 
an  important  junction  on  the  Great  Southern  and 
Western  Railway,  are  admirably  adajited  for  the 
purpose,  having  an  ample  and  unfailing  sujjply 
of  pure  spring  water,  a  large  cool  cellar,  and 
otherwise  commodious  premises.  A  refrigerating 
chamber  is  about  to  be  constructed.  The  sui)j)lies 
of  butter  required  by  the  Company  are  procured 
from  dairies,  properly  constructed,  kept  scrupu- 
lously clean,  and  under  the  ins])ection  of  the 
Company's  officers.  No  milk  is  allowed  to  be  set 
for  more  than  twenty-four  hours,  and  the  butter 
is  sent  twice  a  week  to  the  Company's  stores,  or 
as  it  is  churned,  the  subsequent  operations  being 
performed  by  the  Company.  The  managers  are  all 
practical  dairy-farmers,  and  the  managing  director 
is  Mr.  James  Byrne,  J. P.,  Wallstowu  Castle,  an 
extensive  and  experienced  dairy-farmer. 

The  butter  is  packed  in  casks  which  cannot  be 
rolled  about  or  dirtied,  which  is  a  great  nnitter, 
and  the  butter  is  preserved  from  injury  by  means 
of  a  covering  of  thin  muslin  placed  inside  each 
cask.  In  adilition  to  the  jn-eparatiou  of  firkined 
butter,  the  Conqiany  intend  to  open  a  trade  in  fresh 
rolls  suitalde  for  the  London  market.  The  Company 
also  intend  to  try  the  maiuifacture  of  canned  butter, 
on  the  Dauisji  and  American  plan,  and,  in  short. 


THE    MILK    TRADE    AND    THE    CORK    BUTTER    MARKET. 


359 


lo  lenve  no  stone  unturned  with  a  view  to  enlianee 
the  cliaraeter  of  Irish  butter.  Hitherto  the  Com- 
pany lias  found  its  principal  market  in  London, 
where  the  butter  has  held  its  ground  against  all 
comers. 

Dairy-farming  in  connection  with  large  towns 
consists  chiefly  in  supplying  fresh  milk  to  the 
inhabitants.  The  owners  of  these  dairies  also 
make  a  certain  proportion  of  butter,  which  is 
sold  slightly  salted.  The  buttermilk  finds  a 
ready  market,  but  it  is  usually  much  adulterated 
with  water,  nor  have  any  efforts  been  made,  e.xecpt 
at  Belfast,  to  prevent  the  atlulteration.  The 
adulteration  of  new  milk,  either  with  water  or 
with  skim-milk,  is  carefully  watched  in  Dublin, 
and  various  dairymen  have  from  time  to  time 
been  heavily  fined  by  the  police  magistrates,  on 
the  evidence  of  the  City  analyst.  One  or  two 
dairy  companies  have  been  formed  for  the  purpose 
of  supplying  pm"e  milk  at  reasonable  j)riees,  and 
these  companies  have  been  fairly  successful.  In 
the  city  dairies  the  cows  are  pastured  in  fields 
adjoining  the  city,  within  a  radius  of  six  or  seven 
miles,  the  milk  being  brought  into  town  morning 
and  evening.  During  the  winter  the  cows  are 
kept  in  yards  within  the  city,  aud  fed  upon  hay, 
brewers'  grains,  Indian  meal,  &e.  Some  of  these 
yards  are  kept  in  a  very  crowded  and  filthy  state, 
but  it  is  hoped  that  the  new  Act  will  effect  some 
reformation  in  their  condition.  The  price  charged 
to  the  consumer  is  4d.  to  5d.  per  quart  for  new 
milk,  aud  the  trade  is  evidently  a  profitable  one. 
ililk  is  a  favourite  article  of  food  amongst  all 
classes  in  Ireland,  especially  the  middle  and 
working  classes,  and  there  is  ample  room  for 
developing  the  sale  of  the  article,  if  supplied  in 
a  genuine  state. 

Cheese  is  not  generally  used  in  Ireland  as 
an  article  of  food.  It  is  regarded  as  a  luxury 
rather  than  a  necessary  of  life.  Hence  the 
manufacture  of  cheese  forms  no  part  of  Irish  dairy 
management.  A  few  persons,  who  are  either 
Scotch  or  English,  occasionally  make  cheese, 
cluefly  for  their  own  use,  but  there  are  com- 
paratively few  farmers  who  make  it  a  speciality 
in  their  system  of  dairy  management. 

In  conclusion  we  would  remark  that  all  who 
are  interested  in  the  matter  should  strive  by  every 
possible  means  to  improve  the  make  of  Irish  butter, 
and  so  enhance  its  character  in  the  British  markets. 
Butter-making  appears  to  be  a  point  in  which  we 


can  hold  our  own,  if  so  disposed,  against  foreign 
competition,  as  regards  cjuality ;  but  to  do  so  effec- 
tually every  obstacle,  such  as  want  of  proper  ac- 
commodation, must  be  removed,  and  means  taken  to 
diffuse  sound  instruction  regarding  the  details  of 
manufacture  amongst  the  oi-dinary  class  of  farmers. 
This  should  be  done  by  a  system  of  practical  in- 
struction by  travelling  instructors,  similar  to  that 
carried  on  with  reference  to  the  introduction  of 
roots,  &c.,  after  the  famine  years,  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  Ireland ; 
and  at  a  later  period  to  extend  a  knowledge  of 
the  cultivation  and  preparation  of  flax  for  the 
market. 

The  extension  of  dairy-farming  may  also  be 
urged  on  the  ground  that  rearing  calves  and  store 
cattle  generally  is  a  very  profitable  undertaking, 
and  likely  to  continue  so,  as  it  is  not  likely  to  be 
seriously  affected  by  importations  from  America.  In 
carrying  out  a  system  of  this  kind  it  is  essential  to 
breed  a  generally  useful  class  of  beasts,  and  to 
ensure  this  there  is  nothing  equal  to  thoroughly 
well-bred  Shorthorn  bulls.  In  furtherance  of  this 
the  owners  of  purely-bred  herds  should  encourage 
those  families  which  evince  marked  qualifications 
for  the  dairy,  for  it  is  indisputable  that  a  bull 
descended  from  a  line  of  females  noted  for  their 
milking  powers  will  transmit  similar  powers  to 
his  female  offspring. 

Cork  is  the  great  emporium  of  the  Irish  butter 
trade,  and  the  following  are  some  statistics  of  the 
trade  at  that  market,  which  have  been  kindly 
supplied  by  Mr.  Egan,  Secretary  to  the  Committee 
of  Butter  Merchants,  Cork. 

During  the  five  years  from  1SG4  to  1868,  both 
included,  the  average  number  of  firkins,  &e.,  which 
passed  annually  through  the  weigh-houses  was 
;37S,7(j5  ;  during  the  five  years  ending  1873, 
the  average  number  was  358,349 ;  and  during 
the  five  ending  14th  of  April,  1878,  the  annual 
average  was  401,083  firkins,  &c. 

The  class  position  of  quality  for  the  year  last 
named  was  as  follows  : — • 


First  quality 
Second  „ 
Third  „ 
Fourth  „ 
Fifth  ,, 
Sixth      „ 


13.5,044  firkins. 

181,608       „ 

102,961       „ 

13,537       „ 

1,153       „ 

65       „ 

434,358  firkins,  &c 


Butter   is  also  largely  exported  from  Dublin, 


3!)0 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Waterford,  Wexford,  Dundalk,  Belfast,  Dorry,  and 
Sligo,  to  Liverpool,  Bristol,  and  Glasgow. 

R.  O.  P. 

Mr.  W.  Bence  Jones  writes  : — 

"  Very  little  cheese  is  made  in  Ireland.  Many 
landowners  have  brought  over  skilled  cheese- 
makers  from  their  own  farms,  or  as  tenants,  and 
fairly  good  cheese  has  been  made,  but  none  that  I 
have  ever  tasted  or  heard  of  that  was  of  really 
superior  quality,  and  the  attempts  to  make  it  have 
quietly  died  out.  It  is  probable  that  either  the 
soil  or  climate  of  Ireland  is  not  suitable  for 
cheese. 

"  The  very  ojiposite,  however,  is  the  case  with 
butter.  Both  soil  and  climate  are  thoroughly  suit- 
able. In  the  southern  half  of  Munster,  especially 
Cork,  Kerry,  much  of  Limerick,  Tipperary,  and 
"\^'aterford,  the  climate  (as  can  be  seen  from  any 
rain  map)  is  the  wettest  in  Europe  (except  some 
small  spots,  mountainous  and  other),  and  besides 
rain,  there  is  a  constant  dampness  of  atmosjihere 
\erY  favourable  for  the  growth  of  grass.  IMuch 
of  the  soil,  too,  being  a  light  useful  loam,  with 
the  rock  not  far  off,  this  moisture  is  the  very 
thing  needed ;  there  is  a  constant  fresh  spring  of 
grass  and  very  few  hot  days,  than  which  nothing 
could  be  better  for  cows  and  butter.  Probably 
nowhere  can  better  butter,  in  all  respects,  be  pro- 
duced. And  the  reason  why  so  much  inferior 
butter  is  made  in  Ireland  is  wholly  from  the 
habits  of  the  people.  Carelessness  and  slovenli- 
ness, and  often  scheming,  are  the  root  of  the 
evil. 

"In  some  districts  the  whole  milk  is  cliurned. 
In  INIunster  the  cream  only  is  used.  Many,  how- 
ever, have  a  bad  way  of  letting  the  milk  stand 
till  it  thickens  or  sours  before  it  is  skimmed.  It 
is  more  than  doubtful  if  more  butter  is  produced 
this  way,  though  people  think  there  is.  On  large 
farms  feeding  20  to  50  cows,  excellent  butter  is 
often  made,  which  brings  the  best  price  in  the 
markets,  to  which  it  is  sent  in  firkins  of  G5  lbs.  to 
70  lbs. 

"  In  spite,  liowcvcr,  of  dct'cfts — Ihe  li;iil  in- 
fluence of  market  detects,  as  well  as  those  from 
neglect  in  making  the  butter — it  is  certain  that  in 
the  south  of  Ireland  dairying  is  much  the  most 
jirolitable  way  of  dealing  with  land,  and  accord- 
ingly the  number  of  cows  kept  constantly  increases. 
Of  course,  if  land  is  out  of  condition,  its  condi- 
tion cannot  be  got  up  by  cow-keeping,  though. 


from  the  goodness  of  the  climate  for  grass,  land 
out  of  condition  will  seem  to  improve  for  some 
jears  under  a  dairy.  Farmers  who  look  far  ahead 
know  a  very  different  plan  is  needful  to  imj)rove 
the  condition  and  make  the  nmst  profit.  But 
whether  the  laud  is  in  good  condition  or  bad,  if 
the  liest  return  at  once  with  least  outlay  is  wanted, 
as  it  is  with  nineteen-twentieths  of  all  classes  con- 
nected with  land  in  Ireland,  no  mode  of  farming 
can  compare  with  dairying.  Since  the  famine,  the 
practice  of  letting  cows  to  a  dairyman  has  greatly 
increased.  The  owner  provides  cows,  utensils,  and 
liouse  and  land  for  potatoes,  to  be  manured  by  the 
dung  of  the  cows.  The  dairyman  is  allowed  to 
keep  two  or  three  sheep  and  a  horse  or  donkey, 
according  to  the  size  of  the  dairy.  If  he  has 
money  he  pays  part  of  the  rent  at  once ;  for  the 
rest,  or  if  he  has  no  money  for  all,  he  gives 
promissory  notes  with  two  thoroughly  solvent 
securities.  From  the  habit  of  the  country  there 
is  no  trouble  in  getting  excellent  security.  The 
rent  is  quite  safe.  About  4  acres  of  ordinary  land 
are  allowed  for  each  cow.  The  rent  is  £10  to  £11 
per  cow. 

"  Winter  feeding  is  little  thought  of.  The 
climate  gives  a  little  growth  of  grass  often  in 
winter.  There  is  a  little  straw  from  the  oats 
grown  after  the  previous  year's  potatoes,  and  per- 
haps a  cock  of  hay ;  and  if  there  is  any  rough  land 
or  waste  on  the  farm,  there  is  some  winter  jiick- 
iug  from  it.  Not  only  landowners  adopt  this 
plan,  but  also  numbers  of  tenants,  who  let  their 
cows  to  dairymen,  instead  of  getting  their  own 
wives  and  daughters  to  do  the  dairy  work.  There 
is  no  doubt  the  cows  thus  pay  them  much  better. 
Very  few  tenants  make  anything  like  £10  a  cow 
from  those  they  do  not  let.  It  is  a  sort  of  mystery 
how  dairymen  manage  to  pay;  yet  not  a  few 
make  money.  It  is  probably  partly  from  no  other 
stock  being  put  on  the  grass,  and  to  its  not  being 
over-stocked.  The  rest  arises  from  more  industry 
and  effort  towards  a  single  end,  in  the  dairyman, 
tlum  in  the  tenant." 

Mr.  Richard  Barter,  St.  Anne's  Hill,  gives  us 
the  following  record  of  his  dairy  operations  : — 

"  My  farm  is  situated  8  miles  from  the  city  of 
Cork,  and  consists  of  about  700  acres,  principally 
light  land,  red  sandstone  foundation.  Two  hun- 
dred acres  have  been  drained,  rocks  removed, 
and  subsoiled  under  the  Board  of  Works,  and  I  am 
at   present  engaged  in   draining  SO  acres   of    flat 


GENERAL    DAIRY    MANAGEIMENT. 


.'501 


alluvial  bottom  resting  on  o-vavcl,  which  I  ex- 
pect will  turn  out  well.  I  grow  about  25 
acres  of  green  crops  each  year,  the  larger  portion 
mangels,  which  are  always  a  heavy  crop,  and 
5  acres  of  forage  crops.  I  manure  the  green 
crops  with  30  loads  per  acre  of  farm-yard  manure 
made  in  a  covered  shed  (one  load  of  which  I 
consider  equal  to  two  of  manure  made  in  the 
ordinary  way,  exposed  to  the  open  air),  and 
(5  cwt.  of  superphosphate  made  as  follows :  The 
bones  are  bought  whole  and  the  labourers  break 
them  by  contract,  on  wet  days  and  winter 
evenings,  into  half-inch  bones,  which  are  after- 
wards dissolved  in  sulphuric  acid.  The  stock 
consists  of  -too  Shropshire  sheep,  100  head  of 
dry  cattle,  and  40  dairy-cows.  The  dairy-stock 
consists,  principally,  of  three-parts  pure-bred 
Shorthorns,  a  few  pure-bred  ditto,  and  three 
Kerrys ;  the  latter  give  milk  neai-ly  as  rich  and 
as  highly  coloured  as  that  of  Alderneys,  and 
they  have  the  great  advantage  of  being  extremely 
hardy.  The  dairy  is  in  connection  with  St.  Anne^s 
Hill  Hydropathic  Estaldishment,  and  a  large 
quantity  of  fresh  milk  and  butter  are  recjuired 
all  the  year  round.  In  order  to  keep  up  the 
supply  of  these  articles,  some  of  the  cows  calve 
in  autumn  and  winter,  but  the  greater  propor- 
tion in  spring.     They  are  fed  as  follows  : — 

"  Sjjriiiff. — On  the  pastures  by  day,  housed  at 
night,  getting  each  day  6  stone  of  mangels  per 
cow,  with  a  fair  allowance  of  hay,  and  every  even- 
ing a  mixture  of  2  lbs.  decorticated  cake,  1  lb. 
crushed  Indian  corn,  and  1  lb.  bran,  made  into 
a  mucilage  with  boiliiig  water,  and  given  warm. 

"Summer. — On  the  pastures  day  and  night;  one 
feed  of  green  food  each  day,  as  the  successive 
crops  of  rye,  vetches,  or  trifolium  come  in. 

"Autumn. — By  day  principally  in  the  after- 
grass, by  night  in  the  pastures ;  each  evening  a 
feed  of  cabbage,  and  the  cows  on  full  milk  a 
mixture  of  cake  as  above. 

"  Winter. — Same  as  Spring. 

"  Great  cleanliness  is  observed  in  the  dairy 
management ;  the  milkers  are  obliged  to  wash  their 
hands,  and  the  herdsmen  to  sponge  the  cows' 
udders  before  each  milking. 

"Each  cow  is  numbered,  and  the  milk  accu- 
rately measured  once  a  week ;  20  have  completed 
their  season's  milk  to  January  1st.  The  average 
of  milk  per  cow  has  been  6S2  gallons ;  the  highest 
903  gallons — from  a  thrce-parts-bred  Shorthorn, 


ten  months'  milking,  bred  on  (he  farm  ;  the  lowest 
503  gallons — from  a  half-bred  thrcc-year-old  heifer, 
nine  mouths'  milking,  purchased  as  a  yearling. 
The  average  percentage  of  cream  has  been  l-i" 
when  getting  cake,  11"  not  getting  cake;  highest 
percentage  17°,  from  a  three-year-old  three-parts- 
brcd  Shorthorn.  It  was  found  in  general  that 
the  larger  the  quantity  of  milk  given,  the  lower 
was  the  percentage  of  cream.  The  average  yield 
of  butter  has  been,  for  each  100  gallons  of  milk 
set,  35  lbs.  for  spring  and  winter,  and  30  lbs.  for 
summer  and  autumn;  the  milk  is  set  in  galvanised 
iron  vessels  for  24',  36,  or  48  hours,  according  to 
the  season  of  the  year — generally  36  in  summer, 
except  in  very  hot  weather,  and  48  in  winter.  In 
cold  weather  the  dairy  is  heated  by  means  of  a 
small  furnace  and  flue  placed  under  one  comer  of 
it,  and  is  kept  at  a  uniform  temperature  of  from 
48°  to  50".  The  cream  is  warmed  to  a  tempera- 
ture of  54"  before  being  put  into  the  churn,  and 
the  agitation  of  churning  brings  it  ujj  to  62",  at 
which  the  best  results  are  obtained.  Experiments 
were  tried  during  the  late  cold  weather,  and  it  was 
found  that  the  heating  of  the  dairy  and  the  cream 
before  churning  increased  the  return  of  butter 
fully  20  per  cent.  ;  the  quality  was  better,  and  it 
took  a  much  shorter  time  to  churn  than  when  put 
in  cold.  The  churn  used  is  an  80-lb.  barrel-chum, 
turned  by  hand ;  40  minutes  is  the  general  time 
taken  in  churning.  The  butter  is  handled  as  little 
as  possible  in  the  Avashing ;  about  1  lb.  of  salt  is 
put  to  50  lbs.  of  butter  for  the  roll  butter.  A 
considerable  quantity  of  butter  is  sent  to  Dublin 
every  week  in  1-lb.  rolls;  each  lb.  is  folded  in 
muslin,  and  packed  in  trays  in  a  wooden  case.  In 
]\Iay  and  June,  when  the  butter  is  plentiful,  some 
of  it  is  firkiued  for  the  Cork  butter-market,  when 
3  lbs.  of  salt  are  put  to  the  70-lb.  firkin  ;  it  obtains 
the  term  "  supertine  quality,"  which  is  a  new  brand 
established  within  the  last  two  years  in  the  Cork 
butter-market.  This  quality  is  a  careful  selection 
from  the  best  of  the  mild-cured,  and  commands 
about  2d.  a  lb.  over  the  price  of  the  first  quality. 
The  merchants  tell  me  the  demand  for  it  exceeds 
the  supply." 

Greater  in  Ireland  even  than  in  England  is 
there  need  for  improved  dairy-utensils  and  more 
careful  treatment  of  milk,  cream,  and  butter; 
yet  it  is  true  that  many  of  the  moi-e  advanced 
Irish  dairies  will  compare  not  unfavourably  with 
corrcsiionding   ones   in    England,   so    far,   that  is. 


302 


DAIRY    FARAriXG. 


as  successful  practice  is  conceriicil,  and  in  tliis  lies 
the  cliief  merit  of  such  places.  It  is  at  the  small 
farms,  and  among  the  cottiers  who  milk  only  one 
or  two  cows,  that  the  dairy  accommodation  and 
eijuipmcnt  may  he  deserihed  as  deplorably  bad  ; 
sanitary  matters  <';enerally  are  at  a  low  ebb;  the 
cow-sheds  and  dun<^-heaps  are  absurdly  close  to 
the  door  and  windows  of  the  house ;  the  milk  is 
too  often  kept  in  tlie  general  living-room  of  the 
family,  or  in  a  closely  adjoining  one  into  which 
the  reeking  smoke  from  the  peat  fire  has  the 
greatest  freedom  to  enter;  and  the  general  sur- 
roundings are  anytliing  but  conducive  to  clean- 
liness. 

There  is,  however,  in  the  present  day  a  wide- 
spread and  earnest  effort  being  made  by  many 
prominent  men,  who  deserve  well  of  their  country, 
to  educate  the  rising  generation,  and  all  others 
who  may  care  to  learn,  in  the  art  and  science  of 
improved  systems  of  dairy  management ;  and  it  is 
satisfactory  to  know  tliat  the  result  of  these  efforts 
is  already  seen  in  a  marked  improvement  in  the 
average  quality  of  the  butter  of  some  districts 
in  Ireland.  We  trust  this  reform  will  go  on 
spreading  and  deepening,  until  the  habits  of  the 
])eople  have  become  imbued  with  a  spirit  of 
friendly  emulation,  and  the  production  of  first- 
class  butter  is  the  rule  and  not  the  exception  in  the 
Emerald  Isle. 

In  the  re-arrangement  of  the  jMunster  IModel 
Farm  provision  is  made  for  a  thorough  and 
practical  course  of  instruction  in  both  outside  and 
inside  dairy  management.  The  training  of  the 
male  p\ii)ils  will  extend  over  two  sessions  of  four 
and  a  half  months  each,  at  the  very  moderate  fee 
of  .€7  U)s.  per  annum,  for  which  sum  the  Board 
of  Education  provides  the  pupils  with  everything 
except  clothing.  In  the  months  of  January  and 
July,  at  which  jieriods  no  male  pu])ils  will  U> 
resident  at  the  institution,  farmers'  daughters  and 
dairymaids  will  be  admitted  as  ]nij)ils  at  an 
e(nially  moderate  fee,  and  j)laccd  under  the  care  of 
a  matron  w'ho  is  distinguished  as  a  maker  of  prize 
butter.  We  hope  to  see  other  institutions  of  this 
kind  rising  up  in  various  parts  of  the  country, 
because  we  are  assured  their  influence  for  good 
will  be  enormous.  Meantime,  for  the  guidance  of 
those  who  are  so  situated  that  they  cannot  avail 
themselves  of  the  advantages  which  are  offered  by 
the  Munster  Dairy  School,  the  following  hints  on 
dairy  management,  over  the  name  of  Mr.  Barter 


of  St.  Anne's  Hill,  have  been  freely  and  widely 
distributed  : — 

"The  following  hints  on  dairy  management 
are  chiefly  intended  for  the  guidance  of  small 
farmers  who  may  not  have  the  means  or  thj 
opportunity  of  availing  themselves  of  new  and 
expensive  appliances.  The  real  secrets  of  success 
in  butter-making  are  scrupulous  cleanliness  and 
the  closest  attention  to  every  detail.  If  Irish 
farmers  will  believe  and  act  on  this,  they  need 
not  fear  any  foreign  competition;  as  good  butter 
can  be  made  in  Ireland  as  in  any  country  in 
the  world.  The  following  extract  is  from  the 
Lit^e  Stock  Journal,  writing  on  the  Dublin  Dairy 
Show : — '  Our  friends  in  Ireland  have  set  to 
work  wuth  a  will  to  improve  the  condition 
of  the  dairy  husbandry  of  their  country ;  and 
the  hearty  earnestness  which  they  display  is  a 
good  assurance  of  the  success  they  will  gain. 
Properly  attended  to  in  all  its  stages,  Irish  butter 
will  become,  take  it  for  all  in  all,  ///''  Jiiif.st.  in  llie 
worlil.' 

"  Cows,  both  before  and  after  calving,  should 
be  kept  in  good  condition.  The  milk  of  cows  in 
poor  condition  w'ill '  be  found  deficient  both  in 
quantity  and  in  quality.  This  can  easily  be  tested 
by  a  cream-gauge  (a  small  glass,  price  2s.),  which 
will  be  found  very  useful  in  showing  what  jiasture 
and  what  kind  of  food  gives  the  best  return  of 
cream.  In  cold  weather  a  tepid  drink  at  night 
after  milking,  made  with  about  4  lbs.  of  meal  and 
bran  mixed,  or,  better  still,  3  lbs.  of  bran  and  2  lbs. 
decorticated  cotton-cake,  in  half  a  bucket  of  water, 
materially  assists  the  flow  of  milk.  Turnips  ought 
not  to  be  given  to  dairy-eows  ;  but  if  the  use  of 
them  is  unavoidable,  they  should  be  given  im- 
meiliately  after  milking,  never  at  any  other  time, 
and  in  this  way  a  stone  of  white  turnii)s  may 
be  given  in  the  day,  with  very  little  risk  of  the 
butter  being  tainted.  Cows  should  have  free 
access  to  fresh,  pure  water ;  and  they  should 
always  be  treated  with  gentleness,  and  never 
driven  fast.  It  has  been  proved  that  the  milk  of 
a  cow  that  has  been  driven  fast,  or  been  hunted 
by  dogs  or  tormented  by  Hies,  will  injure  the 
whole  setting.  They  should  be  kept  very  clean. 
The  cow-sheds  also  should  be  kejit  perfectly  clean  ; 
they  should  be  well  floored,  well  drained,  and  well 
ventilated,  as  if  cows  or  cow-shwls  are  kept  in  a 
dirty  state,  the  milk  will  inevitably  be  tainted. 
Before  milking,  the  cow's  udders  should  l)e  .sponged 


HINTS    OX    DAIRY    AIANAGKMENT. 


3G;5 


with  warm  water,  ami  allowed  to  dry;  and 
milkers  should  always  wash  Iheir  hands  without 
soap  before  milkinj]^.  Cows  should  be  milked 
quickly  and  gently,  and  as  nearly  as  possible  at 
reg^ular  and  equal  times.  If  they  are  milked 
slowly,  or  any  of  the  strippings  left,  they  will 
soon  go  baek  in  their  milk,  and  more  loss  is 
sustained  in  this  way  ihan  most  people  are 
aware  of. 

"Mil/;  should  be  carefully  strained  ;  if  hair  or 
any  particles  of  dust  or  dirt  remain  in  it,  they  will 
spoil  the  butter.  Milk  should  be  set  in  summer 
in  shallow  tinned  pans,  as  souring  stops  the  rising 
of  the  cream,  which  is  a  very  slow  process,  and  the 
great  object  should  be  to  get  as  much  eream  to  the 
surface  as  possible  whilst  the  milk  remains  sweet. 
In  winter,  deep  setting  in  earthenware  pans  is 
better,  because  they  retain  the  heat  in  the  milk 
longer,  and  the  gradual  coolin:^-  of  the  milk  to  the 
temperature  of  the  air  assists  the  rising  of  the 
cream,  the  fatty  portion  retaining  the  heat  longer 
than  the  milk  or  watery  portion.  ]\Iilk  should 
always  be  skimmed  before  it  gets  sour,  as  after 
that  any  eream  that  rises  is  only  of  the  poorest 
description,  and  the  slight  addition  in  quantity 
will  not  compensate  for  the  inferior  quality  of  the 
butter.  The  perforated  tin  skimmer  is  mucli  the 
best,  as  it  allows  any  milk  that  may  be  taken  up 
with  the  cream  to  run  through. 

"  Dairies  should  be  kept  perfectly  sweet  and 
well  ventilated,  and  be  separated  by  a  partition 
Avail  from  the  dwelling-house.  No  door  or  window 
should  look  out  in  any  yard  or  place  where  smells 
of  any  kind  could  come  from.  The  floor  should 
be  flagged,  tiled,  or  cemented,  so  that  it  can  be 
frequently  washed ;  an  earthen  floor,  damp  and 
dirty,  is  most  unfit  for  a  dairy.  Any  sjslashes 
of  milk  should  be  immediately  wiped  up,  as,  if 
allowed  to  remain  and  turn  sour,  they  will  taint 
the  milk.  The  windows  should  be  arranged  so 
that  no  streaks  of  light  or  sun  could  shine  upon 
the  milk,  as  they  produce  flecks  in  the  cream, 
which  always  show  in  the  butter.  Dairy  utensils 
should  be  cleaned  by  first  washing  them  in  cold 
water,  then  scalded,  and  again  washed  in  fresh 
cold  water.  The  temperature  of  the  dairy  is  most 
important ;  it  should  never  be  allowed  to  go  under 
50"  or  over  55".  Keeping  a  dairy  heated  to  the 
proper  temperature  will  largely  increase  the  return, 
and  will  well  repay  the  trifling  expense  of  a  stove. 
Cheap  stoves  to  burn  either  coal  or  turf  can  be 
49 


had,  which  will  keep  up  the  necessary  heat  even  in 
the  coldest  night. 

"The  cream  for  churning  slmuld  not  be  kept 
too  long.  Slight  ripening  is  good  for  the  butter, 
but  it  shoulil  never  be  allowed  to  become  very 
sour,  and  in  winter  should  be  churned  at  least 
twice  a  week,  and  in  summer  more  frequently ; 
it  should  be  kept  covered  with  muslin,  both  to 
exclude  particles  of  dust  and  also  to  prevent  the 
air  acting  too  much  on  the  surface  of  the  cream 
and  produce  unequal  ripening.  In  adding  a  fresh 
skimming  the  contents  of  the  crock  should  be  well 
stirred,  so  as  to  mix  all  well  together,  and  no  fresh 
cream  should  be  added  for  twelve  hours  before 
churning,  as  it  would  not  have  time  to  equally 
ripen,  and  would  take  longer  than  the  other  cream 
to  churn,  so  that  the  churning  would  be  stop]ied 
before  the  butter  came  on  the  fresh  cream.  The 
temperature  of  cream  before  churning  should 
aUvays  be  carefully  tested  with  the  thermometer. 
It  has  been  proved  that  57°  is  the  best  temperature 
to  churn  at ;  and  the  cream  in  cold  weather  should 
be  warmed  to  this  by  placing  it  before  a  fire  or  in 
a  tub  of  warm  water,  or  in  hot  weather  cooled  by 
placing  it  in  cold  water.  The  churn  also  should 
be  rinsed  out  before  churning  in  winter  with  hot 
water,  in  summer  with  cold. 

"  The  chui'n  should  be  turned  slowly  at  first,  so 
as  not  to  break  up  the  butter  globules  too  much, 
and  the  churning  should  be  most  carefully  listened 
to  and  stopped  the  moment  the  butter  comes,  so  as 
not  to  allow  it  to  collect  in  lumps.  The  grain  and 
firmness  of  the  butter  are  thus  preserved,  and  the 
buttermilk  can  be  easily  removed.  After  removing 
the  buttermilk  the  butter  should  be  washed  in  the 
churn,  three  times  in  fresh  spring  water  and  twice 
in  pickle,  made  by  placing  some  salt  in  a  piece 
of  muslin  on  top  of  a  can  and  pouring  cold  water 
over  it.  If  the  butter  is  at  all  soft  it  should 
be  allowed  to  stand  for  a  couple  of  hours  in  the 
churn  in  very  cold  water.  In  making  the  butter, 
handling  should  be  mo.st  carefully  avoided.  By 
the  use  of  a  butter- worker  and  butter-slices,  butter 
can  be  made  without  ever  touching  it  with  the 
hands,  and  this  is  the  plan  adopted  in  the  best 
dairies  in  England  and  on  the  Continent. 

"  The  firkins,  before  placing  the  butter,  should 
be  perfectly  clean  and  sweet,  and  care  should  be 
taken  to  send  them  clean  to  market.  A  very  good 
plan  to  sweeten  firkins,  and  remove  the  taint 
which  even    the  best  oak  firkins  will  have,   is  to 


364 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


]Hmi-  boilinp;'  ])icklo  into  thorn  and  !rt  it  stanl 
ill  tln'iii  for  twenlN -t'liur  liuuis ;  tlu'ii  linse  in 
fresh  cokl  water." 

It  is  to  he  expected  that  only  such  samph's  as 
arc  ri'ckoued  to  be  of  superior  merit  are,  as  a  rule, 
sent  for  competition  and  exhibition  at  the  agvi- 
cultural  shows.  No  maker  of  decidedly  inferior 
butter,  unless  strangely  infatuated,  would  exhibit 
his  (foods  at  all  j  he  would  hardly  care  to  jniblish 
to  the  world  the  fact  that  he  was  less  skilful  than 
his  neighbours,  nor  would  he  enjoy  seeing  his  butter 
compared  with  much  suiJtrior  samjdes.  It  follows, 
therefore,  that  the  samples  exhibited  are  good  ones 
in  the  makers'  estimation,  or  in  that  of  their 
friends,  and  equally  representative  in  different 
countries,  though  it  does  not  necessarily  follow 
that  all  the  best  samples  of  a  given  district  are 
attracted  to  the  show.  As  a  rule,  however,  we 
may  take  it  for  granted  that  the  best  and  second- 
best  qualities  of  butter  which  the  district  is  able  to 
produce  are  fairly  well  represented  by  the  samples 
present.  These  premisses  granted,  we  may  venture 
to  draw  a  comparison  between  the  butters  of  Ire- 
land and  of  other  countries,  based  on  the  various 
exhibitions  we  have  seen. 

In  the  first  place  we  may  say  that  the  butters 
of  Ireland,  as  seen  at  the  leading  shows,  will  not 
suffer  by  comparison,  all  things  considered,  with 
those  of  England,  or  of  the  countries  of  Northern 
Europe.  That  there  is  a  larger  proportion  of 
inferior  butter  made  in  Ireland  than  in  any  other 
country  which  reckons  to  be  a  dairying  country  at 
all  is  probalil}^  true,  but  it  is  cc[ually  true  that 
some  of  the  best  butter  in  the  world  is  made  there. 
It  is  merely  a  question  of  care  and  cleanliness.  At 
any  rate  a  collection  of  Irish  butters  shows  more 


body,  substance,  and  general  quality  than  we  have 
found  to  be  the  case  in  other  countries.  At  the 
same  time  we  must  admit  that  they  are  less  skil- 
fully made  and  less  neatly  finished  off  and  \>rc- 
sented  than,  for  instance,  the  butters  of  Denmiirk 
or  of  Finland.  Possessing  an  inherent  superior 
quality,  they  lose  the  advantage  in  not  being  so 
skilfully  made.  With  one  of  the  finest  climates 
on  earth  for  dairying  purposes ;  with  a  soil  and 
herbage  which  are  not  easily  equalled;  with  a 
breed  of  cows  excellent  in  many  respects,  and  still 
improving  ;  and  with  milk  pre-emincutl}'  suited  to 
butter-making — more  so,  perhaps,  than  the  milk 
of  any  other  country  in  the  woidd — the  Irish 
people  are  provided  with  the  first  requisites  for 
becoming  the  lea<ling  butter-producing  nation  in 
Europe.  But  to  attain  this  jiosition  requires,  in 
our  opinion,  the  untiring  industry,  the  scrupulous 
cleanliness,  (he  intelligent  thought,  and  the  pride 
in  work  which  are  conspicuous  among  the  Dutch 
and  the  Danes. 

With  English  butters  those  of  Ireland  compare 
still  less  unfavourably  than  they  do  with  those  of 
the  Continent.  It  is  true  that  English  butters  are 
more  cleanly  though  scarcely  more  carefully  inatle 
than  the  Irish,  but  they  are  "weaker,"  and  arc  aj)t 
to  "  go  off "  earlier.  Nor,  indeed,  are  English 
butters  at  a  show  as  uniform  as  the  Irish — so  far, 
that  is,  as  our  observation  has  gone ;  but  we  admit 
that,  in  the  general  run  of  the  butters  of  the  two 
countries  respectively,  and  not  confining  ourselves 
to  show-butters,  there  is  a  greater  disparity  in  the 
quality  of  the  latter  than  in  that  of  the  former, 
and  a  wider  interval  between  the  best  and  the  worst 
we  could  find.  Irish  butter-makers  have  a  great 
future  in  store,  if  they  mind  what  they  are  doing. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

The    Daikying    oi'    America. 


.   ^ 

^^-^4 


General  Facts— Magnitude— Statistics— Dairying  Regions  Described— ranadian  Dairying— Climate  and  Soils- 
Grasses  and  Forage  Plants. 


^isMERICAN 


dairying  is  chiefly 
remarkable  for  its  rapid  growth, 
the  proportions  attained,  its  re- 
hitive  position  among  the  agri- 


140,000,000  lbs.    of    cheese,    together    valued   at 

18,000,000  dollars. 

The  Americans  are    the  greatest  butter-eaters 
the    world,    but   consume    veiy   little    cheese. 


^"^vL    *^^'1*^'"'"1  industries  of  the  country.      Figures  illustrating  these  facts  are  uncertain,  but 


J  and  the  associated  or  factory  sys 
tem,  which  originated  there  and  has 
become  so  generally  adopted. 

Like  everything  else  in  America,  the 
dairying  is  comparatively  new.  It  was  without  un- 
usual features  until  18^30,  and  the  great  growth 
has  occurred  since  that  time,  within  fifty  years. 
Then,  with  a  population  of  1  ■3,000,000  there  were 
less  than  4,000,000  milch-cows,  and  their  annual 
products  had  a  value  not  exceeding  100,000,000 
dollars.  Within  twenty-five  years  these  figures 
were  more  than  doubled.  In  1880,  49,000,000  of 
people  own  13,000,000  cows,  and  the  dairy  pro- 
ducts of  the  year  exceed  400,000,000  dollars— 300 
per  cent,  increase  in  production  in  half  a  century. 
An  eminent  author  says  :  "  The  dairy  business  of 
this  country  has  developed  with  such  rapidity  and 
to  such  a  degree  of  importance,  with  the  aid  of  the 
highest  intelligence  and  the  application  of  the 
most  consummate  skill,  as  to  be  regarded  as  one 
of  the  highest  triumphs  of  modern  agriculture.^^ 
It  exhilnts  the  greatest  progress  ever  made  in  any 
branch  of  agriculture. 

The  foreign  trade  in  products  of  the  dairy  has 
grown  much  faster  than  the  total  production. 
Exports  of  butter  and  cheese  were  first  made  in  the 
last  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  but  were  so  in- 
significant as  to  escape  the  official  reports  until  1820; 
that  year  the  exports  of  butter  reached  1,000,000 
lbs.,  and  of  cheese  750,000  lbs.,  the  whole  valued 
at  190,000  dollars.  In  the  year  ending  June  30, 
1880,  the  exports  were  44,000,000  lbs.  of  butter. 


the  best  authorities  estimate  the  jjer  cap/fa  con- 
sumption of  butter  in  the  United  States  at  15  lbs. 
per  anuum,  and  that  of  cheese  at  4  lbs.  or  less. 
Local  tests  show  the  highest  rates  of  consumption 
to  be  in  dairy  districts  producing  large  quan- 
tities and  the  best  quality,  and  reach  in  some 
instances  25  lbs.  per  capita  of  butter,  and  9  lbs. 
of  cheese. 

For  the  statistics  of  the  dairy  interests,  the 
United  States  census,  taken  every  ten  years 
(1790  to  1870  inclusive),  furnishes  the  best 
general  data,  but  the  figures  there  found  are  not 
altogether  trustworthy.*  Farms  were  construed 
as  three  acres  or  more,  and  the  enimieration 
of  cows  not  on  farms  was  omitted  (although 
estimated),  making  discrepancies  between  the  re- 
turns of  State  officials  and  those  of  the  United 
States  for  the  same  years ;  similarly,  tlie  repiorts  of 
jiroducts  in  some  places  indicate  the  total  jjroduc- 
tion,  and  in  others  rejiresent  sales  only,  home  con- 
sumption being  disregarded.  Therefore  the  State 
enumerations,  made  in  several  States  in  the  years 
1875,  1865,  &e.,  and  in  some  cases  with  great  care 
(New  York  and  Massachusetts  in  1875,  for  ex- 
ample), the  annual  report  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture,  with  estimates  and  the 
very  creditable  publications  of  the  leading  dairy- 
men's  associations,   are  all   valuable   adjuncts   in 

*  As  these  pages  go  to  press  the  tenth  census  (1880)  has 
been  taken,  hut  its  compilation  is  not  suiBcientl}-  advanced  for 
the  results  to  he  embodied  in  the  te.\t.  They  will,  however, 
bo  given  in  a  subsequent  appendix. 


SC6 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


compiling  statistical  information  on  American 
dairjnufj.  It'  this  term  be  broadened  so  as  to  in- 
clude the  dairy  in  Canada,  the  census  of  the 
Dominion,  taken  in  I'^Tl,  must  be  added;  it  is  a 
work  prepared  with  much  care,  under  the  super- 
vision of  the  Minister  of  Agriculture. 

The  growth  of  American  dairying,  and  its 
extent  and  relative  importance  in  18^0,  can  be 
appreciated  only  upon  an  examination  of  the 
general  development  of  the  country.  For  this 
purpose  the  superintendent  of  the  census  of  1870 
divides  the  States  and  territories  into  three  groups  : 
the  first  consists  of  the  original  thirteen  and  thice 
otiiers  afterwards  organised  from  their  territory; 
the  second,  of  those  States  which  were  settled 
between  1790  and  181-5;  and  the  third  group 
includes  the  remainder.  The  accompanying  table 
(No.  1)  is  made  upon  this  plan,  showing  the  area 
of  settlement  at  different  dates,  the  density  of 
population,  and  the  number  of  cows  owned,  per 
square  mile. 

This  gives  a  view  of  the  advance  of  dairying; 
it  will  repay  study,  and  from  it  may  be  easily  com- 
puted the  population  and  the  whole  number  of 
cows  in  these  three  sections  at  the  different  periods. 
(The  figures  for  ISSO  are  partly  "  semi-otRcial '•" 
returns  and  partly  estimates.)  As  each  group, 
however,  has  a  varied  geography,  the  sections 
where  the  dairy  is  most  prominent  can  be  seen 
better  in  Table  No.  2,  in  which  each  group  is 
geographically  arranged.  This  table  exhibits 
many  interesting  facts  as  to  the  increase  of 
dairv-cattle  in  the  several  States,  and  the  ratio 
of  these  animals  to  the  population  in  different 
parts  of  the  Union. 

Table  No.  3  is  still  more  comprehensive, 
giving  the  statistics  of  the  general  agricultural 
progress  of  the  country,  and  a  com])arison  between 
the  values  of  the  most  imjiortant  agricultural 
products. 

It  is  here  .seen  that  the  corn  crop  (maize)  alone 
exceeds  in  value  the  annual  dairy  products;  but 
Indian  corn  and  hay  are  both,  in  a  considerable 
degree,  accessories  of  the  dairy.  Hence  it  is  not 
erroneous  to  assert  that  dairying  is  the  greatest 
single  agricultural  interest  in  America. 

The  location  of  the  dairy  industiy  of  the 
United  States  is  a  difficult  matter  to  explain. 
For  years  it  was  claimed  by  prominent  writers 
that  the  profitable  dairying  of  the  country  would 
always    be    monopolised    by    p    district    couilned 


within  certain  narrow  geograjjliical  limits.  Then 
a  "dairy  belt"  was  discovered,  and  the  opinion 
generally  prevailed  that  the  only  territory  adapted 
to  dairying  la}'  between  tlie  40th  and  4-5th  degree 
of  latitude,  and  was  to  be  found  in  distinct 
separated  sections  occupying  about  one-third  of 
the  area  of  this  belt,  from  the  Missouri  River 
to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  These  ideas  have  been 
thoroughly  exploded;  it  has  been  abundantly 
shown  that  good  butter  and  cheese  can  bo  matle, 
by  proper  management,  in  almost  all  sections  of 
North  America  between  the  32nd  and  50th 
parallels.  Generally  speaking,  good  butter  can 
be  profitably  produced  wherever  good  beef  can. 
Even  the  influences  of  climate,  soil,  water,  a'ul 
herbage  are  lai-gel}'  controlled,  and  what  is  lacking 
in  the  natural  conditions  is  supj)lied  by  tact  and 
skill.  But  of  the  territory  named  within  which 
dairying  is  practicable,  a  very  small  fraction 
contains  the  bulk  of  the  dairy  interests  of  the 
country  in  ISSO;  great  natural  advantages  easily 
account  for  certain  sections  being  the  conspicuous 
dairy  districts,  although  these  no  longer  aspire 
to  be  the  exclusis'e  producers  of  butter  and 
cheese. 

The  best  idea  of  the  dairy  regions  as  they 
were  in  1870  can  be  obtained  from  the  map 
of  dairy  products  in  the  volume  of  "  Indus- 
try and  Wealth,''  in  the  ninth  United  States 
census,  and  also  in  General  Walker's  "  United 
States  Statistical  Atlas,  1S72."  This  chart  is 
herewith  reproduced  on  a  somewhat  different 
scale. 

The  giadi'd  tints  gra])hically  illustrate  the 
distriljution  of  this  interest  in  the  country, 
sliowiug  the  variation  in  the  value  of  the  annual 
dairy  products  from  5  dollars  to  40  dollars 
and  over  per  capita ;  the  four  grades  of  tint 
represent  a  production  of  (IV.)  40  dollars  and 
over,  (III.)  20  dollars  to  40  dollars,  (II.) 
10  to  20  dollars,  and  (I.)  5  to  10  dollars, 
per  capita,  llie  territory  where  the  annual  pro- 
duction does  not  reach  5  dollars  to  each  person 
is  not  tinted.  The  fourth  grade  is  confined  to 
))ortions  of  New  York,  Ohio,  "S^ermont,  and  Cali- 
fornia; the  third  is  found  in  those  States,  and 
also  in  ]\Iassachusetts,  Connecticut,  Penn.sylvania, 
and  New  Jei-sey ;  the  second  occui-s  in  spots,  and 
the  first  prevails  throughout  the  New  England, 
the  Middle,  Northern  Central,  and  North- Western 
States,  and  California.     There   is   no  tinted  space 


AMERICAN    DAIRY    STATISTICS. 


307 


Ko.  1. 


-Gruwlh  of  lite    United  States,  hi/  Decades,  in  Area  of  Setlleuient,  Densit/j  of  Population,  and 
Niinitjer  of  Milch   Cotv-i. 


1                            GitotJP  I. 

Gnonp  11. 

jnonp  m. 

Date  of  SUtistics. 

A.O.                     1 

Area  Settled. 

Population 

No.  of 

Area  Settled. 

Populiitiou 

No.  of 

Are*  ?ettl3d. 

Population 

No  of 

Sq.  miltiS. 

Sq.  mile. 

Cows. 

aq.  miles. 

S-i.  mile. 

Cows. 

Sq.  MUes. 

per 
Sq    mile. 

Cows. 

17S0           i 

200,000 

15-7 

17!10 

1 

224,685 

17-0 

— 

1.5,250 

7 '2 





_ 

ISOO 

260,208 

18-5 

— 

39,500 

98 









1S20 

312,173 

23-8 

— 

196,144 

11-3 







1840 

353,137 

30-1 

8-1 

438,355 

14-5 

4-4 

15,800 

47 

1-4 

1850 

1 

359,692 

36-7 

9-3 

493,757 

18-4 

5-4 

12.5,800 

7  1 

2  8 

1860 



361,141 

43-8 

10-4 

519,957 

24-3 

6-9 

313,656 

9-5 

4-4 

1870 

358,546 

50-1 

11-5 

527,627 

23-5 

70 

386,066 

12-9 

5  8 

1880 

360,000 

55- 

12- 

530,000 

40- 

9- 

500,000 

19- 

8-0 

Group  I.  includt-s  tlie  Original  Thirteen  (13)  States,  a^d  Maine,  Vermont,  nnd  West  Virginia. 

Grvup  II..  Keiitucl^y,  Tennessee,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Alabama, 

Group  III.,  Wisconsin,  lowii,  Miijiiesota,  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Texas,  the  PacUic  States,  and  all  the  Territories. 


No.   2. — Milch   Cows  ill  the   United  SfateSy  hy   Slates,  in  1S50  and  1878^  with   ratio   of   Cows  to 
Pojynlation,  and  Number  of  Cows  to   100  Persons. 


Gitonp  I. 

Gkoup  II. 

Gboop  III. 

1S50. 

1=78. 

Stot^^s. 

1830.          1         1878. 

States. 

1850. 

1S78. 

States. 

^■ 

^ 

^ 

^ 

Cows. 

s 

Cows. 

^ 

Cows. 

5         Cows. 

s 

Cows. 

'S 

Cows. 

s 

m 

M 

^^ 

M 

45,704 

M 

m 

Maine 

133,556 

23 

165,800 

26 

Ohio 

544,499 

28 

707,000 

23 

Iowa 

24 

632,000 

39 

New  Hamp. 

94,277 

30 

95,200 

30 

Indiana    ... 

284,554 

29 

4.39,200 

26 

Wisconsin.. 

64,339 

21 

450,300 

35 

Vermont  ... 

140,128 

47 

217,800 

o9 

Illinois     ... 

2J4,671 

35 

688,600 

23 

Minnesotj, . 

607 

u 

249,800 

35 

Mass. 

130,099 

13 

151,600 

y 

Michigan ... 

99,670 

25 

375,600 

29 

Nebraska... 

— 

— 

93,700 

37 

Rhode  I.    ... 

18,698 

13 

21,000 

9 

Kentucky.. 

247,475 

25 

2.52,000 

18.'. 

Kansas     ... 

— 

— 

265,000 

44 

Conn. 

85,461 

23 

112,000 

19.', 

Tennsssee.. 

250,456 

25 

248.200 

19 

Colorado  ... 

— 

— 

55,000 

no 

New  York... 

931,324 

30 

1,-104,100 

29 

Missouri  ... 

230,199 

34 

506,100 

25 

Nevada    ... 

— 

— 

10,500 

17 

New  Jersey 

118,736 

24 

149,200 

15 

Arkansas ... 

93,151 

45 

182,200 

33 

California.. 

4,250 

05 

389,500 

47 

Penn'a      ... 

530,224 

23 

836,800 

21 

Florida     ... 

72,876 

83 

70,700 

33 

Oregon     ... 

9,427 

71 

102,200 

85 

Delaware  ... 

19,248 

21 

23,200 

19 

Alabama  ... 

227,791 

30 

205,000 

20.', 

,  Texas       ... 

217,811 

102 

550,000 

00 

Maryland... 

86,856 

15 

101,500 

13 

Missi  sippi. 

214,231 

35 

186,900 

22', 

1         The 

Vir-inia    ... 

317,619 

22 

240,600 

19 

Tiniiisiana... 

105,576 

20 

112,000 

15 

Territories 

10,309 

— 

250,000 

6o 

"\V.  Virginia 

Inc.inV'a 
221,799 

25 

126,700 
230,000 

21 
19 

N.    Carolina 

S.    Carolina 
Georgia     ... 

193,244 
334,223 

29 
37 

130,000 
273,100 

19 
22 

United  States 

0,385,095 

271 

11,300,100 

24 

1850. 

1878. 

Totals     ... 

1850. 

1878. 

Totals     ... 

1850. 

1878. 

Totals    ... 

3,361,492 

4,278,600 

2,665,155 

3,973,500 

3.58,447 

3,048,000 

Note. — Tbe  figures  for  1650  are  taken  from  tne  Uuited  states  census, 
Agriculture  at  Washington. 


I'i  those  for  1878  from  official  estimates  by  tbe  Department  of 


No.  3. — Growth 

of  Agriculture  in  the 

United  States, 

and  Relative   Value  of  the   CI 

ief  Products. 

1840. 

1£50. 

I860. 

1870. 

187a 

Population,  Uniteil  States 

17,069,4.53 

23,191,876 

31,443,322 

38,.558,371 

47,983,000 

In  Agriculture 

2,717,750 

2, 400,  .583 

3,221,574 

5.922,471 

7,000,000 

Number  of  Farms  ... 

— 

1,449,075 

2,044,077 

2,65  ,985 

3,500,000 

Average  size 

..  Acres 

— 

203 

199 

153 

150 

No.  of  Milch  Cows... 

4,837,043 

6,392,044 

8,585,735 

10.023,000 

12,000,000 

Value  of  Cows 

72,555,000 

127,840,880 

264,643,375 

324.179,093 

312,000,000 

Dairy  Products 

Dollars 

120,926,075 

166,193,144 

240,,00,.580 

360,828,000 

408,000,000 

Indian  Corn  Crop  ... 

197,.531,.S75 

2il6, 1)35,  .552 

439,0.58,774 

478,275,900 

475,000,000 

W,218,108 

96.870,494 

172,202,152 

351,717,035 

325,000,000 

Wheat  Crop 

82,012,161 

100,485,944 

188,301,270 

290,411,820 

375,000,000 

Cotton  Crop 

82,865, 2,'<7 

98,603,720 

207,267.812 

288,300,000 

230,000,000 

10,791,225 

15,755,087 

22,700,104 

40,040,954 

50,000,000 

Tobacco  Crop 

..      ,. 

15,252,208 

13,982,686 

30,701,909 

25,901,421 

28,000,000 

36S 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


south    of  Viij^-inia,    Kentucky,    and    Missouri,   or 
west  of  the  99 th  meridian,  excejjt  in  California.* 

New  York  is  thus  presented,  as  it  is  par  ex- 
cellence, THE  dairy  State.  One-eiglith  in  vahie  of 
the  whole  dairy  product  of  the  country  lielongs 
to  it.  More  butter  is  made  annually  in  New 
York  than  in  any  two  other  States,  and  more  than 
one-third  of  the  cheese-crop  of  the  Union.  Here 
is  a  comparative  statement. 


Annual  Yahie  of 
Dairj*    rroducts 

Value  of  vVnnual 
Product  per  Cow 

Value  of  Product 
per  capita 


Dollars. 
50,000,000 


Dollars.  Dollars. 

18,.500,000    20,000,000 


Dol'ars. 
7,000,000 


Rein<j  without  large  cities  or  manufacturing' 
communities,  Vermont  shows  a  greater  product  in 
jiorportion  to  her  population,  and  a  rather  higher 
rate  per  cow,  but  otherwise  the  predominance  of 
New  York  is  apparent.  In  a  large  part  of  this 
State  the  natural  conditions  are  very  favourable 
to  dairying :  high  undulating  surface,  a  loamy  soil, 
inclining  to  clay,  and  running  into  shale;  nume- 
rous springs  of  soft  water,  clear  streams  with 
gravelly  beds ;  sweet  natural  herbage ;  freedom 
from  drought,  and  snow  enough  in  winter  to  protect 
the  roots  of  the  grasses.  The  two  most  noted 
dairying  counties  of  New  York  are  Herkimer  for 
cheese  and  Orange  for  butter.  In  1795  a  young 
man  from  New  England  built  among  the  black 
slate  hills  on  the  Mohawk  River,  and  estab- 
lished the  first  dairy  of  which  there  is  record, 
in  Herkimer  County.  Five  years  later  cheese- 
making  was  quite  common,  and  became  general  in 
the  county  before  1825.  The  herds  were  small, 
however;  a  few  containing  40  cows  were  regarded 
then  as  very  large.  About  1825  cheese-making 
spread  into  the  atljoining  counties,  the  increased 
product  sought  new  markets,  and  in  18;}1  Harry 
Burrell,  of  Herkimer,  made  the  first  shipment  of 
cheese  from  that  county  to  England — 1U,0()()  lbs. 
An  account  of  cheese-makinsj  in  Herkimer  in  1S'"55 


•  It  may  be  expected  that  a  .similar  map  compiled  during 
the  year  1S81  from  the  returns  of  the  tenth  United  States 
census  will  show  very  marked  changes,  and  especially  an 
ext(^n8ion  of  the  territory  of  greatest  production,  embracing 
some  of  the  North-western  States. 


states  that  the  herds  were  milked  in  the  open 
yard  or  pen,  the  curds  worked  in  tubs,  and  pressed 
with  log  presses ;  it  was  not  considered  fit  to  use 
till  fall  or  winter,  and  was  then  packed  in  rough 
casks,  and  pciltlied  at  5  to  8  cents  a  lb.,  wherever 
a  market  for  it  could  be  found.  Tliere  was  no 
order,  no  system.  Forty  years  later  the  associated 
sj'stem,  originating  in  1851  in  the  atljoining 
county  of  Oneida,  almost  supereedes  the  private 
dairy;  100  cheese-factories  in  the  county  turn  out 
more  than  four-fifths  of  the  annual  product.  This 
county  has  about  15  cows  to  every  100  acres, 
ranking  first  in  the  State  in  this  respect,  and  its 
annual  cheese  product  is  10,000,000  to  12,000,000 
lbs.,  besides  over  1,000,000  lbs.  of  butter.  Little 
Falls,  in  Herkimer  County,  was  for  j-ears  the 
largest  cheese-market  in  the  United  States — pro- 
bably the  largest  in  the  world — but  latterly  the 
sales  at  Utica  have  been  still  greater. 

Orange  County  has  long  been  famous  for  its 
butter,  and  such  has  been  the  reputation  of  the 
same  that  the  name  alone  attached  to  the  article 
has  sold  many  a  package  from  distant  parts  of  the 
State.  This  county  begins  on  the  Hudson  River, 
near  New  York  City,  and  is  the  eastern  portion  of 
a  belt  of  territory  ranging  from  25  to  50  miles  in 
width,  and  extending  north-westerly  100  to  125 
miles  into  the  heart  of  the  State,  all  of  which 
is  peculiarly  adapted  to  dairying.  The  Catskill 
range  of  mountains,  with  its  many  branches,  makes 
a  broken  and  even  rough  country,  but  the  hills 
are  well  covered  with  soil,  and  afford  the  best  of 
pasturage,  even  including  the  summits  of  all  but 
the  highest.  Abrupt  hills,  rolling  lands,  valleys, 
and  streams  give  great  diversity  of  soil,  sandy  and 
gravelly  loams,  light  and  heavy  clay  loams,  and 
rich  alluvial  bottoms.  Along  the  streams  the 
deej)  black  earth,  vegetable  mould  collected  from 
the  hills,  carries  a  sod  in  many  places  unbroken  for 
a  century.  The  natural  grasses  of  these  meadows 
are  the  blue-grass,  fowl  meadow,  meadow  fescue, 
red-top,  wire-grass,  and  in  moist  spots  the  sweet- 
scented  vernal-grass.  Timothy,  orchard-grass,  and 
the  clovers  have  been  added,  and  flourish.  The 
common  weeds  are  also  found,  the  ox-eye  daisy, 
the  thistle,  and  the  golden  rod.  The  hills,  and  the 
grasses  that  grow  upon  them,  which  are  by  many 
considered  sweeter  and  more  nourishing  for  cattle, 
are  ;is  highly  valued  as  the  valleys.  It  has  been 
remarked  that  this  territory  was  once  a  region  of 
great  hemlock  forests,  and  some  of  the  old  settlers 


DAIRYING    IN    NEW    YORK    AND    OHIO. 


3G9 


believe  that  the  parts  which  carried  tlie  heaviest 
hemlock  growth  are  now  the  best  dairying  sections. 
Croshen  is  the  county  seat,  and  an  active  butter- 
market.  Goshen  and  Orange  County  butter  be- 
came famous  in  the  old  days  of  private  dairies, 
but  associated  butter-making  has  largely  replaced 
the  old  system.  The  first  butter-factory  in  the 
country  was  started  in  Orange  County,  the  Walkill 
Creamery  Association  at^Goshen  being  the  pioneer 
of  the  new  system.     Orange  County  ranks  next  to 


from  that  time;  the  figures  for  ISTo  are  from  tlie 
State  census.  The  statistics  are  added  of  four  of 
the  best  dairying  counties,  also  from  last  census. 
The  number  of  cows  to  every  100  acres  of  farms 
in  the  State  in  1875  was  8 J,  and  the  average 
annual  yield  per  cow  1,500  quarts  of  milk, 
or  r25  lbs.  of  butter.  The  dairy  associations  and 
markets  are  very  active,  and  the  dairy  lands  ap- 
preciating in  value  more  than  any  otliers.  In  the 
re-assessment  of  the  lands  of  the  State  in  1875, 


No.  4. — Dairy  Slafistics  of  New  York  and  Ohio,   United  Stales  of  America. 


State          

New  York. 

Oluo. 

Yeak 

1850. 

1860. 

1870. 

1875. 

1870. 

1875. 

Poimkfon    ... 

3,097,304 

3,880,735 

4,382,759 

4,698,958 

2,065,260 

3,000,000 

In  Agriculture 

313.<I80 

370,853 

374,323 

351,628 

397,024 

400,000 

No.  of  Farms 

170,621 

196,090 

216,258 

241,839 

195,9.53 

200,0(X) 

V:ilue  of  Farms 

bol'ars 

554,540,642 

803,343,503 

1,272,857,766 

1,221,472,277 

1,054,465,226 

1,000,000,000 

..  Acres 

112 

106 

103 

105 

111 

100 

No.  of  Cattle 

1,877,639 

1,973,174 

2,045,324 

2,250,170 

1,4.'36,217 

1,570,178 

No.  of  MUch  Cows 

931,324 

1,123,634 

1,3.50,661 

1,339,816 

6.>J,300 

758,500 

Milk  sold       ... 

..Galls. 

— 

— 

2,430,019 

41,511,599 

22,275,:«4 

2.5,112.000 

Butter  made... 

..      lbs. 

79,766,004 

103,007,280 

107,147.526 

111,087,486 

50,266,372 

48,41.5,570 

Cheese,  Dairy 

» 

49,741,413 

48,548,289 

22,769,964 

7,778,413 

8,169,486 

5,446,324 

Cheese,  Factory 

,, 

_ 

— 

78,006,048 

90,956,759 

15,984,390 

27,C77,.55fi 

Cheese  Factories 

..     No. 

— 

818 

1,139 

195 

375 

DAIRY  COUNTIES  IN  THE  STATE  OF  NEW   YORK   (FKOM  CENSUS   OF   ISTo). 


Cows  to 
each  100 

Whole  No.       Cow's  Milk 

of           1       sent  to 

Cows.            Factories. 

No.  of 
Fac- 
tories. 

Factory 
Cheese. 

Dairy 
Cheese. 

Butter. 

Mlk  Sold. 

Herkimer    ...         

Orauge         

St.  Lawrence         

Dutchess     ... 

14-9 
13-8 
12-8 
6-4 

44,237 
44,287 
90,949 
23,909 

34,070 
12,852 
30,786 
2,412 

88 
23 
47 
1 

Ib^. 

9,212,428 

824,515 

4,023,053 

25,000 

lbs. 

1,940,367 

3,300 

411,101 

5,999 

lbs. 
1.076,747 
1,448,146 
8,832,079 
1,283,289 

OeIIs. 

119,538 

13,530,709 

70,515 

5,101,610 

Herkimer  in  the  ratio  of  cows  to  land,  and  stands 
first  in  the  list  of  counties  in  the  annual  butter 
product  per  cow.  Proximity  to  New  York  City 
and  facilities  of  transportation  have  caused  a 
falling-off  in  the  butter  product  of  the  county,  and 
an  increase  in  the  shipments  of  milk  to  market; 
the  last  census  gives  the  annual  sales  of  milk 
from  Orange  County  as  13,500,000  g.illons,  more 
than  twice  as  much  as  any  other  county  in  the 
State. 

The  cows  in  the  State  of  New  York  were  first 
counted  in  181-5,  and  found  to  number  999,490  ; 
the  value  of  the  dairy  products  was  then  placed  at 
20,000,000  dollars  a  year.  A  table  is  here  inserted, 
showing   the    growth  of   dairying  in    New  York 


the  valuation  of  King's  County  was  decreased 
37,000,000  dollars,  while  that  of  Oneida,  a  dairy 
county,  was  increased  7,000,000.  The  mean 
temperature  of  the  State  of  New  York  is  ■17'^ 
Fahr.  Frost  generally  appears  late  in  Sejjtember, 
and  the  first  fall  of  snow  on  an  average  is  the  5th 
of  November.  The  city  of  Utica,  Oneida  County, 
22  miles  west  of  Little  Falls,  is  another  very 
large  and  active  dairy  market ;  over  300,000 
cheeses  are  sold  there  annually. 

Ohio  bids  fair  to  rank  next  to  New  York 
among  the  dairying  States,  if,  indeed,  that  position 
has  not  been  won  already.  From  1838  to  1802, 
and  especially  from  1814<  to  1852,  this  branch  of 
agriculture  was  very  active.     Then  wuol-growing 


370 


DAIHV    FARMING. 


took  the  lead  for  a  few  years.  Since  l^(i7  the 
dairy  interest  has  been  the  most  important  in  the 
aorieultnre  of  the  State.  Ohio  has  no  mountains, 
hut  the  fj-ri'ater  part  of  its  surface  is  elevated  table- 
land, from  900  to  1,'100  feet  above  sea-level,  in- 
tersected with  many  streams  flowing'  either  into 
Lake  Erie  on  the  north  or  the  Ohio  River  on  the 
south.  The  mean  temperature  of  the  State  is  52", 
and  the  average  rainfall  3S  inches.  In  1820  four- 
fifths  of  the  area  (10,000  square  miles)  was  covered 
with  forests,  and  the  dairy  lands  are  almost  entirely 
cleared  territory.  The  best  portions,  known  as 
the  Western  Reserve,*  lie  in  the  north-eastern 
corner  of  the  State.  The  soil  is  better  adapted  to 
the  growth  of  nutritious  grasses  than  anything 
else,  and  dairying  is  the  leading  business  of  the 
farmers.  The  first  factory  for  the  purchase  of 
milk  and  making  of  cheese  was  established  in 
Geauga  County,  in  1S55,  by  Anson  Bartlett  ;  in 
1880  the  associated  system  prevails,  and  the 
number  of  factories  in  the  State  is  estimated  at 
400 ;  three-fourths  of  them  in  the  twelve  counties 
of  the  Western  Reserve.  The  average  number  of 
cows  fo  each  factory  is  320,  and  the  season,  com- 
mencing about  the  7th  of  April,  continues  eight 
months.  Wellington,  iu  Lorain  County,  is  the 
great  dairy  market  of  the  Western  Reserve  and 
of  the  State.  It  has  a  Board  of  Trade,  and  its 
shipments  of  cheese  alone  exceed  10,000,000  lbs. 
annually.  Next  in  importance  as  a  dairy  centre 
is  Garret Isville,  in  Portage  County;  a  Board  of 
Trade  was  organised  there  in  July,  1878.  A  State 
census  is  taken  every  three  years,  but  the  agricul- 
tural statistics  are  not  so  full  and  reliable  as  the 
activity  and  enterpi'ise  of  the  agricultural  and 
dairymen's  societies  would  lead  one  to  expect. 
^V'ith  the  Table  for  New  York  some  comparative 
figures  are  given  for  Ohio. 

In  Pennsylvania  the  best  dairying  counties  are 
those  which  border  upon  New  York  and  Ohio, 
and  some  lying  in  the  south-eastern  portion  of  the 
State.  Philadeljihia,  the  second  city  in  America, 
is  about  100  miles  inland  from  the  sea  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  Delaware  River.  The  Pennsylvania 
counties  of  Delaware,  Chester,  jMontgomery,  and 
]?ucks,  immediately  adjoining  Philadelphia  on  the 
south-west  and  north,  are  peculiarly  adapted  to 

•  So  named  because  wlien  the  territory  of  Ohio,  claimed  by 
o'der  States,  was  ceded  to  the  United  States  to  form  the  North- 
Wist  Territory,  4,000,000  acres  were  retained  by  Connecticut 
and  known  as  its  Western  Hescrve. 


dairying,  and  are  largely  devoted  to  that  iiuhiptry, 
producing  great  quantities  of  butter  and  I'uniishing 
the  city  with  its  chief  supplies  of  milk.  Phila- 
delphia butter  has  long  been  noted  for  very  de- 
licate flavour,  and  this  characteristic  is  attributed 
by  many  to  the  sweet-scented  vernal-grass,  which 
is  one  of  the  most  common  of  the  grasses  upon 
the  natural  pastures  of  the  counties  named.  This 
seems  to  he  substantiated  by  the  fact  that  the  high 
aromatic  flavour  of  the  butter,  especially  notable 
in  May,  continues  during  the  development  of  this 
grass  and  declines  with  the  maturing  of  its  seeds; 
the  stems  then  become  hard  and  dry,  the  leaves 
wither,  and  the  cows  push  the  plant  aside  to  obtain 
fresher  and  greener  herbage.  Nearly  all  the 
butter  of  this  section  is  put  up  in  pound  lumps, 
circular  in  shape,  with  some  suitable  figure 
stamped  upon  the  top,  and  hence  the  name  of 
"  Philadelphia  ixnmd  j)rints."  The  quality  of 
this  article  is  of  a  high  average,  and  the 
best  has  long  commanded  prices  beyond  those 
obtained  elsewhere,  with  rare  and  very  limited 
exceptions;  60  and  75  cents  have  been  usual 
prices,  and  the  product  of  certain  dairies  has 
readily  sold  for  one  dollar,  for  long  periods.  Tliis 
butter  is  generally  made  iu  private  dairies  of 
medium  size,  many  of  them  retaining  the  old- 
fashioned  but  satisfactory  spring-house  sj'stem ; 
the  milk-room,  usually  of  stone,  is  built  over  a 
living  spring,  whose  waters  flow  through  a  cooling 

pool.^ 

Two  hundred  miles  west  of  Philadelphia,  ad- 
joining the  State  of  West  Virginia,  is  the  county 
of  Somerset,  almost  exclusively  a  butter-making 
district.  In  the  north-west  corner  of  the  State, 
350  miles  from  Philadelphia,  are  Erie  and  Craw- 
ford Counties,  containing  seventy  or  eighty  cheese- 
factories,  and  producing  a  million  dollars'  worth  of 
cheese  annually;  nearly  all  of  this  goes  to  Great 
Britain,  by  way  of  New  Y'ork  City.  IMeadville,  in 
Crawford  County,  is  the  chief  dairy  market  of  this 
region,  has  an  active  Board  of  Trade,  and  is  also 
the  head-quarters  of  the  Pennsylvania  Dairymen's 
Association.  A  factory  at  Venango,  in  the  same 
county,  took  the  diploma  and  medal  for  the  best 
American  cheese  at  the  Centennial  Exhibition  in 
1876,  and  the  second  honours  at  the  Chicago 
Dairy  Fair  of  1877.  Tiie  counties  of  Bradford, 
Tioga,  and  Susquehanna,  in  the  northern  jiart 
of  the  State,  produce  large  quantities  of  butter; 
this    district    is    very    hilly,    but    the    water    and 


DAIRYING    IN    MASSACHUSETTS. 


371 


grasses  are  of  the  must  suitable  kind.  All  these 
dairy  districts  are  reached  by  the  world-renowned 
Peiin.sylvania  railroat.!  and  its  branches,  which 
altord  a  quick  means  of  transit  for  their  products. 
Fifty-six  other  counties  in  Pennsylvania  contain 
much  territory  well  adapted  to  dairy inji',  but  yet 
undeveloped.  The  mean  temperature  of  the  State 
is  48'"^  and  the  average  rainfall  4U  inches. 


State,  but  the  dairy  is  an  important  feature  of 
her  husbandry,  and  the  statistics  are  so  complete 
that  a  table  (No.  5)  has  been  prepared  exhibiting 
those  of  interest  in  this  connection. 

The  following  facts  from  the  State  census  of 
1875  are  not  included  in  the  table  : — Oi  the 
3,2.'j.j,479  acres  in  farms,  about  one-fourth  is  non- 
productive,  so   that  71,U0(J  persons  in  the   State 


No.  i).— Statistics  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts. 


1850. 

1355. 

1863. 

1SG5. 

1870. 

1875. 

Population 

904,  .514 

1,132,369 

1,231,066 

1,207,031 

1,4.57,351 

1,051,912 

Engaged  in  Agriculture  ... 

5S,082 

57,031 

64,  .50  J 

67,.5.50 

72,810 

70,945 

No.  of  Farms 

34,009 

34,820 

35,001 

40,904 

45,000 

44,549 

Average  size  of  Farms    ... 

..   Acres 

99 

96 

94 

79 

80 

70 

Total  Value  of  Farms     ... 

Dollars 

109,076,.'?47 

— 

123,255,948 

152,940,058 

180,000,000 

18-2,603.140 

No.  of  Neat  Cattle 

2.19,994 

231,521 

280,914 

224.008 

219,0.52 

224. -.'.58 

No.  of  Milch  Cows 

130,099 

148,509 

144,492 

143,280 

138,000 

120,034 

Average  Value  of  Caws  . . . 

Dollars 

25 

26 

2;l 

38 

5.? 

48 

liutter,  lbs.  made 

8,071,370 

8,116,009 

8,237,936 

6,606,80" 

7,866,252 

7,92-2,431 

,.        Average  market  price 

..  Cents 

19 

21 

25 

.-i(! 

36 

35 

Cheese,  lbs.  made 

7,038,142 

5,702,776 

5,294,090 

3,852,.592 

4,131,309 

3,087,017 

,,        Average  market  price 

..  Cents 

8 

9 

10 

16 

15 

13 

Milk  sold 

...  Calls. 

— 

3,203,665 

— 

10,038,372 

15,284,057 

35  098,1.59 

A  alue  Dairy  Products     ... 

Dollars 

2,100,611 

2,898,096 

3,603,893 

5,161,920 

6,-20L',.586 

9,(I.S7  ,S42 

ITay  Crop 

...    Tons 

051,807 

648,010 

065,331 

593,185 

597,4.55 

071.144 

Average  price  per  ton     ... 

Dollars 

13  00 

13-42 

14-50 

19-46 

18  00 

15-88 

• 

STATISTICS  OF  THE  COUNTY  OF  FEAN-KLIN,  MASSACHUSETTS. 


It50. 

1855. 

1800. 

1865. 

1870. 

1875. 

I*opulation...         

30.870 

31,0.52 

31,434 

31,.340 

32,635 

33,090 

In  Agriculture      

5.321 

5.249 

5,532 

5,497 

5,043 

.5,778 

No.  of  Farms        

2,.537 

3,145 

2,739 

3,.533 

2,840 

3,950 

A^alue  of  Farms Dollars 

6,033,281 

7,12.5,019 

7,509,223 

8,04.5,751 

9,241,187 

11,3.52.503 

No.  of  Cattle        

23,434 

22,672 

26,247 

18,235 

23,029 

22,192 

No.  of  Milch  Cows           

9,812 

9,501 

9,349 

8,022 

8,779 

10,271 

Value  of  Cows      DoUara 

347,420 

345,786 

308,515 

362,124 

395,055 

415,398 

Butter,  lbs.  made 

883,080 

884,307 

931,539 

S18,.535 

996,543 

1,285.048 

Cheese        ,,          

335,005 

233,337 

230,654 

100.484 

75,375 

63.711 

Milk  sold  for  use  . . .         ...         ...  Galls. 

— 

— 

— 

.50, 198 

47,493 

1,093.209 

Value  Dairy  Products     ...           DoUars 

203,464 

215,.547 

256,.550 

345,040 

394,373 

635,145 

Hay,  acres  cut  for            

45,057 

43049 

48,738 

43,304 

58,294 

57,805 

,,      tons  made    ... 

52,766 

49,349 

.58,905 

44.434 

63,4.50 

61,115 

„      value  of,  in  dollars           

554,043 

528,716 

678,097 

699,044 

921,840 

893,230 

In  the  adjoining  States  of  New  Jersey  and 
Delaware,  dairying  is  a  prominent  industry  ;  large 
cities  and  to5vns  furnish  markets  for  great  quan- 
tities of  milk,  and  an  excellent  article  of  butter 
is  produced. 

No  statistics  of  the  dairy  can  be  found 
gathered  by  State  authority  in  Pennsylvania, 
New  Jersey,  Delaware,  or  any  one  of  the  New 
England  States  except  Massachusetts;  the  United 
States  census  is  the  sole  dependence  for  these. 

Massachusetts  is  far  from  being  an  agricultural 
50 


live  from  the  products  of  farms  averaging  56  acres 
of  arable  land  valued  at  70  dollars  per  acre.  The 
average  net  income  from  each  farm  is  511-30 
dollars  per  annum,  or  9-31  dollars  per  acre.  The 
farmer  also  gets  the  rent  of  his  home,  estimated 
at  109  dollars,  making  really  an  annual  income  of 
620-30  dollars.  50,OG2  males  in  the  common- 
wealth, earning  wages  in  nine  hundred  occupations 
other  than  agriculture,  average  an  income  of 
483-73  dollars  per  annum.  So  the  farmers  of 
^Massachusetts    fare    well    by    comparison.       The 


872 


DAIHV    FARMING. 


dMirv-cMttlc  oi"  tlio  State  avo  of  a  lii^'li  ordor,  and 
tlic  (lairvintf  o-enerally  niana<>vd  with  intclligT-nce 
and  ])rolit.  The  cows  in  ^lassachiisetts  avera<jc 
l/JUU  quarts  of  milk  a  year,  and  the  gross  product 
is  worth  72  dollars  per  cow,  these  figures  being  far 
above  tliose  of  any  other  State. 

For  various  reasons  the  county  of  Franklin, 
in  Massachusetts,  is  as  good  a  selection  as  can 
be  made  of  a  small  representative  dairy  district  in 
the  older  parts  of  the  Ihiited  States.  It  is  on 
the  northern  line  of  the  State,  on  the  Connecticut 
River,  its  most  fertih;  lands  lying  in  the  valleys  of 
that  stream  and  tributaries  to  it.  The  county  was 
incorporated  in  the  year  1811,  an  area  of  (ioO 
square  miles,  divided  into  20  townships.  The 
aspect  of  the  county  is  broken  and  mountainous. 
There  are  ranges  of  red  sandstone  extending  along 
the  bank  of  the  Connecticut,  and  the  western 
towns  lie  upon  spurs  of  the  Green  Mountain 
range.  Every  town  in  the  county  has  its  fair 
projiortion  of  hills.  Originally  forestjclad,  the 
hills  are  now  cleared,  in  many  cases  even  when 
rising  almost  to  mountains.  In  some  instances 
the  farmers  have  placed  their  houses  on  the  sum- 
mits, and  have  around  them  cultivated  and  ])ro- 
ductive  fields.  But  the  hills  and  mountain-sides 
arc  usually  devoted  to  pasturage,  micaceous-slate 
formations  being  common.  The  rocks  of  the 
county  are  chiefly  granite  and  trap,  although  red 
sandstone  is  abundant,  and  there  is  more  or  less 
slate  and  limestone.  Springs  abound  among  the 
liills  and  form  little  streams  of  the  purest  water, 
so  numerous  that  almost  every  farm  of  any  size  is 
well  supplied.  This  description  implies  soils  of 
varied  kind  and  quality,  from  light  sand  and  clay 
dei)osits  to  the  deep  alluvial  meadows  of  the 
valleys  ;  a  rather  light  loam  of  fair  fertility  is  the 
prevailing  medium.  The  mean  temperature  for 
thirty-five  years  was  47*^,  the  average  annual 
depth  of  rain  or  melted  snow  41i  inches,  and  tlio 
dejjth  of  snowfall  53  inches.  The  first  agricul- 
tural survey  was  ordered  by  the  State  in  1810. 
That  and  subsequent  returns  give  this  division  of 
the  lands : — 


Cultivated       

TJniniproved    ...         

In  Woodlaml 

In  Towns,  Uoads,  and  Water 
Pasturage  and  Wild 


60,256 
80,H29 
64,452 
1.5,244 
188,616 


18G0. 


65,721 
78,347 
62,600 
17,524 
l'Jl,345 


1875. 


Acres. 
67,431 
74,!>56 
63,127 
18,280 
191,703 


The  dairy-stock  of  the  county  is  b:i.«cd  upon 
"natives,"  with  a  large  admixture  of  Durham 
blood,  which  dates  back  to  1835,  or  earlier.  Much 
attention  has  been  given  to  improving  the  cows  of 
late  years.  About  1^55  importations  of  choice 
Jersey  cattle  were  made,  and  the  blood  of  this 
breed  has  since  had  a  marked  effect  uj)on  the 
dairies  of  the  county.  The  annual  county  show  of 
cattle  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  in  the  New 
England  States. 

The  county  is  crossed  by  one  line  of  railroad 
north  and  south,  and  by  another  cast  and  west,  the 
junction  at  its  shire  town,  (jreenfield;  and  the 
facilities  of  transportation  and  courses  of  trade  are 
such  that  the  case  is  an  unusually  good  one  for 
verifying  the  figures  of  production  and  consumj)- 
tion,  as  given  in  the  census,  by  examination  of 
the  market  records.  Numerous  manufacturing 
villages  furnish  a  good  home  market  for  dairy 
products,  and  the  surplus,  almost  all  in  the  form  of 
butter,  is  sent  by  railway  to  Boston,  100  miles 
eastward.  Franklin  County  butter  has  long  had  a 
good  name  in  the  Boston  market,  commanding  the 
best  prices  aside  from  those  termed  "  fancy.''  The 
general  statistics  of  the  county,  from  the  State 
and  National  census,  are  given  in  connection  with 
those  of  Massachusetts  (see  Table  No.  5).  The 
following  additional  facts  are  from  market  re- 
cords : — 


Shipments  of  Bulte; 

Avera^je 
Price. 

Tear. 

(•om 

Eauge  of  Prices, 

Franklin  County. 

lbs. 

Cents. 

Conts. 

1875      

511,313 

20  to  45 

33i 

1876      

519,071 

18  „    43 

.32 

1877      

530,171 

17   „   38 

29 

1878      

584.804 

12  „   35 

22 

1879      

002,389 

9  „   35 

20 

ISSO      

769,041 

9  „   35 

22 

The  steadily  increasing  sales,  with  no  decrease 
in  home  consumption,  with  about  the  same  number 
of  cows,  and  ujion  a  "  falling  market,"  indicate 
the  rate  of  improvement  in  dairy-stock  which  pre- 
vails throughout  the  county.  Some  herds  have 
produced  over  300  lbs.  of  butter  per  cow,  and 
yielded  from  100  to  150  dollars  per  annum  per  cow, 
for  several  successive  years.  The  figures  show  an 
average  annual  product  of  1,800  quarts  of  milk 
and  KM  lbs.  of  butter  per  cow  for  the  county, 
and  a  consumption  of  23  lbs.  of  butter  per  capita. 
The  latter  is  jjrobabl}'  as  accurate  a  computation 
of  the  cmsiiniptiou   of  butter  in   America  as  has 


CiROWTir    OF    WESTKHN    DAIRVlNd. 


37;5 


I'vur  boon  voachod,  ami  oxoooJs  tlio  g-oiioral  avoniy^o 
in  the  oounliy  by  I'roni  5  lbs.  to  S  lbs. 

Although  no  satisfactory  statistics  can  bo  jiivcn 
for  the  other  New  Enylaud  States,  dairyini;-  t'ornis 
the  most  inij)ortant  branch  of  agricnlture  in  all 
of  thorn.  Maine  and  Vermont  particularly  have 
active  organisations  of  dairymen,  and  these  States 
are  rapidly  jirogressing'  in  the  quantity  and  quality 
of  their  productions.  In  Maine  cheese  is  largvly 
made,  there  being  a  number  of  factories  in  success- 
ful operation,  and  the  annual  butter  erojj  reaches 
12,0UU,0UU  lbs.  Vermont,  as  already  shown,  is 
specially  a  butter-making  State,  the  greater  part 
of  the  surplus  product  hnding  its  way  to  Boston. 
St.  Albans,  in  the  north-western  part  of  the  State, 
is  one  of  the  oldest,  largest,  and  best  known  butter 
markets  in  the  country.  In  New  Hampshire  the 
dairy  is  less  jn-ominent,  but  almost  as  much  butter 
is  made  as  in  Massachusetts,  and  the  southern  part 
of  the  State  supplies  large  quantities  of  milk  to 
the  many  mannfacturing  towns  and  cities  in  that 
section  and  in  Eastern  Massachusetts.  Connecticut 
contributes  largel}^  to  the  New  York  City  milk 
supply,  besides  making  as  much  buttpr  and  cheese 
as  jNIassaehusetls.  Associated  butter-making  is 
beginning  to  be  popular  and  stiecessful  in  this 
State,  and  one  of  its  creameries  received  the  first 
l>remium  for  butter  made  in  New  England  at  the 
International  Dairy  Show  at  New  York  in  1878. 
Rhode  Island  has  19,000  cows,  which  are  about 
equally  divided  between  the  production  of  milk 
for  eonsumjition  by  the  people  of  that  densely 
populated  little  State  and  the  manufacture  of  an 
excellent  grade  of  butter;  cheese-making  is  almost 
unknown  there.  As  a  whole.  New  England  is  a 
good  dairying  section,  and  its  farmers  find  that, 
with  bttter  cows  and  imjiroved  methods,  the  dairy 
is  their  surest  source  of  profit. 

The  North-western  States  have  rapidly  deve- 
loped excellent  dairy  districts  since  ISlo.  For  a 
](jng  time  there  was  much  prejudice  in  the  Atlantic 
States  against  the  butter  and  cheese  of  the  West, 
and  Eastern  people  were  incredulous  as  to  the 
dairying  capabilities  of  that  section.  For  years  all 
"Western-made  butter  was  classed  as  "  grease "  in 
the  New  York  market,  and  this  continued  up  to 
about  the  year  1870.  But  Iowa  butter  received 
the  highest  award  at  the  Philadelphia  Exhibition 
of  1876,  and  the  same  year  the  dairy  products  of 
the  North-west  began  to  command  equal  prices  in 
New   York   with  the  best  Eastern  articles  ;  since 


that  time  Wo.-^torn  creamery  buttrr  has  stimd  at  the 
head  of  the  list.  Up  to  ISGi)  Chicago  merchants 
obtained  their  sup])lies  of  cheese  from  the  East;  in 
1S79  over  100,000,000  lbs.  passed  through  that 
city  from  the  West  on  its  way  to  the  New  York 
market,  and  ;J00,000  packages  of  butter  and  cheese 
were  also  exported  to  Europe  direct  from  Chicago. 

One  of  the  causes  of  disbelief  in  Western  dairy- 
ing was  the  idea  that  the  prairie  pasturage  was 
unfit  for  milch-cows.  But  it  has  been  abundantly 
proved  that  there  is  no  better  dairy  feed  than  the 
native  prairie  grasses,  so  long  as  they  keep  green  ; 
this,  however,  is  only  about  four  months.  It 
apj)ears  that  butter  from  cows  feeding  upon  the 
wild  grasses  of  the  West  keeps  longer  than  almost 
any  other  in  the  country,  and  when  well  made 
cannot  be  surpassed  in  quality.  The  yields  also 
are  large ;  two  cases  are  on  record  in  Illinois  of 
Devon  cows  on  prairie  pasture,  one  of  which  gave 
double  her  weight  of  milk  in  thirty-five  days,  in 
May  and  June,  and  from  the  other  423  lbs.  of 
butter  were  made  in  a  year,  the  winter  feed  being 
prairie  hay.  In  1851  a  grade  Durham,  owned 
by  a  pioneer  prairie  farmer  in  Iowa,  gave  over 
50  lbs.  of  milk  a  day  for  several  weeks ;  this  cow 
had  never  been  in  a  barn  nor  tasted  tame  hay. 
Among  the  advantages  of  the  West  as  a  dairy 
district  are  the  low  prices  of  land,  lumber,  and 
staple  articles  of  food — good  land,  improved,  20  to 
40  dollars  per  acre ;  cows,  30  to  50  dollars  each ; 
hay,  10  dollars,  and  often  much  less,  per  ton; 
Indian  corn,  50  cents  per  bushel  and  less,  some- 
times 30  cents;  wheat,  SO  cents.  The  prairie 
farmers  naturally  prefer  to  ship  dairy  products 
East,  for  while  corn  brings  but  I  cent  a  pound, 
wheat  IJ,  pork  3  or  4,  and  beef  8  cents,  butter 
is  usually  18  to  20  cents,  and  cheese  about  equal 
to  beef,  and  the  cost  of  sending  these  articles 
to  market  is  about  the  same,  pound  for  pound. 
The  most  condensed  farm  products  are  thus  the 
most  profitable  to  the  farmers  who  dcpeutl  upon 
distant  markets. 

In  Michigan  the  best  dairy  counties  are  those 
in  the  south-west  corner  of  the  State,  bordering 
upon  Ohio  and  Lake  Erie,  ranking  in  about  this 
order  in  importance — Lenawee,  Oakland,  ^Vayne, 
Washtenaw,  Hillsdale,  Jackson,  Monroe,  JIacomb ; 
also  Kent  in  the  central  part  of  the  State. 

Indiana  has  400,000  cows  very,  evenly  dis- 
tributed over  the  State,  but  although  the  dairy 
products    are     large     in      the      aggregate,    there 


874 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


are  no  localities  in  wliicli  this  industry  is 
specially  prominent.  Tiie  counties  of  <i^reatest 
])roduction  are  Allen,  bordering  on  Ohio,  with 
Fort  Wa^aie  as  its  business  centre,  and  Lake 
County,  in  the  extreme  north-western  corner  of 
the  State,  on  Lake  Michigan.  Indiana  has  but 
twenty  cheese-factories,  while  the  neighbouring- 
States  of  Michigan  and  Illinois  have  fifty  and 
one  hundred  respectively. 

Illinois    has    an    imjyirtiint    dairying    district, 
including     eighteen     or     twenty      counties,     the 


northern  fll'tli  of  the  St.ite,  with  an  area 
of  about  10,000  s(|uare  miles.  This  is  one  of 
the  most  fertile  and  well-developed  agricultural 
regions  in  the  United  States.  It  is  almost  level, 
here  and  there  relieved  by  a  gently-rolling  surface. 
The  grass  is  mostly  tame,  and  the  entire  distrii't 
is  abundantly  watered.  The  water  here,  however, 
as  in  all  this  region,  is  in  streams  of  good  size, 
springs  being  comi)arativcly  few  in  number;  and 
many  farms  depend  upon  pumping  from  wells  for 
supply  of  stock  and  domestic  uses.  For  this 
purpose  windmills  arc  much  used,  and  the  country 
throngliout  the  level  portions  of  the  north-west  is 
dotted  with  them.  There  are  several  excellent 
American  patterns,  one  of  which  is  here  repre- 
sented (Fig.  209).     The  most  productive  dairying 


counties  are  Cook,  Kane,  La  Salle,  Will, 
McHenry,  De  Kalb,  and  Lake,  all  in  the  north- 
eastern part  of  the  State.  The  City  of  Chicago 
is  in  Cook  County,  1,027  square  miles  in  area, 
with  30,000  cows  and  a  population  of  G00,000. 
In  Kane  County  is  Elgin,  the  great  dairy 
centre  of  the  \Vest,  a  fine  town  of  10,000  in- 
habitants, situated  on  the  Fox  River,  40  miles 
west  from  Chicago.  It  is  the  head-quarters  of  the 
State  Dairymen's  Association,  founded  in  187-1, 
and  has  a  vigorous  Board  of  Trade,  organised 
in  1872,  in  the  dairy  interest.  In  the  imme- 
diate neighbourhood  of  Elgin  are  about  thirty 
factories  and  creameries,  and  seventy  more  make 
this  their  market.  The  Board  of  Trade  sales 
include  about  10,000,000  lbs.  of  cheese  and 
2,750,000  lbs.  of  butter  annually,  amounting  to 
over  1,500,000  dollars  in  value.  There  is  also 
at  Elgin  a  condensed-milk  factory,  managed  by 
one  of  the  sons  of  Gail  Borden,  which  uses  the 
milk  from  2,000  cows.  The  first  shipments  of 
butter  from  Elgin  were  made  in  181'7;  in  1802 
the  first  cheese-factory  was  built.  The  first 
dairymen's  organisation  in  the  North-west  was 
formed  at  Elgin  in  1863.  The  activity  of  the 
dairy  interest  in  this  region  can  be  judged  from 
the  fact  that  Kane  County,  with  an  area  of  510 
square  miles  and  a  population  of  about  50,000, 
has  more  than  2,000  milch-cows.  At  South 
Elgin,  St.  Charles,  and  Huntley,  in  Kane  County, 
are  located  three  of  the  largest  cheese-factories 
in  the  country,  costing  from  10,000  to  12,000 
dollars  each,  and  using  at  times  over  30,000 
lbs.  of  milk  apiece  daily.  At  Marengo,  in 
INlcIIenry  County,  is  the  famous  butter-factory 
of  Israel-  Boies  and  Sons,  elsewhere  mentioned, 
which  in  the  year  1874  produced  an  average  of 
311  lbs.  of  first-class  butter  from  its  100  cows. 
Rockford,  in  Winnebago  County,  not  far  from 
the  Wisconsin  boundary,  is  the  centre  of  the  test 
d;iiry-butter  business  of  Illinois.  Freeport,  in 
Stei)henson  County,  is  also  a  large  butter  market. 
Wisconsin  has  large  dairying  interests,  and  has 
t.iken  front  rank  as  a  cheese-making  district. 
Cheese-making  began  at  Fon-du-Lac,  on  Lake 
Winnebago,  in  1850;  at  that  time  there  were  but 
three  or  four  dairies  in  the  State.  The  era  of 
cheese-factories  developed  the  dairying  resources 
of  Wisconsin,  and  followed  soon  after  the  rapid 
growth  of  this  industry  in  Northern  Illinois.  The 
first  cheese-factory  in  the  State  was  built  in  1801, 


THE    WESTERN    STATES. 


873 


ami  within  twelve  years  tliere  were  150  established. 
AViseonsiii  cheese  was  shipjietl  directly  East  before 
that  of  Illinois  :  it  has  a  special  reputation  for 
]<ee]niig  and  for  quality,  and  as  an  export  article 
commands  in  the  New  York  market  prices  equal 
to  New  York  State  cheese.  A  particularly  tine 
display  of  Wisconsin  cheese  was  made  at  the  In- 
ternational Dairy  Fair  at  New  York  in  1878,  and 
several  special  prizes  taken.  Wisconsin  took  most 
of  the  cheese  prizes  also  at  the  Chicago  Fair  in 
1S77.  This  State  also  won  the  very  highest 
honours  for  butter  at  New  York  in  December, 
1879.  The  Illinois  and  Wisconsin  Dairymen's 
Association,  formed  in  1867,  soon  became  the 
North-western.  In  187:i  the  Wisconsin  State 
Dairymen's  Association  was  organised.  The  best 
daily  district  is  the  south-eastern  quarter  of  the 
State,  extending  up  Lake  Michigan  to  Green  Bay, 
and  across  the  southern  border  cf  the  State  almost 
to  the  Alississippi  River.  The  land  and  water  are 
of  the  best.  There  is  a  large  proportion  of  Ger- 
mans in  the  population.  The  following  counties 
each  have  more  than  10,000  cows,  and  in  the 
importance  of  the  dairy  rank  as  named — Dane, 
Dodge,  Fon-du-Lac,  Grant,  Rock,  Jefferson,  Green, 
Waukesha,  Sheboygan,  and  La  Fayette.  The 
centres  of  the  trade  are  at  Sheboygan  Falls,  and 
at  Fort  Atkinson,  Jefferson,  and  Watertown,  the 
last  three  in  Jefferson  County. 

Iowa  is  likely  to  become  the  foremost  dairy 
State  of  the  North-west,  and  in  butter-making 
assumed  the  lead  in  1878.  It  was  organised  as  a 
Territory  in  1838,  became  a  State  in  18-16,  and 
has  had  a  very  rapid  growth.  Its  length,  north 
and  south,  is  200  miles,  and  its  width,  between 
the  Mississippi  and  ^Missouri  Rivers,  about  300 
miles.  The  country  is  very  level,  no  mountains, 
or  even  considerable  hills ;  roUing  prairie  is  the 
rule.  The  general  elevation  above  the  sea  is  from 
800  to  900  feet,  and  there  is  a  gradual  slope  of  the 
whole  State  from  north  to  south  of  one  foot  to  the 
mile,  as  well  as  eastern  and  western  drainage- 
slopes  towards  the  two  great  rivers,  from  two 
to  five  feet  to  the  mile.  This  State  contains  a 
greater  proportion  of  tillable  and  fertile  land  than 
any  other  in  the  country.  There  are  three  kinds 
of  soil  :  the  first  is  formed  of  the  surface  part  of 
tlie  drift  or  diluvial  deposit,  a  dai-k  loam,  moderately 
stiff,  from  one  to  three  feet  deep,  which  prevails 
on  the  prairies ;  the  second,  the  surface  portion  of 
the  bluff  deposit,  very  fine,  with  less  clay  than  the 


first,  drier,  as  fertile,  and  deeper  ;  the  third  is  the 
alluvial  of  the  river-bottoms,  as  rich,  durable,  and 
productive  as  any  soil  in  the  world.  The  climate 
is  very  uniform,  with  a  difference  in  the  growing 
season  of  about  ten  days  between  the  extreme 
vegetation,  north  and  south ;  the  average  annual 
temperature  is  48*^  Fahr.,  and  the  rainfall  4-Z 
inches.  The  number  of  milch-cows  owned  in  the 
State  more  than  doubled  between  ISGO  and  1870, 
and  doubled  again  between  1870  and  1880;  the 
number  for  the  last  year  is  placed  at  730,000. 
Dairying  in  Iowa  began  to  be  prominent  in  1801 ; 
the  State  Dairymen's  Association  was  formed  in 
1875.  All  parts  of  the  State  are  about  equally 
adapted  to  dairying,  but  the  eastern  portion,  a  belt, 
100  miles  wide,  along  the  Mississippi  River,  is  the 
oldest,  and  leads  in  the  industry.  The  counties  of 
greatest  production  are  Clinton,  Cedar,  Jackson, 
Clayton,  Delaware,  and  Dubuque ;  Manchester,  in 
Delaware  County,  is  the  chief  centre  of  the  trade. 
The  factory  system  is  largely  followed  in  butter- 
making.  Butter  from  Iowa  factories  and  creameries 
took  the  highest  honours  at  the  Centennial  Show 
in  1876;  and  at  the  International  Dairy  Fair  at 
New  York  in  1S7S  a  large  share  of  the  special 
prizes  and  the  sweepstakes,  "  the  best  butter  of 
any  kind  made  at  any  time  and  place."  This  was 
the  product  of  a  factory  at  iMonticello.  At  the 
second  "International,"  1879,  of  the  highest 
thirty-two  prizes  for  butter,  open  to  all  the 
States,  fifteen  were  taken  by  Iowa. 

ilinuesota  is  a  still  newer  State,  but  very  ex- 
tensive, growing  rapidly,  and  with  large  dairy 
interests  already  (1880).  The  south-east  corner 
is  the  largest  butter-producing  region,  and  most 
attention  is  given  to  this  branch  of  dairying.  But 
Minnesota  has  the  same  natural  conditions  with 
her  neighbour  Wisconsin,  and  with  Canada,  still 
further  east,  and  only  needs  a  market  to  produce, 
like  those  districts,  an  article  of  cheese  of  superior 
keepingqualities.  The  State  Dairymen's  Association, 
at  its  yearly  meeting  in  1878,  made  this  one  of  the 
leading  topics  of  discussion.  The  State  is  without 
mountains,  but  its  general  elevation  gives  it  the 
characteristics  of  a  mountainous  region  ;  the  yearly 
mean  temperature  is  44°  Fahr.,  and  the  atmos- 
phere very  dry.  Limestone  drift,  clay,  and  trap 
are  the  geological  divisions  of  the  soil ;  the  latter 
generally  appears  dark  in  colour,  fine  in  texture,  and 
abounding  in  organic  matter ;  it  is  highly  fertile. 
In  1858,  of  its  5,000,000  acres  but  30(1,000  were 


S7G 


DAIRV    FARMING. 


uikKt  cultivation;  in  1S7^,  3,0110,1100.  In  1858 
there  were  30,000  cows  in  the  State,  and  •^50,000 
in  1878,  yielding  about  lo,000,000  lbs.  of  butter. 
An  intelligent  farmer  in  Sherburne  County, 
70  miles  north-west  of  St.  Paul,  states  that 
he  keeps  ten  cows,  good  common  stock,  some  with 
a  little  Shorthorn  1)lood,  and  makes  an  average 
of  1^5  lbs.  of  butter  per  cow^,  from  calf  to  calf. 
Tile  butter  for  several  years  was  sent  to  St.  Paul, 
and  averaged  'Zi  cents  a  pound,  20  cents  in  1878. 
The  cows  are  pastured  from  the  15th  or  20th  of 
Slay  till  the  middle  of  September,  and  the  natural 
grass  pastures  are  sufficient ;  they  remain  out  till 
October  loth,  but  this  last  month  must  be  fed  to 
prevent  loss  of  milk,  the  ])asturage  suffering  from 
frost.  Seven  months  of  stall-feeding  follow.  For 
hay,  selected  meadows  of  natural  wild  grass  are  cut, 
often  requiring  hauling  for  two  or  three  miles;  the 
hay  thus  obtained  costs  about  3  dollars  a  ton  at 
the  barn.  ^Vheat,  bran,  and  shorts  can  be  obtained 
in  any  quantity  at  very  low  rates  at  the  uumerous 
flouring  mills. 

Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  Missouri  have  together 
about  1,000,000  cows,  and  their  dairy  products 
are  large,  although  beef-production  receives  more 
attention.  In  1879  and  1880  a  good  deal  of 
cheese  reached  Chicago  and  New  York  from  those 
States ;  one  lot  from  a  ranche  on  the  North  Platte 
River  in  Nebraska,  on  the  eastern  edge  of  "  the 
plains"  region,  was  ranked  as  first-class.  Large 
dairy-herds  are  kept  there,  and  a  cheese-factory 
has  been  built.  A  few  factories  were  in  suci-essful 
operation  in  Kansas  as  early  as  1^07. 

IMaryland,  Virginia,  West  Virginia,  and  Ken- 
tucky have  within  their  borders  exceedingly  line 
districts  for  dairying,  but  these  are  not  generally 
developed,  the  famous  blue-grass  pastures  being 
devoted  more  to  the  production  of  beef  than  of 
butter  anil  cheese.  The  dairy  products  of  this 
socticm  are  large,  however,  and  the  same  is 
true  of  North  Carolina,  Tennessee,  and  Arkansas. 
These  seven  States  have  1,2.50,000  cows,  about 
18  per  cent,  of  the  popvdation,  and  although 
they  are  not  as  good  dairy  animals  ;is  those 
in  the  more  northern  sections,  they  just  about 
su|i]ily  the  local  demands  for  milk,  butter,  and 
cheese,  the  cities  excepted.  The  other  Southcra 
States  have  a  still  larger  proportion  of  cows, 
and  of  a  still  less  value  for  the  dairy;  so  that 
although,  Texas  excepted,  the  cows  number  over 
20  per  cent,  of  the  jiopulafion,  the  large  Southern 


cities  are  constant  buyers  of  Norlhern  dairy  pro- 
ducts. 

Texas  is  an  exceptional  State.  It  had  iu 
1880  two  cows  to  every  five  inhabitants,  besides 
4,500,000  other  cattle,  but  its  cows  are  almost 
all  breeders,  the  dairy  products  being  inconsider- 
able. To  illustrate — the  following  are  the  tiguros 
of  the  census  of  1870:  Pojmlation,  8ls,()(i0; 
C0W.S,  428,000;  other  cattle,  3,0()(i,000 ;  butter 
made,  3,700,000  lbs. ;  cheese,  34,000  lbs. ;  milk 
sold,  03,000  gallons.  This  is  about  100  quarts 
of  milk  ])er  year  devoted  to  the  dairy  for  every 
cow  in  Texas. 

The  Southern  and  Southern-central  States,  as 
a  whole,  may  be  regarded  as  a  great  undevelo]ied 
winter-dairying  region.  Below  the  blue-grass  dis- 
tricts natural  pasturage  is  not  general,  but  the 
other  facilities  for  successful  dairying  are  very 
great,  except  during  the  season  of  excessive  heat. 
There  is  but  a  small  portion  of  the  South  where 
the  climate  is  such  as  to  materially  interfere  with 
dairying  during  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  Good 
pasturage  is  easily  made  and  available  during 
months  when  the  cows  of  the  North  and  Fast  are 
closely  housed.  With  a  little  care  the  best  of  dairy- 
cattle  are  acclimatised,  and  the  Jerseys  are  becom- 
ing favourites  in  this  section.  In  1875  Virginia, 
North  Carolina,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee  had 
together  a  dozen  cheese-factories,  but  beyond  this 
there  were  no  establishments  for  associated  dairy- 
ing. The  private  dairies  of  the  South  are  generally 
small,  and  the  old  and  excellent  spring-house  system 
is  preferred.  Since  1875  private  dairies  in  dii'- 
ferent  parts  of  the  South  have  introduced  then- 
products,  esjiecially  winter-butter,  not  only  to  the 
markets  of  Southern  cities,  but  in  Louisville,  Cin- 
cinnati, Baltimore,  and  Washington.  It  cannot  be 
long  before  the  Southern  States  will  be  su])plyiiig 
to  the  North  and  East  large  quantities  of  grass- 
flavoured  butter  all  through  the  winter.  This  will 
develop  the  dairy  districts  not  only  in  Virginia, 
Kentucky,  and  Missouri,  North  Carolina,  Ten- 
nessee, and  Arkansas,  but  iu  the  higher  parts  of 
the  Gulf  States.  Dairies  are  in  successful  opera- 
tion among  the  old  cotton-fields  of  Central  Missis- 
sippi, and  one  is  known  in  the  high  lands  of  Florida, 
at  lat.  31°;  but  south  of  the  32nd  parallel,  as  a 
rule,  dairying  will  lu'ver  amount  to  nuu'h  iu  the 
Uniteil  States. 

Between  the  valleys  <if  the  Mississijipi  and 
Missotu'i  Uivi'rs  and  the  Koekv  ^lountains  there  is 


THE    COT.ORADO    DTSTIUCT. 


377 


a  v;ist  aiva,  (Hifo  kinnvn  as  "the  Groat  American 
Desert/'  wliich  lias  l)ee<inie  a  l)eet"-]iroclueing  sec- 
tioiij  and  niay  jet,  it'  need  be,  contriliute  its  (juota 
to  the  dairy  produets  of  Ameriea.  jMention  h;;s 
already  been  made  of  successful  dairying  in  Kansas 
and  Nebraska. 

The  Rocky  Mountain  ref^ion  itself  has  most 
unexpectedly  develojied  excellent  dairying  districts. 
This  is  especially  true  of  "the  Centennial  State" 
of  Colorado.  Nearly  a  parallellogram,  380  miles 
long  by  280  broad,  this  State  is  crossed  near  the 
middle,  from  north  to  south,  by  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tain system,  whose  snow-capped  peaks  form  the 
watershed  of  the  continent.  The  system  consists 
of  two  or  more  ranges,  their  courses  presenting 
undulating  lines  which  in  Colorado  alternately 
separate  and  unite,  forming  the  wonderful  series 
of  "  parks "  which  extends  across  the  State. 
Some  of  these  are  small,  being  little  valleys  at  the 
sources  of  single  streams,  or  the  beds  of  small  lakes ; 
others  equal  in  extent  some  of  the  principal 
Eastern  States.  The  most  important  are  the 
North  Park,  jMiddle  Park,  South  Park,  and  San 
Luis  Park.  These  high  valleys  are  apparently  the 
basins  of  former  lakes,  upheaved  and  de])rived  of 
their  waters  by  volcanic  agency,  with  their  original 
shape  and  situation  at  the  foot  of  high  mountains 
undisturbed,  and  having  now  an  elevation  of  from 
6,000  to  11,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
The  surface  of  these  parks  is  alternately  forest 
and  meadow,  the  soil  particularly  fertile,  and 
vegetation  very  little  affected  by  the  great  eleva- 
tion. Luxuriant  pastures  of  nutritious  grasses  are 
found  here  11,000  feet  above  sea-level.  East  of 
the  mountains,  to  the  boundary  of  the  State,  is 
the  plains  region,  high,  rolling  prairie,  watered  by 
the  South  Platte  and  Arkansas  Rivers  and  their 
tributaries.  The  soil  of  this  section  rests  uj)on 
calcareous  rocks,  and  is  principally  alluvial,  con- 
taining elements  of  great  fertility.  Near  the 
streams  a  large  proportion  of  vegetable  matter 
enters  into  the  composition,  united  with  ashes  and 
sand  ;  on  the  plateaux  the  soil  is  sandy  loam  and 
friable  clay.  About  one-third  of  the  State  is  good 
agricultural  land,  and  the  abundance  of  nutritious 
grasses  indigenous  to  the  soil  on  park  and  plain, 
good  water,  and  an  even,  dry,  healthful  climate, 
make  Colorado  an  excellent  grazing  and  dairy 
region.  The  range  of  temperature  in  the  parks 
is  from  20°  to  SQ"  Fahr.  The  grasses  which 
once  supfiorted  vast  herds  of  buffalo  jsrove  to  be  as 


good  for  donioslic  cattle;  tlu-y  ripen  and  dry  Ujidu 
the  stalks,  forming  hay  equal  to  that  prepared  by 
the  most  careful  curing  of  the  tame  grasses  of 
the  Eastern  States.  The  winters  are  so  mild  tiiafc 
not  more  than  one  year  in  five  is  there  any 
necessity  for  sheltering  or  feeding  cattle.  A 
dairyman  near  the  centre  of  the  Slate  states  that 
he  has  kept  an  average  of  over  30  cows  for  1(> 
years,  and  during  that  time  he  has  not  expended 
a  hundred  dollars  tov  any  feed  beside  pasturage. 
Colorado  ceased  to  import  dairy  products  in  1871, 
and  became  an  exporting  State  in  1877.  The  tirst 
cheese-factory  was  started  in  the  spring  of  187(3, 
and  in  1S7S  seven  large  establishments  were  in 
operation.  The  pioneer  factory  was  built  by  C  R. 
Gwillem,  a  Welshman,  who  is  still  the  largest 
producer  in  the  State;  in  1878  he  made  a  success- 
ful shipment  of  10  tons  of  cheese  to  Wales,  a  special 
freight  rate  being  obtained  of  2  dollars  per  ewt. 
from  Denver  City  to  Liverpool.  This  cheese 
was  examined  in  the  factory,  and  pronounced  by 
so  good  a  judge  as  Mr.  Gardner  B.  Weeks  to  be 
entitled  to  rank  as  strictly  fine  in  the  New  York 
market,  and  to  excel  in  quality  most  of  the  chesso 
made  in  the  North-western  States.  This  factory, 
during  the  season  of  1878,  was  in  operation  from 
early  in  IMay  until  November ;  it  received  the 
milk  of  37  dairies,  numbering  about  COO  cows, 
tlie  largest  single  day's  receipts  being  8,300  lbs.  of 
milk.  One  dairy  contributing  milk  was  14  miles 
distant,  and  several  were  from  6  to  10  miles  from 
the  factory.  A  notable  feature  of  the  dairying  of 
Colorado  seems  to  be  the  remarkable  richness  of 
the  milk  made  from  the  natural  herbage.  At  the 
Gwillem  factory  it  required  a  little  less  than  9  lbs.  of 
milk  to  make  a  pound  of  cheese,  on  an  average,  for 
the  entire  season  of  1878 ;  this  is  10  per  cent,  below 
the  required  average  according  to  the  best  New 
York  factories.  On  a  trial  on  the  10th  of  Septem- 
ber, 1878,  Mr.  Gwillem  from  6,000  lbs.  of  milk 
made  819^  lbs.  of  cheese  as  it  came  from  the  press  ; 
the  shrinkage  in  curing  was  5  per  cent.  The  ratio 
of  milk  to  cheese  therefore  was  7'32  to  1"  green, 
and  7 '.7  to  1"  cured.  This  is  an  extraordinary 
result,  even  for  the  best  of  September  milk. 
Reports  show  much  attention  to  the  improve- 
ment of  the  dairy-stock  of  Colorado,  the  Swiss 
cattle  and  Jerseys  being  the  favourites.  The 
latter  predominate  at  the  shows,  and  this  youngest 
of  the  States  even  claims  one  of  the  cham])ion 
cows  of  America  in  a  Jersey  at  Boulder  City,  which. 


37S 


DAIRY    FAiniTXa 


on  native  pasturaijc  only,  made  3  lbs.  of  Lulter  a 
day,  on  rcjicated  trials. 

The  Pacific  Railway  was  opened  in  1S(!9,  and 
fifteen  car-loads  of  butter  formed  a  part  of  one  of 
the  first  freig'ht  trains  westward  bound,  shij)j)ed 
for  consumption  in  the  mountain  territories  and 
uix)n  the  Pacific  Coast.  Within  ten  years  these 
territories  became  self-supplying  as  dairy  districts, 
and  Utah  and  the  State  of  Nevada  even  exporters 
of  butter. 

Montana  is  one  of  the  most  remote  territories, 
lying;  u\H>n  the  northern  boundary  of  the  United 
States  between  latitude  ib^  and  I'J''.  The  nature 
of  the  country  is  implied  by  its  name ;  within  its 
limits  are  the  sources  of  the  Missouri  River.  It 
was  settled  as  a  mining  country,  but  wool-growing, 
cattle-raising,  and  dairying  have  become  leading 
industries,  induced  by  the  fine  pastures  of  the  high 
valleys.  One  of  the  favourite  spots  is  Smith  River 
A'alley,  having  about  the  same  latitude  with  the 
City  of  Quebec,  but  an  annual  average  temperature 
of  17"  Fahr.  This  valley  has  an  area  of  800  square 
miles  in  luxuriant  grasses,  capable  of  sustaining 
1,0110,000  head  of  cattle.  A  young  man,  raised  as 
a  dairyman  on  the  Western  Reserve  of  Ohio,  after 
trying  mining  for  several  years  in  Montana, 
located  in  the  valley  named,  in  1871',  /ilreil  21 
cows,  and  started  a  cheese-dairy.  At  the  end  of 
the  first  season  he  purchased  his  cows  from  his 
profits,  added  to  his  stock,  and  in  the  season  of 
1S77  made  100,000  lbs.  of  cheese.  This  readily 
sold  at  20  cents  a  pound  in  the  mining  settle- 
ments. His  dairy  has  grown  to  a  completely- 
equipped  establishment ;  his  greatest  difficulty  is 
in  finding  competent  assistants,  although  he  J)ays 
40  dollars  per  month  and  board  for  common  milk- 
men. As  to  the  cattle,  Mr.  Proctor  says :  "  I 
turn  them  out  in  the  autumn,  cows,  calves,  and  all, 
and  let  'em  rustle ;  I  find  them  all  fat  in  Maj\ 
I  only  have  to  work  half  the  year,  and  call  this 
the  best  dairy  district  in  the  world.''  A  dozen 
miles  distant  is  an  extensive  butter-dairy;  the 
owner  puts  up  large  quantities  of  "  gilt-edged " 
butter  in  10-lb.  tin  cans,  and  by  holding  till  mid- 
winter, when  the  prices  are  highest,  gets  usually 
one  dollar  a  pound.  Good  butter  sells  at  an 
average  of  40  cents  a  pound  the  year  through. 
Yet  cows  in  Montana  cost  only  from  25  to  50 
dollars  each,  and  it  does  not  cost  as  many  cents  a 
year  for  keejiing. 

California  has  already  been  named  as  one  of 


the  few  States  in  parts  of  which,  in  1S70,  In'  the 
census,  the  annual  value  of  the  dairy  products 
exceeded  40  dollars  per  capita.  The  original 
American  settlers  in  this  State  were  of  wandering 
frontier  habits,  and  regarded  the  country,  aside 
from  occasional  river-bottoms  and  a  few  small 
valleys  near  the  coast,  as  sterile  and  without  agri- 
cultural value.  Walled  in  between  the  Sierra 
Nevadas  and  the  Coast  Range  of  mountains,  the 
great  interior  valleys  and  plains,  producing  im- 
mense quantities  of  wild  oats  and  indigenous 
grasses,  were  considered  oidy  fit  for  supporting  a 
poor  race  of  half-wild  cattle,  whose  only  value  lay 
in  their  hides  and  tallow,  sold  to  the  few  trading 
vessels  that  yearly  visited  the  coast.  So  ignorant 
were  Californians  of  the  agricultural  resources  of 
their  State,  that  as  late  as  1852  it  was  the  general 
opinion  of  the  people  that,  although  immensely 
rich  in  minerals,  it  would  always  be  impossible  to 
support  her  then  existing  population  of  200,000 
without  importing  the  greater  part  of  the  ne- 
cessaries of  life.  See  the  following  statistics  of 
dairy  development : — 


No.  o!  Cows.  I 


1S.50 

KS70 
1S78 


4,280 
205,407 
104,093 
350,000 


3,095,035 
7,909,744 
12,000,000 


Cheese  made. 


Ibj. 

150 

1,313,«S9 

3,395,074 

5,000,000 


3,fi93,02l 
5,000,000 


The  increase  has  been  so  rapid  that  the  estimates 
fur  1878,  based  upon  State  authorities,  are  believed 
to  be  considerably  below  the  true  figures. 

California  has  an  extreme  length  of  700  miles, 
and  an  average  width  of  260  miles ;  its  soil  and 
climate  therefore  vary  greatly  in  the  different 
sections.  Tliere  are  four  great  natural  divisions 
of  the  State,  as  follows : — The  North  Coast  dis- 
trict includes  the  valleys  from  the  Coast  Range  of 
mountains  to  the  ocean,  north  of  Point  Conception 
in  Santa  Barbara  County  (lat.  31i°  N.),  and  is, 
on  an  average,  40  miles  wide ;  San  Francisco  is 
near  the  middle  of  this  district.  Lying  directly 
upon  the  Pacific  Ocean,  this  district  has  a  peculiar 
climate,  the  winters  free  from  excessive  cold,  snow 
rarely  falling  below  an  elevation  of  3,500  feet, 
and  temperature  seldom  below  30*^  Fahr.  Winters 
are  frequent  when  no  snow  falls,  and  there  are  only 
slight  hoar  frosts  in  December  and  January.  The 
first  hay-crop  is  gathered  in  April ;  the  general 
temperature  from  April  to  November  ranges  from 


DAIRYING    IN    CALIFORNIA. 


379 


55°  to  70'^,  and  diirinp;  this  period  stronj^  north- 
west winds  prevail  all  along  the  coast.  These 
blow  with  great  regularity  from  noon  to  sunset, 
day  after  day,  and  are  often  attended  by  dense 
fogs,  which  continue  from  4  p.m.  to  8  a.m.  A 
large  amount  of  moisture  is  thus  precipitated  upon 
the  hill-sides  and  valleys  next  to  the  coast,  keep- 
ing the  grasses  fresh  until  late  in  the  autumn. 
This  gives  the  north  coast  peculiar  advantages  for 
dairying,  and  the  greatest  production  in  the  State 
is  within  this  district,  principally  in  the  counties 
of  !Mariu  and  Sonoma,  north  of  San  Francisco, 
and  San  ]Mateo,  Monterey,  and  Santa  Clara,  south 
of  that  city. 

The  South  Coast  district  is  without  the  summer 
moisture  described,  but  has  instead  periods  of 
burning  weather,  not  frequent,  but  occurring  so 
often  as  to  seriously  affect  vegetation  and  prevent 
dairying. 

The  Interior  district  is  composed  of  the  Sacra- 
mento and  San  Joaquin  Valleys,  extending  north 
and  south  hundreds  of  miles,  one  being  virtually  a 
continuation  of  the  other.  The  valleys  are  named 
from  the  two  principal  rivers,  and  the  counties  of 
the  same  names,  with  those  of  Yolo  and  Merced, 
neighbouring,  do  most  of  the  dairying  in  this 
district.  The  summers  are  too  long,  too  warm, 
and  too  dry  to  be  favourable  to  this  industry, 
except  in  small  well-watered  valleys  among  the 
mountain-sides. 

The  Sierra  Nevada  district  comprises  the  hill- 
sides and  valleys  in  the  mountains  of  this  name, 
which  form  the  eastern  boundary  of  the  State. 
There  are  really  two  parallel  ranges  of  moun- 
tains, with  numerous  narrow  valleys  lying  between 
and  along  their  sides ;  these  are  very  fertile,  with 
excellent  natural  grass  lands  to  an  altitude  of  over 
G,000  feet.  The  winters  of  this  district  are  quite 
mild,  although  there  are  deep  snows  in  places 
above  an  elevation  of  3,000  feet ;  ice  seldom  forms 
over  an  inch  in  thickness.  During  the  summer 
the  days  are  temperately  warm  and  the  nights 
as  cool  as  desirable;  vegetation  remains  green 
throughout  the  season  in  the  higher  portions.  In 
this  district  a  system  of  dairying  has  been  estab- 
lished resembling  tliat  of  the  Alps,  and  which  is 
thus  described  : — The  migratory  dairymen  of  the 
Sierras  have  winter  residences  and  the  real  homes 
of  their  families  in  the  foot-hills,  at  about  the 
altitude  of  Folsom,  Latrobe,  Jackson,  and  Oroville, 
and  not  far  from  these  well-knowTi  places,  within 
51 


100  miles  of  Sacramento  City.  Their  summer 
homes  and  really  active  dairy-farms  are  high  uj)  on 
the  summit  of  the  Sierras,  on  the  elevated  ])lains, 
watered  by  living  springs  gushing  out  in  secluded 
vales,  and  on  the  shores  of  the  numerous  lakes 
that  abound  in  those  regions.  The  foot-hill  home, 
nestled  in  one  of  the  cosy  and  i>ictures([ue  locali- 
ties so  frequent  in  that  section,  forms  the  base  of 
supplies  and  operations.  In  the  early  days  of  this 
mountain-dairy  business,  the  establishment  con- 
sisted of  a  plain,  cheap,  pioneer  ranche  house,  with 
few,  if  any,  outbuildings  ;  a  corral  served  to  con- 
fine the  stock  at  night,  and  they  ran  at  large  in 
the  daytime,  there  being  no  crops  to  damage. 
Now  the  home  generally  shows  thrifty  enterprise 
and  frugal  prosperity.  The  early-day  ranche  has 
been  succeeded  by  a  well-cultivated  farm,  sub- 
stanti.ll  farm-house,  spacious  hay  and  stock  barns, 
with  yards  and  feeding-sheds.  The  barren-looking 
hills  bear  rye,  oats,  barley,  and  such  other  products 
as  will  turn  off  the  most  food  for  the  dairy-cows. 
The  family  vineyard  and  fruit  orchard,  with  orna- 
mental trees  and  shrubbery,  make  up  the  charac- 
teristic dairy  villa  of  the  Sierra  foot-hills.  The 
cows  are  generally  from  common  stock,  the  Ameri- 
can "  natives  "  rather  than  the  Spanish  race,  and 
now  often  show  the  good  results  of  Shorthorn, 
Jersey,  and  Devon  sires  ;  the  Devons  are  favourites 
in  these  establishments.  The  cows  have  their 
calves  between  February  and  the  middle  of  April. 
The  promising  heifers  are  raised,  all  others  turned 
off  for  veal.  Until  early  in  May,  some  of  the 
dairymen  make  butter,  and  others  cheese.  About 
the  middle  of  May,  all  things  being  in  rea^liness, 
the  dairy,  including  cows,  herders,  milkers,  butter- 
makers,  and  all  the  necessary  dairy  tools  and  fur- 
niture, are  started  for  the  mountains.  The  owner 
and  such  of  his  family  as  intend  to  spend  the 
summer  with  the  dairy  accompany  them.  Arrived 
at  the  place  of  destination,  the  spring  is  just 
opening,  and  the  grasses  are  tender,  luxuriant,  and 
in  great  variety.  Red  clover,  white  clover,  and 
the  various  California  wild  clovers,  also  nearly  all 
the  natural  grasses  of  recognised  value  as  forage 
plants,  such  as  timothy,  red-top,  wild  rye-grass, 
orchard-grass,  bunch-grass,  are  found  in  abun- 
dance. Water  for  stock  is  pure  and  plentiful 
everywhere.  The  weather  is  cool  and  delightful, 
healthy  and  invigorating.  The  summer  residence 
and  the  butter-house  are  put  in  order,  and  the 
business    of    the    season    commenced   at   once    in 


880 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


earnest.  Under  such  conditions  the  milk  comes 
up  to  the  utmost  capacity  of  the  cows,  tlie  cream 
rises  rapidly  and  completely,  the  butter  "  comes  " 
readily,  and  is  of  the  very  best  quality,  if  from 
good  makers.  The  milking  begins  at  4  a.m.,  and 
again  at  6  in  the  evening.  The  churning  is  done 
every  other  day,  usually  in  large  rectangular  boxes 
hung  in  frames  at  opposite  corners  and  turned  over 
and  over  by  a  crank.  The  butter  is  packed  in 
kegs  of  white  fir,  which  impart  neither  taste  nor 
smell  to  their  contents.  The  location  is  a  most 
fortunate  one,  not  only  as  a  producing  district,  but 
for  markets  as  well.  Being  on  "  the  divide " 
between  the  mining  settlements  of  Nevada  and 
California,  steady  demand  for  the  butter  exists  on 
either  side.  The  bulk  of  the  butter  is  sold  as  fast 
as  made  for  immediate  use,  the  surplus  generally 
packed  and  delivered  upon  contract  for  winter 
consumption.  The  season  lasts  from  May  to 
November,  when  the  campaign  closes,  the  cows 
are  driven  down  before  the  snow  begins  to  fly  upon 
the  mountains,  and  the  party  goes  into  winter 
quarters.  The  cows  are  generally  allowed  to  go 
dr}'  when  thus  brought  in,  and  so  remain  till  about 
February  following.  They  are  kept  upon  the  dry 
feed  of  the  meadows  and  stubble  till  the  rains  set 
in,  when  all  are  fed  on  hay  and  other  forage  till 
the  early  grasses  make  their  appearance  after  the 
first  rain.'  These  grasses,  and  such  green  crops  as 
are  often  provided  in  addition,  help  materially  in 
wintering  the  cows,  and  bringing  them  out  in  fine 
condition  for  the  operations  of  the  next  season. 
The  fii-st  experiments  in  this  new  enteq^rise  were 
made  about  1S70.  These  proved  so  successful 
and  profitable  that  they  were  followed  up  by  the 
enter])rising  pioneers  of  the  business,  and  others 
followed  suit,  until  in  1880  the  migratory  dairies 
of  the  Sierra  foot-hills  and  summits  are  not  only 
numerous  but  extensive,  and  their  owners  are 
among  the  wealthiest  dairymen  in  California. 
These  dairies  are  most  numerous  in  Lassen  County, 
although  they  are  scattered  northward  to  Siskij'ou 
and  southward  to  Mono,  a  region  300  miles  in 
length.  All  along  are  numerous  small  lakes,  kept 
full  by  the  melting  snow  from  the  high  peaks 
around  them,  and  from  which  flow  the  many  rivers 
and  creeks  into  the  valleys  below.  The  borders  of 
these  lakes  and  valleys  of  the  streams  constitute 
a  district  unequalled  for  grandeur  and  beauty  of 
scenery,  elasticity  of  climate,  variety  and  ex- 
cellence  of    vegetation.      As  a   imle   each    dairy 


occupies  a  little  valley  of  its  own,  surrounded  on 
all  sides  by  high  mountains  covered  with  fir 
and  yellow  pine  forests,  and  of  a  size  suflicient 
to  support  a  herd  of  from  SO  to  1^0  cows.  In 
Lake  Valley  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Tahoe,  on 
a  tract  15  miles  long  and  8  miles  wide,  are 
thirteen  dairies  of  about  150  cows  each,  having 
one  owner,  but  leased  separately  by  the  season,  at 
from  20  to  30  dollars  ]ier  cow,  depending  on  the 
quality  of  the  stock  and  the  comi)leteness  of  the 
dairy  equipment. 

The  Interior  district  of  California  contains 
large  areas  of  a  swampy  nature,  fresh-water  tide 
lands  and  such  as  are  periodically  overflowed  by 
the  mountain  torrents,  and  so  remain  for  some 
time.  These  are  known  as  the  Tule  lands,  and  are 
largely  of  a  peaty  formation.  Their  moisture 
ensures  a  natural  verdure  during  nine  or  ten 
months  in  the  j'ear,  including  eleven  different 
kinds  of  native  clovers  and  nutritious  wild  grasses; 
and  about  as  many  more  of  the  well-known  culti- 
vated grasses,  including  alfalfa,  have  been  success- 
fully tried  for  permanent  additions  to  the  dairy 
pastures.  By  inconsiderable  outlay  for  sheds  and 
dry  sleeping-places  for  the  cattle,  and  provision  for 
feeding  ten  or  twelve  weeks  in  the  year,  these  tule 
lands  become  available  for  dairy  purposes.  The 
trials  have  been  so  satisfactory  that  at  some  points 
extensive  woi'ks  are  in  progress,  combining  systems 
of  dykes,  reservoirs,  and  irrigation,  intended  to 
utilise  these  apparently  waste  lands,  and  estab- 
lish successful  dairies  within  very  short  distances 
of  many  large  towns  and  cities. 

The  North  Coast  district  was  the  scene  of 
the  first  dairying  operations  in  California,  the 
pioneer  establishments  being  started  in  Marin  and 
Sonoma  Counties  about  the  year  1855.  Some  of 
the  early  proprietors  have  enlarged  their  business 
until  the  magnitude  attained  is  something  re- 
markable. In  Julj',  1857,  the  firm  of  Steele 
Brothers  was  formed;  they  first  bought  200 
"American'"  cows  at  from  75  to  125  dollars  a 
head,  and  established  themselves  on  the  peninsula 
of  Point  Reyes,  in  Marin  County.  There  they 
secured  an  annual  average  money  yield  of  6i 
dollars  per  cow.  In  18G3  the  firm  sold  out  at 
Point  Reyes  and  moved  to  San  ]\Iateo  Coimty, 
established  the  Pescadero  ranehe  of  15,000  acres 
and  stocked  it  with  1,500  cows;  1,100  of  these 
were  bought  at  15  dollars  a  head,  delivered  at  the 
ranehe,  and  the  rest  in  Sonoma  at  11  dollars  a  piece. 


DAIRYING    IN    CALIFORNIA. 


381 


Two  years  later,  Kniglit's  Valley  rauelie  of  7,000 
acres,  in  Napa  County,  was  added  to  their  pos- 
sessions; and  in  ISOG,  g'oiug  150  miles  farther 
south  into  San  Luis  Obispo  County,  they  pur- 
chased Corral  de  Piedra,  a  tract  irregular  in  shape, 
some  ^0  miles  in  length,  and  averaging  3i  miles  in 
width,  an  area  of  about  45,000  acres.  The  herds 
of  this  acquisition  included  5,000  cows.  The 
Messrs.  Steele  still  hold  these  estates,  and  they  are 
mainly  devoted  to  dairying.  Similarly,  Messrs. 
Howard  and  Shafter,  present  ownere  of  the  Point 
Reyes  tract,  are  projirietors  of  100,000  acres  of 
dairying  property  in  Marin  County,  upon  which 
they  keep  in  all  at  least  6,000  cows.  The  estate 
is  divided  into  dairy  ranches,  located  at  convenient 
distances  for  the  pasturage  and  care  of  stock,  and 
subsist  on  an  average  180  cows  each.  These  ranches 
are  leasal  for  a  term  of  three  years,  the  owners 
furnishing  cows,  buildings,  dairy  fixtures,  and 
lime,  lumber,  &c.,  for  repairs.  For  some  years 
prior  to  1S79  the  usual  rental  was  %1  dollars 
per  cow.  The  tenants  also  contracted  to  raise 
annually  one  heifer-calf  for  every  five  cows,  and  at 
expiration  of  lease  to  make  good  any  loss  in  cows 
received ;  then,  if  there  were  any  surplus  animals 
raised  by  the  tenant,  he  received  10  dollars  per 
head  therefor,  and  they  remained  on  the  ranche. 
The  tenant  may  raise  forage  for  his  team,  roots 
for  the  cows,  fruit  and  vegetables  for  his  family, 
and  poultry  for  home  use  or  market.  The  income 
of  tenants  making  butter  alone,  and  converting  the 
skim-milk  into  pork,  has  been  estimated  at  from 
75  to  80  dollars  per  cow,  in  gross — the  price  of 
butter  reckoned  at  38  cents  for  the  year.  One  of 
the  most  successful  tenants  on  this  estate  has 
been  a  Swede,  who  managed  two  ranches,  in- 
eluding  500  cows,  and  made  both  butter  and 
cheese,  getting  10  cents  for  the  skim-cheese  in 
San  F\-ancisco  when  eight  days  old. 

Cheese-factories  succeed  as  far  south  as  Los 
Angeles,  in  the  South  Coast  district,  but  the 
locality  most  noted  for  the  excellence  of  this  pro- 
duct in  California  is  Santa  Clara  Coxmty.  The 
"  Bloomfield  Factory,"  near  the  town  of  Gilroy, 
is  a  type  of  several  in  that  vicinity.  It  is  upon  a 
ranche  of  about  1,000  acres,  675  acres  in  pasture, 
43  in  grain  for  hay,  30  in  sowed  maize,  15  in  beets, 
and  15  in  squashes,  or  pumpkins.  The  dairy  is 
of  225  cows.  The  soil  is  rich,  and  the  growth  of 
green  feed  unsurpassed  in  its  season.  Aside  from 
the    pastm-e,    many   acres    partake    of   the    moist 


character  of  the  valley  lands,  and  give  immense 
yields  of  the  crops  named,  grown  for  extra  feed 
for  the  cows.  The  arrangements  are  such  that  at 
no  time  is  it  necessaiy  to  use  dry  feed  alone.  The 
cows  come  in  mostly  in  January ;  from  this  time 
until  March  the  pasture-grass  is  so  wet  and  rank 
that  one  feed  of  hay  is  given.  From  March  till 
July  the  pasturage  is  perfect.  In  July  sowed  corn 
(maize)  is  fed,  and  in  some  cases  the  milk  from 
100  cows  has  been  thereby  increased  360  lbs.  a  day  ; 
this  constitutes  the  extra  feed  till  August.  Then 
beets  are  added,  and  in  September  hay  also.  -From 
September  to  January,  hay,  cured  maize,  beets,  and 
pumpkins.  A  barn,  162  feet  long  and  40  feet  wide, 
has  stanchions  for  100  cows,  the  animals  remaining 
in  it  only  while  being  fed  and  milked;  there  is 
also  ample  storage  for  cm-ed  fodder.  The  factory 
buildings  are  of  the  usual  pattern  ;  the  season  com- 
mences in  February  and  runs  to  September;  the 
cheeses  made  weigh  from  24  lbs.  to  30  lbs.  each, 
which  is  a  favourite  size  in  California. 

At  Bruno  Station,  in  San  Mateo  County,  there 
is  a  milk  farm  of  2,300  acres  in  one  body,  stocked 
with  Jerseys,  600  in  number,  including  the  grades ; 
the  proprietor  ships  an  average  of  750  gallons  of 
milk  daily  to  San  Francisco,  and  from  a  city  depot 
of  his  own  delivers  directly  to  the  consumers.  In 
different  parts  of  the  dairpng  sections  of  Cali- 
fornia, herds  of  100  to  400  cows  in  the  hands  of 
one  owner  or  lessee  are  very  common,  and  land 
being  abundant,  6  to  12  acres  are  allowed  to  a 
cow.  From  the  first  settlement  of  the  State  until 
1878,  the  prices  of  dairy  products  ranged  high ; 
good  butter  sold  at  from  1  dollar  down  to  50 
cents  a  pound,  and  cheese  at  from  50  cents  to 
20  cents.  In  1878  the  retail  prices  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, for  home  products,  fell  to  40  cents  for  butter 
and  15  to  18  cents  for  cheese. 

The  following  is  a  curious  instance  of  the 
profits  of  dairying  in  the  early  days  of  the 
mining  excitement  in  California.  In  December, 
1851,  a  shrewd  Yankee  at  Ophir,  in  the  Sacra- 
mento Valley,  procured  two  American  cows  at 
a  cost  of  400  dollars,  and  set  up  business.  The 
cows  averaged  24  quarts  a  day  for  two  months, 
which  he  readily  sold  at  50  cents  a  quart;  income 
for  the  two  months,  720  dollai-s  ;  total  cost  of  keep- 
ing, 100  dollars.  The  next  two  months  the  yield 
fell  off  somewhat,  but  the  cost  of  feed  decreased 
steadily  also,  and  so  the  profits  continued  about  the 
same  several  months. 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


In  the  years  1877  and  1S78  a  beginning'  was 
made  in  establishin<j  a  market  for  the  dairy  pro- 
ducts of  the  Pacific  Coast  in  Siam,  China,  and 
Japan  ;  altliougli  the  exports  thence  were  not  large, 
they  steadily  increased.  There  were  received  at 
San  Francisco,during  the  year  1877,  ll,927,2001bs. 
of  butter  and  7,00S,;i  liJlbs.  of  cheese,  and  ex- 
ported, 2;i  1,400  and  193,000  lbs.  respectively. 

California  has  thus  been  given  a  prolonged 
description  ;  but  it  must  be  recollected  that  this  is 
a  great  State,  larger  than  the  combined  areas  of 
all  tlie  New  England  and  Middle  States,  almost 
equal  in  extent  to  France,  and  with  natural 
resources  commensurate  with  its  territory. 

Far-distant  Oregon  must  not  be  omitted  from 
the  list  of  the  dairy  districts  of  America.  As  jet 
comparatively  undeveloped  in  this  industry,  the  fol- 
lowing figures  show  a  growth  which,  if  continued, 
will  command  greater  attention  in  the  future  : — 


Tears. 

1850. 

1860. 

1870. 

1875. 

Population     ... 

Cattle       (No.) 
Hay     ...(tons) 
Cheese       (lbs. ) 
Butter      (lbs.) 

13,294 
41,729 
373 
36,980 
211,404 

52,46.5 
154,131 

27,986 

10.5,319 

1,000,157 

90,923 
170,197 
75,457 
70,333 
1,418,373 

104,920 
276,466 
161,433 
190.984 
1,555,208 

The  milch-cows  enumerated  in  1870  were 
48,32.5,  and  in  1875,  76,100.  The  estimate  for 
1880  is  120,000  cows,  population  175,000.  The 
State  has  an  area  of  95,000  square  miles,  a  mean 
temperature  of  52°,  and  a  large  proportion  of 
valuable  agricultural  lands. 

Canada  may  be  properly  included  among  the 
dairy  districts  of  Americi,  although  tliis  industry 
is  prominent  in  only  a  small  portion  of  the  whole 
territory  of  the  Dominion.  Ontario,  the  most 
fertile  and  most  densely  populated  province, 
resembles  some  of  the  best  dairying  regions  of  the 
United  States  in  soil  and  climate,  and  is  the  scene 
of  the  most  active  and  successful  Canadian  dairying. 
The  statistics  show  a  considerable  manufacture  of 
butter  for  30  years,  and  no  remarkable  increase 
therein ;  yet  it  is  noticeable  that  while  between 
1852  and  1871  the  increase  in  the  number  of  cows 
in  Canada  was  77  per  cent.,  the  butter  product  in- 
creased 131  per  cent.  Cheese-making  has  been  the 
branch  which  has  experienced  l;he  most  wonderful 
development.  In  18t51  less  cheese  was  made  than  in 
1852 ;  the  census  shows  4,500,000  to  5,000,000  lbs. 


to  be  the  annual  crop  during  that  periixl.  In  lS71 
the  cheese  product  exceeded  22,000,000  lbs.,  and 
the  1880  crop  is  estimated  at  60,000,000  lbs. ! 
Prior  to  the  j-ear  1805  Canada  consumed  largo 
quantities  of  dairy  products  from  the  United 
States,  importing  cheese  by  the  million  lbs.  In 
1880  the  exports  of  cheese  from  the  Dominion 
will  reach  45,000,000  lbs.  The  abrogation  of  the 
Keciprocity  Treaty  seems  to  have  given  the  first 
impetus  to  Canadian  cheese-making,  particularly 
in  Ontario.  Under  the  patronage  of  the  Hon. 
Robert  Read,  the  first  cheese-factory  w;is  built  at 
Front-of-Sidney,  and  began  operations  in  1866. 
The  census  of  1871  reported  353  such  establish- 
ments in  the  Dominion,  and  in  1879  the  number 
was  placed  at  800,  three-fourths  of  them  in  the 
province  of  Ontario.  These  are  mainly  joint-stock 
concerns,  although  some  are  proprietary,  where  the 
cheese  is  made  at  a  fixed  rate  per  lb.  from  any 
milk  brought  to  the  factory.  In  1868  the  Canadian 
Dairymen''s  Association  was  formed,  and  three  or 
four  years  later,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  province, 
they  organised  the  Ontario  Dairymen's  Associa- 
tion. These  two  organisations  were  consolidated 
in  1873  and  became  the  Dairymen's  Association 
of  Ontario,  meeting  in  turn,  twice  at  IngersoU 
and  once  at  Belleville.  This  arrangement  did  not 
prove  advantageous,  and  the  union  was  dissolved 
in  1877.  Since  that  time  Eastern  and  Western 
Ontario  have  had  separate  associations,  with  head- 
quarters at  the  two  places  named.  Both  organi- 
sations hold  annual  conventions  lasting  two  or 
three  days,  including  shows  of  dairy  products ; 
both  issue  annual  roports,  and  each  receives  a 
Government  grant  of  1,000  dollars  a  year. 

The  first  president  of  the  united  society  was 
Thomas  Ballantyne,  jNI.P.P.,  of  Stratford,  Ontario, 
who  won  the  first  honours  for  Canadian  cheese  at 
the  Philadelphia  Show  of  1876,  and  at  New  York 
in  1878.  Mr.  J.  Carruthers  Hegler,  of  Inger- 
soU, has  proved  an  indefatigable  secretary  to  the 
Western  Association  from  the  start,  and  among 
the  most  active  members  have  been  Messrs.  E. 
Ciiswell  and  C.  E.  Cha<.lwick,  of  IngersoU.  The 
Eastern  Association,  during  its  separate  existence-, 
has  found  efficient  officers  in  Messrs.  K.  Graham, 
of  Belleville,  P.  R.  Daly  and  Ilarlbrd  Ashley,  of 
Foxborough,  and  II.  Farrington,  of  Norwich. 
Harvey  Farrington,  formerly  of  Herkimer  County, 
New  York,  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  associated 
cheese-making  in  Canada,  and  performed  invalu- 


INFLUENCE    OF    PASTU11A(JE. 


383 


able  service;  lie  died  in  Deeenilier,  1878.  At  the 
annual  meeting  in  Februaiy,  1870,  the  subject  of 
butter-making  was  the  specialty  considered,  and 
a  practical  result  was  the  establishment  of  the 
first  butter-factory  in  Canada,  the  same  year,  at 
Hungerford,  Hastings  County,  Ontario. 

The  St.  Lawrence  River  is  the  natural  out- 
let for  the  surplus  dairy  products  of  Canada,  and 
the  Montreal  market  an  interesting  point.  The 
receipts  of  cheese  for  the  four  years  beginning  with 
lS7:i  and  ending  with  1875,  in  boxes  averaging 
03  lbs.  each,  were  as  follows  :  195,031;  375,903; 
383,7~1;  5-42, 1-IO.  This  shows  an  increase  of 
22,500,000  lbs.,  or  178  per  cent,  in  four  years. 
During  the  same  period  the  receipts  of  butter 
increased  from  142,350  packages  in  1872,  to 
157,097  in  1875,  or  24  per  cent.,  the  average 
weight  of  butter  packages  being  100  lbs.  The 
discrepancy  between  the  above  and  the  larger 
figures  previously  given  for  the  total  Canadian 
productions  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that 
during  some  of  the  months  when  trade  is  quite 
active  the  St.  Lawrence  is  closed  to  navigation, 
and  large  shipments  go  to  Portland,  Maine,  by  the 
Grand  Trunk  route,  while  more  or  less  is  always 
forwarded  from  Western  Ontario  over  the  railways 
of  the  United  States. 

There  is,  however,  a  steady  tendency  towards 
direct  shipments  from  Canada  to  Great  Britain. 
When  the  Dominion  ceased  to  import  dairy  p.'o- 
ducts  and  began  exportation,  most  of  the  butter 
and  a  large  part  of  the  cheese  went  to  the  States. 
In  1808,  of  10,500,000  lbs.  of  butter  exported  by 
Canada,  nearly  6,000,000  lbs.  were  sent  to  the  United 
States,  and  of  6,000,000  lbs.  of  cheese,  more  than 
one-eighth  also  went  there.  But  in  the  year 
ending  June  30,  1880,  of  19,000,000  lbs.  of 
butter  exported,  the  United  States  received  only 
561,000  lbs.,  and  of  43,000,000  lbs.  of  cheese,  but  a 
little  over  1,000,000  lbs.,  or  about  one-fortieth.  A 
full  table  of  Canadian  dairy  exports  is  given  later. 

Climate  and  soUs  have  been  incidentally  men- 
tioned in  the  foregoing  description  of  dairying 
districts,  and  about  enough  said  on  those  topics. 
In  general  terms  the  dairying  of  America  is  carried 
on  between  the  isothermal  lines  of  45°  and  62°  Fahr., 
the  mean  temperature  of  the  best  regions  being 
about  50°.  Excepting  the  Pacific  Coast  and  the 
Southern  States,  the  average  annual  rainfall  in 
the  same  districts  ranges  from  40  to  47  inches. 
A  dozen  conspicuous  points  of  observation,    well 


scattered,  show  the  following  results  for  a  term  of 
years:  Boston,  44 ;  New  York,  45 ;  Philadelphia, 
43  ;  Washington,  40  ;  Cincinnati,  47  ;  St.  Louis, 
•12;  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  48;  St.  Augustine, 
Florida,  32;  Mobile,  Alabama,  61 ;  New  Orleans, 
51  ;  Portland,  Oregon,  39;  San  Francisco,  23.  In 
the  primitive  modes  of  dairying,  climate,  water, 
and  soil  had  a  controlling  influence  upon  the 
quality  of  the  products,  but  with  the  varied  arti- 
ficial means  brought  into  use  natural  deficiencies 
are  often  made  good.  The  only  obstacle  to  dairy- 
ing in  America  now  regarded  as  insurmountable 
is  intense  and  long-continued  heat,  for  although 
this  may  be  guarded  against,  so  far  as  the  care 
of  the  milk  is  concerned,  the  effect  during  its 
secretion  and  before  it  is  drawn  from  the  cow 
cannot  be  reached.  Such  heat,  however,  as  already 
noted,  is  experienced  in  a  very  small  portion  of  the 
territory  of  the  United  States. 

Grasses  have  also  been  incidentally  referred  to, 
but  they  require  more  attention.  Of  the  several 
thousand  varieties  of  grasses  known  to  botanists, 
about  twelve  hundred  are  found  in  the  United 
States,  and  of  these,  again,  nearly  two  hundred  in 
the  older  dairying  districts.  But  not  more  than 
twenty-five  varieties  are  known  to  the  agriculture 
of  the  countr3',  and  hardly  a  farmer  uses  or  recog- 
nises on  his  farm  more  than  half  a  dozen  kinds. 
With  variety  so  desirable  for  the  permanency  and 
value  of  the  pasture  and  the  quality  of  hay,  it 
would  seem  that  the  American  dairyman  might 
well  consider  the  introduction  of  new  grasses,  and 
the  domestication  in  parts  of  the  country  where 
they  are  now  unknown  of  some  of  those  wild 
varieties  which  are  found  thriving  in  other  sections. 
Some  of  these  are  believed  to  be  of  great  value. 

The  grasses  in  most  favour  with  American 
dairymen  are  nearly  all  well  known  to  the  agricul- 
ture of  Great  Britain  and  continental  Europe. 
Among  these  are  the  following  varieties,  some  of 
which  are  elsewhere  treated  of  in  this  work : — 
Timothy  [Phleiim  pratense),  Red-top  [Jgrotis 
viilfjaris),  Blue-grass  [Poa  pratensis),  Perennial 
and  Italian  Rje-grasses  {Lolium,  Perenne,  and 
Italicvm),  Orchard-grass  {Dacii/lis  glomei-a1a). 
Rough-stalked  Meadow  (Poa  trivialis),  Fowl 
Meadow  {Poa  serotina),  Sweet-scented  Vernal  or 
^lay  grass  [Anthroxanthum  odoratum),  Meadow 
Fescue  [Fesluca  pralensis) ,  Tall  Oat-grass  [Arrhe- 
iiatherum  avenaceum) ,  Meadow  Fox-tail  [Alopecurus 
pratensis),  Reed  Canary    {P/ialaris    aruudinacea). 


384 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


T5Ine  Joint  Grass  [Culamagrostis  canadensis), 
Velvet  Meadow-grass  [Holcus  lanatiis),  Annual 
Spear-grass  {Poa  annua),  and  Wire-grass  {Poa 
conipressa) . 

Timothy  is  very  generally  the  mainstay  in 
those  sections  where  the  hay-crop  is  of  importance. 
It  is  cultivated  with  ease,  and  on  strong  and  rather 
moist  soil  has  been  known  to  yield  four  tons  to  the 
acre  of  the  best  quality  of  hay.  It  enters  largely 
into  almost  all  mixtures  on  American  dairying 
lands  for  pasturage  or  mowing. 

Red-top,  Fine-top,  or  Fine-bent  is  almost  as 
commonly  used  as  Timothy,  but  good  judges 
believe  that  its  value  is  overrated  in  America. 

(The  name  Ilerd's-grass  is  applied  to  Red-top 
in  Pennsylvania  and  States  farther  south,  while 
Timothy  is  known  by  this  name  in  New  England 
and  the  ^liddle  States.) 

Orchard-grass,  or  Rough  Cock's-foot,  on  the 
other  hand,  although  generally  a  favourite  with 
those  who  have  tried  it,  is  not  as  largely  used  as  it 
deserves  to  he.  Properly  treated,  it  has  proved  a 
success  in  almost  all  parts  of  the  United  States. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  abiding  of  the  cultivated 
grasses,  palatable  to  stock  of  all  kinds,  makes 
excellent  hay,  is  two  weeks  earlier  than  Timothy, 
and  preferable  to  it  for  growing  with  clover, 
because  ready  to  cut  at  the  same  time,  endures  con- 
siderable shade,  resists  drought  (which  kills  Blue- 
grass  and  Timothy),  is  one  of  the  best  grasses  for 
soiling,  for  pasture  gives  an  earlier  bite  in  the 
spring  than  any  other  grass  except  the  Meadow 
Fox-tail,  affords  an  amount  of  aftermath  exceeded 
only  by  the  Kentucky  Blue,  and  continues  to  send 
out  root-leaves  until  very  late  in  the  autumn. 
One  author,  in  writing  of  the  surprising  rapidity 
with  which  it  springs  up  after  mowing  or  close 
cropjjing,  remarks  that  these  circumstances  verify 
Virgil's  description : — 

"  Cool  dews  restore,  beneath  niglit's  transient  lioura, 
All  that  the  herd  each  livelong  day  devours." 

In  fact,  five  or  six  days'  growth  in  summer 
suflices  to  give  a  good  bite.  Its  disposition  to 
grow  in  tussocks  is  easily  remedied  by  proper 
treatment,  one  satisfactory  method  being  to  use 
with  it'  a  mixture  of  blue  grass  and  red  clover. 
It  flourishes  upon  a  variety  of  soils,  over  an 
extensive  territory,  and  with  its  long  list  of  virtues 
may  safely  be  placed  among  the  most  valuable 
of  grasses  in  American  dairy  districts. 

The    Sweet-scented    Vernal-grass    is    regarded 


of  special  service  as  an  element  in  dairy  pastures 
because  of  the  line  flavour  it  imparts  to  butter. 
In  some  sections,  as  for  instance  around  Phila- 
delphia, the  high  reputation  of  the  butter  is 
believed  to  be  largely  due  to  the  abundance  of 
this  grass.  "  The  ripe  harvest  of  the  new-mown 
hay  gives  to  the  air  a  sweet  and  wholesome  odour" 
just  about  in  proportion  to  the  presence  of  this 
variety  among  the  grasses  cut.  It  is  also  de- 
sirable for  its  specially  early  and  late  growth. 
It  finds  a  place  readily  in  any  pasture,  occupying 
vacant  spaces,  but  never  crowding  other  grasses, 
and  its  seeds  retain  their  vitality  so  long  in  the 
soil  that  once  introduced  it  spring's  up  whenever 
it  is  given  a  chance.  Although  not  classed  among 
the  highly  valuable  grasses,  this  variety  is  prized 
in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States  for  these  special 
attributes.  Yet  it  is  unknown  to  many  of  the 
dairying  districts  of  the  United  States. 

Only  one  other  of  the  grasses  named  in  the 
list  needs  special  mention.  The  Poa  praiensis 
of  the  botanist  has  obtained  a  very  wide  repu- 
tation as  the  Kentucky  Blue-grass,  and  Itxl  many 
into  the  mistaken  belief  that  it  was  a  peculiarly 
American  grass,  confined  to  the  famous  pastures 
of  the  region  whence  it  derives  this  name.  On 
the  contrary,  it  is  one  of  the  most  common  grasses 
in  nearly  all  parts  of  the  country,  being  variously 
known  as  June-grass,  Green  Meadow-grass,  Com- 
mon Spear-grass,  and  Rhode  Island  Bent-grass. 
And  it  is  the  well-known  Smooth-stalked  ^leadow- 
grass  or  "Greensward"  of  England  (Plate  -3, 
Fig.  7).  There  is  no  grass  which  accommodates 
itself  to  any  given  locality  with  greater  facility, 
whether  it  be  the  ]\Iississippi  Valley,  New  Eng- 
land, Canada,  the  shores  of  the  ^Mediterranean,  or 
the  North  of  Russia.  It  is  found  thriving  upon 
gravelly  soils,  alluvial  bottoms,  and  stiff  clay  lands, 
in  the  permanent  pastures  of  Missouri,  and  along 
the  roadsides  of  Minnesota.  Soil  and  climate 
cause  great  variation  in  its  size  and  appearance, 
and  this  protean  habit  accounts  for  the  various 
names  by  which  it  is  known.  It  probably  attains 
its  highest  luxuriance  and  perfection  as  a  pasture 
grass  in  its  apparent  home,  the  far-famed  blue- 
grass  district  of  Kentucky,  and  it  may  be  well  to 
describe  it  as  seen  there : — 

"  Surely  you  have  hoard 
f)f  the  fair  plains  -n-hcre  the  sweet  gr.asscs  grow, 
Just  grass,  naught  else ;  and  where  the  noble  herd 
Of  blooded  cattle  graze,  and  horses  bred 


KENTUCKY  BLUE  GRASS. 


3S5 


For  victory — the  rare  Kentucky  speed  that  wins  the  race  ? 

The  lovely  rolliiig  land  of  the  blue-grass, 

The  wild  free  park  spread  out  liy  Nature's  hand, 

That  scarce  an  English  dukedom  may  surpass 

In  velvet  beauty — while  its  royal  sweep 

Over  the  country  miles  and  miles  awa)', 

Dwarfs  man-made  parks  to  toys ;  the  great  trees  keep 

Their  distance  from  each  other,  proud  array 

Of  single  elms  that  stand  apart  to  show 

How  gracefully  their  swaying  branches  grow ; 

While  little  swells  of  turf  roll  up  and  fall 

Like  waves  of  summer  sea,  and  over  all 

You  catch,  when  the  straight  shafts  of  sunset  pass, 

Lighting  up  all  the  lances  of  the  grass, 

The  steely  glint,  the  blue  of  the  blue-grass." 

Tlie  central  part  of  Kentucky,  an  area  of 
15,000  square  miles  or  more,  over  limestone  for- 
mation, seems  to  be  the  richest  portion  of  the 
blue-grass  country.  There  its  seed-stalks  are  2 
to  3  feet  high,  with  several  long  parallel-sicled 
•blades  to  each  plant,  and  radical  leaves  often 
numbering  thirty  to  a  stalk.  The  stems  are 
slender,  smootli,  and  round ;  the  flower-clusters 
often  have  five  or  seven  bunches  from  the  same 
point,  and  the  spikelets  are  one-tenth  to  one-sixth 
of  an  inch  long,  three  to  five  flowered.  The  root 
is  perennial,  and  throws  off  numerous  and  long 
creeping  root-stocks,  enabling  it  to  form  a  dense 
matted  turf.  The  general  appearance  of  the  plant 
is  shown  in  Fig.  ^10,  also  the  form  of  the 
spikelet,  magnified.  The  chief  reputation  of 
the  Kentucky  Blue  is  as  a  pasture  grass;  the 
sod  is  easily  obtained  and  very  enduring,  there 
being  no  such  thing  known  as  its  running  out  on 
good  land.  Pastures  sixty  years  unbroken  afford 
their  owners  an  annual  profit  of  at  least  ten 
dollars  an  acre.  It  starts  very  early  in  the  spring, 
and  grows  rapidly  after  being  grazed  off ;  it  will 
furnish  more  late  feed  than  most  grasses,  and  no 
amount  of  pasturing  is  sufficient  to  utterly  destroy 
it.  Eaten  until  no  appearance  of  it  is  seen  on 
the  ground,  the  earth  in  a  few  days  is  again 
covered  with  the  soft  green  foliage.  It  endures 
th-e  frosts  of  winter  better  than  any  other  grass  on 
the  continent,  and  therefore  pushes  its  way  north- 
ward into  the  Arctic  Circle  ;  if  allowed  to  grow 
rank  in  the  fall  months,  it  will  turn  over  and  hide 
beneath  its  covering  luxuriant  croppings,  often 
available  in  the  mild  winters  of  Kentucky  and 
Tennessee.  An  eminent  cattle-breeder  in  Ken- 
tucky wrote  :  "  Whoever  has  limestone  land  has 
blue-grass ;  whoever  has  blue-grass  has  the  basis 
of  all  agricultural  prosperity;  and  that  man,  if  he 


has  not  tlic  iinest  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep,  has  no 
one  to  bhime  Imt  himself."  Severe  droughts  injure 
blue-grass,  yet  it  grows  as  far  south  as  the  hilly 
jjarts  of  Georgia  and  Ahdjama,  and  in  Arkansas  ; 
not,  however,  as  vigorously  as  farther  north.  In 
seasons  of  drought  it  is  usual  to  leave  it  nn- 
pastured  or  but  lightly  cropped,  where  fully 
exposed  to  the  sun  dining  the  months  of  July  and 
August.     But   the   grass  thus    left,  although    it 


Fig.  210. — Kentucky  Blue-grass. 

often  becomes  dry  enough  to  burn,  is  greedily 
eaten  by  stock ;  it  dries  full  of  nourishing  pro- 
j)ertiep,  and  cattle  will  fatten  upon  it,  unless  it 
has  been  drenched  with  rains.  It  makes  little 
growth  during  the  hottest  weeks,  unless  there  is 
an  unusual  amount  of  moisture  in  the  soil,  but 
the  1st  of  September  a  strong  second  growth  com- 
mences, which  continues  till  the  ground  is  frozen. 
Blue-grass  exerts  a  truly  wonderful  power  on  the 
animals  that  feed  upon  it.  The  exact  causes  that 
produce  these  striking  results  are  not  traceable. 
According  to  the  tables  of  analysis,  several  other 


886 


DAIRY    FAIJMIN'G. 


grasses  sliould  be  more  vahial)le,  l)nl  the  fort-e  and 
the  uniformity  of  tlie  operation  of  bhie-grass 
feeding  are  matters  of  experience,  and  their  exist- 
ence cannot  be  questioned.  When  used  for  hay  it 
is  cut  just  as  the  seed  begins  to  ripen,  and  if  well 
cured  it  then  makes  excellent  feed,  and  is  highly 
relished.  Blue-grass  cannot  be  recommended  for 
the  meadow,  as  it  is  hard  to  cut  and  difficult 
to  cure;  the  foliage  is  too  short  and  too  light 
after  being  dried.  It  is  an  excellent  grass  for 
lawns,  as  it  makes  a  dense,  uniform  mat  of  ver- 
dure, and  sends  out  but  one  flowering  stem  a  year ; 
for  this  purpose  it  is  thickly  seeded  and  kept  closely 
mown.  The  lands  most  productive  of  blue-grass 
are  calcareous.  Lime  seems  to  be  a  natural  stimu- 
lant to  it,  and  it  flourishes  best  where  this  is 
abundantly  sui)plied  by  nature.  In  a  pasture  that 
has  an  occasional  outcropping  of  limestone,  the 
sprigs  of  grass  surrounding  the  rock  are  found 
more  luxuriant  than  anywhere  else.  But  it  is  far 
from  true,  as  sometimes  asserted,  that  blue-grass 
flourishes  only  in  a  limestone  country ;  in  parts  of 
Ohio,  where  the  geological  formation  is  the  same 
as  that  of  Central  Kentucljy,  the  blue-grass  does 
not  do  as  well,  while  in  other  parts  of  Ohio  it  is 
as  luxuriant  as  in  its  best  estate,  and  yet  the 
bedded  limestone  there  lies  beneath  100  feet  of 
drift.  And  pasture  lands  abound  in  all  the  States 
adjoining  Kentucky,  especially  Ohio,  West  Vir- 
ginia, Virginia,  Tennessee,  and  Missouri,  which 
carry  a  magnificent  blue-grass  sward. 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  luulerstood  that 
in  the  older  parts  of  the  country,  where  American 
dairying  was  first  developed,  and  throughout  the 
sections  mentioned  as  most  actively  engaged  in 
this  industry,  up  to  18S1,  the  climate  in  general 
is  such  as  to  jiermit  the  adaptation  of  those  species 
of  grasses  which  are  known  to  the  agriculture  of 
England  and  Europe.  But  for  a  large  part  of 
America,  different  species  are  necessitated  by  the 
climatology  of  the  country;  those  of  English 
origin,  at  least,  and  those  best  suited  to  the 
Northern  and  Eastern  States,  cannot  go  into  the 
plains  and  arid  districts  of  the  West;  and  they 
generally  fail  in  the  humid  climate  of  the  South, 
when  the  mean  temperature  of  the  summer  months 
attains  to  80'^. 

For  the  West,  such  species,  new  to  agriculture, 
have  been  abundantly  provided,  and  the  American 
interior  presents  an  interesting  Held  for  gramineous 
study.     The  native  species  of  the  prairie  districts 


of  the  States  bordering  on  the  ^Mississippi 
River  include  many  of  value,  w-ell  adapted  to 
this  intermediate  climate.  The  turf  of  this 
prairie  growth  is  very  strong,  enduring  in  its 
native  state,  and  made  excellent  dairy  pasturage 
during  the  period  of  settlement.  But  most  of 
these  grasses  give  way  at  the  ajiproach  of  cul- 
tivation, and  will  hardly  be  domesticated,  the 
"tame"  varieties  generally  being  substituted. 

Between  the  Rocky  Mountain  ranges  and  the 
Missouri  River  lies  the  great  plains  region.  Of 
the  grasses  indigenous  to  that  region  143  species 
have  been  named,  belonging  to  57  genera;  91 
varieties  extend  across  the  Missouri  River,  some 
of  them  eastward  to  the  Atlantic,  but  52  species 
properly  belong  to  the  plain  and  mountain  dis- 
tricts. Some  of  these  are  singular  in  all  respects. 
The  larger  jiart  of  these  52  species  could  be  dis- 
pensed with  without  material  injury  to  the 
grazing  interests  of  the  country ;  some  are  en- 
tirely worthless,  and  many  of  little  value  compared 
with  others.  On  "  the  Plains  "  three  species  far 
exceed  all  others  in  value ;  these  are  Finger-spiked 
Wood-grass  {AndrojMgon  fiircatufi),  the  Purple 
Wood-grass  or  Broom-grass  (^Andropogon  scopanns), 
and  the  Indian-grass  or  Wood-grass  (Sorghuiii 
Hiifann).  "In  all  the  eastern  portions  of  this 
district  they  comprise  at  least  three-fourths  of  the 
grazing  resources.  Next  to  these  in  importance 
is  the  Strong-scented  Vilfa  [Sjiorobulus  hefero- 
lep/s).  This  sjiecies  is  peculiarly  palatable  to 
cattle,  and  they  are  seen  roving  over  rich  pas- 
ture of  other  sjiecies  in  search  of  it.  This  is,  in 
a  great  measure,  the  winter  forage  species  in 
Kansas,  where  it  abounds.  It  flourishes  chiefly 
on  the  moister  portions  of  the  plains,  and  many 
local  areas  are  almost  exclusively  occupied  by  it." 
These  are  specially  sought  after  for  dairy  locations. 
All  four  of  these  species  are  found  eastward  as  far 
as  the  Atlantic,  but  are  regarded  as  of  little  value 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  even  classed  as  "  remark- 
ably worthless "  by  eminent  writers,  while  in 
the  prairie  and  plains  country  they  not  only 
predominate  in  pastm-age,  but  are  the  chief  de- 
pendence for  "  wild"  hay. 

In  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  the  three 
species  of  wood-grass  named  above  are  exceeded 
in  quantity  and  value  by  but  one,  the  Sheep's 
Fescue  [Fcstuca  ovina).  This  is  common  to 
mountains  and  plains,  extending  north-eastward 
to    New    England,    but    varying    much    in    form 


Till']     Bl  FFALO-CJKA.SS. 


387 


accorJhifj    to    locality,    and    often    li;ivin<>-    such  hir  north  as  the  IJritish  possessions,  rarely,  if  ever, 

sensitive  constitutional  qualities  as  to  make  arti-  east  of  the  98th  meridian,  and  extends  indefinitely 

fieial    treatment    impossible.       In    the    mountain  south-westward.       This   little   plant,  insio-nilicant 

region  it  is  the  most   valuable    of   the  abundant  in  a  sing-le   specimen,  was  the  favourite  herbage 

grasses,  and  esteemed  highly  nutritious,  notwith-  and   chief   subsistence  of  the    immense    herds  of 

standing    the    hard    wiro-like    appearance    of    its  buffalo  in  former  years;  but  with  the  disappearance 


leaves.  It  there 
grows  chiefly  in 
bunches  with  erect, 
•stiff  culms,  attaining 
in  favourable  places 
a  height  of  2  feet. 

Equal  in  value  is 
the  largest  and  best 
of  the  "  Gama "  or 
"  Gramma "  grasses 
peculiar  to  this  re- 
gion J  it  is  known 
r,s  Mezqiiit  in  Texas 
and  Mexico,  and  as 
Perennial  Bunch 
Grass  in  Montana. 
It  is  the  Boiitelona 
oligostackya  of  the 
botanist,  and  desir- 
able only  for  grazing, 
as  it  grows  too  thin 
and  too  short  for  hay. 
The  nsual  height 
is  from  8  inches  to 
1  foot.  It  grows 
in  small  bunches, 
close  and  fine,  has  a 
solid  stalk,  and  the 
bead  is  well  filled 
with  small,  firm,  nu- 
tritious seeds.  It 
shoots  from  the  root 
very  early  in  the 
spring,  is  unaffected 
by  frosts  and  frequent 

rains,  and  when  exposed  to  the  hot  sun  it  eoon 
ripens,  is  cured  thoroughly  in  early  autumn,  and 
then  affords  an  unharvested  forage  which  unites 
with  all  the  desirable  qualities  of  good  hay  the 
fattening  principles  of  grain.  The  A.  fiircafns, 
A.  scnparins,  and  the  S.  nutans  are  also  im- 
portant grasses  among  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

The  noted  Buffalo-grass  {Buchloe  dacfj/loirhs 


of  those  animals,  and 
tlie  advent  of  civili- 
.sation,  the  grass  has 
receded       westward, 
being    found    at    its 
eastern      limits      in 
small,  distinctly  out- 
lined  patches   a   few 
feet  in  diameter.    An 
excellent  representa- 
tion of  this  interest- 
ing grass  is  herewith 
given,  of  its  natural 
size.       For    a    long 
time  it  was  a  puzzle 
to  botanists.     Abun- 
dantly provided  with 
runners   as   a   means 
of     spreading,      and 
with  no  seeds  visible, 
it    was    thought    to 
have     only    abortive 
flowers.     Then  male 
and    female    flower.s 
were  found  on  sepa- 
rate ))lants,  and  these, 
so    unlike,   mistaken 
for  different  species. 
In    its    best    estate, 
however,    the    same 
plant   produces   both 
male      and       female 
flowers,   although  as 
distinct  as  the  tassel 
and    ear    of    maize. 
The  growth  is  low,   dense,  and  tufted,  attaining 
a  general    height   of   less   than  4<  inches,   except 
the   male  flower-stalks,   which    often  run  2  or  3 
inches    above    the    leaves,    terminating   in   a  few 
flat   spikes,    as    shown   in    the    engraving.       The 
female  flowers  are   clustered   close  to    the    earth, 
and    surrounded    by   a   leafy  covering,   wdiich,   as 
the  seed  ripens,  becomes  hard  and  shining.     The 
also  called  "  Small  Gramma,"  is  common  to  both      roots  are  strongly  interlaced,  all  near  the  surface; 
plains  and  mountains  of  Western  America,  found  as      the  leaves  narrow,  and  after  the  growing  season 
52. 


Fig.   211. — BCFFALO-GEASS. 


38S 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


curled  and  twisted  into  a  cloHcly  matted  mass, 
forming  a  compat-t  turf  which  withstands  excessive 
drought.  The  plant  seems  to  require  moisture  only 
during  the  growing  season,  and  this  varies  with 
the  climate.  It  thrives,  therefore,  in  all  parts  of 
the  south-west,  where  there  is  a  rainy  period  at 
any  time  during  the  year.  Upon  a  very  thin,  poor 
soil,  and  one  saturated  with  alkaline  matter,  it 
flourishes  as  well  as  upon  better  food.  Through  the 
dry  season  it  remains  in  the  curled,  dry  form,  but 
preserving  all  its  nutritive  qualities  ;  in  the  winter, 
an  examination  shows  the  stolens  to  be  still  gi-een. 
So,  where  the  ground  is  scantily  covered  with  these 


Fig.  212.— Berui'da-guass. 

brown,  crisp  bunches,  to  all  appearance  useless,  the 
cattle  feeding  thereon  are  sleek  and  fat.  Wiiether 
the  Buffalo-grass  can  be  utilised  in  the  South- 
eastern States,  is  an  important  question  not  yet 
determined,  and  it  must  be  done  soon,  if  ever.  In 
experiments  it  has  been  successfully  cultivated  east 
of  the  Mississippi,  and  flourished  finely  for  a  time, 
but,  unable  to  compete  with  stronger  intruding 
neighbours,  it  was  overrun  and  disappeared.  As 
an  instance  of  its  tenacity  of  life,  it  withstood  the 
treading  of  the  animals  in  a  farmer's  feed-lot,  when 
every  other  green  tiling  had  been  destroyed. 

The  Southern  States,  by  their  climate,  water, 
and  other  natural  facilities,  tend  toward  the  de- 
velojiment  of  a  winter  dairying  region.  And  the 
condition  of  Southern  agriculture  demands  the 
incorporation  of  .•;onie  feature  in  their  system,  by 


whicli  (■ni])s  for  the  impnivement  nf  the  soil  shall 
receive  as  regular  attention  as  crops  for  .sale.  First 
among  such  crops  are  the  artificial  grasses.  Both 
these  causes  stimulate  a  search  for  grass2S  fitted 
for  the  humid  districts  of  that  section.  That  the 
greater  part  of  the  South  was  once  covered  with  a 
carpet  of  nutritious  grass,  as  Texas  is  still,  is 
beyond  a  doubt.  Contain  grasses  were  then  natural 
to  Southern  soil,  but  nearly  all  of  those  have  disap- 
peared, the  result  of  continual,  injudicious  grazing, 
and  of  an  exhaustive  system  of  cultivation.  Under 
favourable  conditions,  the  standard  English  and 
Northern  grasses  can  be  used  to  some  extent  in 
the  Southern  States ;  the  habits  of 
the  plants  are  changed,  however, 
and  winter  becomes  their  growing 
season.  But  winter  grasses  alone 
will  not  answer,  and,  as  a  rule, 
success  does  not  attend  the  intro- 
duction South  of  grasses  from  colder 
and  drier  climates.  Southern  agri- 
culturists seeking  grasses  that  will 
live  and  grow  all  the  year  round, 
naturally  turned  their  attention 
towards  semi-tropical  sources,  and 
have  received  the  greatest  encour- 
agement therefrom. 

Bermuda-grass  [Cpiodon  due- 
ii/lon)  has  proved  the  most  satis- 
factory in  the  South  for  all  soils 
and  difference  of  humidity  and  tem- 
perature. Regarded  as  a  pest  at  one 
time,  because  of  its  powers  of  rapid 
spreading  and  tenacity  of  hold  when 
once  established,  it  has  come  to  be  regarded  as  a 
blessing.  It  was  the  terror  of  cotton-planters ; 
where  it  took  possession  the  owner  found  he 
must  raise  live  stock  or  abandon  the  land.  But 
the  grass  was  found  to  improve  worn  soil,  the 
animals  helped  still  more,  a  little  watchful  care 
kept  the  cotton-fields  freCj  and  thousands  of 
acres  have  been  therefore  stocked  with  it  in 
(ireorgia  and  the  Gulf  States.  The  aecompanj'- 
ing  sketch,  about  half  the  natural  size,  shows 
the  form  of  the  plant  and  its  habits  of  growth. 
The  most  striking  thing  about  Bermuda-grass  is 
its  strong  stems,  or  runners,  which  extend  upon 
or  just  below  the  surface  in  every  direction;  single 
shoots  run  10  feet  in  a  season  on  good  soil.  It 
has  been  known  to  throw  its  runners  over  a  rock 
(i  feet  across,  and  soon  bide  itself  from  view.     The 


OTHER     PASTURE     GRASSES. 


389 


joints  in  the  stems  are  about  3  indies  apart,  and 
at  every  one  roots  are  put  out  and  stems  thrown 
up  which  bear  the  foliage  and  flowers.  The  up- 
right stems  are  slender,  the  leaves  narrow  and 
delicate,  and  produced  in  spikes  which  radiate  from 
the  top  of  the  stalk.  Seeds  are  rare,  and  not  an 
article  of  commerce.  The  plant  is  propagated  by 
cuttings,  is  sometimes  chopped  up,  the  pieces 
scattered  broadcast  and  then  rolled,  and  sometimes 
sod  is  cut  into  small  pieces  and  planted  in  hills 
like  potatoes.  It  will  live  on  land  so  poor  as  to 
be  incapable  of  supporting  other  grasses  of  value, 
although  its  worth  is  as  the  soil  it  grows  on. 
Left  uncut  and  uupastured  below  the  moun- 
tainous parts  of  the  Southern  States  during  the 
summer  and  autumn,  although  the  ends  may  be 
nipped  by  frost,  there  is  sufficient  green  grass 
underneath  to  feed  stock  during  the  winter.  In 
the  moist  bottoms  of  Louisiana,  on  the  dry  plains 
of  Texas,  among  the  sandy  hills  of  Virginia,  the 
Carolinas  and  Tennessee,  it  seems  equally  at  home 
and  indestructible.  It  has  the  capacity  to  with- 
stand any  amount  of  heat  and  drought,  and  in 
months  that  will  check  blue-grass,  if  not  kill  it, 
the  Bermuda  keeps  up  its  pale-green  colour,  despite 
the  burning  suns.  It  grows  luxuriantly  on  the 
top  of  Lookout  ISIountain,  at  an  altitude  of  over 
2,000  feet,  where  the  winters  are  excessively  cold 
for  that  latitude.  Cattle  and  horses  are  very  fond 
of  Bermuda,  prefer  it  to  clover,  and  thrive  upon  it, 
and  hogs  feed  upon  its  succulent  roots.  No  other 
grass  will,  in  the  same  climate,  yield  as  much 
grazing,  and  for  this  purpose,  taking  the  whole 
year  into  account,  it  stands  unrivalled  in  the 
Southern  States.  On  rich  land  it  grows  tall 
enough  to  cut,  and  makes  hay  of  the  very  best 
quality  in  large  quantity.  At  a  State  fair  in 
Georgia,  the  premium  bale  of  hay  was  made  from 
Bermuda-grass.  At  Greensboro^  Georgia,  in  1S73, 
one  acre  of  Bermuda,  good  soil  but  not  manured, 
made  5 J  tons  of  hay,  which  sold  for  114  dollars. 
At  another  place  in  the  same  state,  there  is  authen- 
tic record  of  16  tons  of  Bermuda-hay  being  pro- 
duced from  an  acre  by  the  use  of  nitrates  and 
alkalies.  It  is  said  that  one  hundred  pounds  of  the 
grass,  as  cut,  afford  over  fifty  of  hay,  and  five  tons 
of  hay  per  acre  is  regarded  as  the  regular  crop. 
The  plant  will  take  hold  upon  the  sides  of  the 
steepest  gulley  and  stop  its  washing ;  hence  it  is 
advantageously  used  to  bind  the  levees  on  the 
banks  of  the  Mississippi,  and  also  the  embankments 


of  railroads.  It  does  not  thrive  in  the  shade.  It 
is  a  native  of  the  West  Indies,  and  was  introduced 
from  Bermuda  into  South  Carolina  and  Mississippi, 
early  in  the  present  eentuiy. 

Among  other  foreign  grasses  which  arc  found 
desirable  in  the  South  are  the  Guinea  [Sorglitim 
viil(;are)  and  the  Tall  Meadow  Oat-grass  [Arrfie- 
vatherum  areiilcitm)  ;  and  of  the  natives  which 
serve  a  useful  purpose,  the  Wild  Rye  [Elj/mus 
Virglniciis),  Crab-grass  [Paniciim  saiigninale),  and 
the  Broom-grass  or  "  broom-sedge  "  (Andrupogon 
scojoarius) . 

The  standard  grasses  of  the  Northern  and 
Eastern  States  are  available  for  the  northern 
portion  of  the  Pacific  Coast,  and  the  mountainous 
territories.  The  Red-top  is  very  much  at  home  in 
Utah,  Nevada,  and  Montana,  grows  luxuriantly 
on  alkaline  soils,  and  upon  land  never  broken 
yields  enormous  crops.  In  the  southern  part  of 
the  Pacific  slopes,  and  especially  in  California, 
valuable  native  grasses  exist.  The  bunch-grass 
{festucd)  is  abundant  on  the  upland  slopes  and 
valleys,  and  is  there,  as  everywhere,  of  great  value. 
The  gramma  and  similar  grasses  also  abound.  In 
the  lower  plains  and  valleys,  oat  grasses  and 
annuals  form  a  larger  share.  Several  varieties  of 
the  .\lfal fa  family  [medicago]  are  indigenous  to  this 
section,  being  generally  known  as  "  the  Californian 
clover."  The  tendency  of  the  climate  is  towards  a 
less  permanently  perennial  character  in  most  of 
the  grasses  of  this  section,  and  they  often  assume 
graminaceous  forms.  Some  writers  describe  deposits 
of  seed  upon  the  ground  in  parts  of  California,  so 
abundant  that  animals  can  feed  upon  it,  like 
threshed  grain. 

Wherever  in  America  grasses  are  valued  and 
cultivated,  the  clovers  are  also  used  and  valued. 
White  clover  [Trifolii(m  repens)  has  always  had 
many  enemies,  but  the  general  verdict  is  that  it  is 
one  of  the  most  indispensable  of  the  pastm-e  plants, 
in  all  parts  of  the  country.  It  seems  especially  at 
home  in  the  Blue-grass  region,  and  well  to  the  South, 
being  an  excellent  companion  of  Bermuda-grass. 

Red  clover  [TrifoUum  pratense)  was  introduced 
to  America  late  in  the  eighteenth  century,  appear- 
ing first  in  Pennsylvania.  Its  use  is  now  almost 
universal,  and  in  some  sectit  ns  it  is  regarded  as 
the  corner-stone  of  agriculture.  It  does  not 
succeed  as  far  South  as  the  white  clover,  but 
flourishes    wherever    wheat    can   be    successfully 


390 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Alsike  clover  [Tri/oliiim  lii/liridum)  has  been 
received  with  favour  in  some  of  the  dairy  districts, 
chiefly  as  a  soiling  crop,  but  it  is  not  extensivel}" 
used. 

Alfalfa  or  Lucerne  [Medicago  mliva)  proves  iu 
America  its  orig'in  as  a  child  of  the  sun,  and  revels 
in  a  heat  destructive  of  all  other  species  of  clover 
and  of  most  jjnsses.  Cultivated  for  green  fodder, 
this  plant  is  destined  to  be  a  <:^reat  blessing  to  the 
agriculture  of  the  Southern  States,  and  in  the  arid 
districts  of  California  it  is  largely  used  and  highly 
prized.  It  has  been  grown  successfully  also  in 
different  jiarts  of  Canada. 

The  hay  crop  of  the  United  .States  was  com- 
pared with  other  staples  iu  Table  No.  3.  Some 
additional  facts  may  be  interesting.  The  annual 
hay  ])roduct  of  the  country  has  been  reported  by 
the  census  as  follows  : — 

Years. 


1840.  185J.  1860.  IS?).  1S79. 

Tons  ...  10,248,108    13,838,642    19,08.3,896    27,310,048  40,000,000 

The  figures  for  1879  represent  the  estimate  of 
the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture,  and 
the  general  average  given  is  148  tons  to  every  100 
acres  of  mowing.  The  hay  crop  of  the  United  States 
is  worth  over  300,000,000  dollars,  and  the  grass  con- 
sumed green  full  as  much  more.  Six  hundred  and 
fifty  million  dollars  is  a  fair  estimate  of  the  value  of 
the  annual  grass  crop  of  the  United  States.  Seventy 
million  dollars  may  be  added  for  that  of  Canada. 

The  Indian  Corn  [Zea  3Iu//k)  constitutes  an 
important  adjunct  to  the  dairying  of  America,  and 
may  be  properly  noticed  here,  both  because  of  its 
classification  among  the  true  grasses,  and  of  its 
very  general  use  throughout  the  United  States  as  a 
forage  plant,  independent  of  the  value  of  its  grain. 

In  North  America  this  plant  is  cultivated  from 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  valleys  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  the  Red  River  of  the  North,  and, 
excepting  districts  of  great  elevation,  a<.'ross  the 
Continent,  from  ocean  to  ocean.  "  The  varieties  of 
Indian  corn  are  veiy  numerous,  as  its  flexibility  of 
organisation  makes  it  easy  of  adaptation  to  dif- 
ferent climates  and  soils,  and  they  are  constantly 
changing  in  character  and  in  number,  from  the 
shrubby  reed  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Superior  to 
the  giant  stalks  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  ;  the 
tiny  ears  with  flat,  close,  clinging  grains  of  the 
Canada;  the  brilliant,  rounded  little  j)earl ;  the 
blight-red  grains  and  white  cob  of  the  Haematite  ; 


the  swelling  ear  of  the  Gourd-seed  of  the  South." 
Thus,  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  the 
mature  plant  may  be  found  of  all  sizes,  from 
18  inches  to  over  20  feet  in  height,  bearing  from 
one  to  ten  ears,  and  the  ears  from  2  to  15  inches 
long,  with  from  eight  to  thirty-six  rows,  some- 
times with  less  than  a  hundred  grains  and  some- 
times one  thousand  grains  upon  one  cob.  The 
average  for  the  country  is  an  ear  of  twelve  or  four- 
teen rows,  with  from  35  to  50  grains  in  a  row, 
and  two  ears  to  each  stalk ;  and  the  ])lant  from 
5  to  12  feet  in  height,  according  to  climate  and 
variety.  The  plant  matures  in  from  70  to  210 
days  from  the  seed,  and  the  grain  product  is  from 
10  to  200  bushels  per  acre,  with  an  average  of 
about  thirty  bushels.  As  a  rule,  two  bushels  of 
ears  make  one  of  shelled  corn,  the  standard  weight 
<if  a  bushel  being  56  lbs. 

Since  1800  there  have  been  over  40,000,000 
acres  planted  in  corn  annually  in  the  United 
States;  since  1876  over  50,000,000  acres.  This 
has  given  a  grain  crop  of  from  1,000,000,000 
to  1,500,000,000  bushels  per  annum.  But 
attention  is  here  specially  invited  to  the  im- 
mense quantity  of  forage  which  this  vast 
acreage  produces.  Each  acre  of  com  yields  from 
two  to  three  tons  of  diy  fodder,  and  every  portion 
of  the  plant  is  available  for  food,  after  the  grain 
matures,  except  the  hardest  joints  and  hciiviest 
butts  of  the  stalks.  In  many  j)arts  of  the  country 
corn  fodder  or  sinrer  is  the  main-stay  for  long 
forage,  and  although  some  farmers  strongly  oppose 
its  use  as  food  for  milch-cows,  it  is  difficult  to  see 
how  its  value  can  be  questioned.  In  the  ex- 
perience of  the  writer,  the  blades  of  the  maize, 
stripped  from  the  stalk  and  cured  in  bundles,  have 
been  found  as  good  feed  for  cows  in  a  butter  dairy 
as  the  best  of  hay,  pound  for  pound.  The  usual 
method  of  harvesting  is  to  cut  the  stalk  just 
above  the  ground,  tie  in  bundles,  and  set  up  in 
stooks  to  completely  cure ;  then  shuck  out  the  ears, 
leaving  the  husks  upon  the  stalk,  and  put  the  fodder 
in  stacks  or  ricks  till  wanted.  Another  way  is  to 
remove  the  ear,  in  the  shuck,  before  cutting  the 
fodder.  Again,  the  part  of  each  stalk  above  the 
u)i];er  ear  is  cut  off,  while  the  grain  is  still  soft, 
and  this  "  top  fodder,''  well  cured,  is  highly 
valued;  after  gathering  the  ripened  corn,  the 
butts  are  cut  close  to  the  ground.  In  1877  one 
acre  on  Waushakum  farm  was  found  to  yield 
by  actual  weight,  besides  a   large  crop  of  grain, 


INDIAN     CORN     AS     FODDER. 


391 


2,613  lbs.  of  cured  tops  and  5,5;30  lbs.  of  dry  butts, 
or  over  tour  tons  of  stover.  Careful  experimenters 
feeding  for  milk,  find  five  tons  of  well-cured  stover 
equivalent  to  three  tons  of  good  hay.  With  hay 
at  20  dollars  a  ton,  the  corn  fodder,  at  this  rate, 
is  worth  12  dollars,  but  it  is  usually  valued  at 
about  8  dollars  per  ton. 

The  corn  plant  is  largely  used  by  dairymen 
as  a  green-crop,  to  feed  during  the  weeks  of 
dry  pasturage  in  July  and  August.  For  this  pur- 
pose it  is  grown  thickly,  in  drills,  heavily  manured 
and  cut   before    the    ears    form ;    from    thirty    to 


seventy  tons  of  excellent  green  fodder  may  be 
thus  obtained  from  an  acre.  By  careful  treat- 
ment, the  surplus  may  be  cured  and  made  into 
superior  winter  feed.  The  practice  of  preserving 
the  fodder  in  a  green  and  moist  state  by  ensilagiii;/ 
in  silos  is  also  coming  into  favour,  but  is  yet 
(ISSO)  in  an  experimental  stage  in  America. 
The  Southern  white  and  sweet  varieties  of  corn 
are  preferred  for  fodder.  Thus,  in  its  various 
forms,  w.th  and  without  the  grain,  maize  is 
one  of  the  commonest  and  most  valuable  of 
American  forage  plants.  H.  E.   A. 


CHAPTER     XXVI. 

The    Daiuy    Cattle    of    Ameiuca. 


History  of  AiucTican  Ciiltlo— Br 

:'7/UK    first    iloiiH'stic    cattl 


(ling  and  Jlunapcnicnt    Cross  bred  Buffaloes— Produce  of  American  Dairy  Cows- 
rrici-s  of  Calllc. 


America  were  broug'ht  over 
by  Columbus  on  his  second 
voyage  in  1493.  The  Portu- 
guese introduced  neat  cattle 
into  Newfoundland  and  Nova 
Scotia  in  1553,  and  voyagers 
I'ouiul  them  plentiful  there  thirty  years 
later.  At  the  opening  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  French  cattle  were 
brought  into  Canada.  The  Virginia 
colony  received  its  first  im])ortation  of 
cattle  from  England  in  1608  or  1609,  and  cows  were 
obtained  from  the  West  Indies  in  1610;  the  next 
year  Gates  brought  over  100  cows,  and  these 
estimates  are  founl  of  the  neat  cattle  in  the  James 
River  settlements— 500  in  16^0,  3,000  in  1630, 
30,000  in  1610,  and  40,000  in  1650.  The  first 
cattle  for  New  England  arrived  at  the  Ply- 
mouth cohmy  by  the  ship  Chantii,  in  charge  of 
Agent  Winslow,  in  1624',  and  were  probably  of 
Devon  stock,  three  heifers  and  a  bull ;  in  1626 
twelve  cows  were  brought  to  Cape  Ann,  and  150 
head  of  cattle  reached  Massachusetts  in  1629 
and  1630.  In  1636  cows  were  worth  £25  to  £30 
in  New  England,  and  the  prices  of  products  were, 
milk  Id.  per  quart,  butter  6d.  per  lb.,  and  cheese 
5d.  Cattle  were  brought  to  New  York  by  the 
Dutch  in  1625,  by  the  Swedes  to  Delaware  in 
1627,  and  by  the  Danes  to  New  Ilamjwhire  in 
1631.  Wade  Hampton  imported  English  cattle 
for  the  Cariilinas  about  1670.  Travellers  found 
domestic  cattle  in  the  possession  of  the  Indians 
on  the  Red  River  in  Louisiana  in  1690,  doubtless 
the  increase  of  some  of  the  earliest  Spanish 
arrivals. 

Among  the  early  colonists  there   were  severe 
restrictions  upon  the  killing  of  domestic  animals 


for  food,  but  at  the  same  time  great  losses 
occurred  from  neglecting  to  care  for  them.  The 
"Virginia  Historical  Register"  gives  these  state- 
ments as  aiitheutic  : — "  All  the  inhabitants  give 
their  cattle  in  winter  is  only  the  husks  of  their 
Indian  corn,  unless  it  be  some  of  them  that  have  a 
little  wheat  straw,  neither  do  they  give  them 
any  more  of  these  than  will  serve  to  keep  them 
alive;  by  reason  whereof  they  venture  into  the 
marshy  grounds  and  swamps  for  food,  where  many 
are  lost."  ..."  They  neither  housed  nor 
milked  their  cows  in  winter,  having  a  notion 
that  it  would  kill  them."  Even  as  late  as  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  in  the  com- 
paratively mild  climate  of  Virginia,  it  was  gene- 
rally expected  by  each  farmer  that  enough  cattle 
would  die  of  privation  during  the  winter  to 
furnish  the  annual  supply  of  hides  and  leather 
for  the  plantation.  In  sections  where  the  climate 
was  more  severe,  somewhat  better  care  was 
neeessitat<?d,  and  very  soon  cattle  were  handled 
with  special  reference  to  the  dairy,  and  valued 
accordingly.  As  early  as  1750,  there  were  farms 
in  New  England  where  100  or  more  cows  were 
owned  and  kept  mainly  for  dairy  purposes ;  there 
is  a  record  of  about  that  date  in  Rhode  Island, 
where  seventy-three  cows  produced  10,000  lbs. 
of  butter  in  five  months,  an  average  of  nearly  a 
pound  a  day. 

From  such  varied  sources  came  the  progenitors 
of  the  greater  part  of  American  cattle  as  they  now 
exist.  There  are  authentic  accounts  of  trading 
and  interchange  of  live  st<ick  among  the  colonists, 
and  the  consequent  amalgamation  resulted  in  the 
common,  or,  as  it  is  called,  native  stock  of  the 
United  States.  These  "  natives  "  cannot  properly 
be  compared  with  any  race  or  distinct  breed  of 
cattle;    they   have    no    distinctive    character,   are 


A:\rEiacAX  dairy  cattle. 


:W3 


of  all  possible  sorts,  colours,  shapes  and  sizes, 
average  much  better  in  some  States  than  in 
others,  but,  as  a  whole,  they  form  an  excellent 
basis  of  hardy  stock  on  which  to  build. 

It  is  only  within  the  nineteenth  century  that 
systematic  attempts  have  been  made  to  better  t!ie 
g-eneral  stock  of  the  country  by  infusing  the  blood 
of  improved  breeds,  and  the  dairj-  cattle  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada  may,  in  the  year  18S0, 
be  stated  at  but  1  per  centum  thoroughbreds,  li 
per  cent,  grades,  and  85  per  cent,  natives.  The 
dairy  cows  from  this  common  stock  produce  less 
than  three  times  their  weight  of  milk  per  annum, 
and,  as  a  rule,  they  are  bought  and  sold  without 
reading  or  study,  almost  at  random,  little  care 
or  attention  being  given  to  the  breeding.  A  pro- 
minent dairyman  in  the  famous  Herkimer  County 
of  New  York  states  his  belief,  that  of  the  cows  of 
his  region,  one-third  do  not  pay  for  their  keeping, 
one-third  just  about  pay,  and  the  remaining  third 
makes  good  the  loss  of  the  first,  and  yields  all  the 
profit. 

Great  attention  is  being  given  to  the  imjirove- 
ment  of  American  cattle,  especially  towards  secur- 
ing better  dairy  stock,  not  only  by  the  introduction 
and  crossing  of  thoroughbreds,  but  by  careful 
selection  and  breeding  from  the  native  stock.  The 
Guenon  theory  of  escutcheons  is  more  and  more 
accepted  and  acted  upon ;  an  official  commission 
acting  under  the  Agricultural  Board  of  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania  in  1878,  reported  this  theory 
verified  by  95  per  cent,  of  a  large  number  of  tests 
made  by  it.  0;i  the  other  hand,  this  is  stoutly 
opposed  as  lacking  sufficient  proof,  and  most 
animals  are  judged  by  their  performances  and 
by  those  "  marks  "  which  are  familiar  to  all  ex- 
perienced in  breeding  and  handling  dairy-cattle. 

The  first  importations  of  improved  stock,  kept 
pure  after  reaching  America,  were  made  in  1784-5; 
Mr.  IMiller  of  Mrgiuia,  and  Mr.  Gough  of  Mary- 
land, then  introduced  Shorthorns  on  the  Potomac 
and  into  the  Valley  of  the  Shenandoah.  In  1795, 
Mr.  Heaton  of  Dutchess  County,  New  York,  im- 
ported Durhams.  In  1797,  Matthew  Patton  of 
Virginia  took  Shorthorns  to  Kentucky,  and  from 
these  descended  "the  Patton  Stock,"  great  favourites 
in  that  section  for  many  years.  Between  1815  and 
18:J0,  several  importations  of  Shorthorns  were  made 
by  parties  in  Kentucky,  Virginia,  New  York  and 
Massachusetts,  and  from  that  time  others  arrived 
from  England  every  year  or  two.     The  first  impor- 


tation direct  from  the  Bates  Herd  was  made  in  the 
year  18."59  by  Mr.  George  Vail,  of  Troy,  New  York, 
and  quite  a  number  of  fine  animals  were  purchased 
for  Americans  at  the  sale  of  Lord  Ducie's  Herd 
in  1853.  In  1815  the  "  American  Shorthorn 
Herd  Book"  was  commenced,  connecting  with  the 
Coates  series.  In  1806  it  was  estimated  that  about 
800  pure  Shorthorns  had  been  brought  into  the 
United  States  and  the  Cauadas;  the  seven  volumes 
of  the  "American  Herd  Bo(jk "  then  contained 
the  pedigrees  of  6,1110  bulls  and  over  10,000 
females,  and  its  editor  estimated  the  number  of 
pure  animals  of  this  breed  living  in  the  country 
at  6,000,  one-third  males.  In  1875  direct  impor- 
tations had  reached  1,500,  and  the  pedigreed  Short- 
horns alive  in  the  Lnited  States  and  Canada  were 
placed  at  20,000.  The  twentieth  volume  of  the 
"American  Shorthorn  Herd  Book"  published  in 
May,  1881,  will  carry  the  number  of  recorded 
bulls  to  over  40,000,  and  ot  cows  and  heifers  to 
60,000.  Of  these,  Mr.  L.  F.  Allen,  "  Herd  Book" 
editor  from  the  first,  estimates  98  per  (lent.  as 
American  bred,  and  that  the  recorded  animals 
alive  in  the  country  number  at  least  35,000. 
To  these  may  be  added  20,000  well-bred  Short- 
horns not  recorded. 

The  Shorthorns  are  largely  in  excess  of  all  other 
pure  bloods  in  the  United  States;  and  although 
their  influence  is  felt  mainly  in  the  improvement 
of  beef  cattle,  many  dairymen  hold  them  in  high 
favour,  and  certain  families  have  made  remarkable 
records  at  the  jjail.  Mr.  Harris  Lewis,  one  of  the 
best  known  dairymen  of  New  York,  writes  : — 
"There  is  no  way  known  to  me  by  which  our 
dairymen  can  so  easily  and  certainly  improve  the 
milking  qualities  of  our  native  herds,  as  by  using 
a  thoroughbred  Shorthorn  bull,  and  raising  the 
heifer  calves  of  the  best  milkers.  The  bull  should 
be  from  a  good  milking  family  of  Shorthorns.  I 
commenced  this  practice  several  years  ago,  and  the 
result  has  been  so  favourable  to  the  Durhams  that 
I  am  now  running  into  the  thoroughbreds  for  my 
dairy.  The  first  cross  of  the  native  cow  with  a 
Shorthorn  bull  usually  produces  better  results  than 
subsequent  crosses,  but  this  rule  may  not  hold 
good  if  the  bulls  used  for  the  second  or  third 
crosses  are  of  superior  milking  stock  to  the  one 
first  used.  The  very  best  milker  that  I  ever 
owned  was  got  by  a  Shorthorn  bull  out  of  a  native 
cow,  and  I  find  that  our  Herkimer  County  dairy- 
men, with  all    their   prejudices   against  Durhams 


394 


DAIRY    FAUMIXCi. 


as  milkers,  will  Krst  select  from  droves  of  cows 
bronyht  in  for  sale  the  Shorthorn  ji^rades,  and 
pay  better  prices  for  them  than  for  superior 
natives.  I  must  confess  that  our  breeders  of 
Shorthorns  have  bred  almost  all  the  milk  out  of 
them,  preferrino^  beauty  to  utility,  and  have  made 
that  pay  the  best  too,  but  this  will  not  always 
contiinie."  Several  of  the  most  successful  butter- 
makers  in  New  Enijland  hold  like  opinions,  and 
use  Shorthorns  mainly.  The  editors  of  the  "Ameri- 
can Shorthorn  Herd  Book,"  in  the  latest  volumes 
and  by  special  circulars,  appeal  to  breeders  not  to 
neii;lcct  the  milking-  qualities  of  their  stock,  and 
call  for  records  of  milk-yields  by  Shorthorns, 
singly  and  in  numbers,  to  publish  in  the  "  Herd 
Book "  as  evidence  of  the  value  of  this  breed 
for  dairy  purposes.  Mr.  Allen  writes : — "  The 
early  importations  of  Shorthorns  into  this  country 
were,  as  a  rule,  first-class  milkers.  But,  with 
the  exception  of  those  living  in  the  dairy  districts 
east  of  Ohio,  our  American  breeders  of  Shorthorns 
have  not  kept  up  the  lacteal  development  of  their 
cows.  Giving  attention  mainly  to  flL'sh-produc- 
tioii,  they  have  neglected  and  largely  lost  the 
milking  faculty  in  their  stock." 

Devons  were  imported  by  Americans  in  much 
greater  numbers  some  time  ago  than  they  have 
been  of  late  years.  Some  of  the  first  cattle  which 
arrived  at  the  Massachusetts  colonies  were  pro- 
l)ably  from  Devonshire,  and  others  of  the  same 
blood  were  brought  to  Plymouth  in  the  year  1800, 
according  to  the  description  of  the  animals.  The 
first  importation  of  which  the  record  is  positive  is 
thus  mentioned  in  the  fourth  volume  of  the  old 
"American  Farmer": — "June  10th,  1817,  the 
brig  Margarelta,  Captain  Gardner,  arrived  at  Balti- 
more from  London,  with  six  beautiful  j'oung  cows 
and  one  bull  (Taurus)  of  the  Devonshire  breed,  for 
Mr.  Robert  Patterson,  the  whole  being  a  present 
from  Mr.  Coke  of  Holkam  "  (afterwards  Earl  of 
Leicester).  In  1818,  the  Hon.  Rufus  King  took 
a  few  animals  of  the  same  stock  from  England  to 
Long  Island.  Several  other  valuable  importations 
were  made  between  1835  and  LS5.5  by  private 
parties,  and  by  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  the 
Promotion  of  Agriculture.  The  Patterson  Ilenl 
has  continued  the  largest  and  most  important  in 
the  United  States,  has  been  kept  up  by  Messrs. 
\Vm.  and  Geo.  Patterson  and  Richard  Caton  by 
frequent  importations,  and  the  greater  part  of  the 
Devons  in   this  country  are  descended  from   this 


stock.  A  ])  irtioii  of  it  w:i^  early  taken  to  Con- 
necticut, and  the  continu:ition  of  that  passed  in 
18.jS  into  the  hands  of  Governor  E.  H.  Hyde 
and  Mr.  H.  M.  Sessions,  the  latter  of  Hampden, 
Massachusetts,  and  editor  of  the  "  American 
Devon  Herd  Book."  That  publication  branched 
from  the  "  Davy  Herd  Book,"  and  is  a  continuation 
of  it.  The  first  and  second  volumes  of  "  Davy " 
(1851  and  18o'l)  were  re-published  in  the  United 
States  in  1855,  and  contained  the  records  of  the 
best  Devon  herds  in  this  country,  one-fourth  of 
the  contributors  to  the  second  volume  being 
Americans.  It  is  also  worthy  of  remark  that  the 
pedigrees  of  American  Devons  in  the  "  Herd 
Book  "  antedate  the  earliest  English  pedigrees  by 
ten  years.  In  1859,  volumes  wer^  simultaneously 
published  in  England  and  America,  the  former  by 
Mr.  Davy  and  the  latter  by  Mr.  S.  Howard. 
Howard's  volume  recorded  ^58  bulls  and  399  cows, 
from  84  different  herds,  all  in  America.  In 
March,  1863,  the  first  volume  of  the  "American 
Devon  Herd  Book"  appeared,  published  by  a  Com- 
mittee of  the  Association  of  Breeders  of  Thorough- 
bred Neat  Stock,  and  compiled  by  Mr.  Sessions. 
The  second,  third,  and  fourth  volumes  of  this 
series  were  published  respectively  in  1868,  187^, 
and  1876.  The  fourth  volume  contained  the  records 
of  1,205  American  Devons,  the  property  of  263  dif- 
ferent breeders  and  owners  in  the  I'nited  States 
and  Canada.  The  fifth  volume  appeared  in  1879; 
and  the  sixth,  to  be  published  in  1881,  will  show 
a  total  registry  of  over  1,500  bulls  and  about  3,500 
cows.  The  Devons  seem  to  do  well  everywhere  in 
America,  are  as  well  liked  in  Georgia  as  in  Maine, 
are  great  favourites  in  the  dairy  ranches  of  the 
Sierra  and  Rocky  ^Mountains,  and  are  noted  alike 
for  excellence  as  working  cattle,  as  beef,  as  fatted 
calves,  and  for  milk.  There  are  several  fine  herds 
in  the  United  States  in  1880,  and  it  is  certain  that 
they  do  as  well  in  America  as  in  Devonshire,  but 
their  numbers  are  far  below  what  is  warranted  by 
their  good  qualities. 

The  first  Jersey  cow  known  in  America  was 
owned  by  Mr.  Richard  ilorris,  of  Philadelphia, 
kept  at  his  farm  on  the  Delaware  River  near 
that  city,  and  is  mentioned  in  the  "  Annals  of  the 
Philadelphia  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agri- 
culture"  for  1815,  as  remarkable  for  making  8  lbs. 
12ozs.  of  butter  per  week  for  several  weeks. 
In  1840,  thre3  cows  were  imported  by  Nicholas 
Biddle,  of  Bucks  County,  Pennsylvania;  these  were 


JERSEYS    AND   AYUSIIIRKS. 


395 


soou  aJtleil  to,  and  tlie  herd  thus  established  is 
still  in  existence.  About  1S50  this  stock  hcfjau 
to  attract  attention,  and  several  large  importa- 
tions were  made,  notably  those  of  Mv.  John  A. 
Taintor,  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  and  Mr.  Roswell 
L.  Colt,  of  Paterson,  New  Jersey.  Five  years 
later.  Jerseys,  then  very  generally  called  Alderneys, 
became  quite  numerous  in  Maryland,  Pennsylvania, 
New  Jersey,  New  York,  Connecticut,  and  Massa- 
chusetts. The  American  importations  of  pure 
Jerseys  are  estimated  by  Colonel  George  E.  Waring, 
Secretary  to  the  American  Jersey  Cattle  Club, 
at  seventy  per  year  from  1870  to  1876,  and 
from  100  to  150  annually  since  that  time.  At 
first  cattle  were  brought  rather  indiscriminately 
from  the  Channel  Islands,  a  good  many  Guern- 
seys being  mixed  in  with  the  Jerseys.  But  the 
distinction  was  soon  made ;  animals  were  bred 
pure,  in  1868  "The  American  Jersey  Cattle  Club" 
was  formed,  and  in  1870  the  fu'st  volume  of  ''The 
Herd  Register"  was  issued  under  its  direction. 
This  publication  has  reached  its  eighth  volume, 
and  contains  in  all  the  pedigrees  of  5,091  males 
and  10,815  females.  Another  "American  Jersey 
Herd  Book,"  commenced  in  1866  by  a  committee 
of  associated  breeders,  has  reached  its  eighth 
volume,  and  contains  6,695  pedigrees;  a  good 
ruany  animals  are  recorded  in  both.  Want  of 
care  on  the  part  of  the  early  importers  and  owners 
both  in  breeding  and  in  records,  prevented  the  entry 
of  many  excellent  animals  in  the  "  Jersey  Club 
Register,"  under  its  rules.  The  great  service 
rendered  by  this  club  in  introducing  and  ad- 
vertising the  Jersey  blood  is  admitted  by  all; 
but  appearances  of  exclusiveness,  jockeyism,  and 
ring  rule  have  caused  distrust  and  impaired  its 
usefulness.  Of  25,000  genuine  Jerseys  alive  in 
America,  not  more  than  half  are  entered  in  the 
"  Register  "  named.  The  non-registered  animals  are, 
as  a  whole,  fully  as  valuable  for  dairy  puiiwses, 
and  include  some  of  the  iinest  cows  in  the  country 
The  increase  in  full-blood  Jerseys  in  America  will 
probably  be  10,000  in  the  year  1881,  while  the 
grade  Jerseys  are  becoming  still  more  numerous. 
Grades  of  this  breed  are  much  sought,  and  are 
multiplying  as  fast  in  the  dairy  districts  as  Short- 
horn grades  are  in  the  beef-producing  sections. 
Jersey  blood  is  undoubtedly  doing  more  than  any 
other  to  improve  the  dairy-stock  of  America, 
especially  in  the  butter-producing  sections.  Jerseys 
are  great  favourites  for  gentlemen's  estates,  as 
53 


family  cows,  and  are  fast  gaining  as  farm  dairy- 
stock.  They  are  owned  in  nearly  every  State  in 
the  Union,  and  are  very  popular  in  the  South  and 
on  the  Pacific  coast. 

Ayrshires  began  to  attract  attention  in  the 
United  States  soon  after  1830,  and  first  in  New 
England.  A  few  importations  are  noted  in  New 
York  in  18:J2,  and  in  Canada  in  lS.3;i.  Mr. 
Gushing,  of  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  had  a  fine 
herd  in  18-'37,  and  the  ^lassachusetts  Society  made 
importations  that  year,  also  in  1815  and  1858. 
There  are  records  of  Ayrshire  importations  almost 
every  year  after  1815.  There  are  two  Ayrshire  herd- 
books  published  in  America.  The  first  was  begi  n 
in  1803,  under  the  auspices  of  the  "  Association 
of  Breeders  of  Thoroughbred  Neat  Stock,"  and 
four  volumes  were  edited  by  Mr.  J.  N.  Bagg,  of 
West  Springfield,  Massachusetts.  The  second 
volume  appeared  in  1868  as  the  "American;" 
the  third  and  fourth  were  published  in  1871  and 
1874,  and  called  "  The  American  and  Canadian.'' 
July  1st,  1874',  the  pedigrees  numbered  1,576 
males  and  3,309  females,  and  the  owners  376. 
In  1876  the  fifth  volume  of  this  series  was  issued 
as  "  The  Ayrshire  Record,  Vol.  L,  New  Series," 
J.  W.  D.  French,  of  North  Andover,  Massachusetts, 
editor.  Vol.  II.  appeared  in  1878,  and  Vol.  III. 
in  November,  1880.  The  latter  brought  the  total 
entries  up  to  8,000 — males,  3,525,  and  females, 
5,475.  Henceforth  this  "Record"  will  contain 
pedigrees  of  such  animals  only  as  can  be  traced 
directly  to  importation.  This  was  not  the  rule 
in  the  early  volumes,  and  it  was  that  lack  of 
thoroughness  which  led  to  "  The  North  American 
Ayrshire  Register,"  commenced  in  1875  by  the 
INIessrs.  E.  L.  and  J.  N.  Sturtevant,  of  South 
Framingham,  INIassachnsetts.  Its  fourth  volume, 
published  in  1880,  shows  970  bulls  and  2,154  cows, 
and  every  animal  is  traced  to  importation.  "VA'hat 
the  Jerseys  are  doing  for  the  butter  interests  of 
America,  the  Ayrshires  are  fast  rejwating  among 
the  cheese-makers  and  the  milk-producers  for  city 
supply.  There  are  not  nearly  as  many  Ayrshires 
as  Jerseys  in  the  country,  however,  and  they  are 
less  widely  scattered.  Although  want  of  data 
makes  the  matter  very  doubtful,  it  is  estimated 
that  the  Ayrshires  in  America  in  1880  number 
8,000,  mainly  held  by  600  owners  in  Canada, 
New  England,  and  New  York,  with  more  or  less 
scattered  south  and  west. 

Herefords    were    first     imported    in    lsl6    by 


896 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Ilonry  Clay,  tlio  Keiituoky  ?t:i(csmnn,  in  1S24  by 
parties  in  ilai^saeluisctts;  and  in  lS-10  Messrs. 
Corninfi^  and  Latham,  of  Albany,  New  York, 
brouijht  over  o  bulls  and  17  cows  and  heifers,  soon 
after  adding  lai-gcly  to  these  numbers.  There  have 
sinee  been  a  few  breeders  of  this  race  in  the  United 
States;  but  while  they  aj)j)ear  occasionally  at 
shows,  and  in  the  agricultural  journals,  and  the 
white  faces  are  more  or  less  seen  in  mixed  herils, 
they  never  have  been  owned  in  sufficient  numbers 
to  make  any  decided  impression  upon  the  stock  of 
America.  During  the  year  ISSO  several  large  im- 
portations were  made  by  Americans,  tiie  animals 
being  intended,  however,  for  use  in  improving 
beef-stock  rather  than  for  dairy-cattle.  No  herd- 
book  for  Ilerefords  has  been  issued  in  America 
up  to  1881. 

The  same  is  true  to  a  great  degree  of  the 
Holsteins,  or  Dutch  cattle,  although  this  breed 
is  somewhat  increasing  among  the  producers  of 
milk  near  the  large  cities.  Importations  are 
frequent,  and  there  are  several  breeding-herds 
of  twenty  to  fifty  animals  in  different  parts 
of  the  country.  "  The  Herd  Record  of  Ameri- 
can Ilolstein  Breeders "  has  reached  its  fifth 
volume. 

Guernseys  and  Swiss  cattle  have  latterly  been 
imported,  and  purely  bred  to  some  extent,  and 
both  are  great  favourites  with  those  who  know 
them.  The  "American  Guernsey  Cattle  Club" 
published  a  herd-book  in  1879,  containing  the  pedi- 
grees to  importation  of  about  500  animals  of  this 
breed,  and  have  evidence  of  nearly  as  many  more 
in  America  which  for  one  cause  or  another  cannot  be 
registered.  These  are  held  mairly,  by  about  100 
owners,  in  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Connecticut, 
and  Massachusetts,  very  few  yet  in  the  West,  the 
South,  and  Canada. 

liUEEDING    AND    ^MaXAKKMKXT. 

No  class  of  American  agriculturists  embody 
more  intelligence  and  enterprise  than  the  dairy- 
men, and  the  remarkable  increase  in  the  general 
product  of  this  industry  is  largely  to  be  attributed 
to  the  steady  improvement  in  the  quality  of  the 
dairy  cattle.  The  first  step  taken  in  this  direction 
was  the  better  care  given  to  the  stock;  and 
throughout  the  country  it  is  now  generally  found 
l)rovided  with  comfortable  quarters  when  not  in 
pasture,  and  with  sufficient  food.  The  next  step 
was  to  raise  the  average  cpiality  of  native  herds  by 


selection  and  bneding;  this  has  been  less  generally 
practised,  and  a  decided  majority  of  the  heifers  of 
the  country  at  large  are  still  brought  to  milk  with- 
out regard  to  parentage,  or  with  sole  reference  to 
the  quality  of  the  dam.  But  in  the  leading  dairy 
districts,  breeders  are  using  good  judgment  in  the 
selection  of  native  calves  to  raise,  and  recognising 
the  profit  of  introducing  the  blood  of  improved 
breeds,  especially  by  the  use  of  thoroughbred 
bulls.  Enough  is  thus  accomplished  to  materially 
raise  the  general  average  quality.  !Many  farmers 
are  either  keeping  only  high  grades,  or  raising 
herds  of  j)ure  bloods  of  different  breeds  according 
to  local  preference.  Few  dairymen  yet  find  it 
really  profitable  to  keep  only  thoroughbreds, 
unless  they  are  able  to  advantageously  dispose  of 
their  surplus  stock  at  breeders'  rates.  But  high 
grades  are  comparatively  cheaji,  and  nearly  equal 
thoroughbreds  at  the  pail. 

All  sorts  of  crosses  have  been  tried  between 
the  different  improved  breeds  and  the  natives 
of  various  sections.  Among  the  experiments  in 
this  line  has  been  the  attempt  to  domesticate 
the  American  buffalo,  and  to  cross  upon  it.  The 
most  successful  crosses  have  been  with  a  domestic 
sire  upon  a  buffalo  cow.  The  gain  expected  has 
been  from  the  unusual  sweetness  and  great  rich- 
ness of  the  milk  of  the  buffalo  cow,  often  one- 
third  cream ;  but  the  cream  is  colourless,  the 
quantity  of  milk  small,  and  improvement  in  these 
points  has  been  looked  for  as  the  result  of  the 
cross.  Trials  have  been  made  at  intervals  since 
1830  in  Kentucky,  New  York,  and  Canada,  among 
other  jdaces.  The  results  have  been  successful  so 
far  as  domestication  is  concerned,  and  the  cross- 
bred animals  are  larger  than  either  parent,  hardy, 
and  often  a  real  improvement  upon  the  average 
common  stock,  both  for  beef  and  as  dairy-cows. 
But  the  trials  have  been  few  in  the  aggregate, 
so  disconnected  and  carelessly  conducted  as  to  be 
jiroductive  of  little  good,  and  the  true  value  of 
utilising  the  buff'alo  blood  has  thus  been  allowed 
to  remain  iu  question  until  it  is  probable  that  it 
never  will  be  fully  determined.  The  subject  is 
here  mentioned  chiefly  as  one  of  the  curiosities 
of  cross-breeding  in  America,  and  the  accompany- 
ing engraving  is  presented  in  this  connection.  It 
rej)resents  a  half-buffalo  cow,  about  five  years  old, 
weight  1,330  lbs.,  and  a  heifer  calf  of  the  former, 
about  twenty  months  old.  The  resemblance  of 
the   latter  to  the  Jersey  typo  is  marked,  yet  its 


THE    JAMHSTOWX   CATTLE. 


397 


li'om  common 


tiireo-fourtli!^   oE  dnmestic    blood 
native  bulls  as  sire  and  grandsire. 

Another  experiment  at  cross-broedino'  in 
America  has  been  so  successful  as  to  be  worthy 
oH  notice;  indeed  it  may  be  said  to  have  laid  the 
foundation  for  a  new  breed  of  cattle  in  the  State  of 
JMassaehusetts,  known  as  the  "  Jamestowns."  They 
are  hornless  cattle,  and  begin  with  a  bull  "James- 
town/' dropped  in  ISa-i  by  a  Suffolk  polled  cow- 


admixture  of  other  blond.  The  "Jamestowns" 
became  so  uniform  in  excellence  and  appearance, 
and  so  numerous,  as  to  be  recog-nised  in  1S78 
by  the  Norfolk  County  (Massachusetts)  Agricul- 
tural Society  as  a  separate  class,  in  its  premium 
lists.  The  most  noted  of  the  bulls  of  this  breed  (?) 
in  1878,  was  "  St.  Patrick,"  owned  by  Mr.  A.  W. 
Cheever  of  Sheldonville,  Massachusetts  (editor  of 
the  NeiP  England  Farmer).      A  likeness  of  this 


liKKI)    ElTFALOEFs. 


imported  from  Ireland  during  the  famine  of  1SI7, 
in  the  United  States'  relief  ship  from  which  this 
bull  was  named.  The  sire  was  a  fidl-blooded 
Jersey  from  "  jNIotley's  Flora,"  a  very  famous 
cow,  imported  in  1851  by  the  Massachusetts  Society. 
The  progeny  of  the  bull  "  Jamestown  "  proved  re- 
markable, the  females  very  deep  and  rich  milkers, 
as  were  his  dam  and  graudam,  the  males  hardy, 
thrifty  and  gentle,  and  all  of  both  sexes  polled, 
no  matter  what  the  dams.  The  family  has  been 
kept  up  by  crosses  of  Ayrshire  and  Jersey,  the 
polled  calves  only  retained,  until  it  is  suflicieut 
in   numbers   to  perpetuate  itself    without    further 


Indl  is  herewith  given.  Ilis  dam  was  a  James- 
town cow,  "  Ruby,"  who  lived  to  be  Hfteen  v-oars 
old  without  ever  being  dry,  and  whose  calves  were 
all  polled,  although  several  were  by  pure  Jersey 
sires.  i\Ir.  Cheever'.s  herd  consists  mainly  of 
cows  by  "  St.  Patrick,"  and  they  are  quite  uniform 
in  appearance,  although  the  Jersey  blood  some- 
times shows  in  the  colour.  The  breediug  has 
been  for  quality  rather  than  quantity,  and  the 
annual  butter  product,  per  cow,  the  herd  through, 
has  been  ilO,  ^55,  260,  261,  256  and  205  lbs.  for 
the  last  six  years.  The  comiianion  of  the  liull  in 
the  engraving  is  "Susie,"  a  cow  in  Mr.  Chccver's 


398 


DAIKY    FARMING. 


lieril  ;  she  was  almut  six  years  old  wlieii  plidto- 
grai)lu'il.  This  cow  usually  gave  It  Id  1(j  ([uarts 
of  milk  a  day  when  at  her  best,  and  held  up  to 
10  quarts  for  months.  She  was  butchered  iu 
1880,  when  tea  years  old,  aud  while  still  giving 
some  milk — 080  lbs.  was  her  dressed  weight. 

Experience  seems  to  demonstrate  that  the  best 
cow  for  the  average  .\meriean  dairy,  yielding  the 
greatest  returns  in  j)vii])(irtion  to  cost,  is  to  be  got 


"  .My  experience  in  breeiling  dairy-cows  for  ]irofit- 
able  use  began  in  1  ^  t4-,  when  1  ]iurebased  and 
stocked  a  farm  near  this  city,  and  have  continued 
right  here  for  thirty-five  years.  I  had  Devons  for 
a  time,  then  Ayrsliires,  crossing  them  without  suc- 
cessful results.  About  twenty-five  years  ago  I 
purchased  a  few  thorough  brcnl  Jerseys  from  some 
of  the  early  imjiortations  to  Connecticut,  to  try 
them  and  to  cross  with  the  different  breeds  then  on 


Fig.  214.— Jamestown  Cattle. 


out  of  a  well-selected  native  cow,  by  a  thorough- 
bred bull.  If  milk  or  cheese  is  wanted,  the  sire  is 
Ayrshire;  if  butter,  a  Jersey.  Some  prefer  the 
Shorthorn  bull  from  a  good  milking  strain,  that  tlie 
animal  obtained  may,  when  desirable,  be  more  readily 
turned  into  beef.  The  most  competent  judges 
agree  that  the  very  best  milcli-eow  for  all  purjioses 
is  the  cross  of  a  Jersey  sire  upon  an  Ayrshire  dam, 
but  with  prevailing  prices  of  jmre  bloods  this  makes 
an  expensive  animal  to  raise.  On  this  point,  the 
following  is  valuable  as  the  testimony  of  one  of  the 
most  successful  breeders  of  milch-cows  in  America, 
Mr.  Thomas  Filch,  of  New  London,  Connecticut  : 


my  farm.  I  have  tried  them  with  all  the  various 
breeds  ever  owned  by  me,  and  the  result  of  my 
experiments  is,  that  the  cross  of  a  Jersey  bull  with 
an  Ayrshire  cow  produces  the  best  cow  for  all 
]i\u'poses  ever  bred  or  owned  by  me.  Next,  in  my 
juilgment,  is  this  same  cross  with  a  good  native 
cow  ;  next,  with  a  good  milking  Shorthorn;  next, 
with  Dutch;"  next,  the  saci'cd  cow  of  India;  and 
last,  with  the  Devon.  The  fact  is  well  establi.shed 
that  with  whatever  breed  you  cross  a  Jersey  bull, 
the  infusion  of  his  lilood  adds  to  the  richness  of  the 
milk,  and  the  hardiness  of  the  breed  crossed  on  is 
not  impaired,  and,  as  a  rule,  the  udder  and  teats,  as 


FAVOIRITE    AMERICAN   CROSS-BRED   CATTLE. 


399 


well  as  the  careass,  of  the  ijnule,  are  enlarged.  So 
that  you  really  have  a  better  cow,  in  all  ])oints, 
in  a  high-grade  Jersey  than  in  a  thoroughbred. 
By  '  all  points  '  I  mean  production,  economy  in 
keeping,  form,  size,  and  beauty.  I  feel  confident 
that  if  these  facts  were  known  and  appreciated,  and 
pure  Jersey  bulls  were  generally  used  in  the  dairy 
districts  of  America,  a  raes  of  cows  could  be  pro- 
duced, bj'  raising  the  heifer  calves  of  the  best 
milkers,  that  would  double  the  annual  products  of 
the  average  herds  as  they  now  are,  and  this  with 


ence.  The  largest  yield  of  milk  per  day  of  any 
cow  I  have  ever  bred  was  57  lbs.,  and  the  largest 
yield  of  butter  in  one  week,  17i  weighed  pounds, 
both  jn-oduced  when  fresh  on  grass,  and  (i  ipiarts 
of  ground  feed  jwr  day." 

Mr.  Fitch  furnishes  the  accompanying  portrait 
of  one  of  his  cross-bred  Jersey-Ayrshire  heifers. 
This  one  is  about  two  years  old,  has  been  in  milk 
four  or  five  mouths,  and  yields  on  grass  and  two 
quarts  of  bran,  17  lbs.  or  ISlbs.  of  milk  a  day, 
which  makes  rather  more  than  one  jjound  of  butter. 


Fig.  215.— Ceo.ss  bred  Jersey- Ateshike  Heifek. 


but  a  small  outlay  for  thoroughbred  Jersey  sires. 
The  animals  bred  and  handled  by  me  number  many 
hundreds.  The  best  age  to  allow  heifers  to  calve 
the  first  time  is  when  they  are  about  two  years  old 
and  at  grass.  I  make  it  a  rule  to  turn  the  bull 
with  my  j-oung  heifers  on  the  23th  of  August  each 
year,  making  it  certain  that  they  will  have  their 
first  calf  in  pasture  where  they  can  choose  their 
place  to  bring  forth  their  young  as  nature  shall 
dictate.  They  almost  invariably  do  well,  and  make 
better  cows  than  to  come  in  a  year  later.  I  never 
had  a  ease  of  milk  fever  in  my  herd,  and  think 
they  would  be  quite  rare  if  cows  were  not  forced 
w'ith  high  feed  and  fussed  with.  I  have  only  had 
four  or  five  cases  of  abortion  in  my  whole  experi- 


The  owner  considers  her  a  fair  sample  of  the  dairy- 
cows  of  this  class  bred  by  him. 

Another  cross  which  promises  exceptionally 
good  results,  but  has  not  yet  been  tried  long 
enough  to  establish  any  definite  facts,  is  that  of 
the  Jersey  bull  and  the  Swiss  cow. 

The  dairy  districts  do  not,  as  a  whole,  raise 
heifers  enough  to  suj)ply  the  local  demands  ;  daiiy- 
men  are  able  to  buy  average  native  cows,  three 
years  old,  and  in  some  cases  superior  milkers,  bred 
at  a  distance,  for  much  less  than  the  cost  of  raising 
such  animals  at  home.  In  an  essay  on  dairying, 
which  won  a  handsome  prize,  and  which  was  open 
to  all  Americans,  the  writer's  advice  to  the  dairy- 
men of  the  United  States  was  : — "  Let  the  calf  suck 


400 


DAIRY    FARMTXO. 


three  times,  ami  kill  il  ;  its  rennet  is  of  more  value 
than  its  life."  The  cost  of  raisin'^'  a  heifer  well, 
until  the  first  calf,  is  estimated  in  New  York  and 
New  Enf>-laiul  at  fifty  dollai"s  amouo'  butter-makers 
and  at  seventy  dollars  among  milk-dairymen.  They 
can  therefore  onl}'  afford  to  raise  cows  worth  seventy 
dollars  or  more,  which  is  far  aliovc  the  average 
price  of  young  dairy-cows.  The  calves  raised  in 
sections  where  milk  has  a  low  market  value,  gene- 
rally run  witli  their  dams,  and  the  most  success- 
ful breeders  of  strictly  first-class  animals,  although 
comparatively  few  in  numljer,  let  the  mothers  suckle 
their  calves,  even  where  milk  has  its  hig'hest  value, 
or  sometimes  put  two  calves  to  one  cow.  The 
usual  practice  in  dairying  regions  is  to  take  the 
calf  from  the  cow  when  very  young,  teach  it  to 
drink,  feed  it  on  new  milk  for  a  few  days,  then 
change  to  skim-milk,  often  stirring  in  a  little  oil- 
meal  and  oatmeal,  and  many  prefer  sour  milk  after 
the  calf  is  five  or  six  weeks  old.  As  soon  as  pos- 
sible, the  calf  is  taught  to  eat  oats,  bran,  and  fine 
hay.  After  weaning  from  the  dam  or  the  jDail,  the 
young  animals  generally  have  only  pasturage  and 
bidky  food,  hay,  or  "  long  forage  "  of  some  sort, 
until  arriving  at  maturity ;  although  among  choice 
stock,  where  the  prospective  value  of  the  heifer 
warrants  the  expL'uditure,  grain  food  is  added  in 
the  judgment  of  the  breeder.  Some  breeders  do 
not  turn  their  calves  upon  grass  at  all  the  first  year, 
but  give  only  dry  food  till  the  second  spring, 
claiming  that,  although  unnatural,  this  method 
gives  the  best  results.  Heifers  of  common  stock 
usually  calve  first  the  si)ring  they  are  three  years 
old,  high  grades  being  brought  to  milk  a  year 
earlier.  Some  eminent  breeders  of  dairy-cows 
i^refer  to  have  their  heifers  come  in  on  dry  feed, 
dui-ing  the  autumn  or  winter  b.'fore  completing 
their  third  year. 

The  general  management  of  milch-cows  in 
Ameinca  is  on  the  basis  of  jiasturage  in  the  summer 
and  feeding  during  the  winter  in  stalls  or  sheds, 
hay  or  "  fodder,"  and  moi'e  or  less  grain.  The 
details  of  herd  management  differ  greatly.  The 
pasture  season  ranges  from  five  to  eight  months 
in  different  ])arts  of  the  country,  averaging  six 
months  through  the  regions  where  dairying  is  a 
leading  industry.  There  are  places  where  dairy- 
ing is  prominent,  that  have  a  climate  enabling 
the  cows  to  sustain  themselves  mainly  by  grazing 
throughout  the  year.  Various  tests  show  that  the 
average    cow  eats    lOU  lbs.    of  grass    daily    while 


in  ])asture,  and  accordingly  the  nece.-sary  area  of 
pa.sturage  deiKMids  upon  the  productiveness  of  the 
land.  The  average  allowance  is  about  two  acres 
per  cow,  for  the  season.  This  is  considere<l  enough 
in  the  West,  where  the  jiasturage  is  of  the  best 
natund  grasses  on  prairies  and  strong  uplands.  In 
Herkimer  County,  New  York,  and  Berkshire 
County,  Massachusetts,  the  best  judges  state  that 
three  acres  yield  the  necessary  pasture  and  hay  for 
a  cow  for  the  year.  Prize  dairy  reports  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  in  ditfei-ent  years,  give  these 
facts  : — 16  cows  on  30  acres  ;  13  cows  on  30  acres ; 
29  cows  on  55  acres ;  28  cows  on  GO  acres.  Dairy- 
men differ  very  much  on  the  subject  of  frequent 
changes  of  jiasture ;  some  shift  the  herd  to  fresh 
pasturage  fortnightly,  and  others  consider  this 
practice  highly  injurious.  Soiling  is  not  often 
resorted  to  by  practical  dairymen  in  America, 
although  trials  prove  that  the  system  enables  the 
number  of  animals  on  a  given  area  to  be  doubled, 
and  the  increase  of  manure  saved  is  a  great  item. 
It  is  usual,  however,  for  green  crops  to  be  raised  to 
feed  at  times  when  the  pastures  are  short  and  dry, 
as  is  often  the  case  in  August  in  many  parts  of  the 
country.  In  sections  where  stable  manure  is  valu- 
able, it  is  a  common  practice  to  keep  the  cows  in 
yards  or  stalls  at  night,  and  at  pasture  daily, 
during  the  spring  and  fall,  and  through  the  day 
during  the  hottest  weather  and  the  lly  season, 
turning  them  into  pasture  at  night. 

^Vheu  not  at  pasture  American  dairy-cows  arc, 
as  a  rule,  well-housed.  Indeed,  in  the  best  dairy 
regions  the  fine  large  barns,  which  not  only  give 
comfortable  cpiarters  to  the  entire  stock,  but  cover 
all  the  food  needed  for  half  the  year,  ai'c  the  pride 
of  the  farmers.  The  barns  are  so  capacious,  that 
stacks  of  hay  and  straw  in  the  open  air  are  rarely 
seen  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States.  When  at 
the  barn,  the  cows  remain  most  of  the  time  in  their 
stalls,  and  are  usually  fed  there,  being  turned  into 
yards  for  water  and  exercise;  sometimes  they  are 
foddered  in  racks  in  the  yards,  or  unler  sheds. 
The  term  "  fodder  "  is  used  to  cover  all  long  forage, 
hay,  stray,  anl  stover,  although  more  especially 
applied  to  the  latter,  the  cured  stalk  and  blades  of 
the  Indian  corn  jdant.  In  some  sections  of  the 
country,  "  roughness  "  is  an  idiomatic  synon^'m  for 
fodder.  On  many  dairy  farms  the  good  bay  is 
regarded  as  a  crop  for  sale,  and  fed  to  cows  as 
a  rarity,  unless  low  in  pi'iee.  If  the  hay  is  sold, 
corn-fodder  mainly  rcpkices  it.     ^Vhen  the  latter  is 


FEEDING   IN   AMERICAN    DAIRIi:S. 


401 


foil  wliolc,  as  is  the  iii  iieral  j  ractieo,  llicrt'  is  imicli 
waste,  aud  at  least  50  lbs.  of  stover  per  clay  is 
needed  for  each  cow.  Many  cut  into  inch  lengths, 
savinu;  at  least  one-third  in  weig-ht,  aud  greatly 
facilitating  the  handling  of  the  yard  and  stable 
manure.  Some  make  an  additional  saving  by 
steaming  the  eorn-fodder,  as  well  as  hay  and  other 
food.  It  has  been  pietty  well  established  that  the 
good  resulting  from  steaming  the  food  for  stock 
arises  from  the  moislening  rather  than  the  cooking, 
and  the  moisture  can  be  obtained  much  more 
economically  than  by  the  often  elaborate  apparatus 
for  steaming ;  hence  the  advocates  of  cooking  all 
food  for  cattle  are  fewer  than  they  were  some  years 
ago.  By  cutting  and  coaxing,  much  straw  is  used 
as  cattle-feed,  but  with  little  profit  in  the  dairy ;  in 
the  East,  the  wheat  and  rye  straw,  which  is  limited 
in  quantity,  goes  to  the  paper-mills,  or  is  sold  for 
stable  bedding  in  the  cities  and  towns;  in  the 
Middle  States  it  is  worked  into  manure  by  bedding, 
&c.,  when  not  fed;  and  in  the  West,  wasted  or 
burned  to  get  it  out  of  the  way. 

The  addition  of  roots  to  the  winter  diet  is 
becoming  more  and  more  common  in  the  best  dairy 
regions  of  America,  the  favourites  being  common 
turnips,  swedes,  mangolds,  and  potatoes :  many 
cabbages  are  used.  Carrots  can  be  profitably 
added  in  some  sections,  but  are  generally  found 
too  expensive  because  of  the  labour  required,  and 
parsnips  are  seldom  used  in  this  country  for  stock. 
The  "  coming  root "  for  dairying  districts  of  the 
United  States  is  believed  to  be  the  sugar  beet,  in 
connection  with  the  establishment  of  beet-sugar 
factories. 

As  to  grain-feeding,  dairymen  generally  agree 
that  it  increases  the  milk  product,  improves  its 
quality,  adds  to  the  value  of  the  manure,  thereby 
benefiting  the  farm,  and  enables  more  animals 
to  be  kept  on  a  given  number  of  acres  at  a 
greater  net  profit.  Yet  heavy  grain-feeding  is 
attended  with  much  risk,  and  some  find  that  by 
greater  care  in  improving  the  quality  of  the 
pasturage,  and  using  only  the  best  early-cured 
hay  as  winter  food,  grain  can  be  entirely  dis- 
pensed with,  and  the  returns  of  the  herd  remain 
undiminished.  Indian  corn-meal  is  the  most 
common  grain-food  used  by  dairymen,  and  un- 
doubtedly the  best ;  the  coarser  parts  of  wheat 
(known  variously  as  bran,  shorts,  middlings, 
brown-stuff,  and  mill-stuff),  rye-meal,  oats  to 
a  limited  extent,  and  brewers'  grains,   are  all  in 


use  as  fond  for  milch-cows,  in  the  I'uited  St;ites 
and  Canadii.  Brewers'  grains  are  decidedly 
ol)jectionable,  unless  used  very  moderately  and 
with  good  judgment.  Near  corn  and  potato- 
starch  factories— numerous  in  some  localities — 
the  refuse  called  "  starch-feed  "  is  added  to  the 
list.  The  expensive  linseed  meal  has  been  largely 
replaced  by  cotton-seed  meal,  which  is  valuable 
if  carefully  used,  but  bej'ond  a  certain  limit 
imparts  a  bad  flavour  to  milk  and  butter. 

Twenty-five  pounds  of  good  hay,  or  its  nutritive 
equivalent,  aud  ten  pounds  of  grain,  may  be 
stated  as  the  average  daily  feed  for  the  milch- 
cows  of  enterprising  dairymen,  at  least  one  peck  of 
roots  being  added  when  practicable.  The  grain 
being  a  mixture  of  corn-meal  and  bran,  careful 
butter-makers  object  to  more  than  half  bran,  and 
prefer  three-fourths  meal,  while  milk-producers 
desire  these  proportions  reversed. 

The  following  ai'e  good  examples  of  the  systems 
of  feeding  prevailing  among  dairymen  in  different 
parts  of  America  : — 

Some  years  since.  Prof.  E.  W.  Stewart,  of  New 
York,  selected  100  acres  of  land  on  his  farm  for 
trial,  and  took  the  judgment  of  his  neighbours  as 
to  how  many  cattle  that  area  would  pasture  during 
the  summer.  It  was  thus  decided  that  thirty-five 
head  would  be  a  fair  numljer.  He  accordingly  put 
in  his  barn  that  number  of  dairy-cows,  from  3  to 
8  years  old,  to  be  fed  from  those  100  acres  from 
May  30th  to  Dec.  1st.  Ninety  acres  of  the  land 
were  left  in  fair  meadow,  5  were  in  clover,  3 
in  corn-fodder,  and  2  in  oats.  He  began  cutting 
the  clover  when  8  inches  high ;  the  grass  was  also 
cut  and  fed.  But  instead  of  using  it  all,  he  had  a 
surplus  of  05  tons  of  hay  to  put  in  the  barn  for 
winter  use,  or  to  sell.  The  grass  was  cut  by  a 
machine,  raked  with  a  horse,  and  drawn  to  the 
barn  in  a  cart,  one  man  being  employed  six  hours  a 
day  in  cutting  and  collecting  fodder,  and  feeding 
the  stock.  About  two  hours  of  horse-labour  was 
also  required  daily.  The  whole  cost  of  the  extra 
labour  amomited  during  the  summer  to  less  than 
100  dollars,  and  the  hay  saved  was  sold  at  the 
barn  for  973  dollars.  Adding  the  cost  of  cutting 
and  storing  the  hay,  there  remained  a  net  profit 
of  soiling  over  pasturage  of  775  dollars  for  the 
season,  on  100  acres. 

Mr.  A.  W.  Cheever,  of  Pine  Hedge  Farm, 
Sheldonville,  Massachusetts,  gives  this  account  of 
his  methods,  dated  Nov.,  1878  : — "I  use  the  term 


402 


DAIRY    FAR  MING. 


'soiliiif^-'  only  as  it  i-elatus  to  fc'0(liii<4-  in  the  stall, 
as  uf^-aiust  pasturiiiji;'.  1  do  not  aim  to  have  just 
enou^-h  "[recu  focklcr  for  my  animals,  and  no  more, 
but  feed  <4-reen  or  dry  material  as  is  most  convenient. 
I  feed  in  the  stable  because  I  therel)y  save  fodder, 
and  can  keep  more  stock.  I  have  few  acres  to 
cultivate,  and  aim  to  make  the  most  of  them.  !My 
farm  consists  of  26  acres  under  cultivation,  and 
6  in  ])asture,  besides  what  is  occupied  by  garden 
and  buildings.  I  have  bought  no  hay  or  other 
food  for  animals,  except  grain,  since  187(5,  and  the 
stock  has  all  been  kept  at  home.  Last  year  I  kept 
an  average  of  28  animals  through  the  winter,  and 
had  about  4  tons  of  hay  left  over  when  I  began 
feeding  the  new  crops.  Have  26  head  now, 
including  3  horses,  15  milch-cows,  a  large  bull, 
4  yearling  heifers,  and  3  summer  calves.  I  have 
plenty  of  fodder  to  carry  me  through  the  winter, 
without  doubt.  ]">very  fall  I  sow  a  broad  area 
to  winter  rye,  begin  to  cut  it  in  tlie  spring 
just  as  the  heads  first  show  themselves,  and  con- 
tinue to  cut  and  feed  green  till  it  gets  too  hard, 
which  is  before  the  blossoms  fall.  The  rest  is 
then  all  made  into  hay  for  winter  feeding.  By 
the  time  the  rye  is  too  old,  I  have  orchard  grass 
ready  to  mow,  and  the  pasture  affords  some  feed 
at  that  time.  Orchard-grass  is  followed  by  red 
clover,  and  frecjuciitly  these  two  are  grown 
together.  These,  with  June  grass  (Ky.  blue) 
which  often  grows  with  both,  fill  up  the  time 
between  the  feeding  of  winter  rye  and  the  main 
crop  of  English  grasses,  chiefly  red-top  and  timothy. 
Oats  are  sown  as  early  in  spring  as  the  condition 
of  the  ground  will  permit,  and  the  crop  is  ready  to 
cut  immediately  after  the  English  grasses.  I  have 
sown  spring  rye  several  years,  and  obtain  a  cutting 
a  week  or  more  before  the  oats  are  ready,  but  as 
the  spring  rye  comes  just  when  the  pasture  is  at 
its  best,  I  find  little  need  of  this  crop.  It  is  a 
valuable  one  when  soiling  is  practised  exclusively. 
The  next  crop  sown  after  oats  is  corn,  then  mill'_'t. 
These  both  need  warm  weather  for  ])ro(ital)le 
culture.  Oats,  corn,  and  millet  are  each  sown  at 
intervals  of  a  week  or  ten  days,  to  bring  a  succes- 
sion of  tender  feed  through  the  season.  Corn  and 
millet  are  sown  to  last  till  early  frosts  in  autumn, 
when  their  place  is  taken  by  barley  sown  in  mid- 
summer. The  latter  is  very  valuable  for  feeding 
in  October  and  November,  as  it  is  not  much 
injured  by  frosts.  Cabbages  and  turnips  may  be 
used  still  later,  but  as  my  milk  is  designed  to  make 


a  choice  article  of  butter,  I  have  not  felt  quite  safe 
in  feeding  such  rank-flavoured  food.  I  also  feed 
freely  of  com  fodder  during  the  late  fall  months,  by 
cutting  it  when  in  bloom,  and  preserving  in  stooks 
in  the  open  field,  or  by  standing  it  up  in  long,  wide 
piles  against  fences.  All  the  crops  named  can  be 
cut  and  cured  for  winter  fodder  if  there  should  be 
a  surplus.  In  order  to  certainly  have  enough  of 
everything  for  feeding  green  during  its  season,  I 
grow  more  than  needed  in  the  more  favourable 
seasons.  The  land  of  '  Pine  Hedge  Farm '  is  very 
uneven  in  quality,  and  although  I  do  not  consider 
the  keeping  of  one  animal  to  the  acre  the  year 
through  (grain  excepted)  its  maximum  production, 
I  cannot  expect  here  to  obtain  the  results  possible 
on  better  land.  One  who  adopts  soiling,  and  carries 
out  the  system  judiciously,  will  soon  find  he  can 
feed  dry  hay  or  other  fodder  in  summer,  quite  as 
economically  as  in  winter.  Dry  hay  is  just  as 
good  for  a  cow  in  July  as  in  January.  A  liberal 
supply  of  dry  early-cut  and  well-cured  fodder 
should  be  provided  for  feeding  during  stormy 
weather,  and  for  mixing  with  green  food  when  the 
condition  of  the  animals  seems  to  require  it.  Dry 
feed  is  a  great  deal  better  than  green  fodder  covered 
with  water  in  stormy  weather,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
job  of  collecting  fodder  in  a  hard  rain  for  a  barnful 
of  hungry  cattle.  I  endeavour  to  keep  tlie  whole 
farm  in  growing  crops  from  early  spring  till  the 
ground  closes  up,  and  most  of  the  land  is  made  to 
produce  two  or  more  crops  during  the  season." 

One  of  the  Massachusetts  Charitable  Institu- 
tions has  a  large  farm  attached,  including  much 
hilly  pasturage,  and  has  carried  a  herd  of  Ayrshires 
which  has  made  a  fine  milk  record.  The  Super- 
intendent states  that  he  kept  the  cows  for  their 
milk,  and  regarded  as  the  best  food  the  sweet 
grass  which  grows  upon  the  hill-sides,  and  is 
cropped  by  the  cows  day  by  day;  with  plenty 
of  this  nothing  else  was  needed.  In  the  summer, 
when  grass  was  short,  he  fed  early  mown  hay, 
cut  with  some  meal  or  bran  upon  it.  He  considei-s 
hay  and  Cdrn-fudder  inferior  food  for  milch-cows, 
if  fed  dry.  In  winter  he  feeds  twice  a  day,  with 
cut  h;iy  and  Judder,  and  two  quarts  of  bran  per 
ciiw  eiiili  linii',  wotting  with  warm  water  in  lieu 
of  steaming,  and  from  a  peek  to  one  half-bushel  of 
roots  per  cow,  daily.  He  tries  to  feed  roots  from 
the  time  the  cows  are  jnit  into  the  stalls  jn  the 
autumn  until  they  are  turned  out  to  pasture  in 
the  spring.      Never  found  root-feeding  injurious 


ami:rica.\  systems  of  dairy  feeding. 


403 


to  the  Hmvoui-  ul'  milk ;  alwii^'s  IVil  the  roots 
immeiliulely  after  milking. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  "Connecticut  Board  of 
Agriculture "  a  prominent  member  stated  that 
lie  was  engaged  in  developing  an  enterprise 
involving  the  winter  production  of  milk  for  city 
supply,  in  a  section  formerly  much  occupied  in 
the  fattening  of  cattle.  He  regarded  hay  as 
the  basis  of  all  winter-feeding,  and  that  made 
from  the  natural  and  cultivated  grasses,  gro^vu 
on  upland  meadows,  as  the  most  valuable,  if  cut 
early  and  nicely  cured.  This  to  be  supplemented 
with  sowed  corn  and  the  annual  grasses.  The 
system  adopted  by  him  to  secure  the  greatest 
yield  of  good  milk  was  as  follows  : — A  light  feed 
of  hay  was  given  the  first  thing  in  the  morning, 
and  eaten  up  clean  in  ten  or  fifteen  minutes, 
during  the  milking;  then  the  grain  feed,  ground, 
was  given  dry  with  a  little  salt.  In  about  an 
hour  the  cows  were  let  out  to  go  to  water,  and 
he  preferred  they  should  go  several  rods  to  drink 
from  warm  springs  and  get  exercise,  rather  than 
drink  almost  frozen  water  from  a  tank  in  the 
yard.  While  absent,  the  stables  were  cleaned, 
and  another  feed  about  the  same  as  first  given, 
and  the  cows  put  up  immediately  on  their  return. 
They  were  then  able  to  stand  or  lie  down,  at 
their  choice,  in  an  atmosphere  almost  as  genial  in 
respect  to  temperature  and  purity  as  that  of  the 
family  sittiug-room.  If  feeding  roots  they  were 
given  just  before  milking  at  night,  and  the  last 
feed  of  the  day  was  given  immediately  after; 
this  being  always  the  fullest  of  the  day,  for 
cows  are  observed  when  at  pasture  to  always  make 
their  largest  meal  just  before  night. 

The  President  of  the  American  Jersey  Cattle 
Club,  from  whose  fine  herd  a  "  gilt-edged  "  article 
of  butter  has  been  made  that  sold  for  75  cents  a 
pound  for  several  years,  gives  this  simple  statement 
of  the  treatment  of  his  cattle : — "They  are  pastured 
when  possible,  and  fed  during  summer  and  autumn, 
more  or  less  sowed  corn,  pumpkins  and  sugar 
beets.  During  the  winter  good  moderately  early 
cut  hay  is  fed,  morning  and  evening,  after  having 
been  cut  and  moistened  with  cold  water,  and 
sprinkled  over  with  equal  parts  of  Indian  meal 
and  wheat  bran,  at  the  rate  of  one  quart  of  the 
mixed  grain  per  cow,  at  each  feed.  After  this 
cut-feed  in  the  morning,  each  one  has  about  a 
peek  of  sugar  l)eets,  also  a  little  salt.  A  feeding  of 
long  hay  is  given  in  the  middle  of  the  day.  The 
54 


cows  are  let  out  into  the  yard  for  water,  after  their 
morning  and  mid-day  meals.  They  are  carded  and 
brushed  every  morning.  In  the  stable,  they  stand 
in  stanchions  on  a  platform.  They  have  the  liberty 
of  a  warm,  sunny  yard  for  several  hours,  every  fine 
day.  On  this  regimen  the  cows  keep  in  good  store 
and  breeding  condition." 

Mr.  Burnett  gives  this  account  of  the  manage- 
ment of  butter-making  Jerseys  upon  his  famous 
Deerfoot  Farm  in  Eastern  Massachusetts  : — "  My 
cow  stables  are  warm  and  sheltered;  in  the  winter 
a  trough  of  pure  water  is  always  in  front  of  the 
cows :  the  entire  interior  of  the  stables  is  white- 
washed every  month.  The  cows  are  bedded  with 
dry  loam  or  sand,  and  brushed  or  carded  twice 
every  day.  In  the  spring  they  are  let  out  into 
a  sheltered  yard,  open  only  to  the  south,  for 
about  one  hour  every  day.  The  morning  milk- 
ing is  done  at  half-past  five  in  winter,  and  at 
five  in  summer,  the  second  at  five  in  the  after- 
noon. A  daily  record  is  kept  of  each  cow,  on 
printed  blanks,  which  are  handed  to  me  every 
Sunday  morning.  One  man  does  all  the  feeding, 
beginning  the  first  thing  in  the  morning,  with  a 
generous  feed  of  roweu  hay,  while  the  others  are 
cleaning  up  the  stables  before  milking.  I  always 
cut  my  grass  early  in  June,  and  two  crops  and 
often  three,  during  the  season.  After  breakfast, 
at  half-past  si.\,  the  feeder  gives  each  cow  in 
milk,  four  quarts  of  meal  of  Northern  corn, 
ground  with  the  cobs,  or,  if  our  supply  gives 
out,  two  quarts  of  clear  Western  corn-meal, 
mixed  with  an  equal  quantity  of  wheat  bran. 
After  this,  more  hay  which  they  clean  up  by 
nine  o'clock.  They  are  not  fed  again  until  3  p.m., 
when  one  bushel  of  yellow  globe  mangolds,  that 
have  been  through  a  root-cutter,  is  divided  between 
every  three  cows.  Then  a  liberal  feed  of  hay, 
which  is  final ;  this  fed  slowly,  a  little  at  a  time, 
prolonging  the  meal.  In  dry  seasons,  I  feed  some 
grain  during  the  summer,  and  at  night  add  one 
feed  of  rowen  or  wilted  clover." 

The  follow'ing  is  a  fair  sample  of  many  con- 
densed statements  of  management  by  average 
farmers,  in  the  Agricultural  Reports  of  the  Eastern 
States  : — A.D.  187-1'.  Thirteen  cows,  averaged 
2,315  quarts  milk  per  annum.  Income,  90  dollars 
per  cow ;  net  income,  23^  dollars  per  cow,  and 
manure  pays  for  care.  Milk  at  5  a.m.,  and  then 
feed  all  the  hay  cows  will  eat.  Card  and  water, 
then  give  3  quarts  shorts  and  1  quart  cither  corn- 


404 


DAIKY    FARMING. 


meal  or  cotton-seed  meal.  Leave  eows  till  .'S  ]i.m. 
Repeat  feeding  and  watering  and  milk  at  o  p.m. 
Cows  dry  about  ten  weeks. 

Experiments  upon  the  comparative  value  of 
corn-meal  and  wheat-bran  in  makins^  milk  and 
butter  were  carefully  made  at  the  New  Hamp- 
shire Agricultural  College  in  1S77,  with  these 
results  : — Taking  two  lots  of  cows  as  equal  as 
possible,  those  of  lot  No.  1  were  fed  on  bran 
during  the  month  of  February  and  on  corn-meal 
in  March ;  lot  No.  2  on  meal  in  February  and 
bran  in  March.  Those  fed  on  corn-meal  gave  the 
most  milk,  or  the  greater  increase,  and  decidedly 
more  and  better  butter ;  they  also  increased  most 
in  weight.  Weight  of  lot  No.  1,  March  1st, 
l,9()Ulbs. ;  same,  April  3rd  (meantime  fed  corn- 
meal),  2,0.50  lbs.;  gain,  1.56  lbs.  Weight  of  lot 
No.  2,  March  1st,  2,024  lbs. ;  same,  April  3rd 
(after  bran-feeding),  2,117  lbs. ;  gain,  93  lbs. 
Lot  No.  1  for  February  required  33"2  oz.  milk  to 
1  oz.  butter ;  same,  for  March,  28"5  to  1.  Lot 
No.  2,  for  February,  29-2  to  1,  and  for  March, 
32-4.  to  I. 

"The  Miller  System  of  i\Ical  Feeding,"  so 
called  because  of  its  chief  advocate,  L.  W.  Miller, 
of  Chantauqua,  New  York,  has  received  a  good  deal 
of  attention,  and  been  much  discussed  at  meetings 
of  dairymen.  It  substitutes  corn-meal  for  coarse 
forage  as  much  as  possible  at  all  times,  making  it 
the  exclusive  food  for  the  cow  when  dry.  Herds 
have  been  thus  maintained  in  good  condition  for 
weeks  without  hay  or  other  long  fodder,  and  after- 
wards produced  line  calves  and  made  excellent  dairy 
records.  The  corn-meal  is  fed  dry,  from  3  to  5  quarts 
per  day,  with  a  little  salt,  and  water  carried  to  the 
cow;  but  she  drinks  very  little.  Mr.  ]\Iiller  has 
caiTied  a  herd  of  twenty  cows  through  an  entire 
winter  with  meal  alone,  all  the  cows  being  dry  at 
the  start,  but  most  of  them  calving  five  or  six 
weeks  before  hay  was  fed ;  for  the  cows  in  milk 
the  meal  Avas  wet,  and  5  quarts  fed  daily  (about 
10  lbs.).  The  result  was  a  full  quantity  of  superior 
butter.  The  Aliller  S^-stem  has  been  published  in 
pamphlet  form,  and  well  exj)lained  in  the  tenth 
annual  report  of  the  American  Dairymen's  Asso- 
ciation, 1875. 

The  foregoing  illustrates  only  the  mamgement 
of  careful  dairymen.  In  the  great  corn-growing 
States  of  the  West,  where  land  and  grain  are 
cheap  (and  cattle,  too,  compfiratively),  there  is 
far  less  care  of  the  animals  and  much  more  jirinii- 


tive  methods  of  feeding,  often  involving  great 
waste.  This,  too,  in  regions  already  famous  for 
the  quantity  and  excellence  of  their  dairy  products. 
There,  especially  in  the  milder  sections,  sheds  are 
often  the  only  protection  for  cows  in  winter,  the 
prairie  grass  the  summer  feed,  and  for  wnter 
bundles  of  corn-fodder,  the  entire  plant  of  the 
maize  as  cut  from  its  root,  including  the  ears  of 
grain.  Still  worse,  the  treatment  by  some  who 
f/ii)i/:  their  cows  pay  is  described  as  a  combination 
of  "wind  and  straw''  for  care  and  food. 

On  the  contrary,  the  best  dairymen  of  the  West 
are  as  careful  as  those  of  the  East,  and  some  are 
even  higher  feeders.  For  example,  Mr.  Boies,  of 
Illinois,  a  very  successful  butter-maker,  keeping  in 
milk  one  hundred  cows,  selected  from  the  native 
stock,  considers  his  success  owing  to  the  best  of 
food  and  care.  For  summer  he  has  good  tame 
pasture,  with  plenty  of  clean,  sweet  water,  and  at 
each  end  of  the  day,  while  milking,  he  gives 
2  quarts  of  corn-meal  and  4  quarts  of  bran.  For 
winter,  a  warm  stable,  plenty. of  early-cut  hay  or 
cured  prairie  grass,  well-cured  stover,  Hungarian 
hay,  and  oats  cut  when  about  half  turned  and  well 
cured ;  then  each  end  of  day  a  feed  of  8  lljs.  of 
corn  and  oats,  ground  fine,  4  lbs.  of  wheat-bran, 
and  2  lbs.  of  oil-meal— more  if  the  cow  will  bear 
it,  less  if  it  prove  too  much.  "Bear  in  mind  there 
are  five  cows  at  least  that  don't  get  food  enough 
to  make  feeding  pay,  to  one  fed  too  much.  The 
cow  should  always  have  a  comfortable  bed  of  clean 
straw  or  saw-dust — in  short,  the  cow  should  be 
treated  like  a  fine  horse."  Mr.  Boies  practises  on 
this  theory,  and  finds  it  profitable.  Although  the 
cost  of  feed  consumed  by  each  cow  has  reached,  at 
the  low  Western  prices,  G2i  dollars  for  the  year, 
the  butter  product  alone  sold  for  11!)  dollars  the 
same  year,  a  net  profit  on  each  cow  of  5(ii  dollars 
cash.  Besides  that,  the  buttermilk  and  skim-milk, 
by  being  fed  to  swine,  gave  in  pork  and  manure 
an  additional  income  sufficient  to  pay  for  the 
stabling  and  care  of  the  cow,  and  a  fair  interest 
upon  her  cost !  Under  this  management  cows  are 
kept  four  or  five  years,  then  dispo.sed  of  and  re- 
placed by  purchase. 

PiiODUCE  OF  American  Cows. 

The  records  of  the  performances  of  dairy-cows 
in  America  are  voluminous  and  interesting.  The 
census  of  1870  reports  dairy  products,  which,  when 
reduced   to  a   milk   cquivahnt,  show   an    average 


YIELD   OF   REMARKABLE   COWS. 


405 


annual  pvoduet  of  only  705  quarts  per  cow,  for 
the  United  States.  This  is  manifestly  too  low, 
and  probably  the  milk  consumed  at  home,  at  least 
one-third  of  the  total  yield,  was  not  fjenerally  re- 
ported. Mr.  Dodge,  while  Statistician  of  the  United 
States  Department  of  Agriculture,  estimated  the 
annual  yield  at  1,S00  quarts  per  cow  in  the  best 
dairy  sections;  l,:i00  quarts,  or  less,  between  lati- 
tude 35*^  and  40'^,  and  about  700  quai-ts  on  the 
Gulf  coast;  an  average  of  1,300  quarts  for  the  whole 
Ignited  States.  The  best  authorities  substantially 
agree  with  these  figures  for  the  year  1S75,  but  be- 
lieve the  general  average  to  be  steadily  increasing 
since.  Dr.  Sturtevaut  says,  1,300  quarts  for  the 
annual  average  yield  of  the  native  cows  in  the 
dairy  regions,  and  1,800  quarts  for  superior  dairies. 
This  means  an  an- 
nual income  of  from 
25  to  45  dollars,  or 
more,  per  cow^,  at 
the  pail.  The  fol- 
lowing particulars 
are  given  as  to  the 
products  of  different 
kinds  of  dairy  cattle. 
Natives. — The  re- 
cords of  67  dairies  of 
native  cows,  which 
received  premiums 
from  State  Agricul- 
tural Societies  be- 
tween theyears  1846 

and  1876,  cover  2,228  cows,  and  give  an  average 
annual  yield  per  cow  of  2,103  quarts  of  milk; 
180  lbs.  of  butter,  or  393  lbs.  of  cheese.  Among 
these  are  the  following  cases  : — A  New  York 
dairyman,  after  several  years'  careful  selection 
from  common  stock,  obtained  a  herd  of  16  cows, 
which  averaged  for  two  years  3,268  quarts  of 
milk  each,  per  year,  and  with  milk  worth  2J 
cents  a  quart,  gave  a  net  return  of  100"59  dollars 
per  cow.  The  herd  of  Zadock  Pratt,  a  well-known 
dairyman  of  Greene  County,  New  York,  of  which 
a  careful  record  was  kept  covering  the  seven  years 
from  1857  to  1863,  inclusive,  gave  as  the  average 
result,  55  cows,  4,710  lbs.  or  2,160  quarts  of 
milk,  186  lbs.  of  butter.  The  milk  product 
steadily  decreased  from  1852  to  1861  and  then 
remained  stationary,  while  the  butter  product  in- 
creased from  130  lbs.  per  cow  in  1852  to  225  lbs. 
in  1863;    and  the  value  of  each  animal's  auniial 


Fig.  216.— The  "Oake8  Cow. 


product,  including  skimmed  milk  turned  into  pork 
and  veal,  increased  from  37i  dollars  to  68  dollars. 
At  Waushakum  Farm,  in  IMassachusetts,  a  dairy  of 
33  native  cows  was  obtained  by  careful  purchases, 
and  a  standing  offer  by  Dr.  Sturtevant  of  100 
dollars  for  any  cow  giving  over  40  lbs.  of  milk 
a  day;  this  herd  produced  in  the  years  1867,  1868, 
and  1869,  an  average  of  2,079  quarts  of  milk 
annually  per  cow. 

Among  numerous  records  of  the  perfomiances 
of  single  native  cows,  the  following  are  well 
authenticated  : — A  cow  in  Western  Massachusetts, 
in  1838,  had  averaged  377  lbs.  of  butter  a  year 
for  three  years,  and  produced  942  lbs.  in  911 
consecutive  days.  The  "Vermont  Cow''  or  Scott 
cow,  9  years  old  in  1865,  gave  504  lbs.  of  butter, 
which  sold  for  about 
ICO  dollars  in  gold; 
the  most  remarkable 
thing  in  this  case 
l)eing  that  the  only 
feed  of  the  cow  was 
grass  and  hay.  The 
Canadian  cow  "  Ep- 
pie "  averaged  for 
seven  years  4,380 
quarts  of  milk,  sold 
i'or  175  dollars  a 
year ;  she  was  in 
milk  270  days  each 
year,  only  three- 
fourths  of  the  time, 
so  averaged  16  quarts  a  day  for  the  whole 
milking  period.  On  Waushakum  Farm,  before 
mentioned,  the  greatest  annual  product  of  one 
native  cow  was  3,703  quarts,  and  the  greatest 
average  of  one  cow  for  three  years  was  2,673 
quarts.  The  most  wonderful  native  record  is 
that  of  the  "  Oakes  Cow,"  so  called,  winner 
of  the  first  premium  for  milch-cows  at  the 
IMassachusetts  State  Fair  in  1816.  This  cow 
was  bred  in  Kennebec  County,  Maine,  and  was 
bought  from  a  drove  on  its  way  to  Brighton 
market,  near  Boston,  1813,  by  a  Massachusetts 
farmer  from  whom  the  cow  was  named.  She  was 
then  about  five  years  old,  and  her  fame  as  a 
milker  having  reached  the  officers  of  the  State 
Society,  the  trial  was  made  under  their  super- 
vision. As  a  type  of  the  best  dairy-cows  of 
the  common  stock  of  America,  at  that  time, 
her  portrait  is  here  given,  borrowed  from  Flint's 


406 


DAIRY    FAR:\riNG. 


"Milcli  Cdws  and  D.iiry  F:iriiiin<;'."  She  calvi-d 
May  loth,  IS  15,  and  for  ."U  \vi>eks  averaged  i(J  lbs. 
of  butter,  with  a  total  of  581  lbs.  in  9  months, 
when  she  went  dry,  February,  181G.  She  was 
fresh  again  April  5th,  ISIO,  and  in  ^5  weeks  made 
480  lbs.  of  butter,  besides  suckling  a  calf  for  five 
weeks.  The  fair  then  occurred,  and  the  record 
ceases,  but  this  cow  must  liave  produced  COO 
lbs.  of  butter  in  that  year.  Her  feed  during 
the  whole  trial  was  the  best  of  grass  or  hay, 
and  all  her  own  skimmed  milk,  thickened  with 
7  lbs.  of  Indian  corn-meal  a  day;  her  greatest 
yield  in  one  day  was  -lli  lbs.  of  milk,  not  large. 
None  of  her  calves  proved  remarkable  milkers. 

Grades. — No  herd  records  of  grades  are  of  any 
value,  as  the  animals  in  almost  all  cases  vary 
in  the  degree  of  improved  blood,  and  often  in 
the  breed  used  in  crossing.  Among  the  famous 
single  yields  are  these : — A  grade  Shorthorn  in 
New  Jersey  is  recorded  as  giving  4,8:13  quarts 
of  milk,  making  42-'5  lbs.  of  butter,  which  yielded 
a  net  profit  of  1:J3  dollars;  Henry  Saltonstall 
of  Peabody,  jMassachu setts,  owned  a  grade  cow 
seven-eighths  Jersey,  which  gave  13,005  lbs.  or 
5,974  quarts  in  one  year,  the  largest  flow  being 
28  quarts  a  day.  The  All  is  Cow,  at  Springfield, 
Massachusetts,  a  cr^ss  of  Durham  and  Ayrshire, 
eight  years  old,  weighing  1,070  lbs.,  calved  April 
28th,  1877,andprior  to  July  1st,  1878  (14months), 
gave  15,043  lbs.  or  6,942  quarts  of  milk,  being 
over  0,000  quarts  a  year.  This  cow,  dry  in  July, 
calved  again  in  August,  1878,  and  at  the  present 
writing  is  repeating  her  previous  record ;  her 
food  is  good  hay,  grass,  green  corn-fodder,  and 
a  wet  mess  twice  a  day,  warmed  in  winter,  of 
five  quarts  of  mixed  corn-meal  and  shorts,  potatoes 
and  turnips  being  added  occasionally.  The  largest 
milker  known  in  America  -svas  "  Old  Creamer," 
a  grade  or  cross-bred  cow  owned  by  General  S. 
D.  Hungerford  of  Adams,  Jefferson  County,  New 
York,  who  kindly  furnished  a  photograph  of  the 
animal  from  which  the  accompanying  engraving 
was  made.  The  likeness  was  taken  in  1873, 
when  the  cow  was  nine  years  old  and  weighed 
1,080  lbs.  Little  is  known  of  her  parentage, 
but  she  was  bought  on  the  supposition  that  she 
was  seven-eighths  Ayrshire,  with  a  mixture  of 
Shorthorn  blood,  and  perhaps  some  Jersey.  In 
the  year  1873,  she  gave  in  June  2,820  lbs.  of 
milk,  in  July  2,483^  lbs.,  and  in  September  over 
2,200  lbs.        Iler    average    for    Juno    was    94  lbs. 


or  13  quarts  a  day,  and  in  that  ninnlh  she  made 
the  uniirecedented  record  uf  400  ll>s.  of  milk  in 
four  days,  as  follows  : — 


1873. 

7  a.m. 

12  m. 

5  P.M. 

Total. 

June  10th 

„  11th  

„  12th  

„  13th  

lb-.. 
33 
33  [ 

Ihs. 
31i 
33 
34.t 
31 

\\m. 
33.J 
34 
33 
34i 

lbs. 
98 
1001 
100 
lOli 

Four  days 

132 

133 

135 

400 

The  fact  of  this  seemingly  incredible  yield  is  well 
established.  This  cow  refused  to  drink  milk,  and 
never  did;  her  feed  at  the  time  stated  was  all  the 
fresh  clover  she  would  eat,  and  four  quarts  of 
ground  oats  and  wheat  bran,  mixed  half-and-half 
at  each  milking.  Unfortunately,  no  prolonged  or 
systematic  trial  was  made  of  the  performances 
of  this  cow,  as  a  milker.  Among  the  measure- 
ments taken  from  "  Old  Creamer"  were  these :  Total 
length,  71J  inches;  girth  about  belly,  96J  inches; 
at  flank,  71  inches;  depth  of  flank,  22^  inches; 
udder,  oval,  broad,  extensive,  and  hanging  with 
the  skin  in  folds — length,  18  inches;  depth  of 
gland  portion,  20  inches ;  along  gland  front  to 
rear,  29i  inches ;  semi-circumference,  58  inches. 

Shorlhorns. — Herds  of  Shorthorns  exclusively 
kept  with  the  dairy  as  the  main  object,  are  so  rare 
that  not  enough  records  can  be  found  to  give  any 
general  average.  The  best  examples  of  this  kind 
seem  to  be  the  herds  of  Harris  Lewis,  of  Herkimer 
('ounty.  New  York,  and  J.  C.  Newhall,  of  Frank- 
lin County,  Massachusetts.  The  records  of  these 
herds  for  several  disconnected  years  give  an  average 
for  about  forty  cows  of  3,200  quarts  of  milk  and 
290  lbs.  of  butter  a  year;  the  cows  272  days  in 
milk.  Mr.  Newhall's  herd  of  10  cows,  from  three 
to  twelve  years  old,  averaged  in  1874,  3,577  quarts 
of  milk  and  325  lbs.  of  butter  made.  That  year 
the  income  i)er  cow  was  133  dollars,  cost  78  dollars. 
The  best  single  performances  of  dairy  Shorthorns  to 
be  found  are  those  of  the  cows  "  Maid  of  Athol " 
and  "  Rose,"  who  gave  5,852  and  5,414  quarts  of 
milk  respectively  in  the  year  1873,  from  which 
there  was  made  513  and  471  lbs.  of  butter.  The 
"  Stevens  Cow,"  at  Ithaca,  New  York,  a  roan, 
weighed  1,200  lbs.  In  June,  1S7S,  being  eight 
years  old,  she  gave  in  six  consecutive  days  19^  lbs. 
of  butter,  her  flow  of  milk  being  71  lbs.  a  day, 
and  her  only  food  being  grass. 


YIELD    OP    AMERICAN    COWS. 


407 


irtilfiff/'//,i. — For  the  same  voason  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Shorthorns,  no  general  average  can  he  g'iven 
for  the  cows  of  this  breed  in  America.  There 
are,  however,  several  authentic  records  of  re- 
markable production  by  Dutch  or  Ilolstein  cows, 
singly  and  in  herds.  Gerrit  S.  Miller,  of  Peter- 
boro'.  New  York,  owned  three  cows,  which  for 
six  years  averaged  -ijUOl  quarts  of  milk  each; 
their  ages  at  beginning  of  the  trial  (1870)  were  -i, 
5,  and  6  years.  A  herd  of  twelve  of  these  cows 
in   one  year   averaged   4,003  quarts  of  milk  and 


owned  by  Mr.  Iloxie;  beginning  with  the  s<'as(in 
of  lS7(i,  when  five  years  old,  her  iiverage  yield  for 
four  years  was  1 1',615  lbs.  of  milk.  She  calved 
April  3,  1S78,  and  again  February  23,  1879; 
during  the  336  days  she  was  milked,  she  produced 
15,960ilbs.,  an  average  of  47^  lbs.  of  milk  a 
day  for  eleven  months.  These  are  but  two  of 
several  wonderful  statements  of  milk-pioduction 
by  Dutch  cows  in  the  United  States,  fully 
verified;  the  butter  records  are  few  in  numljcr, 
but  there  are  several  claims  of  12,  14,  and  even 


Fig.  217.—"  Old  Ckeameu." 


308  lbs.  of  butter.  S.  Hoxie,  of  Whitestomi, 
New  York,  gives  the  complete  record  of  the 
"  Duteh-Friesian "  (Holstein)  herd  of  the  Una- 
dilla  Valley  Association,  eleven  cows,  ranging 
from  3  to  8  years  in  age,  average  4|  years ;  the 
average  product  was  11,286  lbs.  or  5,250  quarts 
of  milk,  and  average  number  of  days  actually 
milked,  341.  All  calved  during  the  year,  and 
four  of  them  were  milked  every  day  in  the  year. 
Smiths  and  Powell,  of  Syracuse,  New  York, 
own  "Netherland  Queen,"  who  dropped  her  first 
calf  in  April,  1879,  when  just  two  years  old,  and 
her  second  calf  at  two  days  less  than  a  year  after, 
yet  produced  meantime  13,.5741bs.  of  milk.  The 
best  single  record  is  that   of  "  Maid  of  Twisk," 


18  lbs.  produced  in  a  week.  It  should  be  noted, 
however,  that  these  records  are  mainly  of  im- 
ported animals  ;  the  American-bred  Holsteins,  as  a 
rule,  have  yet  to  make  their  reputation. 

AyrMres. — The  records  of  Ayrshire  and  Jersey 
herds  are  much  more  numerous  and  complete,  as 
they  should  be,  having  a  closer  relation  to  the 
general  dairy  interests  of  the  country. 

Eighteen  well-managed  herds  of  Ayrshires, 
selected  from  different  sections  and  averaging 
twelve  cows  each,  with  complete  records  running 
from  two  to  eight  years,  give  an  average  annual 
production  of  2,498  quarts  per  cow.  Only  a  part 
have  butter  records,  but  these  average  238  lbs.  to 
the  cow.     The  best  record  on  the  whole  is  that  of 


408 


DAIUV    FAinriNO. 


Sliu-(cv;int  Bros.,  of  "WnusliMkuni  Fiiirn,  Massa- 
chusetts, altliough  other  herds,  smaller  and  tested 
for  a  shorter  time,  show  laro^er  protluets.  The 
record  selected  as  representative,  extends  through 
eight  years,  being'  eom{)lete  as  to  every  milk- 
ing of  every  animal,  the  average  size  of  the 
herd  being  13  cows.  The  herd  was  kept  mainly 
for  brewling  pui-poses  and  not  highly  fed.  The 
following  is  a  statement  of  the  annual  average 
product  jvr  cow,  and  the  general  average  at  the 
end  of  each  year  : — 


Year. 

Aun'ial  Average. 
Qiinrtg. 

Average  to  Date. 

Quarts. 

1870       

2,G.S8 

— 

1871       

2,3,S(! 

2,537 

1872       

2,S12 

2,G2S 

1873      

2,503 

2,012 

1874      

2,1)39 

2,017 

187.5      

1,901 

2,498 

187G       

2,620 

2,.515 

1877      

2,406 

2,509 

The  difference  between  the  extremes  in  the  annual 
average  is  911  quarts,  but  in  the  extremes  of  the 
general  average  only  130  quarts.  The  cows  were 
dry  from  49  to  8G  days  a  year,  an  average  of  09 
days  dry  annually  for  the  eight  j-ears.  The  record 
is  complete  from  18G8  to  1879,  inclusive,  twelve 
years,  but  the  first  two  years  there  wei-e  only  four 
cows,  and  the  last  two  cover  a  period  of  experi- 
ment with  feeding  almost  exclusively  on  com 
stover  during  the  winter,  wliich  reduced  the 
average  product  of  11  cows  for  those  years  to 
2,008  quarts  a  year.  The  Ayrshire  herd  of 
J.  D.  W.  French,  Cochichewick  Farm,  North 
Andover,  Massachusetts,  fed  very  moderately  as 
breeders,  has  the  following  record  : — 


No.  of  Cows 
Lbs.  Milk 


1874. 
3 

1875. 
11 

1876. 

1877. 

1878. 

1879. 

11 

12 

10 

13 

6,934 

0,218 

5,310 

5,343 

5,316 

5,222 

This  high  average,  of  2,Gli()  quarts  a  year  for  six 
years,  needs  modilleation  because  the  record  in- 
cludes the  exceptional  production  of  three  selected 
cows  the  first  year,  and  reckons  two  heifers  as  one 
cow  in  some  of  the  later  years.  The  following 
interesting  comparison  was  made  by  IMr.  Robert 
IMcAilam  at  Rome,  New  York,  in  the  month  of 
June,  1801,  being  a  test  of  the  milk  and  cheese 


jirotluclion  of  e(jwal  numbers  of  Ayrshire  and 
Shorthorn  cows  : — 

Ayu.shiues  :  64  Covirs,  6.5,380  lbs.  of  3Iilk  ;  Cheese,  6,424  Ibg. 

Daily  average  of  Slilk  per  Cow,  33  lbs. ;  Cheese,  3J  lbs. 
SnoKTHOiixs :  64  Cows,  52,680  lbs.  of  Milk  ;  Cheese,  4,797  lbs 

Daily  average  of  Jtilk  jxjr  Cow,  27  lbs. ;  Cheese,  2  J  lbs. 

The  herds  were  esteemed  first  class  of  their  re- 
spective breeds,  and  were  pastured  in  adjoining 
fields  on  land  of  similar  quality.  The  best  single 
yields  of  Ayrshires  are  found  also  in  the  Wau- 
shakum  herd.  The  cow  "  Georgie  "  gave  8,596 
lbs.  or  3,901  quarts  of  milk  in  1870,  the  only 
yield  of  over  8,000  lbs.  among  seventeen  dif- 
ferent Ayrshires  in  the  eight  years'  trial ;  but 
the  next  year  this  cow  gave  only  3,288  quarts,  and 
her  average  for  several  years  was  3,200  quarts. 
"  Georgiana,'''  of  the  same  family,  gave  one  year 
3,650  quarts.  Several  Ayrehires  in  other  American 
herds  are  on  record  as  giving  averag-es  of  fivm  50 
to  58  lbs.  of  milk  a  day  for  one  or  two  weeks,  but 
with  incomplete  accounts  of  full  year's  yield.  The 
ISIessrs.  Stiirtevant  report  in  connection  with  their 
herd  that  during  the  stated  trial  they  hatl  about 
twenty  records  in  each  year  of  40  lbs.  and  over  of 
milk  in  one  day,  and  but  one  case  during  the 
whole  period  in  which  a  cow  gave  over  50  lbs.  in 
a  day.  No  records  of  the  butter-products  of  Ayr- 
shires in  America  have  been  found  which  arc  of 
special  interest. 

Jerseys. — To  illustrate  the  products  of  Ameri- 
can Jerseys,  ten  herds  have  been  selected,  located 
in  New  England,  New  York,  and  Pennsylvania. 
These  average  fourteen  cows  each,  and  the  records 
cover  from  two  to  seven  years.  The  average  annual 
])roduet  shown  is  2,288  quarts  of  milk  and  281  lbs. 
of  butter.  H.  C.  Haskell's  herd  of  Deei-field 
Jersej's  (Massachusetts)  has  a  record  for  seven  con- 
secutive years,  an  average  of  8  cows,  2,315  quarts 
of  milk,  and  307 lbs.  of  butter;  16-441bs.  of  milk 
made  one  pound  of  butter,  the  ratio  being  from 
12'G  in  !March  to  23"5  in  June,  and  the  net  profit 
W'as  60  dollars  gold  per  cow,  per  annum.  The 
"  Deerfoot  Herd  ■'■'  of  Edward  Burnett  (Massa- 
chusetts) shows  a  three  years^  trial,  with  an 
average  of  25  cows;  these  gave  an  annual  average 
of  2,152  quarts  of  milk  and  2091bs.  of  butter;  and 
for  the  one  year  of  1S7G,  the  average  was  2,616 
quarts  of  milk  and  331  lbs.  of  butter.  A  herd 
of  fourteen  cows  in  Connecticut  is  on  record  as 
averaging  one  year  400  lbs.    of  butter   jier  cow. 


YIELD   OF  AMERICAN   COWS. 


409 


For  yields  of  sinj>'Ie  Jorsoy  cows  sevonil  note  wort  liy 
cases  are  recorded.  (The  li<;;'ures  in  l)rackots  indi- 
cate the  number  of  tlie  animal  in  the  re<>-ister  of 
the  American  Jersey  Cattle  Club.)  "  Motley's 
Flora"  (17-"J),  in  Miussachusetts,  1853,  made  511 
lbs.  of  butter  in  fifty  wwks.  "Pansy"  (lOli)) 
in  Connecticut,  calved  Sei>(eniber  tM\,  1S71,  and 
before  October,  187^,  made  571  lbs.  of  butter. 
Milk  produce  not  given  in  these  cases.  "  Snow- 
drop" (569),  in  Massachusetts,  gave  an  average  of 
4,137   quarts   (9,018  lbs.)   during  the  years   1875, 


besides  a  (iniintify  of  eronm  used  ;  she  cnlved 
again,  April  15th,  1877,  and  in  the  month  of 
June  following  gave  1,4'Otilbs.  of  milk.  A  eow 
owned  by  the  writer,  in  Massachusetts,  in  no 
sense  a  fancy  or  fashionable  Jersey,  calved  in  May 
IS 76,  and  on  several  trials  that  year  was  found  to 
be  producing  over  iOlbs.  of  butter  a  week,  even  in 
"  ily  time  ;  "  she  was  milked  steadily  for  ninctceu 
months,  and  during  the  ia-ii  twelve  of  the.sc,  the 
year  1877,  made  516 lbs.  of  butter.  This  cow 
calved  again,  February  1st,  1878,  and  during  the 


Fig.  218.— "Jekset  Belle  op  Scituate." 


.^^^r^-C- 


1876,  and  1877.  "Belle  of  Newton"  (1717),  in 
the  one  year  187J<,  gave  4,783  quarts  of  milk 
(10,280  lbs. !).  "  Alphea  "  (171),  bred  and  owned 
by  Colonel  R.  M.  Hoe,  of  Morrisania,  New  York, 
is  a  cow  famous  for  her  own  performances  and 
for  the  reputation  of  her  progeny ;  she  lived 
(1863-71)  before  the  time  of  systematic  long- 
continued  records,  but  on  several  trials  was  found 
to  produce  more  than  3  lbs.  of  butter  a  day — 
21|  lbs.  in  one  week — on  grass  alone.  Two  non- 
registered  Jerseys  are  added  : — "  Abbie,"  a  cow 
in  Massachusetts,  calved  April  17th,  1876,  and 
prior  to  the  next  INIareh,  gave  4,620  quarts  of 
milk,  from  which  4-86  lbs.  of   butter  were  made. 


autumn  of  this  year  gave  her  own  weight  (about 
800 lbs.)  in  milk  monthly.  "The  Jersey  Belle  of 
Scituate"  (7,828),  owned  by  Charles  O.  Ellms,  of 
Scituate,  Massachusetts,  presents  the  best  record 
of  any  American-bred  Jersey  up  to  1879.  She  is 
descended  from  "Motley's  Flora"  and  "Dick 
Swiveller"  and  "  Pilot,"  all  famous  animals  in  the 
early  days  of  Jerseys  in  the  United  States.  A 
portrait  of  this  cow,  furnished  by  the  owner,  is 
given  herewith ;  it  is  as  she  appeared  in  the  spring 
of  1877,  when  five  years  of  age.  She  dropj^ed  her 
third  calf,  February  25th,  1876,  and  before  the  end 
of  that  year  made  008  lbs.  of  butter.  February 
25th,  1877,  she  calved  again,  and  up  to  ]March  Sth, 


410 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


187S,  made  7(irjlb.-;.  of  l.utt.T;  she  awra-i-d  I'.Ul.s. 
a  week  lor  over  five  months,  and  at  times  iVmr 
(juarts  of  her  milk  o'ave  a  pound  of  butter.  lUr 
fifth  ealf  was  dropped  May  10th,  1.S78;  during;-  one 
week  in  June  she  made  £;i. J  lbs.  of  butter,  and  in 
September  7  lbs.  were  made  from  the  milk  of  three 
days.  Iler  fifth  ealf  was  dropped  June  7th,  1880, 
and  she  was  tested  for  the  seven  days  ending 
June  21st;  she  gave  45  ll)s.  of  milk  a  day  at 
the  beginning  of  the  test,  and  44  lbs.  at  its  elose. 
The  total  weight  of  butter  made  in  the  week 
was  25  lbs.  3ozs.,  salt  having  been  added  before 
weighing,  at  the  rate  of  S  ozs.  to  10  lbs.  of  butter. 
The  record  is  the  more  remarkable  as  the  cow 
was  on  pasture  in  the  summer,  kept  up  at  night, 
and  given  two  quarts  of  shorts  in  the  morning, 
and  in  winter,  besides  the  best  of  hay,  never  fed 
over  5  lbs.  of  grain-food  a  day. 

"Jersey  Belle"  had  two  rivals  that  attracted 
much  attention  in  the  United  States  during  the 
year  1880,  and  both  excelled  the  record  just  given. 
"  Jersey  Queen,"  bred  by  the  Messrs.  Fairbanks, 
of  Vermont,  and  owned  by  J.  S.  Kenerson,  of 
Bamet,  Vermont,  is  the  first.  The  milk  record  of 
this  cow  was  not  kept,  but  she  certainly  produced 
in  365  days,  ending  March  15,  1880,  the  full 
weight  of  748  lbs.  of  butter  before  salting.  Be- 
sides this,  milk  and  cream  were  used  from  her 
product,  by  her  owner,  equivalent  to  20  or  30  lbs. 
of  butter,  but  this  quantity  being  uncertain,  is  not 
claimed.  In  April,  1880,  "Jersey  Queen"  gave 
in  one  week  66  quarts  of  milk,  from  which  12  lbs. 
of  butter  were  made  ;  fifteen  months  after  calving, 
this  animal  produced  butter  at  the  rate  of  650  lbs. 
a  year,  on  pasture  and  3  lbs.  grain-food  daily;  and 
the  last  week  in  September,  1880,  nineteenth 
month  farrow,  she  gave  176  lbs.  of  milk,  from 
which  11  lbs.  of  butter  were  made.  [This  eow 
will  be  due  with  her  fourth  calf  in  February, 
1881,  and  will  then  be  seven  years  old.  It  is 
proposed  to  make  a  very  complete  record  of 
her  performances  during  the  following  year.] 
"Eurotas"  (2,451),  a  brown  cow  with  a  grey 
back,  dropped  August  13,  1871,  was  bred  by 
Col.  Hoe,  being  a  grand-daughter  of  "Alj)hea," 
above  named.  She  was  by  importe<l  "  Rioter 
2nd"  (469)  out  of  "Europa"  (176),  daughter  of 
"Alphea"  by  her  full  brother  "Jupiter"  (93). 
This  eow  weighs  about  1,000  lbs.,  is  i)lain-looking, 
large-bodied,  short-legged,  and  somewhat  coarse  in 
pattern.     The  present  owner  (1880)  is  Mr.  A.  B. 


Darling,  of  New  York  City.  The  remarkable 
richness  of  Eurotas'  milk  was  first  noticed  with 
her  fifth  calf,  November,  1878.  On  trials  made 
single  weeks  in  February  and  March  following, 
she  made  21  lbs.  and  then  22. J  lbs.  of  butter,  the 
latter  from  217  lbs.  of  milk.  As  late  as  three 
months  l)efore  next  calving,  she  gave  on  grass 
alone,  2  lljs.  of  butter  a  day.  "  liurotas  "  dropped 
her  sixth  calf  October  30,  1879.  On  the  11th  of 
November  her  record  began,  the  milk  being  kept 
by  itself,  and  the  cream  churned  every  other  day. 
The  butter  made  during  the  five  months  ending 
April  loth  weighed  36 libs.  15oz.,  no  grass 
meantime.  Then  came  fresh  feed,  and  in  the 
sixth  month  73  lbs.  13  oz.  butter,  while  in  the 
seventh,  ending  June  lOth,  91  lbs.  9oz.,  or  an 
average  of  over  3  lbs.  of  butter  a  day.  The 
next  two  months  added  162  lbs.  14  oz.,  giving 
a  total  for  nine  months  of  692  lbs.  10  oz.  of 
butter.  From  August  10  to  15,  18S0,  inclusive 
(the  latest  report  available),  "Eurotas"  gave  13  lbs. 
9  oz.  of  butter,  which  made  a  record  of  706  lbs. 
3  oz.  in  nine  months  and  six  days,  thus  exceeding 
the  full  year's  yield  of  "Jersey  Belle."  "Eurotas" 
should  calve  November  10,  1880.  The  detailed 
record  of  this  cow  for  the  month  of  June,  1880, 
the  eighth  month  after  calving,  is  of  sufficient 
interest  to  insert  entire  : — 


Days. 

U.S. 

ozs. 

Days. 

lbs.  ozs. 

Days. 

lbs. 

ozs 

June    1,    2 

-   6 

1 

June  13,  14 

-   G      5 

June  2.5,  26 

-  5 

4 

„       3,    4 

-   G 

4 

„     15,  IG 

-   6      6 

„     27,  28 

-   5 

0 

„       5,    G 

-   0 

1 

„     17,  18 

-  5    15 

„     2U,  30 

-  5 

0 

„      7,    8 

-   C 

4 

„     1"),  20 

-   5    12 

,,      9,  10 

-   0 

5 

„     21,  22 

-  5    12 

„     11,  12 

-   G 

4 

„    23,  24 

-   5    13 

30  (lays    -     - 

8S 

c 

Among  the  odds  and  ends  are  found  : — A  cow 
in  New  Jersey  that  in  four  w'eeks  in  June,  1876, 
made  75ilbs.  of  butter,  and  a  heifer  which  calved 
at  twenty-two  months  old  was  milked  for  811  con- 
secutive days,  and  ])roduced  an  average  of  one 
pound  of  butter  a  day  during  that  time.  Yet,  in 
Allen's  "  American  Cattle,"  doubt  is  exjiressed  as 
to  the  accuracy  of  Yonatt's  statement  that  Jersey 
cows  have  been  known  to  make  19 lbs.  of  butter  a 
week. 

Swiss. — Although  no  herd  products  of  this 
breed  are  to  be  found  yet  in  the  United  States, 
there  is  a  careful  record  of  the  butter-yield  by 
one  cow  which  deserves  menti<in.  "  Swiss  Bessie," 
thoroughbred,  was  droi)i)ed  March  15th,  1872,  and 
owned  from  time  of  third  calving,  October,  1877, 
by  Mv.  D.  G.  Roberts,  of  Pittsiield,  Massachusetts. 


I'lUCKS    OK    DAIRY    CA'ITLK    JX    AMKlilCA. 


Ill 


Ilev  fdiiidi  :inil  lil'di  e;ilvcs  were  ili-djiiu-il  in 
Aui--us1,  1S7S,  ;iii(l  Oct(.l)iM-,  1S7!),  and  Irt 
sixth  was  duo  Oclnbor,  Issi).  Her  total  milk 
yield  for  tliroo  years — Ot-tobfr  1st,  1877,  to 
October  1st,  ISSO— was  37,729  lbs.,  and  butter 
made  1,662  lbs.;  annual  average  '9,2-13  lbs. 
milk  and  554'  lbs.  butter.  The  ratio  of  butter 
to  milk  is  very  liig-h — 1  to  Kig,  or  1  lb.  of 
butter  for  every  71  quarts  of  milk,  for  the 
whole  period.  At  times,  for  a  montli  or  more, 
it  required  Imt  1-3  lbs.  of  mdk  to  make  1  lb. 
of  Imtter.  'I'he  pviduet  of  "Swiss  Bessie" 
for  the  calendar  year  1S7'J,  during  which  she 
was  dry  two  months,  was  9,29."j  lbs.  milk  and 
611  lbs.  butter. 

llixed  Herds. — The  only  other  milk  yields 
to  be  cited  are  those  of  the  mixed  herds  of  dairy- 
cows  as  they  exist  in  the  great  cheese-making 
districts  of  New  York.  Natives  predominate 
in  these,  mixed  with  many  grades  of  various 
kinds,  and  a  considerable  nimiber  of  thorough- 
breds of  different  breeds.  The  ligures  are  taken 
from  the  reports  of  the  cheese-factories.  In 
1S64,  425  factories,  receiving  the  milk  of  128,528 
cows,  showed  an  average  yield  per  cow  for 
"the  factory  season''  (say  200  days)  of  1,060 
quarts  of  milk.  In  1874  the  same  factories 
substantially  showed  the  average  yield  to  be 
1,411  quarts.  Here  is  evidence  of  a  marked 
improvement  in  the  quality  of  the  stock,  a 
gain  of  33  per  cent,  in  the  product  in  ten 
years. 

Professor  Arnold  gave  the  average  of  these 
New  Y'ork  factory  herds  of  mixed  stock  in 
1874  as  1,783  quarts  for  the  best,  the  poorest 
1,027  quarts,  and  the  highest  for  any  one 
dairy  during  nine  months  2,602  quarts.  These 
estimates  practically  agree  with  those  of  Dr. 
Sturtevant  previously  given.  But  in  a  review 
of  the  census  figures  made  in  January,  1879, 
Professor  Arnold  expresses  the  opinion  that 
the  quantity  of  milk  consumed  by  the  jjro- 
ducers  has  been  under-estimated,  and  on  the 
new  basis  he  places  the  average  annual  milk 
product  of  the  dairy-cows  of  New  York  at 
3,658  lbs.  or  1,701  quarts  of  milk.  In  Mas- 
sachusetts, twenty-five  factories  in  the  year 
1864  reported  12,130  cows,  averaging  1,400 
([uarts  for  250  days,  and  the  State  census  for 
1S75  gives  the  annual  average  product  1,900 
(juarts  per  cow. 
55 


For  ciiuipariscin,  a  summary  of  tli 
ven  in  labuKir  form  :  — 

1  Annual  YitLD  per  I 


Breed. 

General  A 

verages. 

Beft  Herds. 

Best  Single 
Cows. 

Itl.lk. 

Buttir. 

Mi>k. 

Butler. 

Milk. 

Butter. 

II.S. 

lb'. 

lb  . 

Ilw. 

Ih". 

"Natives"    ... 

4,606 

180 

4,710 

186 

10,458 

581 

Mi.Ked      Herds 

and  Grades... 

3,658 

203 

5,S?0 

242 

15,043 

423 

Sliorthorns    ... 

.- 

— 

(;,nso 

2il0 

12,815 

.513 

Holsteins 

— 

— 

11,286 

308 

15,960 

— 

Ayrshiies 

5,446 

238 

5,483 

274 

8,596 

— 

Jerseys 

4,987 

281 

5,017 

307 

12,716 

748 

Swiss 

— 

— 

-~ 

— 

9,295 

611 

Value  of  American  Dairy  Cattle. 

Milch-cows  reached  their  highest  average  value 
in  the  United  States  about  the  year  1870,  and  from 
that  time  a  sharjs  decline  took  place.  Mr.  Dodge 
places  the  average  value  at  30  dollars  in  1870,  and 
at  26  dollars  in  1878,  these  figui-es  being  intended 
for  the  country  at  large,  and  to  include  all  cows 
except  the  choicest  thoroughbreds.  Their  nominal 
prices  are  so  entirely  out  of  proportion  to  their 
numbers  as  to  be  properly  excluded  from  a  general 
average.  A  buyer  and  seller  of  dairy-cows  in 
Pennsylvania  kept  a  record  of  prices  for  forty 
years,  with  the  following  result  : — Average  price 
for  forty  years,  39  dollars ;  extreme  annual 
averages,  19  dollars  in  1841  and  85  dollars  in 
1867;  for  twenty-five  years  prior  to  1861  the 
range  was  from  IS  to  40  dollars,  the  average  27 
dollars,  and  from  1861  to  1876  the  range  was  from 
40  to  100  dollars,  average  65  dollars.  At  three 
public  sales  of  average  dairy-cows  held  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  New  York  in  1877  these  prices  were 
obtained — 43  dollars  each  for  20  cows,  53  dollars 
for  25,  and  52  dollars  for  55.  In  1878  the 
value  of  fair  cows  in  the  dairy  districts  averaged 
about  50  dollars.  In  New  York  City  good  milch- 
cows  sold  for  from  50  to  60  dollars,  and  extra  ones 
for  70  or  80  dollars.  Mr.  Thomas  Fitch,  of  New 
London,  Connecticut,  writes  :  "  In  giving  you 
prices  obtained  for  the  dairy-stock  raised  by  me, 
thoroughbreds,  cross-breds,  and  grades,  I  select  two 
years,  ten  years  apart.  In  1866  I  sold  53  head  of 
all  ages  at  an  average  price  of  148  dollars;  highest 
380  dollars  for  a  cow,  lowest  35  dollars  for  a  grade 
heifer  calf.  In  1877  sold  34  head  at  an  average 
of  144  dollars;  highest  515  dollars  for  a  cow, 
lowest  40   dollars   for  a  heifer  calf."     Some  idea 


412 


DAIRY    I'ARMTXG. 


of  the  jric'c's  of  tliorouo-lilnvtl  neat  sioek  in  the 
United  States  can  be  tiLtaiiied  from  tlie  following 
statements  : — 

Jerseys  :  At  j)ul)lic  sales  of  about  five 
hundred  animals  of  this  breed  during  the  years 
1S77  and  1S78,  occurring  in  widely  separated 
places,  the  average  prices  obtained  were  2."53 
dollars  per  head  for  females  and  tl;j  dollars  for 
males.  At  a  large  sale  of  ncivly-iniported  Jerseys 
held  at  Albany,  New  York,  in  ^lay,  1.S7S,  an 
average  of  over  400  dollars  per  head  was  obtained; 
at  another,  in  New  York  City,  ."JSO  dollars  per  head 
for  20  two-year-old  heifers;  and  at  a  third,  in 
Philadelphia,  bulls  averaged  205  dollars  and  cows 
and  heifers  4-27  dollars.  A  remarkable  sale  of 
Jerseys,  largely  American  -  bred  and  recorded 
animals,  occurred  at  New  York  in  May,  18S0,  and 
is  known  as  the  "  Kellogg  sale."  Fifty-one  cows 
and  heifers  averaged  29S  dollars,  and  5  bulls  229 
dollars.  One  bull  sold  for  600  dollar.-;,  and  two 
heifers  were  struck  off  at  1,400  and  l,iZ-)  dollars 
respectively,  these  being  the  highest  prices  ever 
realised  in  the  United  States  at  a  public  sale  of 
this  breed.  During  the  year  1880  several  private 
sales  were  reported  at  very  high  rates,  bulls  at 
1,000  dollars,  and  cows  at  2,000  and  upwards. 
Bond  fide  offers  of  5,000  dollars  were  made  and  re- 
fused for  a  single  cow.  Colonel  Waring,  Secretary 
of  the  American  Jersey  Cattle  Club  and  Manager 
of  the  Ogdon  Farm  Association,  reports  among 
the  operations  of  that  famous  establishment,  cover- 
ing ten  years  ending  in  1877,  iiuix-hases  of  Jerseys, 
23  males  at  an  average  cost  of  47 1  dollars  and  46 
females  at  190  dollars;  sales,  60  males,  average 
price  99  dollai-s,  and  8'3  females,  average  21C.j 
dollars.  In  1855,  in  New  England,  a  Jersey  cow 
(then  generally  called  Alderney),  giving  12  quarts 
of  milk  a  day,  and  making  12  lbs.  of  butter 
■A  week,  was  worth  100  dollars.  Guernseys,  less 
fashionable,  are  lower  in  price,  sales  in  1878  giving 
averages  of  176  dollars  for  females  and  103  dollars 
for  males.  Ayrshires  may  be  quoted  at  aijout  the 
same  rates.  But  as  an  example  of  the  choicest 
animals  of  this  breed,  the  Measrs.  Sturtevaut  rej)ort 


tl'.at,  in  making  up  the  Waushakum  herd,  the  males 
were  ]>urchased  at  an  average  cost  of  92i  dollars, 
the  females  at  400  dollars.  Good  Ayrshire  cows 
change  hands  in  America  at  from  100  to  200 
dollars.  At  a  sale  of  Ilolsteius  in  Central  New 
York  in  February,  1880,  an  average  of  238  dollars 
was  obtained.  Devon  sales  are  not  often  reported 
in  the  United  States.  At  one  of  35  animals  in 
Connecticut  in  1875  the  prices  ranged  from  150 
to  300  dollars;  in  1878  a  bull  and  three  good 
cows  sold  together  for  1,000  dollars.  Fifteen 
American-bred  Ilerefords,  all  in  the  English  herd- 
book,  were  sold  in  Maryland,  June,  1880,  at  an 
average  of  225  dollars.  Shorthorn  sales  occur- 
ring in  all  pai-ts  of  the  country  in  1877  and  1878, 
none  of  them  being  of  very  fancy  stock,  give  287J 
dollars  as  the  average  price  obtained  for  577 
females,  and  181  dollars  per  head  for  185  bulls. 
The  "  Shorthorn  Herd-Book "  reports  384  sales 
occurring  from  1870  to  1876,  including  14,816 
animals,  the  general  average  price  being  393 
dollars,  but  this  average  was  largely  raised  by  a 
few  extraordinary  sales  like  that  of  the  Campbell 
herd  in  1876  (see  page  13). 

T/ie  Cultivator  and  Conntry  Gentleman,  (Al- 
bany) publishes  an  annual  summary  of  its 
reports  of  public  Shorthorn  sales.  For  the  ten 
j'cars  ending  with  1879  the  record  of  this  journal 
includes  22,929  head,  sold  for  an  aggregate  of 
7,218,361  dollars,  an  average  of  315  dollars.  In 
the  year  1879  there  were  2,865  animals  sold 
averaging  115  dollars;  this  is  a  great  reduction, 
but  the  offerings  included  a  larger  number  of 
ordinary  creatures.  Two  examples  are  these : — 
First,  the  Cannon-Cochrane  sale,  at  Dexter  Park, 
Chicago,  Juno  30,  1880,  when  32  cow-s  and  heifere 
averaged  9L!5  dollars,  and  11  bulls  and  calves 
662  dollars,  all  being  choice  stock ;  second,  a  sale 
of  very  good  animals  of  the  same  breed,  38  in 
number,  at  the  same  place,  the  next  day,  resulted 
in  an  average  of  189  dollars.  The  greater  part 
of  these  Shorthorns,  however,  relate  to  lieef-pro- 
duction,  and  have  hardly  a  perceptible  effect  upon 
dairy-stock  in  America.  H.  E.  A. 


CHAPTER     XXYir. 


American    Dairy    ProdL'CTS. 


Gross    Production— Domestic    Trade-Butter    JIarkets -Cheese    Markets— Boards 
^^(^  Exports— Prices. 


of    Trade— Milk    Sales-New    York    JIarket— 


^^^SC_  RKAT  as  the  ]iro;luce  of  tlie 

d;iii-y  in  America  has  been 

for    a    numl)er    of    years, 

the    total    jiroduction    has 

been     much    exaggerated. 

Without  data  on  which  to 

base  calculations  as  to  the 

quantity   of   milk    sold  for   use    while 

liesh,    and    consumed   by   families  of 

producers,  the  number  of  cows  in  the 


for  every  one  of  the  6,000,000  butter-making  cows, 
which  is  almost  double  the  general  average.  The 
census  of  New  York  for  1875,  already  referred  to 
as  specially  reliable  in  dairy  statistics,  gives  the 
average  butter  yield  for  the  cows  of  that  State 
as  135  lbs.  a  year.  Certainly  a  lower  rate  must 
be  taken  for  the  country  at  large.  An  average 
of  125  lbs.  a  year  gives  a  total  product  of 
750,000,000  lbs.,  and  133  lbs.  per  year  a  total 
of    800,000,000  lbs.    of    butter.       Between    these 


country  whose  product  does  not  affect     figures  the  true  amount  probalily  stands  in  1880, 


the  making  of  butter  and  cheese  is 
quite  uncertain.  Likewise  the  amount  of 
butter  consumed  by  the  families  of  the  makers 
is  largely  a  matter  of  speculation,  and  it  is 
upon  the  annual  butter  product  of  the  United 
States  that  the  wildest  figures  have  been  given. 


the  whole  worth  about  200,000,000  dollars.  There 
is  a  general  agreement  that  the  United  States 
cheese  crop  of  1880  is  from  300,000,000  to 
350,000,000  lbs.,  or  an  average  of  300  lbs.  jicr 
annum  per  cow.  Milk  consumed,  new  and 
skimmed,  exceeds  the  butter  in  value,  and  carries 


Cheese  manufacture  has  been  more  sectional,  and     the  total  value  of  the  United  States  dairy  products 

""to  4.08,000,000  dollars.  The  following  statistics, 
derived  from  the  United  States  census,  are  mani- 
festly far  below  the  truth,  the  amounts  consumed 
by  producers  being  doubtless  often  omitted,  at  least 
prior  to  1870.  The  figures  for  1875  and  1880  are 
estimated  as  already  explained  : — 


the  facts  in  regard  to  it  better  known.  The 
amount  of  cheese  made  in  a  year  by  the  average 
American  cow,  the  number  of  cows  whose  milk  is 
made  into  cheese,  and  the  average  quantity  of  milk 
required  for  a  pound  of  cheese,  are  among  the  best 
established  facts  of  the  dairy,  and  furnish  a  good 
basis  for  calculation.  A  careful  study  of  all  the 
reliable  data  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  of  the 
12,000,000  cows  owned  in  the  United  States,  just 
about  one-half  contribute  to  the  annual  butter 
crop;  the  milk  of  about  1,000,000  cows  is  made 
into  cheese  ;  and  that  of  the  remainder  is  consumed 
as  milk.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  1,500,000 
cows  are  used  for  breeding  rather  than  the  dairy, 
and  their  milk  does  not  contribute  to  the  dairy 
products  of  the  country.  As  to  the  gross  jiroducts, 
it  has  been  often  asserted,  and  in  places  where  one 
may  expect  to  find  trustworthy  dairy  information, 
that  1,500,000,000  lbs.  of  butter  are  annually 
made  in  the  United  States.  This  is  simply 
absurd,  for  it  would  require  a  product  of  250  lbs. 


Tear. 

No.  of 

Butter 

Cheese 

Milk  Sold 

Total 

cow^. 

made. 

made. 

and  Used. 

Yaiue. 

lus. 

lbs. 

Uallons. 

lJoll;.rs. 

1810  ... 

4.837,013 

— 

— 

— 

120  926,075 

1850  ... 

(i,:;;L'  ,iii 

.;l,;  ,;|  ...inn 

in, >, .1.1.1  ~Ii,; 

— 

1«!,193,144 

18G0   ... 

S  .  1  ■     .  ■  ' 

]■.  1       t  ■  . 

— 

210,400.580 

1870  ... 

8,;i:;  •  .  : 

'.■'''':   . , ; ' 

235.600,599 

360.828,000 

1875  ... 

IKIllii.iiiu 

,  (III  (HI  1  HI  III 

-III  iiMi.iin  ) 

1.500,000,000 

400,000,000 

1880  ... 

12  000  OIW 

81lil,0UU,OU0 

3Jll,U01),UUJ 

2,000,000,000 

408,000,000 

The  Following  mat  be  added  for  the  Dominion  of  Canada  : 

1871  ...  1  1,293  839  '    75,635,031  I  22,277.747  (     —     I    - 
1880  ...   1,600,000  :  100,000,000  75,000,0i;0   200,000,000   50,000,000 

The  foregoing  is  as  accurate  a  showing  of  the 
gross  jH'oducts  of  American  dairying  as  can  be 
given  from  the  data  available. 

As  to  the  disposition  made  of  these  products, 
the   home  consumption  and  domestic  markets  of 


414 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


America  will  be  first  coiisidcreJ.  The  three 
different  forms  in  which  dairy  products  are  used 
and  sold  vary  so  much  in  the  conditions  affeetinj^ 
them  as  to  necessitate  separate  treatment. 

It  has  ah-eady  been  stated,  in  describing-  tlic 
location  of  dairying  in  America,  that  the  local 
butter  markets  can  be  and  are,  g;eneral]y,  locally 
fed,  tliis  beinj''  true  even  in  the  South,  excepting 
the  cities.  Of  the  annual  gross  butter  product  of 
the  United  States  and  Canada,  it  may  be  roughly 
stated  that  30  per  cent,  is  used  by  the  producers 
or  in  neighbourhood  exchange,  that  30  per  cent, 
more  is  disposed  of  in  local  markets,  delivered 
by  the  maker  to  village  families  or  hindled  by 
only  one  trader  before  reaching  the  consumer, 
and  that  the  remaining  40  per  cent,  goes  to 
the  great  centres  of  trade,  and  passes  through 
the  hands  of  three  to  five  classes  of  dealers, 
between  the  producers  and  the  consumers.  In 
the  local  markets  the  grocers  or  dealers  in  general 
merchandise  in  the  towns  and  country  stores 
receive  the  butter  from  the  farmers  in  exchange 
for  goods,  in  the  form  of  printed  pound  lumps 
or  rolls  varying  from  1  to  5  lbs.  in  weight, 
and  retail  it  to  the  various  classes  of  consumers. 
For  many  years  no  distinction  of  grade  was  made 
— a  pound  of  butter  was  a  pound  of  butter,  all 
bought  and  sold  at  the  same  price,  irrespective 
of  how  or  by  whom  it  was  made.  This  remains 
the  custom  in  country  districts  remote  from  trade 
centres,  and  where  dairying  is  not  a  specialty; 
and  in  the  stores  of  villages  aud  country  towns 
in  more  thickly-populated  regions  only  two  grades 
are  generally  known — table  butter  and  cooking 
butter.  Of  course  there  are  exceptions  in  nearly 
every  localitj',  some  makers  commanding  an  extra 
]nice  for  their  butter,  usually  delivered  directly 
to  the  consumers,  and  some  whose  product  is 
60  poor  that  the  only  place  it  finds  in  market 
is  as  grease.  When  the  butter  is  to  go  into 
the  wholesale  trade  it  is  generally  collected  from 
the  producers  by  village  merchants  who  act  as 
forwarders  to  the  city  commission  produce  houses. 
For  this  trade  the  butter  is  mainlj-  packed  in  solid 
mass  in  packages  of  different  sizes  and  kinds; 
almost  universally  of  wood.  There  are  round  boxes 
with  cover.-,  holding  10,  H,  and  15  lbs.;  pails,  "re- 
turn pails,"  and  tubs,  usually  holding  40  to  60  lbs. ; 
and  llrkins  oi'  barrel-shaped  packages  of  100  lbs. ; 
also  small  pails,  half-tubs,  and  half-firklus.  This 
matter  of  the  size  and  shape  of  the  package  diff'-rs 


with  locality.  There  are  local  merchants  in 
different  parts  of  the  country  wdio  buy  butter  of 
the  producers  in  lots  of  different  size,  of  vr.ricd 
quality  and  colour,  and  then,  to  render  it  more 
saleable  in  the  large  markets,  they  work  it  all 
over  together,  generally  with  a  machine,  wash 
it  frequently,  often  purify  it  in  some  way,  colour 
it  uniformly',  and  then  pack  it  in  tubs  or  firkins; 
this  is  usually  called  "nnlled  butter."  In  like 
manner  dairy  butter  from  numerous  farms  is 
collected,  re-worked,  re-packed,  aud  sold  as  a  factory 
])roduct,  being  known  to  the  trade  as  "  imitation 
creaming."  In  Canada  and  parts  of  the  United 
States  a  good  deal  of  butter  is  sent  to  market 
in  large  cylindrical  rolls,  each  wrapped  in  cloth, 
and  these  packed  in  a  tight  firkin  or  barrel, 
generally  in  strong  brine,  sometimes  in  dry  salt. 
Many  good  dairymen  in  different  sections  who 
have  a  special  line  of  customers  put  up  their 
butter  in  pound  or  half-pound  prints,  or  other 
attractive  forms,  and  in  packages  specially 
adapted  to  this  method  ship  directly  to  con- 
sumers or  to  fancy  groeei-s  and  marketmen,  for 
immediate  retailing.  Another  method,  first  prac- 
tised in  1879  and  18S0,  is  to  take  the  butter  from 
the  churn  in  granular  form  before  it  gathers, 
wash  thoroughly,  work  not  at  all,  but  place  loosely 
in  a  tight  vessel,  which  is  then  filled  with  strong 
pure  brine  and  sealed  uji.  In  this  form  butter 
may  go  to  market  fresh,  be  preserved  for  a  long 
time,  and  at  pleasure  removed  from  the  brine, 
slightly  worked,  salted  to  t;iste,  and  made  into 
pats  or  prints  as  "rosy"  as  if  just  frcmi  the 
churn. 

St.  Albans,  Vermont,  furnishes  a  good  ex- 
ample of  an  American  dairy  market,  with  butter  as 
a  specialty,  and  well  illustrates  the  development 
and  growth  of  such  a  market.  This  place  is  the 
shire  towai  of  Franklin  Countj-,  in  the  north-west 
corner  of  Vermont,  G3  miles  south  of  JNIontreal, 
and  about  200  miles  from  Boston.  The  sur- 
rounding country  in  New  York  as  well  as  in 
Vermont  is  an  excellent  butter-making  region.  In 
the  j'ear  1825,  although  butter  was  ]>lentiful  and 
sold  at  10  and  12  cents  a  pound,  there  was  no 
special  market  and  not  a  great  surplus ;  the  accu- 
mulations of  the  season  were  usually  sent  overland 
in  the  winter  to  the  Montreal  market.  About  1840 
a  larger  surplus  of  butter  was  noticeable,  and  the 
shipments  turned  towards  New  York,  water  trans- 
portation being  depended  iijion,  and  consignments 


AIMKRICAN    DAIRY    MARKETS. 


415 


iii;i(le  in  the  aulunin  only.  In  ISTjO  the  coiistrue- 
tiou  of  raih'oads  opened  a  quick  route  from  St. 
Albans,  created  its  market,  and  made  Bo.ston  the 
objeetive  point.  At  that  time  the  town  had  a 
population  of  3,50Q,  no  trade  organisation — nor 
has  it  yet — and  no  special  market  day.  The  dairj'- 
men  of  the  surrounding;  country  brought  in  their 
butter  at  pleasure,  and  it  was  bought  up  by  jobbers 
and  resident  agents  of  Boston  dealers.  In  185i 
a  weekly  refrigerator-car  began  to  run  from  St. 
Albans  to  Boston  for  the  butter  shipments,  and 
this  made  Tuesday  the  butter  day,  and  gave  more 
system  to  the  trade.  No  material  change  has  since 
occurred.  Every  Tuesday,  from  daylight  until 
noon,  the  streets  of  St.  Albans,  now  a  town  of 
over  7,000  inhabitants,  are  filled  with  vehicles  of 
all  descriptions  laden  with  butter  and  cheese,  their 
contents  are  samjjled  and  graded  by  numerous 
buyers,  sales  effected,  and  the  packages  delivered 
directly  to  the  railroad  agents.  For  some  years 
the  greater  part  of  the  buying  has  been  done  by 
local  exj)erts,  on  commission,  for  the  large  city 
operators ;  the  commission  was  one  cent  a  pound 
for  a  long  time,  but  has  considerably  decreased, 
and  become  largely  subject  to  special  contracts. 
As  to  quality,  but  three  grades  were  formerly 
known — j)i"i'^6,  fair,  and  poor,  and  the  quantity  of 
each  ranged  just  about  one-third.  Of  late  years 
there  has  been  more  care  in  assorting,  and  a  greater 
proportion  of  the  pi-oduct  has  been  placed  in  the 
higher  grades,  but  verj'  little  in  the  highest.  The 
following  table  gives  the  shipments  of  butter  from 
St.  Albans,  at  intervals  since  1850  : — 

Years       1850.  IS.'iS.  1860.  1865. 

,  Lbs.  of  Butter    ...    1,192,968      1,715,127      2,256,700      3,035,277 


1870. 
3,270,182 


1875.  1876.  1877.  1878. 

2,972,431      2,52.5,325      1,778,700      1,182,950 


During  twenty  years,  ending  in  1870,  the  ship- 
ments amounted  to  50,631,595  lbs.,  valued  at  about 
15,000,000  dollars,  and  during  the  same  period 
cheese  to  the  amount  of  21,000,000  lbs.,  valued 
at  about  3,000,000  dollars.  Nearly  all  the  butter 
passing  through  the  St.  Albans  market  is  in  tubs  of 
spruce  and  white  oak  containing  just  about  SOlbs. 
each.  The  rapid  falling-off  in  the  shipments  from 
this  point  since  1870  has  been  owing,  first,  to  branch 
railroads,  which  take  ivp  butter  at  local  stations 
which  formerly  went  to  swell  the  receipts  at  St. 
Albans,  and  next  to  Western  comj)etition  in  the 


Bnston  market.  In  the  great  bultcr-niarkcts  (if 
the  country  it  is»  found  that  not  over  2  per  cent, 
of  the  total  receipts  can  be  classed  as  "  fancy  "  or 
"gilt-edged,"  and  but  ab.iut  10  per  cent,  as  really 
first-class,  bringing  top  prices  in  the  wholesale 
trade.  The  consumption  of  butter  varies  in  the 
United  Sta,tes  in  different  localities,  and  among 
different  classes  of  people,  from  12  lbs.  to  25  lbs. 
per  head  per  annum.  The  general  average  is  not 
f.ir  from  15  lbs. 

The  conditions  governing  the  trade  in  cheese 
and  cheese-markets  differ  greatly  from  those 
relating  to  butter.  Cheese  has  never  been  so  gene- 
rally made  in  America  by  the  owners  of  dairy-cows 
as  buttei-,  and  the  rapid  substitution  of  factory 
cheese-making  for  private  dairying  has  also  made 
great  changes.  So  now  very  little  cheese  is 
made  except  in  the  distinctively  cheese  regions. 
The  contrast  may  thus  be  seen : — The  census 
shows  an  annual  product  in  thirty-three  States 
and  Territories  of  more  than  1,000,000  lbs.  of 
butter  each,  but  only  eleven  produce  more  than 
l.OOOjOiJOlbs.  of  cheese;  twenty-nine  States  and 
Territories  produce  more  than  2,000,0001bs. 
of  butter,  but  only  six  produce  as  much  cheese. 
One  of  the  results  of  this  condition  of  the  cheese 
jjroduction  is  that  the  article  passes  through  the 
hands  of  several  dealers  before  reaching  the  con- 
sumer, and  another  is  that  the  cheese  trade  of  the 
country  is  very  greatly  concentrated.  So  much 
was  this  the  case  that,  as  late  as  1860,  one  man  at- 
temjited  a  "corner"  in  the  American  cheese  trade  ; 
New  York  and  five  adjoining  States  then  produced 
nine-tenths  of  the  whole  cheese  crop  of  the  country, 
and  the  greater  part  of  this  was  engaged  in  advance. 
A  disastrous  faihu'e  resulted,  but  this  illustrates 
the  concentration  of  the  cheese  trade  ;  no  one 
would  ever  have  attempted  a  similar  control  of  the 
butter  product  of  the  country.  In  retailing  it 
has  been  quite  common  for  years  for  the  selling 
price  of  cut  cheese  to  be  double  the  current 
wholesale  rates,  and  retailers  often  received  a 
profit  of  50  to  80  and  even  100  per  centum 
on  cheese  sold  to  consumers,  when  selling  butter 
for  just  what  they  paid  for  it  in  groceries,  or  at  a 
very  small  profit.  This  doubtless  accounts,  in  a 
great  measure,  for  the  very  low  jyer  cajii/a  con- 
sumption of  cheese  in  America,  which  is  from  4  lbs. 
to  5  lbs.  per  annum.  There  is  in  progress,  how- 
ever, a  rapid  increase  in  the  rate  of  home  consump- 
tion of  cheese;  the  aggregate  increase  is  estimated 


416 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


by  ffool  judfjes  to  he  fnmi  12,0011, IKHI  ll,s.  to 
15,()()U,Ul)0ll)s.  ])frycar.  Local  markets  have  l)een 
created  in  many  places  Ry  catering  to  the  popular 
tastes  and  preju  lices  in  t!ie  matter  of  size,  i'oiin, 
and  colour  of  the  cheeses  offered  for  sale,  and 
retailers  are  beginninif  to  see  that  the  old  maxim 
of  "  quick  sales  and  small  profits"  is  as  true  when 
applied  to  cheese  as  to  other  merchandise.  In 
some  places  such  special  efforts  have  been  found  to 
increase  the  average  annual  consumption  in  the 
community  to  over  20  lbs.  per  capita.  A  case  is 
authenticated  wherecaref ul  investigation  showed  the 
per  capita  consumption  to  vary  in  the  years  1872 
to  1875  from  8  to  11  lbs. ;  then,  by  special  efforts 
to  make  cheese  a  more  attractive  and  more  common 
article  of  food,  the  rate  was  raisad  to  14  lbs.  in 
1876,  17  lbs.  in  1877,  and  about  20  lbs.  in  1878. 

Little  Falls,  Herkimer  County,  New  York,  is 
probably  the  best  example  of  American  cheese- 
markets.  The  great  cheese  product  of  that  county 
and  the  advantageous  location  of  the  town  made  it 
at  an  early  datu  a  centre  for  the  sale  of  dairy  pro- 
ducts. It  is  a  town  of  6,000  inhabitants,  situated 
in  a  rocky  gorge  cut  through  the  hills  by  the 
Mohawk  River,  directly  upon  that  stream,  on  the 
New  York  Central  Railroad,  midway  between 
Albany  and  Syracuse,  and  near  the  Erie  Canal. 
The  market  character  of  the  place  was  acquired 
spontaneously,  the  dairymen  coming  there  to  sell 
by  common  consent.  At  first  trade  was  very 
irregularly  conducted,  producers  and  buyers  visit- 
ing the  town  at  their  convenience,  and  meeting 
largely  by  chance.  But  the  business  soon  system- 
atised  itself,  and  as  early  as  1838  Mondays  and 
AVeduesdays  became  regular  sale  days,  sellers  from 
farm  dairies  in  large  number  coming  in  with  their 
loaded  waggons,  and  meeting  buyers  from  the 
Eastern  cities,  their  agents  and  local  dealers.  The 
waggons  were  scattered  along  the  streets,  and  these, 
with  the  railroad  freiglit  house,  formed  the  market- 
place. From  1860  to  1861,  after  the  factories 
became  pretty  well  established,  Mondays  only  were 
regular  market  days.  In  18()  l  weekly  reports  of 
the  Little  Falls  cheese-market  began,  and  have 
continued  a  standard  reference  from  that  time ;  the 
transactions  are  specially  reported  for  many  of  the 
leading  city  newspapers,  the  (quotations  telegraphed 
the  country  over,  and  the  prices  there  obtained  have 
a  marked  influence  upon  the  city  markets  for  the 
week.  The  business  continued  to  be  chiefly  done 
upon  the  streets  until  1871.      In  the  spring  of  that 


year  a  Hoard  of  Tr:idc,  inutly  in  the  dairy  interest, 
was  organised  at  Little  Falls,  largely  through  the 
efforts  and  under  the  guidance  of  X.  A.  AVillard, 
with  whom  the  idea  originated.  On  the  10th  of 
.Iiil\,  1^71,  the  commodious  trade  rooms  of  the 
Board  were  formally  oi)ened,  and  to  them  the 
greater  part  of  the  transactions  were  then  trans- 
ferred. Other  Boards  of  Trade  were  soon  organised 
at  different  dairy  centres,  most  of  them  being 
modelled  closely  after  this  original ;  the  locations  of 
several  of  them  have  been  already  named.  This 
Little  Falls  Board,  although  a  purely  local  busi- 
ness institution,  made  the  mistake  of  trying  to 
attach  to  itself  a  "  New  York  Utate  Dairymen's 
Association,'"  with  meetings  and  management 
controlled  by  the  local  Board ;  this  has  created 
jealousies  and  rivalry,  impaired  the  usefulness  of 
the  organisation,  and  more  or  less  dispersed  the 
business,  sending  some  of  it  upon  the  streets  again. 
But  as  a  whole  the  Little  Falls  trade  continues  to 
grow,  and  the  town  remains  one  of  the  largest 
dairy-markets  of  the  world.  Not  only  is  the  greater 
part  of  the  Herkimer  County  cheese  product  sold 
there,  but  much  from  the  neighbouring  counties  of 
F\ilton,  Otsego,  Montgomery,  &c.  Since  the  factory- 
made  cheese  has  become  nineteen-tweutieths  or 
more  of  the  total  product,  the  sales  are  greatly 
facilitated.  Factory  cheese  is  now  so  uniform  in 
quality  that  it  is  generally  sold  on  Mondays  by 
sample,  and  shipped  the  next  day  from  railway 
stations  nearest  to  the  factories.  Thus  a  very 
large  part  of  the  amount  sold  at  Little  Falls  is 
never  brought  to  that  place,  and  does  not  appear 
in  the  report  of  shipments  therefrom.  The  usual 
method  is  for  each  factory  agent  or  seller  to  take  a 
sample  or  cylindrical  cutting  with  a  tryer  from  one 
cheese  of  every  vat  of  milk  for  every  day  of  the 
cheese  offered ;  these  cuttings  are  placed  in  little 


glass  bottles  which  tit  a  ])ockct-casc  (Fig.  210),  and 
sales  made  from  them  at  the  market.  The  reputation 
of  the  several  factories  largely  influences  the  sale 
of  their  products,  and  indeed  sales  are  often  made 


a:\ikuican  dairy  markets. 


417 


upon  iTput:itii)ii  alono.  It  is  usual  for  from  seven 
to  ten  (la\s'  make  of  elieese  to  be  offered  and  sold 
from  eaeli  faetory  at  one  time.  The  farm  dairies 
continue  to  deliver  their  cheese  and  butter  on  the 
sale  days,  and  they  are  tested  in  the  waggons;  this 
also  tends  to  keep  some  of  the  business  upon  the 
street.  The  quantity  of  cheese  annually  sold  in 
the  Little  Falls  market  ranges  from  15,000,000  to 
17,000,000  lbs.,  less  than  half  of  it  being  forwarded 
from  that  place.  Several  hundred  thousand  pounds 
of  butter  are  also  sold  during  the  year.  The  active 
season  of  the  market  extends  from  April  until 
December,  although  more  or  less  sales  occur  every 
week.  The  following  table,  which  gives  the  ship- 
ments by  railroad  only  from  Little  Falls  for  three 
successive  years,  exhibits  the  monthly  variation  in 
the  markets  : — 


Year. 

Mou'b. 

1876. 

1877. 

1878. 

Boxes. 

Lbs. 

Boxes. 

Lbs. 

Boxes. 

Lbs. 

January 

326 

15,245 

668 

43  090 

1,157 

74,201 

February 

1,206 

77  iK)3 

771 

44  777 

723 

45.11,5 

March 

2,226 

113.3!)2 

1,703 

66  401 

2H 

13,779 

April 

6,808 

558,595 

3.538 

213.459 

6.846 

405.639 

May     

,5.6.53 

359,112 

10,954 

653  577 

10,768 

651,641 

June 

12  01" 

775,509 

15,370 

942,031 

16,382 

1,012,615 

July    

U,S04 

928,988 

18.441 

1,102,162 

19,656 

1,233,880 

August 

i.s.as- 

1,132,730 

15,947 

913,139 

17,502 

1,051,759 

September    ... 

1U.8!IS 

616,028 

11,453 

688  589 

16.576 

1,011.453 

October 

11.158 

081,795 

17,,'0"> 

1,091,893 

11,328 

739,696 

November     ... 

7,365 

453.890 

10377 

654,001 

11,369 

735,451 

Ueoembtr     ... 

2,262 

148,37() 

4,937 

302,712 

7,230 

483.391 

Total       ... 

91,370 

5,924,563 

1U,035 

6,746.097 

119,781 

7,461.723 

This  table  has  little  value,  however,  beyond  showing 
this  variation,  because  the  railway  shipments  form 
but  about  one-half  of  the  season's  sales  at  this 
market.  It  should  be  added  that  the  prices  of  cheese 
at  Little  Falls  generally  run  as  high  as  anywhere 
else  in  the  country,  being  often  equal  to  New  York 
City  rates,  where  the  same  product  is  largely  re-sold. 
As  these  Dairy  Boards  of  Trade  are  so  nu- 
merous in  America,  prove  such  a  help  in  busi- 
ness, and  have  a  general  resemblance,  it  may  be 
well  to  state  the  leading  features  embraced  in 
their  governing  rules : — Membership  open  to  any 
bond  fide  producer,  factory  agent,  or  dealer,  on 
payment  of  annual  fee  from  one  to  five  dollars, 
private  dairymen  being  taxed  less  than  factories  ; 
sales-rooms  or  head-quarters  for  convenient  trans- 
action of  business  on  lixed  market  days,  and  only 
members  entitled  to  the  privileges  (a  small  fee 
in    some    ca.ses    gives   privilege   of   rooms   to   any 


one  for  a  single  market  day)  ;  registration  on 
each  sales-day  of  sellers  and  their  offered  products, 
and  of  buyers ;  an  executive  officer,  usually  the 
secretary,  in  the  charge  of  the  rooms,  of  mem- 
bership, of  the  bulletin,  and  of  the  records  of  the 
Board  and  the  transactions  of  the  market;  a 
bulletin,  and  upon  it,  conspicuously  displayed 
on  market  days,  quotations,  telegrams  as  to  ex- 
ports and  business  information  bearing  upon  the 
trade  from  New  York ;  foreign  and  domestic 
markets  ;  a  board  of  arbitration  for  settlement  of 
all  differences  between  buyers  and  sellers,  &e. ; 
committees  to  grade  products,  to  facilitate  trade 
and  transportation — and  minor  regulations. 

Utica,  twenty-two  miles  west  of  Little  Falls, 
has  become  a  dairy  market  of  almost  equal  size 
and  importance.  It  is  a  city  of  over  30,000  in- 
habitants, with  a  large  general  business.  The 
following  is  a  comparative  and  interesting  state- 
ment of  the  cheese  trade  for  three  jears,  at  both 
Utica  and  Little  Falls,  taken  from  the  very 
comprehensive  reports  of  Mr.  B.  D.  Gilbert, 
Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trade  at  Utica : — 


1877. 

1878,             1879. 

Utica. 

Sales  of  Boxes 

Highest  price  obtained    Cents. 
Lowest  price  obtained           ,, 
General  average  for  Season  ,, 
Value  of  Total  Sales    ...  Dolls. 

205,713 
15 

Hi 

1,439,991 

322,535 
12' 

1,686,923 

301,559 
131 

3 

81 
1,488,5.55 

Little  Fails. 
Sales  of  Boxes  ,.. 
Highest  price  obtained    Cents. 
Lowest  price  obt«ined          ,, 
General  average  for  Season  ,, 
Value  of  Total  Sales    ...Dolls. 

208,847 
15 
7 

111 
1,481,017 

281,618 

12* 

0 

8i 

1,431,013 

244,943 
141 
4 

1,149!566 

Mr.  Gilbert,  in  October,  estimated  the  sales  for  the 
season  of  1880  at  284,198  boxes  for  Utica,  and 
237,277  boxes  for  Little  Falls,  with  an  average 
price  of  12  cents.  At  these  two  markets  the  season 
usually  begins  in  April  and  closes  early  in  De- 
cember; the  business  of  the  Boards  at  both  places 
is -so  well  maintained  that  it  is  rare  for  a  single 
market  day  to  pass  without  the  occurrence  of  sales. 
Sales  of  milk,  for  use  in  families,  are  made 
in  almost  all  cases,  the  country  over,  by  the  pro- 
ducer direct  to  the  consumer,  the  large  cities  ex- 
cepted. In  many  American  towns  and  villages 
families  keep  a  cow  who  own  no  other  domestic 
animal;  sometimes  two  families  .unite  in  the 
ownership  of  a  cow,  dividing  the  product.      And 


'MS 


DAIRY     I'Ali.MIXG. 


"■I'lrn  tlie  <j\vti('r  of  a  siiii^lc  iinimal  supplios  :i 
iieifjhlxmr  or  two  witli  milk.  The  milk  su])))!/ 
of  the  villa<^cs  and  towns  in  general  is  conductiMl 
in  a  most  varied  and  unsj-stematic  manner;  the 
owner  of  one  or  two  cows  carries  the  milk  on 
foot  from  door  to  door — the  keeper  of  a  few 
animals  delivers  to  his  customers  with  his  own 
wngg'on — the  milkman  "owning  a  milk-route'" 
and  an  "outfit"  takes  the  milk  of  several  farmers 
and  retails  it,  or  two  or  three  neighbouring  farmers 
unite  in  maintaining  one  milk  waggon  and  route  to 
dispose  of  their  products.  Although  one  middle- 
man may  thus  be  employed  in  some  cases,  the 
milk  for  even  large  towns  and  small  cities  is, 
for  the  most  part,  conveyed  by  waggons,  without 
change,  from  the  farm  where  produced  to  the 
door  of  the  consumer.  The  maximum  distance 
r(>garded  practicable  for  cartage  and  delivery 
is  fiFteen  miles.  Under  this  system  the  milk  is 
generally  strained  into  the  can,  and  started  for 
its  destination  without  cooling,  thus  greatly  im- 
pairing its  keeping  qualities.  In  connection  with 
the  large  cities,  railroad  transportation,  the  hand- 
ling of  milk  in  large  quantities,  and  a  regularly 
.systematiscd  trade  are  to  be  found,  with  com- 
mission merchants,  wholesale  and  retiiil  dealers, 
milk  depots  and  retail  stalls.  Transportation  by 
rail  for  over  200  miles  is  not  uncommon.  Milk 
thus  marketed  is  taxed  to  support  at  least  three 
sets  of  middlemen,  and  yields  to  the  producer 
from  one-third  to  one-half  of  the  price  finally 
paid  by  the  consumer.  This  branch  of  the  sub- 
ject will  be  further  noticed  under  another  head. 
Nearly  all  milk  for  use  as  food  goes  to  market 
in  tin  cans;  these  vary  in  size  from  1  to  10 
gallons,  according  to  local  custom.  The  average 
annual  consumption  of  milk  per  capita  in  the 
United  States  cannot  be  given  with  any  pre- 
tence to  accuracy;  a  mean  estimate  is  100  quarts, 
or  less  than  \  pint  a  day.  Several  country  ex- 
periments have  indicated  1  pint  a  day,  one  in  a 
manufacturing  town  \  pint,  and  the  New  Yoi-k 
City  consumption  has  been  estimated  at  \  pint 
daily,  per  cupita. 

All  the  facts  and  figures  of  the  domestic 
markets  refer  only  to  the  manufactured  articles 
butter  and  cheese,  and  generally  as  prepared 
for  tlie  wholesale  trade.  Butter  is  usually  re- 
porti'd  in  "packages,"  and  cheese  in  "boxes." 
\\lu'n'  weights  are  not  added  the  former  may 
lie    '-omputi'd    at    TjO  lbs.    per    i)apkago,    the    latter 


at  00  lbs.  per  box.  There  is  a  marked  tendency, 
however,  to  forward  dairy  products  in  smaller 
parcels,  in  response  to  the  demands  of  consumers 
and  the  distributing  trade.  Whereas  the  ordinary 
weight  of  a  cheese  prior  to  1S50  was  100  lbs.  or 
more,  the  average  at  Little  P'alls  in  187S  was  57 
or  58  lbs.,  and  30  lbs.  cheese  have  proved  very 
acceptable,  bringing  prices  a  shade  above  others 
of  like  quality,  because  of  the  size.  In  butter, 
the  home  markets  are  drifting  toward  a  fresher 
article  and  less  packed,  and  so  small  pails,  as  well 
as  1,  2,  and  -lib.  packages  of  different  forms, 
retailed  unbroken  from  the  dairy  or  creamery, 
meet  with  decided  favour. 

The  transactions  of  other  domestic  markets 
must  be  very  briefly  mentioned.  Elgin  is  to 
Illinois  and  the  north-west  what  Little  Falls, 
Utica,  and  St.  Albans  are  to  the  east,  the 
centre  of  dairy  interests ;  and  its  market  largely 
influences  the  trade  of  that  whole  section.  In 
the  year  1850  there  were  not  a  dozen  farms 
specially  devoted  to  dairying  in  the  vicinity  of 
lilgin;  in  1878  there  were  forty  butter  and  cheese 
factories  within  a  radius  of  twelve  miles,  besides  a 
very  large  milk-condensing  factory.  Previous  to 
1872  the  sales  were  mostly  made  through  com- 
mission merchants,  but  in  that  year  a  Board  of 
Trade  was  organised,  and  its  sales  during  the  five 
years  following  amounted  to  nearly  3,000,000 
dollars.  The  following  statistics,  furnished  by 
]Mr.  R.  P.  McGlincy,  who  has  been  the  Secretary 
of  the  Elgin  Board  from  its  organisation,  exhibit 
the  rajiid  increase  of  sales  at  that  market : — 


Years. 

Butter. 

Prices. 

Cheese. 

Prices. 

Value  SaKs. 

lbs. 

Cents. 

lbs. 

Cents. 

Dollars 

1872       ... 

— 

Av.  35 

— 

8}  to  17 

81,000 

1873      ... 

62,061     28  to  40 

1,726,316 

9    „14 

219,178 

1874      ... 

136,426  I32„40 

2,955,202 

10  „m 

368,.528 

1875      ... 

23,'j,17.5  1  31  „  38 

4,038,206 

9    „15 

580,399 

1876      ... 

879,267     25,,  40 

5,177,730 

8    „14 

767,641 

1877      ... 

1,174,385     22,,  40 

6,636,386 

7    „13 

1,0.59,085 

1878      ... 

1,11.3,955     15„27 

.5,249,260 

4    „11 

7r)5,.597 

1879      ... 

977,879     14„40 

3,618,314 

3    „12 

5.39,143 

1880      ... 

2,525,917     14  „  39 

10,013,002 

7    „14 

1,600,602 

Milwaukee,  AViscoiisin,  received  in  1878  about 
5,000,000  lbs.  of  butter  and  an  equal  quantity  of 
cheese.  The  receipts  of  San  Francisco  for  the 
same  year  were  14,000,000  lbs.  of  butter  and 
nearly  10,000,000  lbs.  of  cheese.  The  markets 
thus  far  named,  as  well  as  others  previously 
mentioned  as  centres  of  trade  in  describing  the 
«lair\inr;-    districts,    imlicatc    the    activity    of    this 


AMERICAN    DAIRY    EXPORTS. 


419 


interest  in  their  surroundins^  country.  They  are 
receiving  and  forwarding-  depots.  The  dairy  trade 
for  distribution  through  the  most  populous  Eastern 
sections,  and  in  connection  with  exports,  centres 
at  the  great  cities. 

New  York  is,  of  course,  the  most  important 
and  interesting  wholesale  market  of  dairy  products 
in  America.  The  Butter  and  Cheese  Exchange 
was  organised  there  in  1873,  and  opened  trade 
rooms  in  September  of  that  year ;  the  title  has 
since  been  unfortunately  changed  to  American 
Exchange,  a  term  so  general  as  to  be  without 
significance.  The  following  receipts  at  New  York 
were  reported  for  the  trade  : — • 


1 

M    1 

H 

tS 

Butter, 
Packages. 

h 

l.sl 

H 

1870 
187) 
1872 

330,813 
709,473 
680,688 

1,544,924 
1,467,633 
1,714,210 

1873 
1874 
1873 

951,932 
1,005,497 
1,073,633 

2,007.663 
1,831,125 
2,335,533 

1876 
1877 
1S78 

1,300,475 
1,320110 
1,368,332 

2,184,288 
2,451,756 
3,202,161 

The  fluctuations  in  the  market  and  the  activity 
of  the  trade  at  different  seasons  of  the  year  can 
be  seen  from  the  following  tables  of  monthly 
receipts  and  prices  at  New  York,  for  three  selected 
years : — ■ 


Butter  in  Packages  of  about  50  lbs.  each.      Prices  in  cents  per  lb.  for 
fine  Creamery  and  New  York  State  Dairy. 


Month, 

1874. 

1875. 

1878. 

Cents. 

Cents. 

Cents. 

January  ... 

70,670 

39 

to  45 

78308 

34 

to3H 

76,767 

2fi 

to  30 

February .. 

54,462 

42 

„  46 

46,725 

29 

„  31 

73,729 

26 

„  30 

MiiTch     ... 

48,203 

43 

„  47 

81,398 

24 

„31 

68,353 

23 

,.  29 

April 

61,604 

36 

.,  39 

76,367 

21 

„  25 

81,321 

21 

„  26 

May 

77,583 

33 

„  34 

70.818 

19 

„  22 

122,409 

18 

„  21 

June 

107.071 

2S 

„  32 

82.314 

2(i 

„  28 

137,115 

1.1 

„  19 

July 

96.905 

29 

„  32 

76,813 

27 

„  28 

141,081 

16 

„  19 

August    ... 

91,092 

3(1 

„  33 

86,843 

28 

,.  30 

141.210 

IS 

„  20 

September 

99  492 

;« 

,.  36 

104.728 

:« 

„  32 

135  289 

19 

„  23 

October  ... 

90,688 

3(i 

„  40 

145,027 

3(» 

„  33 

139,227 

2(1 

„  23 

November. 

103,138 

3.T 

>,  38 

128,865 

30 

„  33 

138,315 

■'A 

„  24 

December. 

102,387 

33 

„  37 

97,419 

30 

„  32 

113,516 

21 

„  23 

Cheese  in  Boxes  of  about  60  lb 

.  each. 

Prices  in  cents  per  lb.  for  fine 

New  York  State  Factory. 

Month. 

1874. 

1873. 

1878. 

Cents. 

Cents. 

Cents. 

January  ... 

25,320 

lUtolS' 

13.170 

15   to  16* 

66,965 

10    toll 

February .. 

46,673 

10    „  17 

10,503 

15    „  17 

40.865 

10     „  14J 

March     ... 

26.913 

12    „  17 

46,723 

13    „  17 

53.115 

9    „  14 

April        ... 

16  879 

12    „  17 

71.9S0 

13  J  „  16J 

57.469 

8    ,.  13 

May 

69  662 

10    „  17 

117,928 

14    „  16 

293,377 

5i  „  12 

June 

2S0.215 

14V  „  13S 

352,433 

9  „  m 

455  986 

5    „    9 

July 

403,897 

111  „  14: 

461.278 

9i  „  13 

605,756 

3    „    8J 

August    .. 

318-801 

13    „  14 

345,312 

9    „  12 

509.122 

5    „    8} 

September 

214.620 

14    „  14 

306,865 

8i  „  13 

283,101 

6    „    9 

October   ... 

170,828 

13    „  16 

273,024 

10    „  14 

298,209  '6    „  10 

November. 

121.917 

15i  „  16S 

189-052 

10    „  13,1 

314,170  ;    6    „    9.S 

December . 

70,396 

14    „  16 

144  333 

10    „  13 

224,026      6    „    9 

The  commercial  years  thus  selected  for  illus- 
tration were  of  healthy  activity,  with  satisfactory 
prices,  free  from  feverishness  and  unusual  fluctua- 
tions. The  prices  given  in  cents  per  pound  are 
for  Eastern  or  New  York  factory  products.  The 
average  receipts  per  month  were  87,215  jiackages 
of  butter  and  158,831  boxes  of  cheese.  The 
previous  table  of  yearly  receipts  shows  that  more 
than  half  of  the  whole  cheese  product  of  the  United 
States  is  annually  received  at  the  New  York  market. 

Chicago  ranks  next  in  importance,  receiving  and 
forwarding,  or  distributing,  about  50,000,000  lbs. 
of  butter  annually  and  nearly  as  much  cheese. 
Other  late  reports  of  the  dairy  trade  of  cities  are 
these,  being  the  number  of  pounds  handled  of 
butter  and  cheese  respectively  : — 

Boston,  3.000.000  and  1,000  000  Philadelphia,  6  000,000  and  2,.30O,00O 
Baltimore,  6.000,000  „  1,200  000  Cincinnati,  6,000,000  „  8,000,000 
St.  Louis,    7,000,000    „   3,000,000    New  Orleans,  3,000,000    „   3,000.000 

Exports. 

The  export  of  dairy  products  from  America 
began  at  an  early  date,  and  has  rapidly  increased 
with  every  decade,  although  there  have  been  periods 
when  the  trade  has  greatly  fallen  off  for  a  few 
years.  But  with  the  exception  of  cotton  and 
leather,  there  are  no  products  of  American  agricul- 
ture which,  from  1790  to  1880,  show  so  great  a 
gain  in  the  quantity  and  value  exported  as  do 
butter  and  cheese.  Butter  became  an  article  of 
foreign  commerce  earlier  than  cheese,  and  exceeded 
the  latter  in  the  quantity  annually  exported  until 
1835.  From  that  time  there  has  been  more  cheese 
than  butter  exported  annually.  From  1835  to 
1865  the  values  of  the  butter  and  cheese  exports 
were  about  equal ;  since  1 865  that  of  the  cheese 
has  been  much  greater. 

Among  the  exports  of  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  in  the  year  1717,  is  the  item  of  130 
casks  of  butter,  and  in  1770  the  American  colonies 
exported  167,0001bs.  of  butter  and  56,0001bs.  of 
cheese.  All  of  these  products  went  to  the  West 
Indies,  and  those  islands  have  been  the  steadiest 
and  among  the  largest  of  the  consumers  of  Ameri- 
can butter  and  cheese,  especially  of  the  former. 
Until  the  interruption  of  the  commerce  of  the 
United  States  by  the  war  of  1812,  the  West  Indies 
received  nearly  all  the  dairy  exports.  From  1820 
the  trade  became  more  scattered,  the  British- 
American  provinces  receiving  large  consignments. 
In   1830    New  York    cheese   began  crossing   the 


420 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


No. 

7. — E.rporfs  of  Buin/  Products  from   America. 

BUTTEK. 

CHEESE. 

Year. 

Total  from  tbe 

Total  from 

♦  Total  Export 

from 
North  America. 

Total  from  the 

Total  from 

•  Total  Export 

Uniled  States. 

Canada. 

United  states. 

Canada. 

North  America. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

ll>s 

lbs. 

lis. 

lbs. 

1770          

167,613 

— 

55,997 

1700           

470,440 

— 

— 

144,7.34 

— 

— 

1800           

1,822,341 

— 

— 

91.3,.S43 

— 

— 

1810          

1,620,538 

— 

— 

741.S78 

— 

— 

1820           

l,0ffi),024 

— 

— 

828.434 

— 

— 

1830           

1,728,212 

— 

— 

1,131.817 

— 

— 

1835          

681,624 

— 

— 

887,000 

— 

— 

1840           

3,78.5,993 

— 

— 

1,748,471 

— 

— 

1845          

3.436,660 

— 

— 

8,67.5,390 

— 

— 

1830           

3,994,.542 

l,17.'^,.50n 

4,576,-392         1 

10.»;],189 

17  100 

10,378,199 

1855          

2,315,249 

1,075,600 

2,.369,689 

4..846  .568 

11,400 

4,848,968 

1858          

3,082,117 

3,322,.W0 

4,071,775 

8,(19.s,.527 

11,700 

7,314  448 

1860           

7,640,914 

.5,512,.'-)00 

10,226,296 

15,515,799 

111,000 

15,l,S2,m7 

1862          

26,691,247 

8,905,578 

31,.")2li,2.S6 

34,052,678 

4.39,000 

.33,418,820 

1864          

20,895,435 

7,000,000 

21,8.50,860 

47,751,329 

600,000 

4.s,o:il,733 

1865          

21,388,185 

6,941,063 

26,438,788 

5:1,089,468 

744, 2(H) 

.53,2.50,764 

1860          

3,806,835 

10,448,789 

7,960,.'-i71 

36,411,985 

87O,;i00 

35,248,603 

1867          

4.912,355 

10,817,918 

11,978,447 

52,352,127 

l,40.s,100 

52,917,158 

1868          

2,071,873 

10,649,733 

6,843,484 

.51,097,203 

6,111,570 

56,21)9,268 

1869          

1,324,332 

10,85S,368 

8,777,821 

39,960,367 

4,503,o70 

44,416,867 

1870          

2,019,268 

12,259.887 

10,670,391 

57,296,327 

5,827,782 

6;S.(I,S3.949 

1871          

3,965,043 

1.5,440.266 

15,085,140 

63,698,867 

8,272,439 

71..S2.H,2.SO 

1872          

7,746,261 

19,068,448 

23,275,073 

66,204,025 

16,424.045 

82.494,124 

1873          

4,518,844 

15,lflS.6.S3 

15,606,930 

80,366,.540 

19,483,211 

99,204,593 

1874          

4,367,983 

12,239,046 

13,055,220 

90,611,077 

24,050,982 

113,246,244 

1875          

6,360,827 

9,268,044 

14,083,548 

101,010,853 

32,342,130 

130,729,382 

1876          

4,644,894 

12,2.">0,0(;6 

1.5,196,717 

97,676,234 

35,024,090 

128,4.S1,5.0 

1877          

21,. 527, 242 

14,691,790 

34,821,252 

107,364,666 

35,930,,524 

139,,S76,056 

1878          

21,834,142 

13,,504,117 

33,377,.533 

123,783,736 

■       39,371,1.39 

1  9,81)1,801 

1879          

38,248,016 

14,  .508,872 

51,6.57,636 

141,654,474 

49,617,415 

1.86,083,762 

1880          

39,236,658 

18,887,703 

56,.559,531 

127,553,907 

43,441,112 

167,-534,276 

•  This  colnmn  inclule'*  total  exp  >rts  from  United  Sta  es  and  Canida,  less  the  exports  of  United  States  to  Canada  and  British  Provinces,  and 
oF  CaLBda  to  the  United  States. 


No.  8. — Destination  of  the  Bdiri)  Products  Exported  from  the   United  States  of  America. 


Tear  of  Export 

and 

Name  of  Article. 


]  To  the  British 
.  ;  Po33t.ssious  in 
I  North  America. 


1858— Butter 

,,  Cheese 
1860 -Butter 

,,  Cheese 
1865— Butter 

,,  Cheese 
1866— Buttoi 

,,  Cheese 
1869— Butter 

,,  Cheese 
1870— Butter 

,,  Cheese 
1873— Butter 

,,  Cheesa 
1875— Butter 

,,  Cheese 
1877-Butter 

,,  Cheese 
1878— Butter 

,,      Cheese 

1879— Butter 

Cheese 


lbs. 

94,1.55 

5,644,183 

3,363,121 

11,978,619 

16,854,047 

49,727,248 

1,432,218 

33,042,868 

28,630 

38,316,127 

111,980 

50,245,613 

1,367,390 

71, .584,466 

3,205,.360 

89,8.54,128 

1.5,031, .377 

104,941,072 

14,345,758 

120,929,600 

24,841,714 

136,603,242 


j:i:i,i:!7 
871.i«;:i 
7l'.i,2i)0 
4i:i,'.io:j 

l,9.S.i.015 

120.574 

5S,!1G7 

1  I'm,  134 

71,528 

271.266 

l(ili,.'):i4 

3:i.s,<,)13 

1,3119,212 

1,698,164 

1,237,112 

1,I62,.524 

1,651.626 

824,373 

2,876,351 


To  the  Briti. 

West  Indies  b 

Guiana. 


To  the  other 
West  Indies  and 
South  America. 


lbs. 

810,128 

673,448 

930,880 

607,246 

870,231 

730,7.38 

465,301 

480,785 

229,281 

387,271 

274,505 

412,.555 

697,068 

683,422 

680,201 

506,348 

1,295,079 
554,038 

1,295,904 
6.58,612 

3,709,961 

1,4.56,458 


1,216,.572 
642,496 

1,4.86,812 
621, (;io 

1,895,1)41 
983,155 

1,241,175 
472,302 
091.310 

l,066!l99 
217,984 

1,.S07,401 
462,516 

1,363,046 
469,517 

1,744,942 
300,8.82 

1,491,142 
2.S1,991 
490,7.59 
256,015 


lbs. 

109,010 

20,320 

1,1711,390 

2>;i,529 

7S7.367 

5,O.S4 

323,473 

1,200 

813,614 

9,700 

4,869,279 

43,287 

7,I62..8.57 

162,283 

8,526,618 

1,237,978 

30,179 

2,.S.54,128 

47,476 

8,381,209 

462,408 


Ihs. 

3,082,117 

8,098,527 

7,640,914 
15,515,799 
21,388,185 
63,089,468 

3,.806,S35 
36,411,985 

1,324,.332 
39,960,367 

2,019,268 
57,290,327 

4,518,844 
80,366,.540 

6,360,827 
101,010,8.53 
21,.527,242 
107,364,666 
21,834,142 
123,7.83,736 
38,248,016 
141,651,474 


Atlantic  in  small  quantities,  and  by  18-iO-4I  the  butter  export  from  the  United  States  had  never 

shij)nients    to    England    had  reached    more    than  reached    3,000,000  lbs.,  and  cheese    had    exceeded 

1,000,000  lbs. ;  this  increased  to  over  5,000,000  lbs.  2,000,000  lbs.  but  one  year;  the  total  value  of  the 

a  year  before  1815.     Still,  up  to  18 1()  the  annual  annual  dairy  exports   had  never    risen    to  half  a 


PRICES    OF   DAIRY   PRODUCTS. 


421 


million  dollars  at  tliis  time.  From  lS-10  to  1850 
the  average  annual  export  of  butter  was  over 
3,000,000 lbs.,  and  during-  the  same  decade  the 
cheese  export  rose  from  700,0001bs.  to  17,000,000 
lbs.  From  1850  to  1855  there  was  a  decline  of 
nearly  one-half  in  the  quantity  and  value  of  the 
exports.  At  this  time  Great  Britain  appears  to 
have  taken  fully  two-thirds  of  the  whole  export, 
and  much  went  to  Canada.  The  reciprocity  treaty 
between  the  United  States  and  Canada,  which  was 
proclaimed  March  16th,  1855,  included  butter  and 
cheese  in  the  free  list,  and  Canada,  with  the  more 
distant  provinces,  were  lai-ge  purchasers  of  those 
articles  in  "  the  States "  during  the  ten  years 
the  provisions  of  that  treaty  were  in  operation. 
From  1850  to  1860  the  butter  exported  averaged 
2,500,000  lbs.  and  the  cheese  over  6,000,000  lbs. 
annually;  from  1860  to  1870  butter  14,000,000  lbs., 
cheese  40,000,000  lbs.  The  aggregate  weight 
of  cheese  exported  from  the  United  States  from 
1790  to  1878,  inclusive,  was  1,;386,736,:307  lbs., 
and  one-tenth  of  the  whole  (139,249,276  lbs.)  is 
credited  to  the  calendar  year  of  1878 1  These 
facts  may  be  better  presented  by  the  accom- 
panying tables  of  export  statistics.  Table  No.  7 
gives  the  total  exports  of  butter  and  cheese  from 
the  United  States  and  Canada  for  a  number  of 
selected  years,  sufficient  to  show  the  development 
of  this  trade  and  its  fluctuations,  and  the  net 
shijiments  of  dairy  iiroducts  from  American  shores, 
in  the  third  column,  obtained  by  deducting  from 
the  sum  of  the  first  two  columns  the  quantities 
reported  as  piassing  from  Canada  to  the  States, 
and  vice  versa.  Table  No.  8  exhibits  the  disposi- 
tion of  most  of  the  surplus  dairy  product  of  the 
United  States  during  twenty  j^ears.  The  rest  has 
been  distributed  in  comparatively  small  quantities 
among  about  twenty  other  countries ;  the  largest 
customers  not  named  are  Mexico,  the  Hawaiian 
Islands,  China,  and  Japan.  It  will  be  seen  that 
Great  Britain  takes  over  70  per  cent,  of  the  butter 
exported,  and  over  95  per  cent,  of  the  cheese. 
The  details  of  the  Canadian  exports  cannot  be 
so  closely  given,  but  the  proportion  of  the  surplus 
butter  and  cheese  of  the  Dominion  which  goes 
to  Great  Britain  is  about  the  same  as  just  named 
for  the  United  States.  The  figures  of  the  Tables 
are  generally  those  of  the  fiscal  years  ending,  both 
in  Canada  and  the  United  States,  upon  the 
30tli  of  June. 

The  City  of  New  York  has  controlled  nearly 


the  whole  foreign  trade  of  the  United  States  in 
dairy  goods  from  the  time  it  became  important. 
In  1855  more  than  half  the  butter  and  nearly 
all  of  the  cheese  exported  from  the  country  was 
shipped  from  that  port;  in  1880  three-fourths 
of  the  butter  export  and  more  than  nine-tenths 
of  the  cheese. 

The  following  is  a  monthly  statement  of  the  ex- 
ports from  this  port  for  the  years  1877  and  1878  : — 


Tear. 

Month. 

1877. 

1878. 

Butter,  in 

Cheese,  in 

Butter,  in 

Cheese,  in 

lbs. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

January 

883,851 

4,902,415 

827,862 

7,418,961 

Febraary 

1,580,356 

4,277,512 

841,122 

4,516,789 

March 

2,297,806 

2,006,122 

1,223,922 

6,212,735 

Aiiril     

1,056,937 

1,390,593 

1,762,153 

5,012,527 

May      

802,574 

8,997,982 

1,141,154 

14,075,138 

June      

2,219,435 

20,899,781 

2,421,295 

23,671,879 

July     

3,031,881 

21,788,294 

4,251,961 

31,030,186 

August... 

3,585,706 

21,003,433 

3,405,852 

16,794,651 

September 

,5,126,102 

10,667,094 

3,804,424 

11,006,748 

October 

1,949,765 

7,226,190 

2,304,390 

10,369,242 

November 

993,785 

8,334,659 

2,134,039 

8,.554,484 

December 

718,947 

6,861,795 

2,276,543 

6,823,570 

The  other  ports  from  which  dairy  products  go 
abroad  in  any  considerable  quantity  are  Phila- 
delphia, Boston,  Baltimore,  New  Orleans,  and  San 
Francisco. 

Comparing  butter  and  cheese  with  other  agri- 
cultural products  exported  from  the  United  States, 
it  is  found  that  in  value  they  form  3J  per  cent, 
of  the  total,  and  that  cotton,  wheat,  pork  pro- 
ducts, Indian  corn,  tobacco,  and  beef  products  are 
the  only  articles  which  bear  a  greater  ratio  to  the 
whole. 

Peices. 

The  prices  of  dairy  products  in  the  United 
States  vary  so  much  with  the  location  of  the 
sales,  the  changing  rates  of  transportation,  and 
the  general  tone  of  trade  and  the  markets,  that  the 
figures  available  are  not  of  great  value.  Theo- 
retically, based  upon  the  respective  quantity  of 
milk  required  to  produce  a  pound  of  each  article, 
the  relative  price  of  butter  and  cheese  in  the 
same  market  is  held  to  be  as  2^  is  to  1 ;  that  is, 
with  butter  selling  at  25  cents  a  pound,  cheese 
should  be  10  cents.  But  practically  this  law  has 
rarely  governed  sales;  cheese,  until  1878,  sold 
generally  at  half  the  price  of  butter,  and  often 
more,    but    since    that    time    the    cheese   average 


422 


DAIRY    FARMING 


has  ranged  from  one-third   to  two- fifths  that  of 
butter. 

The  average  prices  obtained  for  butter  and 
cheese  at  the  wholesale  market  of  New  York 
City  are  given  as  follows  for  the  month  of 
January  in  eaeh  year  for  half  a  century,  upon 
the  authority  of  Professor  Willard : — Commenc- 
ing with  January,  1835,  the  products  of  the 
previous  year  sold  in  New  Y^ork  City  at  7  J  cents 
per  pound  for  cheese  and  15  cents  for  butter. 
In  1826  cheese  advanced  to  8  cents,  and  then 
declined,  reaching  G  cents  in  1831,  1832,  and 
1833,  advancing  to  G|  cents  in  1834.  During 
this  decade  the  highest  price  reached  for  butter 
was  17  cents  in  1827,  and  the  lowest  13i  cents  in 
1830.  In  the  next  decade  ( 1 835  to  1  S-i'})  the  range 
for  cheese  was  from  9^  cents,  the  average  for  1837, 
to  4§  in  1844,  and  for  butter  from  20  cents  in 
1838  to  8i  cents  in  1843.  In  1845  cheese  advanced 
50  per  cent,  upon  the  previous  year's  rates,  or 
to  C§  cents,  and  varied  little  till  1851,  when  it 
dropped  to  5J  cents,  the  lowest  average  for  this 
decade;  but  it  then  rose  steadily  till  it  reached 
9i  cents  in  1854,  the  highest  point  in  these  thirty 
years.  Butter,  from  Hi  cents  in  1845,  went  to 
19^  cents  in  1854.  The  next  decade  (1855  to 
1865)  covers  the  war  period,  when  gold  reached  a 
value  of  2"58  in  United  States  currency,  this  being 
the  average  for  July,  1864.  In  1855  cheese  main- 
tained its  price  of  the  previous  year — 9J  cents, 
declining  1  cent  in  1856,  and  advancing  to  9J 
cents  again  in  1857.  In  1858  it  fell  to  6|  cents, 
and  then  advanced  with  rapid  strides,  8J  cents  in 
1859,  11  cents  in  1800,  and  ou  to  15J  cents  in 
January,  1864.  At  this  time  the  gold  dollar  was 
worth  1"55  dollars  currency;  or,  a  pound  of  cheese 
brought  a  little  less  than  10  cents  in  gold  at  New 
York.  Butter  started  at  22  J  cents  in  1855, 
declined  to  14  cents  in  1861,  and  rose  to  24  cents, 
or  15 1  cents  in  gold,  in  1864.  (The  quotation  of 
14  cents  immediately  preceded  the  year  of  greatest 
butter  export  from  the  United  States.)  Next 
come  the  years  of  inflation — the  "flush  times" — 
1865  to  1875.  Cheese  rose  in  1865  to  an  average 
price  of  20  cents  per  pound,  and  butter  to  45 
cents.  These  averages  were  unprecedented,  and 
have  never  since  been  realised.  At  this  time  the 
best  cheese.  New  Y'ork  cheddars,  retailed  at  40 
cents  a  pound,  and  the  entire  butter  product  of 
numerous  fancy  dairies  sold  at  from  1  dollar  to 
1 .1  dollars  a  pound.      It  must  be  borne  in  mind. 


however,  that  on  a  gold  basis  the  wholesale  rates 
last  named  were  really  9^  cents  for  cheese  and 
20|  cents  for  butter.  From  this  point  the  decline 
has  been  almost  continuous.  Cheese  brought  from 
16  to  18  cents  imtil  1872,  then  dropped  to  13J 
cents,  rose  somewhat  above  14  cents  in  1873  and 
1874,  and  averaged  15J  cents  in  1875;  in  1876 
the  average  was  13^  cents,  14^  cents  in  1877, 
and  12J  cents  in  January,  1878.  "Skims"  at 
the  same  time  were  quoted  at  6  to  8  cents. 
Butter  fell  to  30  cents  in  1866  and  18G7,  rose  to 
45  cents  again  in  1869,  dropped  to  20  cents  in 
1872,  and  in  1874  stood  at  27  cents;  in  1875 
there  was  some  advance,  but  still  greater  decline 
followed,  the  average  being  about  26  cents  in 
1876  and  1877. 

The  season  of  1878  witnessed  a  general 
break  and  demoralisation  in  the  American  dairy 
market.  Cheese  steadily  declined,  choice  New 
Y'ork  State  factory  falling  below  8  cents  at 
times,  averaging  9  cents  for  the  year,  and  closing 
at  about  Si  cents.  Butter  during  the  same  time 
ranged  from  33  cents  in  January  to  17  cents  in 
July,  closing  at  24  cents,  this  being  about  the 
average  for  the  year  of  choice  New  York  and 
Western  creamery.  This  depression  became  still 
greater  during  1879;  for  the  first  six  months 
selected  lots  of  cheese  at  New  York  averagod  not 
over  8  cents  a  pound,  and  in  February  there  were 
large  sales  of  lower  grade,  for  export,  at  5  and  6 
cents.  The  choicest  creamery  butter,  which  stood 
at  30  cents  in  January,  averaged  23  cents  for  six 
months,  and  sold  in  June  at  16  cents,  the  best 
New  York  dairy  butter  being  2  or  3  cents  per 
pound  lower.  In  July  and  August  the  averages 
were  16  cents  for  choicest  butter,  and  less  than 
6  cents  for  cheese.  Early  in  the  autumn  a 
sudden  and  great  advance  occurred ;  in  October 
butter  reached  32  cents  and  cheese  16  cents,  100 
per  cent,  increase  within  three  months,  and  the 
year  dosed  with  a  very  slight  reaction,  butter  30 
and  cheese  13.  During  1880  the  market  was 
steadier,  but  there  was  a  wide  range  in  prices. 
Creamery  butter  starting  at  30  to  32  cents  in 
January,  reached  40  cents  in  February,  fell  below 
20  in  June,  and  rose  to  35  towards  the  end  of 
the  year.  Factory  cheese  touched  15  cents  in 
February,  dropped  to  7J  in  July,  and  rose  again  to 
13  and  over  as  the  season  closed.  The  general 
averages  in  the  New  Y'ork  market  for  1879  and 
18S0  may  be  placed  at  8  and  12  cents  respectively 


CHARGES   ON    AMERICAN    CHEESE. 


423 


for  clieeso,  and  at  '2:J  and  30  cents  for  butter. 
These  are  gold  rates,  the  currency  of  the  United 
States  having  reached  par  again. 

Beginning  with  the  year  lS78,Wisconsin  factory 
cheese  kept  very  nearly  on  an  equality  with  New 
York  State,  and  Ohio  factory  products  about  half 
a  cent  below ;  farm  dairy  cheese  has  been  seldom 
quoted.  A\'estern  and  New  York  creamery  butter 
has  been  also  equal  in  price,  with  fine  dairy  jaails 
quoted  at  20  per  cent.  less. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  City  of 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  best- 
managed  institutions  of  its  kind  in  America. 
From  its  annual  reports  the  following  condensed 
abstract  is  made,  giving  the  annual  receijits  of 
butter  and  cheese  at  that  city,  and  the  annual 
average  prices  of  Central  Ohio  and  Western 
Reserve  products,  for  twenty  years  : — 


Butter,  I 

n  Packages. 

Cheese,  in  Boxes. 

1 

S 

sS 

f 

PM 

'1 

i 
s 

g 

•c 

1 

.2" 

M 

1 

H 

» 

» 

1859 

13  053 

19 

1869 

53,219 

.33 

1859 

223,230 

^ 

1869 

110  163 

Kl, 

IHIil) 

HAiii   U 

1870     59 121 

2.S 

1860   227.005 

Si 

1870 

198.903 

17 

IStil 

l.-,.<,\i\    i:; 

H71     72.171 

2H 

1861    1.56  583     7.i 

IS71 

193,.S.33 

13  f 

1SB2 

2ii,ii  iti    ij 

1-:.'     72.718 

20 

1862    103,8J1     61 

IS7;' 

m  610 

ui 

!«< 

;ii;:;i;i   \i 

l^r:i     62,578  23 

1863   121,936   10,1 

1873 

207. .817 

Hi 

mm 

linr.M  -'11 

1^71     53,865;  27 

1861    HI  li;7    It 

I.S71 

lsl.li8o 

itf 

l.Sti.i 

6.5SSr    33 

H7.j     66,722   2'> 

m;-!  iJv-71   m; 

n7.". 

17,1,111 

It 

I.SWi 

■6.01S 

■M 

1876   121.731    -'i 

!■;;    i-ii;ii    \:< 

I  ^:i; 

1-:;  7l.'i 

lU 

isw 

62,  JU 

2S 

IS77    111.761    1< 

i-;7  ■:<•  1  ;i,  1    II 

l-'7  7 

1 1  :  117 

r! 

IStiS 

57, 71 J 

3t) 

1878   121,012,17, 

ixis    i.-,:i,77l    11'. 

1S7S 

ius,:;26 

10 

The  combinations  and  competitions  among  the 
transportation-lines  cause  frequent  changes  in  the 
rates  of  freight  in  America.  Figures  of  one  date 
can  with  no  certainty  ba  applied  to  another.     In 


general  terms,  the  cost  of  transportation  of  dairy 
products  from  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  and  Illinois  to 
New  York  City  may  be  stated  as  from  i  to  1  cent 
per  pound,  and  that  of  carriage  from  New  York  to 
Liverpool  from  ^  to  J  of  a  cent.  Through  rates 
on  butter  from  Iowa  to  Liverpool  were  2-25  dollars 
per  cwt.  during  the  season  of  1878,  and  ranged 
from  1-40  to  2'  dollars  in  1880.  By  special  con- 
tract cheese  was  carried  from  Denver,  Colorado,  to 
Liverpool  for  206  dollars  per  cwt.  during  1870. 

American  cheese  in  its  progress  to  English 
markets  is  subject  to  numerous  charges,  which  are 
thus  given  ajjproximately  by  one  of  the  largest 
operators  in  New  York  : — ■ 

Cent  per  lb. 

Commission  to  country  buyers       ...  ' 

Freight  to  New  York  (depends  on  distance — s.iy)  J 

Commission  of  receiver  or  city  dealer        J 

Cooperage  and  cartage  to  vessel     ...         ...         ...  ,'- 

Commission  of  the  shipper  or  exporter      ...         ...  i 

Ocean  freight — average        ..         ...         ...         ...  A 

Marine   insurance,    with   landing   and    receiving 

charges  at  Liverpool     ...         ...         ...         ...  A 

Shrinkage  in  weight  since  leaving  maker  ...  i 

Importer's  profit— ahout      i 

This  amounts  altogether  to  2|  cents  per  pound,  and 
at  this  stage  the  cheese  has  passed  from  the  im- 
porter into  the  hands  of  dealers  and  jobbers,  and 
is  on  the  English  market  in  competition  with  the 
British  product.  A  rough  but  fairly  approximate 
method  of  reckoning  the  nett  proceeds  in  New 
lork  of  cheese  sales  at  Liverpool  is  to  deduct 
one-seven f A  of  the  rates  quoted  at  the  latter 
place.  This  will  cover  allowance  for  loss  of 
weight.  Of  course  the  charges  are  less  than 
those  given  when  the  price  of  cheese  is  very  low 
as  in  1879.  H.  E.  A.. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 
American    Mii.k   Tkaui;   and   City    Supply. 

naihvaj- Transportation  Cans-New  York  City  Supply-Delivery  Waggon— Glass  Bottles  and  Jars-Philadelphia— Chieago— Boston- 
Onondaga  Jlilk  Association  of    Syracuse. 


fZ^OVGH  Las  already  been  said 
''^j^      ill   regard    to    the   sale   and 
delivery  of   milk  for  use  as 
food   in    the    neighbourhood 
of    its    production,    but  the 
,  ■"  matter  of  city  supjdy  must 

be  further  noticed  and  some 
examples  given.  To  prepare  milk  for  safe 
transportation  a  considerable  distance, 
l)reserviug  its  sweetness  forty-eight 
hours,  as  is  sometimes  necessary,  the 
uniform  custom  of  American  producers  is  to  cool  it 
as  soon  as  jiossible  after  being  drawn  from  the 
cow.*  Pools  of  cold  water  are  generally  used,  in 
which  the  milk  is  set  in  cans  or  pails  8  inches 
in  diameter  and  about  ^0  inches  deep,  the  aim 
being  to  reduce  the  tempei-ature  to  b-ii'^  or  lower 
within  an  hour.  Sometimes 
tiie    milk    is    strained    directly 

*  Experiments  tried  in  America 
during  the  year  1880  disprove  the 
theory,  supposed  to  be  well  cstahlishcd, 
that  milk  must  1)0  soon  and  thorouglily 
cooled  in  order  to  make  it  "keep"  and 
bear  transportation.  The  parties  ex- 
perimenting have  strained  tlie  milk 
into  cans  as  soon  as  possible  after 
coming  from  the  udder,  always  before 
the  temperature  has  fallen  below  OC 
Fahr.,  then  hermetically  scaled  the  cans, 
usually  of  gliss,  and  from  that  time 
disregarded  temperature  in  handling 
and  shipping  the  milk.  Thus  put  up, 
the  milk  has  been  found  to  bear  carriage 
for  great  distance,  and  to  kc(>p  good  in 
all  weather,  fully  as  long  as  when  cooled 
in  the  usual  way.  The  great  point 
seems  to  be  to  seal  the  milk  so  soon,  as 
to  permit  a  minimum    exposure  to  the 

atmosphere.  The  experiments  have  been  on  a  large  scalp, 
quantities  of  milk  having  been  thus  sent  successfully  to  distant 
points  at  different  seasons.  But  although  the  main  features  of 
this  process  are  here  stated,  there  are  certain  precautionary 
m  asures  taken  between  the  milking  and  canning,  or  in  the  can- 
ning-room, which  the  parties  interested  do  not  yet  nuke  jaililic 


into  the  cans,  and  those  set  into  the  pool,  the 
covers  off.  It  thus  stands  until  just  before  the 
time  of  starting  from  the  farm  ;  if  in  pails  it  is 
thin  transferred  to  the  shijiping  cans.  When 
going  to  large  cities  by  rail,  it  in  many  cases  has 
to  be  carried  two  or  three  miles  to  the  nearest 
station. 

Railroad  cans,  passing  between  the  country 
producers  and  the  city  dealers,  are  of  varied 
patterns  in  different  localities  in  America.  The 
aecom])anying  illustration  gives  the  forms  pre- 
ferred in  the  prineiiial  cities,  and  as  made  by  the 
Iron  Clad  JManufacturing  Company  of  New  \ork. 
The  one  in  the  middle  of  Fig.  ^20  ^\ith  the  round 
toj)  is  the  pattern  customary  in  and  about  New 
York  and  Saint  Louis.  That  with  the  smaller 
top  at  the  left  and  rear  is  used  at  Philadelphia, 


Fig.  220. 

Baltimore,  and  Cincinnati.  The  one  at  the  right 
anil  rear  is  the  Ciiieago  jiattern,  and  the  little  one 
oil  the  extreme  right  is  the  Boston  can.  The  usual 
size  I'or  railway  cans  is  10  (piarts,  l)ut  the  Boston 
can    raim'es   (rom    2    \i>    \:l    (luarts,   SJ,    buiiig    tlic 


TOWN    MUAk     SUrPLY     IN     AMERICA. 


425 


favourite    size.     This  is    much  used   for   delivt 
luibrokeu   to   families  aud  hotels ;   it  has  a   \v< 


,^^^i^i4^^- 


Fig   221. 

stopper,  while  all  the  others  have  tin  covers.  The 
can  on  the  left  of  the  figure  represents  the  form 
usual  for  pedlars'  delivery  waggons,  with  hook 
for  the  dipper.  This,  being  less  subject  to 
rough  usage  than  the  railroad  cans,  has 
not  the  extra  iron-bound  bottom. 

The  milk  remains  in  the  railway  cans 
in  which  it  starts  from  the  dairy  iiutil  it 
reaches  the  retailer  or  some  distributing 
depot;  then  it  is  transferred  to  a  cooler, 
and  ultimately  to  the  delivery  cans, 
which  contain  from  10  to  20  gallons,  l.j 
being  a  very  common  size.  These  cans 
have  large  bowl-shaped  mouths,  with 
covers,  and  are  very  generally  conveyed 
over  the  routes  in  open  vehicles,  the 
milk  delivered  to  the  consumers  by  re- 
moving the  cover  at  each  sale  and  dipjiing 
from  the  can  with  a  long- handled  quart 
measure.  There  is  thus  constant  expo- 
sure to  contamination,  especially  in  wet  or  dusty 
weather. 

A    waggon  cooler   and  delivery    can  invented 


bv  Frank  K.  Ward,  proprietor  of  "The  Alderney 
Dairy "  of  the  City  of  Washington,  is  a  great 
improvement  upon  the  fittings  in 
general  use.  The  engraving  shows 
the  cooler  complete  upon  the  bench 
which  supports  it  in  the  waggon; 
under  the  bench  the  measures  are  so 
arranged  as  to  keep  their  places  pro- 
tected from  dust  and  yet  be  readily 
slijiped  out  for  use.  The  cooler 
consists  of  a  double-walled  ease  of 
heavy  plate  tin,  with  non-conduct- 
ing air-spaces  which  extend  up 
around  the  necks  of  the  enclosed 
cans.  Three  cans  are  inseparably 
incased  in  the  cooler,  two  large  and 
one  smaller,  these  being  of  single 
thickness;  tight  covers  close  these 
cans.  In  rear  of  the  small  can  is 
an  opening  into  the  general  interior 
of  the  cooler,  through  which  it  is 
tilled  with  water  and  ice,  broken 
ice  and  salt,  or  other  refrigerat- 
ing material,  and  this,  acting  upon 
the  entire  surface  of  the  cans,  is 
very  efficient  in  keeping  the  milk, 
cream,  or  buttermilk  they  contain  in 
good  condition  during  the  course  of 
delivery.  In  cold  weather  the  double-walled  case 
and  confined  air-spaees  preserve  the  contents  of  the 
cans  from  freezing.     Tubes  with  large  taps  connect 


with  the  cans  at  the  bottom,  and  enable  the  con- 
tents to  be  quickly  drawn  without  exposure  by 
removing  covers.     This  cooler  can  be  used  in  any 


■I:!i' 


DAIRY    FAKMIXO. 


vehicle  over  32  inches  in  width,  l)ut  is  especially 
adapted  to  a  covered  delivery  waggon  with  sliding 
side  doors.  In  such  the  bench  is  fastened  in  the 
fore  part  of  the  wa<y<;^on  with  the  cooler  facing  the 
driver;  behind  him  in  the  back  of  the  waggon  is 
space  for  the  extra  10-galIon  railway  cans  fi'om 
which  the  cooler  is  re-filled.  The  taps  are  within 
reach  of  a  person  standing  on  the  ground  on  either 
side  of  the  waggon,  but  are  under  cover.  In  the 
ordinary  size  of  the  cooler  the  large  cans  hold  50 
quarts  and  the  smaller  half  that  quantity.  The 
three  taps  are  removable,  and  these,  with  the 
four  covers  and  three  measures,  are  the  only  parts 
or  pieces;  every  part  of  the  a])pliance  is  accessible, 
and  the  whole  can  be  thoroughly  cleaned  while  in 
the  waggon.  There  is  an  opening  at  the  bottom 
of  the  cooler  to  draw  off  the  water  and  for  cleaning. 
This  contrivance  is  also  adapted  to  use  in  milk 
sale  depots,  in  restaurants,  and  hotels.  When 
not  to  be  used  in  a  vehicle,  rods  are  inserted 
through  the  middle  of  the  can  tops,  with  plungers 
which  reach  to  the  bottoms  of  the  cans;  by  these 
the  contents  may  be  agitated  without  opening,  to 
thoroughly  mix  before  drawing  from  the  bottom. 
Fig.  ii-Z  shows  one  of  Mr.  Ward's  delivery 
waggons  complete.  Not  only  these  waggons,  but 
all  the  arrangements  of  this  establishment  at 
Washington  are  so  perfect  that  it  well  merits 
further  attention.  It  is,  however,  similar  to  the 
one  at  Syracuse  which  is  about  to  be  described. 
The  latter  is  managed  by  an  association,  while 
"  The  Alderney  Dairy  "  is  the  personal  enterprise 
of  its  single  pvo])rietor. 

New  York  City,  in  the  year  lS-10,  with  its 
population  of  313,000,  received  about  45,000 
quarts  of  milk  daily,  mainly  by  waggon  transporta- 
tion; a  large  quantity  was  also  produced  within 
the  city  limits.  The  Erie  Railroad  soon  after 
began  conveying  milk  to  New  Y'ork,  and  in  18-1'3 
it  carried  795,376  gallons.  In  1850  the  city 
received  by  rail  alone  an  average  of  91,413  quarts 
daily,  and  this  was  regarded  as  not  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  whole  supply.  At  this  time  the  Erie 
and  Harlem  roads  carried  over  3,000,000  gallons 
a  year  each,  the  Hudson  River,  New  Haven,  and 
New  Jersey  roads  together  1,000,000  galhjns  or 
more,  and  less  quantities  reached  the  city  by  other 
routes.  In  1800  the  estimated  daily  receipts 
were  200,000  quarts;  in  1870,  300,000,  and  in 
1879  over  400,000  quarts  a  day.  During  one 
week  in  June,  1879,  the  actual  receipts  by  public 


routes,  rail  and  water,  averaged  410,450  quarts  per 
day.  The  returns  of  the  milk  shi])ments  over  the 
Erie  Railway  show  the  rapid  develo])ment  of  the 
trade  at  New  York: — In  1843,  795,370  gallons; 
1850,  3,152,039  gallons;  1860,  6,103,652  gallons, 
and  1870,  11,733,500  gallons.  In  1850  seventy- 
miles  was  considered  the  possible  limit  of  milk 
transportation ;  ten  years  later  the  distance  was 
doubled,  and  in  1879  milk  trains  regularly  run 
between  New  Y'ork  and  points  more  than  250 
miles  distant.  In  1850  one-third  of  all  the 
country  milk  received  in  New  Y'ork  was  from 
Orange  County.  In  1879  the  city  received  daily 
supplies  not  only  from  a  widely-extended  area  in 
the  State  of  New  Y'ork,  but  from  New  Jersey, 
Connecticut,  Western  JNfassachusetts,  and  Ver- 
mont. While  New  Y'ork  is  the  depot  for  this 
great  supply,  the  milk  is  not  all  consumed  there ; 
a  large  part  of  the  receipts  are  re-shipped  to 
Brooklyn,  Jersey  City,  Newark,  and  other  neigh- 
bouring places. 

The  principal  railway  lines  centring  at  New 
Y'ork  make  the  transportation  of  milk  a  specialty, 
and  run  daily  express  milk  trains.  Most  of  the 
milk  thus  carried  is  in  10-gallon  cans,  and  about 
200  cans  (or  8,000  quarts)  form  a  car-load. 
The  freight  charge,  including  the  return  of  the 
cans,  is  usually  the  same  for  all  distances  on  a 
given  section  of  road.  On  the  Erie  road  the  charge 
has  been  for  several  years  55  cents  per  can,  the 
extreme  distance  of  shipment  being  80  miles. 
On  the  Hudson  River  and  Harlem  roads,  55  cents 
for  all  distances  less  than  90  miles,  60  cents  for 
those  from  90  to  130  miles,  and  80  cents  for  all 
over  130.  Stations  in  Vermont,  from  210  to  250 
miles  distant  from  New  Y'ork  City,  ship  to  that 
point  about  400,000  gallons  of  milk  annually,  the 
freight  being  2  cents  a  quart,  and  the  receipts  by 
the  farmers  averaging  between  2  and  2^  cents,  the 
year  through.  In  Orange  County,  New  York,  the 
average  receipts  on  the  main  lines  and  branches 
of  the  railways  are  about  120,000  gallons  per 
annum  for  every  mile  of  road.  The  months  of 
June,  July,  and  August  always  show  the  greatest 
shipments,  April,  May,  and  September  coming 
next.  The  three  summer  mouths  carry  double  the 
quantity  of  the  same  time  in  winter.  The  milk 
trains  for  New  Y'ork  are  nearly  all  run  at  night, 
reaching  the  city  between  midnightand  three  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  The  arrangements  are  such  that 
morning's  milk,  after   being   eight   hours  in    the 


MII.K   IN   SEALED    BOTTLES. 


•127 


ooolins' tauk  at  Rutlaud,  Vermont,  24>0  miles  from 
New  York,  can  be  transported  to  the  city  and 
delivered  at  the  doors  of  consumers  by  daylight 
the  next  rnorning'. 

The  supply  of  New  York  City  with  milk  is 
burdened  with  an  unreasonably  wide  margin 
between  the  price  paid  by  the  consumer  and  the 
nett  receipts  of  the  producer.  While  8  cents 
per  quart  was  the  usual  retail  price  in  the  city  for 
several  years  preceding  1880,  the  average  return  to 
the  farmer  during  the  same  period  was  for  2i  to  3 
cents  ;  the  producer  has  to  deliver  the  milk  at  the 
railway  station  and  furnish  the  cans,  which  get 
very  hard  usage,  and  although  "  iron-clad  "  are  a 
large  item  in  the  farmer's  expenses.  It  is  admitted 
that  the  cost  of  delivering  the  milk  after  its 
arrival  in  the  city  is  about  'Z^  cents  a  quart,  and 
that  it  cannot  be  materially  lessened ;  this  too  is 
exclusive  of  the  10  per  cent,  loss  on  the  quantity 
delivered,  by  shrinkage  and  accidents.  But  there 
i-emain  the  items  of  which  there  is  chief  complaint — 
the  freight  charges  by  the  railroads  and  the  profits 
of  the  middlemen,  together  about  3  cents  a  quart. 
It  is  true  that  special  facilities  are  provided  by  the 
railways  for  safe  and  rapid  transit,  but  still  the 
rates  on  milk  are  exorbitant  compared  with  other 
produce  and  merchandise..  As  above  stated,  the 
average  rate  is  from  65  to  70  cents  per  cwt.  for 
milk  and  can  for  100  miles  or  less,  while  two 
barrels  of  flour  or  sugar  vs^eighing  several  times 
as  much  are  carried  twice  as  far  for  less  money. 
Nearly  all  the  milk  reaching  New  York  by  rail  is 
taxed  from  1;^  to  li  cents  a  quart,  much  of  it 
more.  With  the  market  glutted,  sound  milk  has 
been  sold  so  low  that  the  freight  absorbed  the 
whole  receipts,  the  returns  to  the  producer  being 
only  the  empty  cans.  Attempts  to  reduce  by 
legislation  the  charges  on  milk  to  30  cents  per 
can  (J  cent  per  quart)  have  failed  because  of  the 
great  influence  of  the  railroads  at  Albany.  The 
clear  profit  to  middlemen  of  1^  cents  and  more 
per  quart  is  even  more  exasperating,  and  the  cause 
of  constant  agitation  and  endeavour  to  bring  con- 
sumers and  producers  nearer  together.  Co-opera- 
tive organisations  have  been  successful  to  a  limited 
extent,  and  with  railway  charges  reasonably  re- 
duced, milk  can  be  delivered  to  New  York  con- 
sumers for  7  cents  or  less,  while  at  the  same  time 
it  yields  a  return  of  over  3  cents  to  the  producer. 

This  important  matter  of  city  milk  supply 
receives  much  attention  in  America,  and  several 
57 


articles  have  been  patented  for  conveying  milk 
and  cream  in  small  quantities  from  the  dairy  to 
the  consumer  unopened.  While  milk  delivered  in 
the  usual  way  in  New  York  is  sold  for  8  cents, 
there  is  a  steadily  increasing  sale  to  private 
families  for  10  cents  of  milk  delivered  unbroken 
from  the  dairy.  This  trade  began  with  tin  cans 
holding  1,  2,  and  3  quarts,  with  a  simple  con- 
trivance for  sealing,  but  these  were  soon  replaced 
by  vessels  of  porcelain  and  glass.  Of  these 
there  are  several  kinds,  in  the  form  of  cans,  jars, 
and  bottles,  holding  from  1  pint  to  '2  quarts, 
and  with  or  without  locks  and  special  fastenings. 
The  "  Lester "  can,  largely  used  in  New  York  for 
milk  from  dairies  100  to  200  miles  distant,  is  a 
strong  glass  can  and  cover,  the  latter  fastened 
hy  a  metallic  clamp  which  not  only  hermetically 
seals  the  can,  but  places  the  milk  under  slight 
pressure  and  prevents  motion  or  churning  of  the 
contents.  These  cans  are  of  sizes  containing  from 
1  to  5  quarts,  and  ai-e  packed  in  wooden  cases  for 
transportation.  The  crystal  jar  (Fig.  223)  is  similar. 
It  has  a  glass  top  screwed  down  upon  a  rubber  ring. 


Fig.  224. 

and  is  provided  with  a  bale.  The  opening  is  large 
enough  to  admit  a  small  dipper  to  remove  the 
cream.  The  "Warren"  milk-bottle  (Fig.  224)  is 
also  very  popular,  and  rapidly  coming  into  use 
in  other  cities  as  well  as  in  New  York.  These 
bottles  are  securely  and  conveniently  packed  in 
boxes  holding  a  dozen,  as  shown  by  Fig.  225. 
These  contrivances  show  the  great  pains  which  are 
taken  to  present    milk  to    consumers  in    a  neat. 


i-ZH 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


SL^em-c,  and  attractive  form — a  system  whieli  pays 
the  veudor  well  and  satisfies  the  consumer.  Thou- 
sands of  such  are  daily  sent  from  dairy-farms  many 
miles  distant  from  New  York  to  agents  in  that  city 
who  delivi'r  them  to  the  consumers.  The  air  being 
excluded,  tin   milk  kcejis  well   in  these  i^ackages, 


and  they  are  convenient  for  setting  at  once  into 
refrigerators  or  cool  closets,  allowing  the  cream 
to  separate  before  opening.  The  jars  are  easily 
arranged  so  as  to  show  at  once  if  tampered  with 
en  route,  and  by  this  means  families  are  enabled  to 
get  ])ure  milk  direct  from  the  same  dairy  daily. 
By  additional  jn-ovision  i\i&y  are  regularly  supplied 
with  the  milk  of  a  particular  cow. 

A  large  quantity  of  "  plain  "  condensed  milk 
is  sold  in  New  York.  This  article  is  pure  milk 
reduced  by  the  Borden  process  to  about  one-fifth 
its  bulk,  rendering  it  so  thick  that  it  just  comes 
within  liquid  limits.  In  this  condition  it  is 
delivered  daily  in  the  city  by  route  agents,  and 
sold  by  the  quart  at  the  uniform  price  of  28 
cents;  by  the  addition  of  one  gallon  of  water 
to  the  condensed  quart,  the  milk  is  returned 
to  something  very  closely  resembling  its  original 
state.  It  is  thus  chea])er  than  dairy  milk,  has 
a  higher  reputation  for  purity,  keeps  much  longer, 
and  for  these  reasons  is  ])referred  by  many  house- 
keej)ers. 

Philadelphia  is  mainly  supplied  with  milk  over 
railway  lines,  but  the  first  can  of  milk  ever  received 
in  the  city  in  that  way  was  in  April,  18-17 ;  it  was 
from  a  (yhester  A'^alley  dairyman,  and  the  vessel  an 
old-fashioned  wooden  churn.     Up  to  that  time  the 


milk  su])])ly  of  the  city  not  conveyed  by  waggon 
from  producers  within  a  few  miles  was  received  by 
the  steamboats  running  up  and  down  the  River 
Delaware.  During  1879  scarcely  any  milk  reached 
the  city  by  water,  and  more  than  four-fifths  of  the 
sup])ly  was  by  rail.  The  maximum  distance  run 
by  the  milk  trains  is  CO  miles,  and  Chester  County 
furnishes  more  than  any  other  section,  proportion- 
at^^'ly.  Very  little  now  crosses  the  Delaware,  nearly 
all  bi.'ing  supplied  by  Pennsylvania  farmers.  The 
total  average  supply  of  the  city  is  placed  at 
100, 000  quarts  a  day,  cmjdoying  UOO  vendors  in 
its  delivery,  with  nearly  as  many  waggons.  In  the 
retail  trade  a  business  of  1,500  to  1,800  quarts  is 
considered  very  large,  the  average  being  about  "200 
quarts  daily  to  each  dealer.  The  retail  price 
changes  twice  a  year,  the  winter  rate,  which  runs 
six  months,  being  ordinarily  2  cents  m(-re  per 
quart  than  the  summer  price.  As  elsewhere,  the 
consum])ti(jn  in  summer  is  found  to  be  much 
greater  in  Philadelphia  than  in  winter,  falling 
ofE  one-tenth  about  the  1st  of  Septendjer.  The 
retail  trade  feels  a  great  variation  in  the  demand 
during  every  week,  at  least  10  per  cent,  more  milk 
being  sold  on  Fridays  and  Saturdays  than  on  the 
first  three  week  days.  This  renders  the  regulation 
of  the  milk  supply  a  difEcult  matter,  and  a  surplus 
often  results.  Such  is  disposed  of  in  different 
ways;  some  is  re-shipped  to  the  nearest  cheese- 
factory,  and  from  much  the  cream  is  taken  and 
churned  in  the  city,  the  skim-milk  and  butter- 
milk being  sold  at  low  rates,  or  given  away. 
"  Schmier-kase,"  or  cottage-cheese,  is  a  favourite 
article  in  the  Philadelphia  markets,  and  this 
furnishes  another  means  of  consuming  the  sour 
milk.  The  milk  trains  an-ive  in  Philadelphia  at 
various  times  between  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning 
and  sunset,  necessitating  refrigerators  until  the 
delivery  early  the  next  day.  Philadelphia  has  a 
straight-necked,  small-mouthed  pattern  of  carrying 
can,  the  sizes  being  for  5,  7j,  and  10  gallons,  with 
the  medium  as  the  favourite.  The  railway  freights 
are  8,  12,  and  15  cents  per  can  respectively  for 
the  sizes  named,  or  |  cent  per  quart.  Shippers 
prepay  freight,  and  cans  are  returned.  In  1S72 
the  retail  prices  were  8  and  10  cents  per  quart, 
netting  producers  3  to  4|-  cents.  In  1879  these 
rates  had  fallen  from  (5  to  8  cents  and  2  to 
3  cents  respectively. 

-The  annual  milk  supply  of  the  City  of  Chicago 
for   the   ye-ir    1880    was    placed   at    upwards    of 


THE   BOSTON   MILK   CONTRACTORS. 


429 


0,000,000  gallons,  nearly  all  conveyed  by  rail 
from  places  within  50  miles. 

The  business  of  supplying  Boston  with  milk  is 
managed  chiefly  by  contractors,  who,  conferring 
with  the  producers  just  before  the  commencement 
of  each  period  of  six  months,  fix  the  price  per  can 
at  the  farmer's  door,  and  assume  the  provision  of 
the  cans,  collection  of  the  milk,  and  transporta- 
tion by  rail.  The  contractor  leases  a  car  of  the 
railroad  at  a  fixed  annual  rent,  with  specifications 
as  to  time,  route,  and  stopping-places.  The  prices 
paid  have  been  from  .5,000  dollars  for  a  car  run- 
ning 20  miles,  to  9,000  dollars  for  about  50  miles. 
Sixty  miles  is  the  extreme  distance  of  regular  milk 
shipments  to  Boston  up  to  the  year  ISSO.  This 
system  has  decided  advantages  in  relieving  the 
farmers  of  the  uncertainty  as  to  nett  proceeds,  and 
the  liability  of  having  milk  returned  which  exists 
under  shipments  on  commission,  and  in  tending 
to  lessen  the  difference  between  prices  to  first 
hands  and  to  customers.  At  the  same  time  it  has 
proved  very  profitable  to  contractors,  so  much  so 
as  to  cause  producers  to  feel  aggrieved,  and  en- 
deavour by  combined  action  to  market  their  own 
milk.  The  Boston  trade  has  its  own  peculiar 
style  of  can,  as  already  stated ;  this  can  has  a  side 
handle,  small  opening,  aud  a  wooden  stopper,  and 
the- several  sizes  hold  8,  Sh,  9^,  and  9|  quarts,  the 
second  being  most  used.  The  contractors  very 
generally  sell  the  milk  at  the  ear  in  Boston  at  an 
advance  of  from  8  to  10  cents  per  can  over  first 
cost,  thereby  obtaining  a  profit  of  3  to  5  cents  per 
can.  It  is  then  re-sold  by  the  can  at  an  advance 
of  10  or  12  cents,  and  finally  retailed  at  from  5  to 
8  cents  per  quart.  Collections  and  settlements 
are  usually  made  monthly  all  round.  Milk  for 
which  the  farmer  receives  3  cents  can  be  sold  by 
the  contractor  at  4  cents,  with  a  profit  of  about 
i  cent  per  quart ;  the  wholesale  dealer  and  retailer 
divide  3  cents  a  quart  for  their  labour  and  profit. 
Thus  three  sets  of  profits  to  middlemen.  The 
average  daily  supply  of  the  city  for  ISSO  was 
116,000  quarts;  for  the  year  42,340,000  quarts; 
for  this  the  consumers  paid  over  2,500,000  dollars. 
During  the  year  specified  large  quantities  of  sk/ni. 
milk  were  sold  in  the  city,  as  such,  at  3  cents  a 
quart. 

In  most  American  cities  there  are  ordinances 
regulating  the  milk  trade,  providing  penalties 
for  adult,  ration,  &c.,  and  the  boards  of  health 
or   officers    under    them    are    often    chart>ed    with 


the  execution  of  these  laws.  Adulteration  to 
some  extent  is  found  among  the  dealers  in  every 
city,  and  among  producers  also.  The  commonest 
fraud  of  all  is  the  addition  of  water,  and  next 
comes  the  subtraction  of  cream,  or  "  topping  ■" 
the  cans — removing  cream  which  rises  in  /run- 
s/fit, for  sale  separately  at  a  high  price.  Nine- 
tenths  of  all  the  cases  examined  where  poor  milk 
is  complained  of  result,  if  in  anything,  in  finding 
that  one  or  the  other  of  these  frauds  has  been 
practised.  Although  various  substances  are  com- 
monly supposed  to  be  used  for  adulterating  milk, 
it  is  very  rare  for  the  city  chemists  and  inspectors 
to  find  anything  added  to  milk  except  water,  salt, 
and  burnt  sugar.  Salt  is  used  to  preserve  milk 
and  to  give  it  solidity ;  burnt  sugar  to  make  up 
the  needed  sweetening  and  to  give  colour  when 
the  milk  has  been  either  watered  or  robbed  of  its 
cream. 

Under  an  Act  of  the  INIassachusetts  Legislature, 
the  City  of  Boston  appointed  an  inspector  of  milk, 
who  has  been  in  service  since  August,  1S59.  This 
oflieer  devotes  his  whole  time  to  acquainting  him- 
self with  the  milk  trade  of  the  city,  those  engaged 
in  it,  the  sources  and  methods  of  supply,  testing 
samples  of  milk  upon  application,  investigating 
complaints,  and  enforcing  the  laws  for  the  pre- 
vention of  milk  adulteration.  He  publishes  an 
annual  report  containing  many  items  of  interest. 
The  samples  of  milk  examined  during  each  year 
range  from  1,500  to  2,000,  and  about  one-fourth 
are  found  to  be  more  or  less  watered  ;  from  1  to  40 
per  cent,  of  water  is  found,  the  average  being 
about  18  per  cent.  In  1S59  Boston  had  a  popu- 
lation of  about  178,000,  and  some  300  milk-dealers. 
In  ISSO  the  city  had  a  population  of  over  360,000, 
and  from  700  to  800  wholesale  milk-dealers ;  more 
than  half  these  dealers  sold  from  waggons,  and  most 
of  the  rest  kept  a  few  cows  and  sold  the  milk  in 
their  neighbourhoods.  There  were  1,730  cows  kept 
within  the  city  limits,  510  persons  owning  but 
one  each.  The  inspector  classes  all  as  wholesale 
dealers  who  distribute  milk  to  families,  stores, 
hotels,  &c.,  from  waggons,  or  who  keep  more  than 
one  cow.  No  attempt  is  made  to  keep  account 
of  the  retail  dealers,  except  requirement  of  regis- 
tration when  entering  the  business,  and  examina- 
tion of  their  wares  on  complaint.  It  was  estimated, 
however,  that  milk  was  retailed  at  5,000  different 
places  in  Boston  during  the  year  1880. 

The  City  of  Syracuse,  in  the  State   of   New 


430 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


York,  wliic'li  with  its  environs  contains  a  jiopula- 
tion  of  about  70,000,  possesses  a  unique  organisa- 
tion for  its  milk  supply.  It  is  known  as  the 
Onondaga  County  Milk  Association,  and  was 
chartered  and  began  business  in  the  month  of 
March,  187^.  The  capital  stock  of  the  com- 
pany was  originally  25,000  dollars,  hut  it  lia.s 
been  a  steadily  prosperous  concern,  and  has  since 
increased  its  capital  four-fold.  The  stock  is  held 
by  about  fifty  persons  who  were  formerly  milk 
jiroducers  and  dealers  acting  indepeildently,  and 
it  is  apportioned  at  the  rate  of  20  dollars  to 
each  cow  usually  kept  in  milk  by  the  holder; 
the  stock-book  shows  that  the  members  own  from 
seven  to  seventy  cows  each.  The  head-quarters 
of  the  Association  are  in  the  city,  where  it  owns 
and  occupies  a  large  four-storey  brick  building- 
provided  with  every  accommodation  for  receiving, 
keeping,  handling  and  distributing  milk,  for  board- 
ing and  lodging  the  thirty  or  more  employes,  and 
for  general  business  purposes.  There  are  offices, 
the  directors'  room,  and  a  well-arranged  hall  for 
meetings  and  discussions  by  members  of  the 
Association  and  other  dairymen.  In  the  rear  ai'e 
barns  and  stables  for  twenty-five  horses,  sheds 
for  as  many  waggons,  sleighs,  harness,  &c.,  also 
a  repair  shop,  a  blacksmith's  shop,  and  other  con- 
veniences. The  Association  maintains  twenty 
milk  routes,  with  a  waggon  and  pedlar  uj)on 
each,  supplying  about  40,000  people  tlu'ough 
the  year.  The  management  is  delegated  to 
a  president,  vice-president,  and  nine  directors, 
of  whom  five  form  the  executive  board,  and  the 
working  force  comprises  a  superintendent,  cashier 
and  accountant,  milk-receiver,  two  distributing 
clerks,  cheese-maker,  hostler,  blacksmith  and 
heljier,  housekeeper  and  assistant,  and  twenty 
pedlars.  All  the  help  is  boarded  at  the  building 
of  the  company,  and  one  of  the  most  interesting- 
items  in  connection  with  the  enterprise  is  the 
fact  that  board  satisfactory  to  the  employes  has 
been  furnished  at  a  cost  of  less  than  8  dollars  a 
month. 

The  Association  originated  from  a  prosaic  de- 
sire on  the  part  of  milk-producers  to  benefit  them- 
selves, and  a  belief  that  several  persons  who  were 
selling  milk  in  Syracuse,  each  one  by  himself, 
could  economise  in  labour  and  cost  of  delivery 
by  co-operation.  The  object  was  to  establish  a 
central  depot  where  the  milk  produced  by  all 
could  be    received,  thence    distributed    so    far    as 


it  could  be  used  as  milk,  and  provision  made  for 
working  the  surplus  into  butter  and  cheese  on 
joint  account.  The  great  saving  expected  was 
in  the  delivery  to  consumers;  it  was  thought  that 
instead  of  half-a-dozen  waggons  running  daily 
through  the  same  streets  to  furnish  here  and  there 
a  family,  as  occurred  often  under  the  old  s3-stera, 
the  customers  of  the  six  pedlars  might,  by  union 
of  interests,  be  suj>plied  from  a  single  waggon. 
Next  was  the  expected  saving  by  advantageous 
use  of  the  surplus  milk ;  that  of  several  pedlars 
being  "  pooled  "  or  handled  in  one  mass.  Both 
of  these  expectations  have  been  so  far  realised 
as  to  give  prosperity  to  the  Association.  The 
independent  "owners"  of  milk  routes  at  first 
looked  with  suspicion  upon  the  concern,  but  one 
by  one  have  found  it  to  their  interest  to  join. 
The  impression  of  a  monopoly,  likely  to  be  at 
first  formed,  is  not  sustained  by  the  facts,  for 
the  Association  has  opposition  enough  from  in- 
dividual sources  to  force  it  to  keep  uj)  the  quality 
of  its  milk  and  to  keep  down  its  prices.  The  re- 
sult has  really  been  to  maintain  in  this  city  a 
high  standard  of  quality  and  very  reasonable  rates. 

The  articles  of  association  are  very  carefully 
drawn,  and  these  are  among  the  most  important 
features : — Every  member  is  bound  to  deliver  at 
the  rate  of  6  quarts  of  milk  daily  through  the 
year  for  every  cow  represented  by  the  stock  he 
holds ;  the  directors  may  refuse  all  milk  offered  in 
excess  of  this  ratio,  and  may  reject  any  milk  failing 
to  meet  the  rules  as  to  quality,  condition,  &c. ;  the 
cows,  farm,  food,  water,  and  general  dair^'  manage- 
ment of  every  member  are  to  be  subject  at  all 
times  to  inspection  by  the  directors  or  their  agents; 
no  member  may  in  any  way  interfere  with  the 
business  of  the  Association  by  competition  or  other- 
wise, or  become  at  all  interested  in  rival  trade; 
every  member  on  withdrawmg  from  the  Association 
agrees  to  bond  himself  to  abstain  from  all  such 
competition  for  at  least  five  years;  members  may, 
upon  due  notice,  cefise  to  deliver  milk  proportionate 
to  stock,  and  in  lieu  be  granted  a  cash  dividend, 
at  the  rate  of  7  per  cent,  jicr  annum ;  there  are 
strict  pi'ovisions  as  to  details,  and  penalties  pre- 
scribed for  all  violation  of  the  rules  and  regulations; 
all  sales  are  for  cash,  and  monthly  iinancial  state- 
ments are  made,  with  monthly  dividends  for  the 
stock-holding  jiroducers. 

The  business  is  conducted  as  follows  : — Each 
n. ilk-producer   has    two    sets    of    narrow-necked. 


AN   AMERICAN    CO-OPERATIVE   DAIRY. 


431 


larsfe  cans  to  carry  his  milk  fr(im  liomc  to  the 
central  depot;  the  rules  require  that  the  milk 
shall  he  cooled  as  much  as  possible  before  delivery 
by  settino-  the  cans  in  a  cold  bath,  and  in  warm 
weather  the  cans  must  be  protected  by  wet  blankets, 
while  en  route;  the  milk  is  to  be  all  delivered 
before  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  it  is  upon 
delivery  that  the  work  of  co-operation  begins. 
The  building  of  the  Association  faces  north,  and 
at  the  east  end,  cutting  off  a  part  of  the  first 
storey,  is  a  driveway  to  the  yard  and  buildings  in 
rear,  and  the  long  platform  at  which  each  stock- 
holder delivers  his  milk.  Every  can  is  marked 
with  its  weight  and  the  name  of  the  owner;  as 
fast  as  received  they  are  weighed  by  the  clerk  and 
the  milk  credited  to  the  producer,  furnishing  the 
basis  of  his  accounts  with  the  Association.  After 
weighing,  the  cans  are  placed  on  a  car  and  run 
along  a  track  to  the  cooling-room,  where  they  are 
put  into  a  tank  of  ice- water  until  wanted  for 
distribution.  The  producer  receives  his  second  set 
of  cans,  delivered  the  previous  day,  now  clean  and 
sweet,  and  returns  home.  The  milk  is  distributed 
without  being  decanted  just  as  brought  from  the 
farms  to  the  depot,  and  the  milk  of  the  same 
dairies  passes  over  the  same  route  day  by  day. 
Each  pedlar  on  leaving  the  depot  is  charged  with 
the  weight  of  milk  placed  in  his  waggon.  The 
consumer,  if  so  inclined,  may  read  the  name  of  the 
producer  daily  upon  the  can  from  which  he  is 
supplied;  indeed,  by  paying  a  small  extra  charge, 
the  consumer  may  not  only  select  any  dairy 
connected  with  the  Association  from  which  he 
prefers  to  be  supplied,  but  may  go  to  the  farm  and 
select  a  particular  cow;  the  milk  will  then  be 
specially  strained  in  a  small  can,  marked  and  duly 
delivered.  This,  in  cases  of  sickness  and  for  food 
for  infants,  is  a  matter  of  importance.  These 
provisions  also  enable  any  complaint  on  the  part  of 
the  customers  to  be  at  once  traced  to  the  producer 
of  the  objectionable  milk.  On  the  return  of  the 
delivery  waggons,  each  pedlar  delivers  his  surplus 
milk,  is  credited  for  it,  and  it  is  run  through  a 
pipe  to  the  butter  and  cheese  room  in  the  base- 
ment. Each  pedlar  then  takes  his  empty  cans,  for 
which  he  is  responsible,  to  a  place  provided,  where 
they  are  rinsed  in  cold  water,  scalded  with  hot 
water  and  then  steamed,  a  row  of  jets  being 
arranged  so  that  by  placing  cans  over  them, 
bottom  uj3,  every  crevice  is  reached  by  the  steam, 
and    the    metal    so    heated    as    to    destroy    every 


tainting  germ.  The  cans  arc  flicn  di'i(\l,  in  the  air 
and  sun  when  possible,  and  await  delivery  to  the 
farmers.  Near  the  tank  and  cleaning  apartments 
is  a  sitting-room  for  the  use  of  pedlars  while 
waiting,  and  in  this  a  set  of  drawers  provided  with 
locks,  one  of  which  is  assigned  to  each  pedlar  for 
keeping  the  money  and  ticket-box  entrusted  to 
him. 

In  the  basement  a  six-horse-power  engine  and 
a  large  boiler  furnish  the  heat  and  steam  required. 
All  the  milk  not  taken  out  by  pedlars  is  set  for 
butter-making,  skimmed  at  twelve  hours,  and  the 
buttermilk  and  skim-milk  are  made  into  cheese. 
The  milk  returned  by  the  pedlars,  kept  separate, 
is  set  twenty-four  hours,  the  cream  churned  and 
the  milk  made  into  "  pot-cheese "  or  sent  to  the 
piggery.  The  latter  is  situated  outside  the  city, 
and  there  the  Association  keeps  about  100  swine 
on  contract.  The  customers  are  furnished  upon 
order  mth  butter,  cream-cheese,  and  "  pot-cheese," 
cream,  buttermilk,  and  sour-milk ;  10,000  quarts 
of  sour-milk  are  often  sold  in  a  month  at  half  the 
price  of  new  milk. 

Every  member  of  the  Association  has  a  busi- 
ness interest  in  having  everything  right  and  giving 
the  public  full  satisfaction.  This  leads  them  to 
sustain  the  management  in  making  and  enforcing 
strict  regulations,  to  ensure  cleanliness,  purity, 
and  a  good  quality  of  product,  and  to  ferret  out 
any  fraud  and  bring  offenders  to  justice.  Erequent 
tests  are  made  of  milk  received,  and  close  investiga- 
tion as  to  causes  follow  all  appearances  of  inferior 
quality  or  any  irregularity.  The  directors  often 
employ  inspectors  who  are  strangers  to  the  pro- 
ducing members  whose  farms  they  visit,  and  their 
reports,  covering  the  most  minute  particulars,  are 
only  made  known  to  the  officers  of  the  Association. 
The  general  standard  is  maintained  by  requiring 
a  change  in  care,  food,  or  water  when  found 
necessary,  and  sometimes  by  discarding  one  or 
more  inferior  cows. 

The  business  of  the  Association  is  sum- 
marised in  the  table  on  the  following  page,  the 
figures  being  the  average  result  of  operations  for 
the  years  1876,  1877,  and  1878. 

These  interesting  facts  are  derived  from  the 
annual  reports  of  the  Association : — There  is  the 
greatest  consumption  at  the  season  of  greatest 
production ;  this  is  shown  by  all  experience  in  the ' 
trade.  The  consumption  in  winter  is  undoubtedly 
reduced   somewhat    by   the    increase  in    price;   in 


4;32 


DAIRY    FAU.ML\(x. 


Syracuse  the  retail  rates  have  been  5  cents  a  quart 
in  summer  and  6  cents  in  winter.  The  milk  con- 
sumed by  the  customers  of  this  Association  is,  as 
nearly  as  it  can  be  computed,  at  the  rate  of  59  quarts 
per  annum  per  cajnla,  or  -I'u"^  quarts  per  day.  Tlie 
shrinkage  or  total  loss  in  measuring,  si)illing,  and 
cleaning  cans  seems  very  large  :  2S:5,;350  (|uarts  of 
milk  in  a  year,  the  whole  product  of  120  cows  I 
But  it  has  Ijeen  found  that  pedlars  must  alwaj^s  be 
allowed  10  quarts  in  100  for  this  seeming  loss  in 
delivery;   much  of  it  is  due  to  the  necessity  of 


contrast  between  this  cost  of  delivery  and  that  in 
New  York  and  Boston  is  very  striking.  Fifty- 
two  dairies  contributed  to  the  Association  the 
milk  of  about  1,G00  cows.  The  actual  average 
product  of  the  cows  was  6'52  quarts  jjcr  day, 
or  2,380  quarts  per  year,  which  is  very  creditable. 
The  highest  average,  3,770  quarts  per  oow  per 
year,  was  attained  by  the  owner  of  ten  cows,  this 
yielding  l03i  dollars  each;  one  owning  40  cows 
averaged  3,339  quarts.  The  lowest  average  of  any 
stockholder  was  1,843  quarts  or  50i  dollars  per  cow. 


Milk  Peceiteo. 

Milk  Disposed  of. 

Monthly 
Shiinkage. 

Months. 

Produced, 

Quarts. 
11)1,934 

Bought. 

Amount 
Received. 

Qnurts. 

Dailv 
Receipts. 

Qnarts. 

Sold. 

Made  into 

Butter  and 

Cheese. 

Amount 
Cousumed. 

Daily 

Sales. 

Quarts. 

Quarts. 

Quarts. 

Quarts. 

Quarts. 

Quarts. 

January          

1,120 

193,0.54 

6,220 

166,621 

2,989 

169,610 

5,375 

23,444 

Filiruary         

190,904 

1,872 

192,776 

6,885 

1.56,040 

11„S.33 

1«7,873 

.5,.573 

24,903 

March 

231,520 

2,218 

233,738 

7,540 

186,067 

22,090 

208,1.57 

6,002 

25,.580 

Aiiril 

210,329 

6,318 

246,647 

8,221 

180,419 

38,641 

219,060 

6,013 

27,.587 

May      

298,829 

14,449 

313,278 

10,106 

189,329 

91,363 

280,692 

6,017 

32,.585 

June     

311,.589 

15,9.59 

327,548 

10,918 

184,136 

117,327 

301,463 

6,137 

26,086 

July     

283,202 

1.5,188 

298,390 

9,625 

187,517 

78,662 

266,179 

6,049 

32,211 

August 

238,317 

11,966 

250,283 

8,074 

184,646 

47,124 

231,770 

5,9.56 

18,514 

September       

210,467 

9,881 

220,348 

7,344 

167,.546 

3.5,1.50 

202,,596 

6,  .584 

17,751 

October           

198,941 

9,326 

208,267 

6,718 

1.59,9.58 

29,038 

188,996 

5,160 

19,271 

November      

193,250 

2,930 

196,180 

6,539 

150,344 

28,393 

178,7.37 

.5,011 

17,446 

December       

201,310 
2,790,592 

2,628 

203,938 

6,579 

149,985 

35,978 

185,963 

4,838 

17,945 

Total       

93,855 

2,884,447     1      7,902 

2,062,608 

538,448 

2,601,096 

5,651 

283,350 

CASH   RECE 

PTS. 

CASH   PAYMENTS 

MUk  sold           

§101,7.56.88 

Divided  .among  Producing  Members 

§90,192.68 

14, -i;!!  lbs.  Butter  sold            

3,132.81 

93,8 

55  quarts  Milk  purchased 

3,01.5.55 

85,53.3    „     Cheese  sold            

9,408.63 

Expenses— Salaries,  Labour,  Taxes,  itc.  kc 

24,323.57 

4, .509  quarts  Cream  sold       

1,236.69 

Sui- 

plus— To  balance 

638.34 

91,514      „      Sour  Milk,  &c. 

2,535.13 

Receipts  from  Sa 

es     

SU8,07 

J.  14 

Total  Cash  Paj-ments  . 

§118,070.14 

"  giving  good  measure,"  really  over-weight  at  each 
delivery.  The  shrinkage  on  routes  has  often  reached 
13  per  cent.,  and  at  the  retail  delivery  department 
of  the  office  it  has  been  just  about  8  jier  cent.  The 
exact  shrinkage  in  the  sales  of  1877  was  12- OS  per 
cent.,  and  in  the  whole  business  of  the  year  S"8 
per  cent,  upon  the  gross  amount  of  milk  handled. 
The  average  receipt  for  milk  sold  was  4^  cents  per 
quart,  for  the  surplus  milk  2i  cents,  for  all  a  little 
over  3i  cents.  The  producers  received  in  dividends 
jx'r  quart  2|  cents  for  milk  delivered  at  the  depot 
by  them.  The  total  expenses  divided  averaged 
1  cent  a  quart  on  the  milk  sold,  and  84  cents  for 
every  100  quarts  of  all  the  milk  handled.     The 


The  full  description  given  of  this  organisation 
seems  to  be  justitied  by  its  peculiarities  and  its 
excellency  as  a  model.  The  problem  which  the 
Onondaga  Milk  Association  had  to  solve  was : — 
Would  the  savings  arising  from  co-operation  be 
sufficient  to  enable  them  to  sell  only  pure,  un- 
skimmed, unwatered  milk  at  such  prices  as  to 
give  them  a  fair  profit,  at  the  same  time  meeting 
any  legitimate  competition  that  might  enter  the 
market  ?  The  experiment  appears  to  be  a  success ; 
ami  the  As.sociation  has  by  its  own  honesty,  and 
by  insisting  upon  the  honesty  of  those  who  sui)ply 
the  milk,  acquired  the  confidence  of  its  customers, 
the  people  of  Syracuse.  II.  E.  A. 


CHAPTER     XXIX. 

American  Farm  Dairying — Methods  and  Processes. 


Milking— Coo. ing-  Milk    Farms— Deep  Setting— Butter   Farms-Farm    Dairy  Rooms    and    Buildings-Statements   by  Butter  Prizo 

Winners -Odd  and  Primitive  Methods. 


veyed. 


JjJ^lRY  methods  and  processes  in 
America  necessarily  vary 
miicli  because  of  the  diver- 
sity of  climate,  of  systems 
of  farming,  of  the  origin, 
habits,  and  condition  of  the 
So  great  is  the  variation  in 
matters  of  detail,  that  a  minute  descrip- 
tion of  all  is  impracticable,  but  by  clas- 
sification and  the  selection  of  examples 
a  fair  idea  of  the  facts  may  be  con- 
As  to  general  management  and  the  treat- 
ment of  cattle,  enough  has  been  written  in  pre- 
ceding sections.  It  remains  to  describe  different 
methods  of  dairy  detail  practised  in  the  United 
States,  with  some  reference  incidentally  to  farm 
arrangements  and  buildings,  and  the  processes  of 
manufacturing  butter  and  cheese  in  private  dairies 
and  by  co-operation  at  factories  on  what  has  been 
named  "  the  American  system." 

The  jiail  is,  then,  the  place  at  which  to  begin. 
Nearly  all  the  milking  is  done  by  men  in  America, 
and  although  the  simple  requirements  of  good 
milking — quietly,  quickly,  cleanly,  completely — 
are  well  understood,  in  very  many  cases  they  are 
not  observed.  It  has  been  often  and  truly  said 
that  good  cows  are  much  more  common  than  good 
milkers,  and  many  a  good  cow  has  been  ruined,  or 
her  development  prevented,  by  an  ignorant  or  care- 
less milker.  It  must  be  confessed  that,  as  a  general 
rule,  there  is  a  lamentable  degree  of  negligence 
at  this  all-important  point.  More  than  half  the 
dairy-cows  in  America  are  stalled  half  the  year,  and 
many  more  placed  in  stalls  at  milking-time  habi- 
tually at  all  seasons.  A  very  common  practice  is 
to  give  food  just  at  milking ;  this  is  partly  a  matter 
of  convenience  and  partly  to  keep  the  animal  occu- 


l)ied  and  quiet.  But  some  thoughtful  dairymen 
claim,  with  a  show  of  reason  certainly,  that  so  im- 
portant an  operation  as  milking  should  receive  the 
undivided  attention  of  the  cow  as  well  as  that  of 
the  milker.  Very  generally,  therefore,  cows  are 
milked  in  their  stalls,  and  the  condition  of  the 
stalls  and  the  atmosphere  of  the  shed  or  stable  is 
often  such  as  to  injure  the  quality  of  the  milk 
every  moment  it  remains  exposed  in  the  apart- 
ment. Worse  yet,  the  cleanliness  of  the  cows 
and  of  the  milkers  is  inexcusably  neglected.  It 
very  often  happens,  also,  that  the  other  farm 
duties  are  such  as  to  throw  the  milking  into  hours 
very  early  and  very  late,  when  the  light  is  insuffi- 
cient to  ensure  jiroper  care,  and  when  the  milkers 
are  but  half-awake,  benumbed  with  cold,  or,  when 
tired  and  perspiring,  they  hurry  carelessly  through 
this  final  "  chore  "  at  the  end  of  a  long  day's  work. 
Washmg  or  otherwise  cleaning  the  udder  before 
milking  is  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule.  In 
those  sections  where  a  mild  climate  or  the  want  of 
buildings  makes  open  shedding  or  the  lee-side  of 
a  haystack  the  customary  shelter,  and  the  cows  are 
consequently  milked  in  the  open  air,  even  with 
equal  negligence  on  the  part  of  the  keeper,  the 
process  of  milking  is  far  more  cleanly  than  in  most 
close  stables.  Yet  many  cow-stables  are  to  be 
found  well  cleaned  and  ventilated,  the  air  always 
pure  and  sweet,  where  straw,  leaves,  sand,  and 
sawdust  are  need  for  bedding,  and  absorbents, 
whitewash,  and  plaster  frequently  and  fi-eely  ap- 
plied, sufficient  attendance  provided,  the  cows  carded 
daily,  and  every  precaution  taken  to  ensure  cleanly 
milking.  And  it  is  encouraging  to  observe  that  the 
importance  of  cleanliness  in  connection  with  cows 
and  their  milk  is  being  more  and  more  recognised 
in  the  States.     An  open  tin  pail,  sides  somewhat 


434 


DAIIiV    FAK.Ml.XO. 


flarins;,  is  tlic  usual  rocp])taole  for  milk  as  ilrawii 
from  the  cow,  but  utensils  afforJiu<f  mare  protec- 
tion are  coming  into  use. 

The  milking  done,  the  product  is  carried, 
usually  in  the  open  pails,  regardless  of  the  weather, 
to  the  dairy  or  milk-room.  On  small  farms  where 
the  quantity  of  milk  is  never  large,  no  special 
apartment  is  devoted  to  it,  but  the  pans  into  which 
it  is  strained  will  be  often  found  set  upon  shelves 
in  the  open  cell;ir  near  barrels  of  vinegar  and  pork, 
or  bins  of  apples,  turnips,  or  potatoes,  or  in  the 
familv  pantry  alongside  cold  meats  and  vegetables, 
pies,  ])iekles,  and  preserves.  It  is  astonishing  how 
good  butter  and  cheese,  or  articles  so  considered, 
are  ever  made  under  such  conditions,  and  yet  this 
is  a  true  sketch  of  the  circumstances  under  which 
the  greater  part  of  the  dairy  products  of  America 
were  made  not  many  years  ago,  and  of  the  treat- 
ment of  milk  in  many  instances  still.  In  other 
cases  milk-rooms  are,  and  for  generations  have 
been,  fitted  up  in  the  cellar,  wholly  or  partly  under- 
groimd,  or  on  the  ground-floor  in  some  well-shaded 
part  of  the  house.  Separate  buildings  are  not 
general,  but  are  numerous  in  the  best  dairying 
sections,  built  in  connection  with  well,  ice-house, 
spring,  or  intlependently,  as  described  in  the  exam- 
ples to  follow.  Small  quantities  of  milk  are  some- 
times placed  in  large  tin  pails  or  cans,  lowered  by 
cords  into  a  well,  and  there  suspended,  partly  im- 
mersed. It  is  at  this  point  of  the  treatment  of  the 
milk  that  great  variatiims  occur,  depending  chiefly 
upon  its  after-use,  whether  to  be  shipped  to  the 
city  for  sale,  taken  to  a  factory,  or  made  into 
butter  or  cheese  upon  the  farm.  Therefore 
classification  should  begin  here,  presenting  first 
examples  of  management  where  the  specialty  is 
production  of  milk  for  town  and  city  supply. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  of 
the  State  of  Connecticut,  Mr.  T.  Sedgwick  Gold, 
is  a  practical  farmer,  owning,  living  upon,  and 
conducting  a  farm  of  GOO  acres  located  in  West 
Cornwall  upon  the  southern  slope  of  one  of  those 
very  stony  hills  so  numerous  in  Litchfield  County, 
and  some  000  feet  above  the  bed  of  the  Ilousatonie 
River.  From  the  north  side  of  the  farm,  which 
extends  to  the  top  of  the  hill,  there  is  a  fine  view 
of  the  Berkshire  hills  in  Massachusetts,  and  look- 
ing over  and  beyond  the  Taconic  spur  of  the  Green 
Mountain  range  the  Catskills  can  be  seen  stretch- 
ing along  the  west  side  of  the  Hudson  River. 
Originally    rocks     large    enough    and    numerous 


enough  to  try  the  strength  and  patience  of  the 
most  energetic  were  the  chief  feature  of  this 
property.  Most  of  these  were  in  the  form  of 
boulders,  this  section  lyinj^  in  one  of  the  most 
apparent  glacier  j)aths  in  the  country.  The  smaller 
stones  have  been  drawn  together  and  worked  into 
massive  walls,  constituting  the  boundary  and 
division  lines  of  the  farm,  and  many  of  those  too 
large  to  move  have  been  buried  out  of  sight,  in 
holes  dug  beside  them,  the  soil  thus  removed  being 
used  for  grading,  filling  hollows  where  smaller 
stones  were  removed.  In  this  way  good  grass  lots 
have  been  so  cleared  that  the  mower  and  tedder 
find  few  obstructions,  and  the  pastures  have  been 
improved.  The  walls,  of  course,  prevent  an  econo- 
mical working  of  the  farm ;  it  is  not  pleasant  when 
one  mounts  a  horse-rake  to  be  stojiped  by  a  fence 
and  obliged  to  turn  around  every  30  or  40  rods, 
but  there  was  no  other  possible  disposition  of  the 
stone.  Many  of  the  best  grazing  and  dair}'  farms 
of  New  England  are  similar  to  that  here  described. 
Grass  is  the  staple  product  of  "  Cream  Hill 
Farm,"  and  the  ci'op  averages  250  tons.  Indian 
corn,  wheat,  rye,  barley,  oats,  and  roots  are  also 
cultivated,  so  far  as  these  crops  may  be  needed 
for  home  consumption.  A  maslin  crop  of  oats 
and  barley  is  a  favourite  with  Mr.  Gold,  securing 
a  large  yield  and  making  excellent  feed  for  horses 
and  swine.  Ground  grain  is  preferred  for  the 
stock,  and  water-power  being  abundant,  there  is 
a  mill  on  the  place  wdiich  does  the  work  not 
only  of  this  farm  but  of  several  others  of  the 
neighbourhood.  All  the  hay  and  grain  raised  is 
fed  out  on  the  farm,  mainly  to  cows,  the  specialty 
being  milk-production  ;  but  other  cattle  and  sheep 
are  also  fed,  and  considerable  beef  and  mutton 
sold.  The  farm-buildings  are  commodious  and 
convenient.  The  new  barn  has  all  the  modern 
conveniences  for  a  dairy-herd  ;  it  stands  upon 
the  hill-side,  with  sheds  and  yard  open  to  the 
south,  the  basement  for  manure  accessible  to 
teams,  and  so  ventilated  that  no  fumes  ascend 
to  the  cattle  floor  above  ;  back  of  this  are  cellars 
for  roots  and  fruit.  The  main  floor  is  well  lighted 
and  well  ventilated,  with  stalls  on  the  sunny  side 
and  bays  for  hay  on  the  north,  while  a  stone  wharf 
at  either  end  gives  access  to  the  capacious  second 
floor,  on  which  three  or  four  loads  of  hay  can 
stand  at  a  time.  The  foundation  of  the  building 
is  substantial  masonry,  and  the  massive  oak  and 
chestnut  frame,  the  timber  all  grown  on  the  farm, 


AMERICAN    DAIRY    METHODS. 


435 


looks  as  though  it  might  last  for  centuries.  From 
50  to  60  cows  are  kept  in  milk,  ami  the  daily 
average  product  is  g-enerally  kept  above  10  quarts, 
so  that  the  usual  shipment  is  15  cans  of  40  quarts 
each,  besides  ample  reserves  for  a  large  household. 
Mr.  Gold  had  native  cattle  originally,  and  began 
to  improve  by  introducing  Durham  blood,  but 
found  Shorthorns  too  large  and  clumsy  for  his 
stony  hills,  and  changed  to  Ayrshire ;  this  change 
resulted  in  an  increased  milk-product  and  a  dimi- 
nished expense  in  feeding.  The  present  herd  are, 
with  a  few  exceptions,  Ayrshires  or  high  grades 
of  this  breed,  and  at  the  pail  the  grades  are  about 
as  valuable  as  the  full  bloods.  Milking  begins 
in  summer  about  sunrise  and  ends  about  sunset ; 
in  winter  it  begins  before  sunrise  and  ends  after 
sunset.  The  milk  is  strained  into  railway  cans 
in  a  clean  room  at  the  end  of  the  barn,  and  then 
carried  directly  to  a  cooling  room  near  the  house. 
There  are  tanks  of  running  water  from  a  hill-side 
spring,  with  a  constant  temperature  of  46''  Fahr. ; 
the  cans  are  placed  in  the  cold  bath,  uncovered, 
and  not  quite  filled,  leaving  the  surface  of  the 
milk  the  full  size  of  the  can  and  at  or  below  the 
level  of  the  water;  thus  the  cans  remain  several 
houi-s.  Under  the  same  roof  there  is  a  supply 
of  ice  for  use  when  the  weather  necessitates  re- 
ducing the  temperature  of  the  water  in  tanks  and 
for  transportation.  The  night's  milk  always  goes 
to  the  1  ath,  and  is  cooled  till  the  next  afternoon 
The  morning's  milk  is  treated  iu  the  same  way, 
and  remains  in  the  bath  at  least  nine  hours. 
Between  three  and  four  o'clock  every  afternoon 
the  cans  are  lifted  from  the  water,  filled  quite 
full,  closed  tightly,  and  then  started  in  a  suit- 
able conveyance  for  the  railroad.  The  fifteen 
cans  of  milk  make  a  load  of  almost  a  ton,  but 
fortunately  the  route  is  down  hill  all  the  way, 
three  miles,  to  the  West  Cornwall  station  on 
the  Housatonie  railroad.  There  the  milk  train 
is  met,  which  reaches  New  York  City,  1;J(J 
miles  distant,  just  before  midnight.  The  waggon 
takes  back  to  the  farm  the  empty  cans  of  the 
shipment  the  third  day  preceding ;  five  sets  of 
cans  are  thus  necessary,  and  a  sixth  set  is  always 
held  in  reserve  in  case  of  loss  or  detention. 
Thus  an  "  outfit "  of  railway  cans  for  this  farm 
costs  about  400  dollars.  Mr.  Gold  uses  mules 
for  his  teams,  finding  them  well  adapted  to  his 
work,  hardy,  docile,  and  ready  to  carry  the  load 
to  railway  or  mill  without  fretting,  although  at 
53 


the  end  of  a  long  d:iy  of  iMlmur.  At  times  the 
milk  of  this  farm,  instead  of  being  shipped  in 
tin  directly  to  a  commission  merchant  in  New 
Y'ork,  is  taken  soon  after  the  morning's  milking 
to  a  creamery  near  the  West  Cornwall  depot, 
where  it  is  all  cooled,  then  put  in  the  glass  cans 
of  tiie  Lester  Milk  Co.,  and  by  the  creamery 
manager  forwarded  to  the  city  the  same  after- 
noon, and  delivered  to  consumers  the  next  morn- 
ing. It  may  be  stated  in  passing  that  fruit, 
in  great  variety  and  abundance,  is  a  leading 
feature  of  this  highland  farm,  and  that  Mr. 
Gold  has  near  his  house  an  acre  which  is  always 
the  model  farm  garden  of  the  State  of  Con- 
necticut. 

Public  attention  was  called  in  America  to  the 
deep-setting  of  milk  in  the  summer  of  1871,  and 
the  subject  has  been  agitated  ever  since,  con- 
stantly gaining  friends,  and  the  practice  steadily 
extending.  The  first  article  iiublished  was  a  de- 
scription of  some  Swedish  dairy-farms,  among 
them  that  of  Mr.  G.  Swartz,  which  appeared  in 
the  American  Agricult wrist  iu  May,  1871;  this 
was  soon  followed  by  several  letters  in  the  same 
periodical  by  George  E.  Waring,  jun.,  announcing 
the  adoption  of  the  Swedish  deep-setting  method 
at  "  Ogden  Farm,"  in  Rhode  Island,  and  reciting 
the  satisfactory  results.  Professor  Willard  men- 
tioned this  method  in  some  of  his  dairy  lectures 
about  the  same  time.  But  the  claim  that  "  the 
Swartz  system"  was  thus  first  introduced  into 
America  is  absurd ;  it  has  been  practised  in  this 
country,  in  all  its  essential  features,  for  more  than 
a  century.  The  writer  of  this  read  the  articles 
above  mentioned,  in  the  year  of  their  publication, 
upon  a  farm  in  "\^irginia,  where  deep  stone  crocks, 
of  just  about  the  dimensions  recommended  by 
Colonel  Waring,  were  used  for  setting  milk  for 
butter-making,  in  the  cold  pool  of  the  spring-house ; 
and  the  negro  dairy-woman  pointed  out  one  such 
crock  which  she  had  used  thus  in  the  same  spring 
for  over  fifty  jears !  The  only  variation  from 
the  "  Swartz  system  "  was  iu  the  material  of  the 
vessel  and  iu  not  using  ice ;  the  water  in  the  spring 
remained  between  44°  and  48"^  Fahr.  during  the 
year. 

Between  I  SCO  and  1870  a  number  of  con- 
trivances for  setting  milk  were  introduced,  most  of 
them  being  large,  shallow  pans,  in  a  fixed  standard 
or  frame,  usually  about  as  high  as  a  table,  and 
each  holding  a  whole  milking.     The  sizes  varied 


43G 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


from  10  to  SJOO  gallons,  and  the  depth  of  the 
milk,  as  set,  from  3  inches  to  8,  or  even  10. 
Since  1870  several  appliances,  under  the  general 
name  of  "  creamers,"  have  come  into  use  more  or 
less,  most  of  them  arranged  for  deep-setting. 
Nearly  all  these  are  patented  articles,  and  the  most 
useful  of  them  will  be  hereafter  described. 

Cellars,  ice-houses,  and  springs  are  utilised  for 
keeping  the  cream  until  churning,  and  in  many 
eases,  whore  the  quantity  is  small,  it  is  put  in  a 
covered  pail  or  can,  and  hung  in  the  cool  air  of  the 
well.  The  general  practice  in  America  is  to  keep 
the  cream  until  it  sours,  or  "  ripens,"  to  some 
degree.  For  churning,  the  old  vertical  dasher  was 
long  the  favourite,  and  so  remains  in  some  conser- 
vative districts,  but  it  has  in  most  places  been 
replaced  by  the  crank  churn  in  some  of  its  many 
forms.  Hand-power  has  always  been  the  rule, 
and  continues  to  be.  A  tendency  to  return  to  the 
primitive  and  sensible  method  of  shaking  the  cream 
instead  of  beating  it  is  seen  in  the  rapidly-increas- 
ing number  of  dasherless  churns  of  divers  patterns 
that  are  coming  iuto  use  throughout  the  United 
States. 

The  processes  of  farm  butter-making  are  so 
various  in  America  that  the  subject  can  be  best 
illustrated,  in  addition  to  the  foregoing,  by  giving 
some  selected  examples  of  the  practice  in  particular 
private  dairies. 

Philadelphia  butter  has  long  been  celebrated 
for  its  excellence,  and  a  sample  of  the  fine  dairies 
near  that  city  is  the  one  owned  by  Mr.  Samuel 
J.  Sharpless,  in  Chester  County,  Pennsylvania. 
Mr.  S.  is  one  of  the  best-known  breeders  of  Jerseys 
in  America,  and  two  of  his  cows  received  the 
highest  premiums  at  the  "  Centennial  Exposition  " 
in  1870.  The  farm  is  100  acres,  and  so  disposed 
around  the  hill  on  which  stands  the  house,  that  all 
the  fields  can  be  seen  from  the  door-yard.  The 
farm-buildings  are  in  a  valley  at  the  rear  of  the 
house,  protected  from  winter  winds,  and  convenient 
to  all  parts  of  the  farm.  The  milking-house  is 
a  slight  wooden  structure  with  so  many  open 
doors  and  windows  that  it  is  hardly  more  than  a 
shed,  and  kept  as  clean  as  a  dining-room.  It  is 
used  only  during  the  pasturage  season,  then  closed 
up  for  stabling  young  stock.  On  each  side  is  a 
row  of  stanchions,  with  mangers  in  which  a  little 
sweet-corn  fodder  or  a  little  bran  is  placed  at 
each  milking-time,  to  ensure  eontente<l,  quiet 
standing.     The  floor  is  of  hard  clay,  well  rammed. 


Each  cow  has  her  own  place,  with  name,  age,  and 
pedigree  over  the  manger,  and  they  are  arranged 
in  the  order  in  which  they  usually  come  in  from 
pasture.  The  milking  is  done  by  women,  the 
same  one  always  attending  the  same  cows,  and  it 
is  done  quietly  and  quickly.  Near  by  is  the  spring- 
house,  the  dairy  institution  of  this  region,  built  of 
stone,  2i  feetby  18,  the  walls  10  feet  high,  its 
foundations  set  deeply  in  the  hill-side,  so  the  floor 
is  4  feet  below  the  level  of  the  ground  at  the  lower 
end.  A  plentiful  spring  enters  directly  from  the 
earth  at  the  back  end  of  the  building,  and  flows 
over  the  entire  floor,  at  a  depth  of  about  3  inches ; 
the  floor  is  of  oak  plank  laid  upon  sand  and  gravel. 
At  one  place  is  a  pool  a  foot  deep,  in  which  the 
cream-pails  stand.  There  are  platforms  raised  a 
few  inches  above  the  water,  on  which  Ui  move  about 
the  room,  but  three-fourths  of  the  area  is  occupied 
by  the  slowly-moving  spring-water.  At  the  top 
of  the  walls,  on  each  side,  are  long,  low  \vindows, 
covered  with  fine  wire  cloth,  wdiieh  gives  a  free 
circulation  of  air  in  the  ujjper  part  of  the  room. 
The  milk  is  strained  into  rather  small  pans  painted 
on  the  outside,  and  provided  with  handles ;  the 
milk  stands  about  3  inches  deep,  so  that  its 
surface  is  just  below  that  of  the  water  in  which 
the  pans  are  placed.  The  cream  is  removed  after 
twenty-four  hours,  with  a  concave  tin  scoop  per- 
forated with  many  small  holes,  separating  the  milk 
thoroughly.  The  eream-pails  hold  several  gallons, 
and  stand  in  cold  water  till  churning.  The  tem- 
perature of  the  water  as  it  flows  about  the  milk- 
pans  is  5^'^  Fahr.,  and  that  of  the  air  of  the  spring- 
house,  when  closed,  about  56*^  ;  thus  the  year 
round.  It  is  the  intention  in  this  establishment 
to  keep  milk,  cream,  and  butter  at  a  temperature 
within  the  limits  of  "ji"^  and  Oi*^  from  the  time 
of  setting,  to  the  table.  The  ehurning  is  rarely 
done  more  than  twice  a  week.  The  churn  is 
of  the  Philadelphia  barrel  pattern  (described  on 
page  453),  hung  upon  its  axis  with  a  journal  or 
bearing  at  each  head  and  revolved  by  hors(;- 
power.  The  churning  lasts  about  an  hour,  at 
the  end  of  which  time  a  little  cold  water  is  added 
to  cause  the  butter  to  gather.  The  buttermilk 
is  then  drawn  off,  cold  water  added  twice,  a  few 
turns  given  to  the  churn,  and  when  the  last  water 
comes  off  it  is  nearly  clear.  The  horse-power 
is  then  thrown  out  of  gear,  and  the  churn  gently 
rocked  by  hand  to  collect  the  bntter  near  the 
opening,  and  at  a  vent  from  which  the  remaining 


VARIOUS     AMERICAN     DAIRIES. 


437 


water  escapes.  It  is  thus  left  for  an  liour  or 
two.  Then  the  butter  is  taken  from  the  churn 
and  worked  upon  an  ]']niLree  rotary  butter-worker, 
20  lbs.  at  a  time  ;  this  is  in  one  corner  of  the 
sprino;-house.  At  the  last  of  the  working  the 
maker  throws  the  butter  backward  with  the  left 
hand,  and  as  it  comes  from  under  the  roller 
presses  upon  every  part  of  it,  with  the  right  hand, 
a  cloth  wrmig  out  pretty  dry  from  cold  spring- 
water  ;  the  cloth  is  frequently  washed  and  wrung. 
This  is  continued  till  not  a  particle  of  water  can  be 
seen  as  the  butter  comes  from  the  roller;  when 
thus  well  dried  the  butter  begins  to  adhere  to 
the  roller.  It  is  then  salted,  on  the  "  worker," 
with  the  roller,  1  oz.  to  3  lbs.,  removed  to  a 
table,  weighed  and  at  once  put  up  in  pound 
prints.  The  working,  wiping,  salting,  weighing, 
and  printing  of  100  lbs.  of  butter  is  done  by 
one  person  in  little  more  than  two  hours,  the 
whole  process,  irom  the  beginning  of  churning, 
being  usually  completed  before  noon.  The  beau- 
tiful "  Philadelphia  prints,"  fragrant  as  new-mown 
hay  and  as  yellow  as  gold,  such  as  only  pure 
Jerseys  will  make,  are  then  deposited  in  large 
tin  trays  and  set  in  the  water  to  harden.  The 
next  morning  each  print  is  wrapped  in  a 
damp  cloth,  put  in  a  tin  case,  each  layer  on 
its  own  wooden  shelf,  with  ice  compartment 
filled  if  needed,  and  in  a  sweet  cedar  tub  (the 
Koehler)  sent  to  the  city  consumers  in  perfect 
condition. 

"  The  Darlington  butter "  is  among  the  best 
known  and  most  highly  esteemed  of  all  the  famous 
brands  of  Philadelphia  prints.  It  is  the  product 
of  the  dairy-farm  of  Jesse  and  Jared  Darlington, 
350  acres,  in  Delaware  County,  Pennsylvania. 
The  herd  consists  of  170  cows,  largely  natives, 
selected  for  their  butter  qualities,  and  110  to  150 
are  usually  in  milk.  There  are  two  spring-houses, 
the  principal  one  built  of  stone,  46  feet  by  32,  one 
and  one-half  storeys  high,  with  a  never-failing 
spring  discharging  about  8  gallons  of  cool  water  per 
minute.  The  milk-room  is  24  by  28  feet,  tem- 
perature 55°  to  60",  and  the  milk  is  strained  into 
large  pans,  the  largest  holding  500  quarts,  being 
set  5  or  6  inches  in  depth.  It  usually  remains 
thirty-six  hours  before  skimming,  by  which  time  a 
slight  acid  has  been  developed ;  in  winter  a  little 
sour  milk  is  put  in  the  pans  to  hasten  the  process. 
When  taken  off,  the  cream  is  put  into  tin  pails 
holding  5  gallons  each,  and  hoisted  to  the  upper 


room  ;  there  the  pails  are  put  into  a  cold-water 
bath  until  churning.  The  churning  is  done  twice 
a  week  in  two  large  horizontal  revolving-barrel 
churns,  run  by  power;  time  usually  over  an  hour. 
When  the  cream  is  put  into  the  churn,  a  suitable 
quantity  of  annatto,  dissolved  in  milk,  is  added 
to  produce  a  colour  resembling  the  highest  natural 
colour  of  the  best  Guernsey  butter  in  June.  The 
butter,  when  taken  from  the  churn,  is  carried  to 
working  tables  in  the  upper  room  ;  it  is  not  washed, 
but  the  buttermilk  is  extracted  by  absorbing  it  in 
a  moist  cloth,  which  is  frequently  wrung  out  in 
clear  water.  It  is  thus  thoroughly  worked  over 
in  masses  of  10  or  12  lbs.  each,  is  salted  at  the 
same  time,  and  then  passed  to  the  weigher  at  an 
adjoining  table.  This  operator  forms  it  into  rough 
cones  of  the  desired  weight,  and  transfers  it  to  the 
moulder  at  her  left.  This  workman,  with  pound 
and  half-pound  wooden  "  prints,"  turns  out  very 
rapidly  the  nicely-finished  and  attractive  lumps, 
each  bearing  the  name  "  Darlington,"  with  a  neat 
device.  The  lumps  are  regularly  arranged  in 
square  zinc  trays,  several  inches  deep,  which  float 
in  a  cold-water  vat.  The  owners  devote  much 
time  to  personal  supervision  or  execution  of  the 
dairy  details,  and  have  maintained  such  a  standard 
in  their  butter,  that  it  has  sold  at  from  75  cents  to 
I  dollar  a  j)ound  for  several  years  in  the  cities  of 
Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Boston. 
(The  milk  and  buttermilk  are  fed  to  swine,  these 
about  equalling  the  cows  in  number.) 

The  following  sketch  and  description  of  the 
private  dairy  of  Mr.  Eastburn  Reeder,  of  Bucks 
County,  Pennsylvania,  which  combines  ice-house 
and  dairy-rooms,  were  furnished  by  the  owner  to 
the  American.  AgricuUurist,  and  published  therein 
May,  1875:— 

The  building  is  shown  in  Fig.  226.  It  is  84 
feet  long  and  15  feet  wide,  and  stands  at  a  dis- 
tance from  any  other  building  or  any  contaminating 
influence.  It  is  divided  into  five  apartments,  the 
ice-house  (seen  at  a,  Fig.  227),  the  milk-room  {ft), 
the  vestibule  (c),  with  stairs  leading  to  the  winter 
milk-room  below,  and  an  attic  above  for  the 
storage  of  sawdust  for  the  ice.  The  ice-house  is 
12  feet  square  and  14  feet  deep,  holding  36  loads 
of  ice,  or  over  2,000  cubic  feet.  It  is  6  feet  below 
ground  and  8  feet  above.  The  walls  are  of 
stone,  IS  inches  thick.  The  frame  building  above 
the  wall  is  8  feet  high.  The  lining  boards  of  the 
ice-house  extend  down  the  face  of  the  wall  to  the 


438 


DATiiv   FAinrixr, 


bottom,  making  an  air  space  of  18  inches,  -which 
is  filled  with  sawdust.  The  ice-house  is  filled 
through  three  doors,  one  above  the  other,  at  the 
rear  end.  There  is  perfect  drainage  at  the  bottom 
of  the  ice-house,  ample  ventilatinu  above,  and  no 
currents  of  air  can  reach  the  ice. 

The  milk-room  (6)  is  12  feet  square,  and  is 
1  foot  lower  than  the  ice-room.  It  is  divided  into 
two  storeys  of  7i  feet  each,  for  winter  and  summer 
use.  A  ventilator  enters  the  ceiling  of  the  lower 
room  and  leads  to  the  cu])ola  at  the  top,  fur- 
nishing complete  ventilation  for  both  rooms.  The 
vestibule  (c)  is  4  feet  wide  and  8  feet  long. 
Here  the  milk  is  .<!trained  and  skimmed,  the  butter 
is  worked,  and  pans  arc  stored.  The  floor  is  of 
flagging  laid  in  cement,  as  is  that  of  the  winter  or 
lower  dairy.  The  pool  (</),  which  contaiiis  ice- 
water,  is  30  inches  long,  l(i  inches  wide,  and 
20  inches  deep,  and  in  this  the  deep  pans  and 
cream-kettles  are  immersed.  The  waste  from  the 
ice-box  {e)  can  be  turned  into  this  pool.  If  the 
deep-can  system  of  setting  milk  should  be  prac- 
tised, this  pool  can  be  lengthened  to  l:i  feet. 
A  drain  (/")  carries  off  all  the  waste  water  from 
the  room.  At  ff,  Figs.  2:J7  and  228,  is  a  cooling 
cupboard,  located  in  the  wall  between  the  ice-house 
and  the  milk-room,  6  feet  high,  4  feet  wide,  and 
18  inches  deep.  This  is  lined  with  galvanised 
sheet-iron,  has  a  stone  slab  at  the  bottom,  and  two 
slate  shelves  15  inches  wide,  on  which  the  cakes  of 
butter  are  hardened  before  they  are  packed  for 
market.  A  current  of  cold  air  can  circulate 
around  the  shelves,  as  they  are  3  inches  narrower 
than  the  depth  of  the  cupboard.  There  are  lat- 
ticed blinds  in  the  doors  of  the  cupboard,  shown 
at  i  i,  Figs.  228  and  229,  where  the  doors  are  shown 
as  open  and  closed.  A  current  of  cold  air  can 
l)ass  through  the  lower  lattices,  and  this  causes  an 
equal  current  of  warmer  air  to  pass  through  the 
upper  ones.  This  warmer  air,  cooled  by  contact 
with  flic  ice-box  {/■),  jjasses  down  and  out  into  the 
inilk-riMim,  where  a  temperature  of  (U)"  is  casilj' 
maintained.  J5y  clo.sing  or  opening  these  lattices, 
the  change  of  temperature  is  regulated  as  may  be 
desirable.  At  A  //,  Fig.  227,  are  ventilating  pipes, 
which  are  provided  with  registers,  seen  at  r  r, 
Figs.  228  and  229.  These  communicate  with  the 
air-chamber  beneath  the  ice-box,  and  also  with  air- 
flues  at  each  end  of  it ;  thus  two  additional  cur- 
rents of  cold  air  can  be  created  when  they  may  be 
needed.     Tlic  windows  of  flic  1  )W('r  milk-room  are 


close  to  the  ceiling,  and  above  the  surface  of  the 
ground  outside.  They  are  3  feet  wide  and  IS  inches 
high.  They  are  made  with  outer  wire  cloth  screens, 
glazed  sashes,  and  inner  shutters  or  blinds.  The 
milk-room  can  thus  be  aired  and  darkened  at  the 
same  time,  if  this  is  desired.  In  operating  this 
dairy  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  use  10  to  15 
bushels  of  ice  weekly  in  the  hottest  weather  of 
the  summer,  the  ice-box  then  requiring  filling 
two  or  three  times  each  week.  The  air  within  the 
milk-room  has  always  been  dry,  so  that  the  floor 
will  not  remain  damp  after  it  is  washed  longer 
than  a  few  hours.  (The  dairy  has  been  examined, 
when  in  operation,  by  a  committee  of  the  Soles- 
b\iry  Farmers'  Club,  who  reported  that  it  was  the 
best  dairy-house  they  had  ever  seen.) 

"Spring  Hill,"  in  Fairfax  County,  ^'irginia,  is 
situated  u])i)n  the  second  tier  of  hills  rising  fi-om 
the  Potomac  River,  and  is  12  miles  due  west  from 
the  city  of  Washington.  The  farm  contains  about 
100  acres  in  forest,  two-thirds  being  primeval 
hard  wood,  the  other  third  pine  of  30  years'  growth, 
and  130  acres  of  arable  land,  divided  into  seven 
fenced  fields,  each  having  a  living  spring  or  spring 
stream  within  its  limits;  10  or  15  acres  more  are 
occupied  by  buildings,  garden,  lawn,  and  roads. 
The  soil  is  the  heavy,  deep,  red  clay,  characteristic 
of  the  Piedmont  region  of  Virginia,  the  home 
of  maize  and  clover.  The  principal  crojas,  Indian 
corn,  wheat,  rye,  oats,  grasses,  and  leguminous 
plants.  Fruit  and  butter  the  specialties,  the  cities 
of  Georgetown  and  Washington  the  markets. 
The  cows.  Jerseys  and  Jersey  grades,  15  to  20 
being  kept  in  milk,  are  at  pasture  seven  months, 
semi-soiled  during  one-third  of  this  time,  the  dryest 
season,  and  fed  in  stables,  tied  with  short  chains 
the  rest  of  the  year,  with  several  lunirs  daily  in  a 
warm  yard.  The  winter-feeding  has  no  unusual 
feature.  The  milking  is  done  by  negroes,  under 
an  open  shed  in  favourable  weather,  and  begins 
just  about  sunrise  and  sunset.  The  milk  is  at 
once  taken  in  the  tin  milking-pails  to  the  spring- 
house,  several  rods  distant.  This  building  is  in  a 
forest-lined  ravine,  between  two  hills,  upon  one 
side  of  a  small  stream,  stone  walls  enclosing  a 
space  of  S  feet  by  12,  covered  by  a  wooden  frame 
and  roof  with  ventilating  windows  in  the  gables. 
Large  white  oaks  shatle  the  building  in  summer, 
admitting  for  a  few  hours  in  mid-day  stray  beams 
enough  for  health  and  jiurity.  In  winter  the 
sun  shines  unnn  it  a  short   time  dailv.        The  air 


AN    A:\rERICAN    DAIRY    IIOT^SE. 


439 


passing  through  tlie  little  vale  is  alwaj's  fresh  ami 
sweet.  A  platform  occupies  the  niiiUlle  of  the 
sprino'-house,  extending  frc  n  the  door  at  one  end  ; 
a  double  spring  issues  from  the  hill-side  upon  either 
side  of  the  platform,  just  inside  the  doorway,  ami 
the  water,  flowing  along  the  sides,  meets  at  the 
farther  end  and 
passes  out  to  the 
adjacent  stream. 
The  temperature 
of  the  water  re- 
mains between 
44^'and4S'-'Fahr. 
during  the  year, 
and  that  of  the 
air  in  the  room 
is  seldom  above 
55^.  I'pon  reach- 
ing the  spring- 
house,  the  milk 
is  strained  into 
earthenware 
crocks  of  rather 
greater  depth 
than  diameter, 
holding  from  3 
to  8  quarts,  and 
these  are  set  into 
the  spring,  so  the 
milk  surface  will 
be  just  below  the 
water  level,  and 
clean  wooden  cov- 
ers put  on  them. 
In  the  water  are 
flat  stones  of  dif- 
ferent sizes,whieh 
can  be  shifted 
easily  so  as  to  give 
any  desired  depth 
to  the  water  flow- 
ing over  them  ; 
thus  milk-vessels 
of  all  sizes  can  be  accommodated.  A  large  stone 
jar  for  cream  stands  in  the  deepest  part  of  the  pool. 
The  flow  of  water  is  unfailing,  and  suflicient  to 
change  the  whole  every  twelve  or  fifteen  minutes. 
Along  each  side  of  the  building,  -Z  feet  above 
the  water,  are  slatted  shelves  to  which  the  milk- 
vessels  can  be  transferred  in  case  of  an  occasional 
overflow  of  the  surings  in  an   unusual  storm,  for 


® 


Fig.  228.— Open  Doors. 


storage  of  extra  milk- vessels  and  similar  uses.  The 
milk  is  skimmed  uniformly  at  the  end  of  twenty- 
f(iur  hours,  one  morning's  milk  being  removed  from 
the  spring  before  the  ne.xt  is  set.  The  skimming 
is  done  with  a  metallic  ladle,  care  being  taken 
to  dip  out  as  little  milk  as  possible.  The 
chiu'uing  is  done 
when  the  cream 
is  sweet,  usually 
every  other  morn- 
ing, and  some- 
times every  day. 
The  churn  is  of 
wood,  a  horizon- 
tal cylinder  with 
a  simple  rotary 
dash,  turned  with 
a  crank  by  hand. 
Temperature  of 
the  cream  at 
churning,  GO"  to 
&2.^'  ;  time  in 
churning  ave- 
rages twenty  mi- 
nutes. The  butter 
is  gathered  in  tlie 
churn,  removed 
to  an  oak  table 
with  an  inclined 
top,  washed  tho- 
roughly with  cold 
spring-water,  and 
lightly  worked 
with  a  lever;  then 
salted,  about  f  oz. 
to  a  jjound,  and 
set  away  till 
evening.  It  is 
then  carefully 
worked  with  a 
lever,  moisture 
removed  with 
sponge,  covered 
with  muslin,  and  packed  in  small  stone  jars  in 
quantities  to  suit  customers.  The  butter,  in  jars, 
remains  in  the  spring-house,  but  never  near  warm 
or  cooling  milk,  till  sent  away.  Once  or  twice  a 
week  the  product  is  delivered  to  families  in  the  city, 
generally  under  contract,  at  a  fixed  price  the  year 
round.  Price  for  some  years,  4(1,  Ah,  and  50  cents. 
Weekly  i.n.ducts  from  SO  to  1(10  lbs. 


© 


® 


J"ig.  220.— Closed  Doors. 


440 


DAIRY    FAR  MING. 


lu  the  Southern  States  where  springs  are  not  apartment,  and  a  small   ventilating    flue   in    owe 

availalile    for   spring-house  dairies,  milk-rooms  or  corner.     It  makes  a  very  eonvenient  and  satisfae- 

cellars    are    sometimes  constructed    alongside    the  tory  arrangement  for  managing  the  milk  of  a  few 

well,    from  which    a    su])])ly  of   cold    air   may   be  cows,  from  which  butter  is  made. 


obtained,  ami  sometimes  as  independent  apart- 
ments. The  Ai/ierifiDi  jlffriciilfiai.it  gave  the 
foHowing  description  of  a  private  dairy  of  this 
class,  seen  in  North  Carolina  in  1S(!S  : — 

"It  was  built  in  connection  with  a  very 
pleasant  and  comfortable  although  an  old  inun- 
sion.  Tiie  entrance  to  the  cellar  was  from  the 
porch  which  ran  around  the  house,  and  adjoin- 
ing the  rear  or  kitchen  door. 
A  handsome  shade-tree  and  a 
grape-vine  jirotected  the  en- 
trance, which  had  lattice-work 
on  three  sides,  with  a  door, 
also  partly  of  lattice-work,  in 
the  front.  A  few.  steps  led 
down  into  a  very  cool  apart- 
ment about  (5  feet  below  tlir 
ground,  well  lighted  from  a 
glazed  cupula  in  the  roof,  and 
built  of  brick,  and  white- 
washed. From  a  trap-door  at 
one  side  a  stairway  led  to  a 
lower  cellar,  which  was  the 
milk-room.  The  upper  apart- 
ment was  used  as  a  store-room 
for  kitchen  utensils,  churn,  and 
other  similar  articles.  The  lower 
cellar,  when  the  hatchway  was 
open,  was  well  lighted.  It 
was  also  of  brick,  and  cleanly 
whitewashed.  The  lloor  was 
of  brick,  not  cemented  together. 
Shelves  ran  ai'ound  this  cellar 
at  a  convenient  height,  on  which  were  kept  milk, 
cream,  butter,  and  other  things  jjroper  to  a  milk- 
room.  Although  it  is  now  five  yeai"s  since  we  saw 
this  cellar,  its  coolness,  perfect  cleanliness,  and 
sweetness  was  so  impressive  that  the  remembrance 
of  it  is  still  perfectly  distinct.  The  cellar  was 
about  10  feet  square,  and  in  all  about  14  feet  deep. 
The  lower  apartment  was  ceiled  over  with  wooden 
beams  and  a  tight  floor.  The  cost  of  the  whole 
would  not  be  beyond  the  means  of  almost  every 
farmer." 

The  writer  knows  of  a  similar  room  in  Virginia, 
built  right  against  the  wall  of  a  deep,  cold  well. 
It  has  an   ojiening  from   the  well   into  the   Iciwcr 


Milk  Cellar -Ei.e 
Section. 


"  Deerfont  Farm,"  in  Southborough,  Worcester 
County,  Ma.«sachusetts,  owned  and  managed  by 
Mr.  Edward  Burnett,  has  already  been  mentioned 
as  having  one  of  the  best  herds  of  Jersey  cattle 
in  America,  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful butter-farms  in  New  England.  About  75 
head  of  Jerseys  are  kept,  including  calves  and 
heifers,  the  cjws  in  milk  numbering  from  45 
to  60.  The  average  yield 
being  5  lbs.  of  butter  a  week 
to  each  cow  for  the  year,  the 
butter  product  of  the  farm 
ranges  from  200  to  30(1  lbs. 
a  week.  Systematic  manage- 
ment, and  the  closest  attention 
to  care  and  feed  of  the  stock, 
as  well  as  to  dairy  details,  cha- 
racterise the  establishment. 
The  cows  ai"e  always  milked  in 
their  stables,  where  everything 
is  scrupulously  clean.  The 
dairy-rooms  are  in  one  wing  of 
a  frame  building,  which  in  part 
serves  for  employes'  quarters, 
and  is  situated  on  a  hill-side, 
rather  higher  than  the  barns, 
although  near.  There  are  four 
apartments,  a  refrigerating 
room,  a  milk-room,  a  churning 
and  working  room,  and  storage. 
The  dairyman  receives  the  milk 
from  the  milkers  and  attends 
to  all  the  subsequent  work, 
from  straining  the  milk  to  shipment  of  the  butter. 
Mr.  Burnett  began,  in  the  year  1870,  with  the 
small  old-fashioned  tin  pans ;  these  he  discarded 
within  twelve  months,  and  put  in  large  Orange 
County  pans,  effecting  a  great  saving  of  time.  A 
year  later  he  changed  to  setting  in  deep  pails  in  a 
tank  of  cold  water,  and  after  two  years  adojited  the 
Hardin  method  of  refrigerating,  still  using  the 
dec])  pails  set  dry  in  a  compartment,  the  air  of 
which  was  cooled  with  ice.  The  room  arranged 
for  this  purjjose  is  now  used  for  keeping  cream  and 
butter  while  in  store.  The  next  step  onward — for 
he  makes  only  such  changes  as  he  considers 
advaiiccnicnts — was    a    contrivance    designed     Iiy 


PRACTICE     OF    VARIOUS     FARMERS. 


J  II 


Mr.  Bunu'tt  liimsi'U',  (■(juliii;^' with  ire-water  aluuit 
one-third  ut'  the  can,  the  ui)j)er  part,  while  the  rest 
was  exposed  to  the  air  of  the  milk-room,  OO'^  to 
70*^.  The  settinof  vessels  are  cylindrical,  of  tin, 
20  inches  deep  and  8  inches  diameter,  with  covers, 
and  holding  17  quarts  each.  These  are  jilaced  in 
a  wooden  trough  9  inches  deep,  which  has  holes 
cnt  in  the  bottom  to  let  the  cans  throno-li  till  they 
rest  upon  an  iron  flange  soldered  on  to  outside  of 
each  pail ;  under  the  flanges  are  rubber  washers, 
and  these,  with  clamps,  make  all  water-tight. 
Thus  the  pails  or  cans  have  about  8  inches  of  their 
length  within  the  tank,  the  rest  projecting  below. 
In  this  position  the  cans  are  flUed,  the  milk 
strained  a  second  time  as  it  enters  them.  The 
tank  or  trough  is  then  filled  with  water,  in  which  is 
placed  broken  ice  enough  to  reduce  the  temjjerature 
to  about  45*^.  The  tank  is  made  in  two  sections, 
each  large  enough  for  pails  to  hold  one  milking 
at  the  maximum.  An  ice-chest,  the  size  of  one 
section,  is  fixed  on  rollei's  so  as  to  move  and  fit 
closely  over  either  half  of  the  tank,  and  when  in 
position  may  be  let  down  upon  a  rubber  washer 
running  all  round  the  section  by  a  simple  lever 
which  displaces  the  wheals  from  the  rails.  This 
leaves  an  air-tight  compartment  between  ice- 
chest  and  water  of  tank.  The  chest  holds  200 
or  300  lbs.  of  ice,  and  needs  filling  but  once 
daily.  Its  drip  falls  into  the  tank,  but  not  upon 
the  cans.  After  thus  setting  ten  hours  the  milk 
is  carefully  skimmed  with  a  metallic  dipi)er,  in  the 
form  of  an  inverted  cone,  with  a  long  handle.  Of 
course  the  cream  thus  obtained  is  fully  double  the 
bulk  of  that  gathered  in  most  other  methods,  being 
thin  and  watery,  and  it  is  more  trouble  to  churn 
it.  But  Mr.  Burnett  has  satisfied  himself  by 
repeated  experiment  that  he  jiroduees  a  higher 
quality  of  butter,  and  more  uniform  at  all  seasons, 
than  by  his  former  open-pan  system;  moreover,  in 
some  instances  where  by  the  new  method  he 
obtained  1  lb.  of  butter  for  every  17  lbs.  of  milk, 
the  ratio  with  shallow  pans  tried  at  the  same 
time,  milk  standing  forty-eight  hours,  was  1  to 
18.  He  also  found  it  much  easier  to  control  the 
temperature  of  his  milk  by  water  than  by  air,  no 
matter  how  small  the  room  used.  Skimmed  as 
stated,  one  section  of  the  tank  is  always  enij)tied, 
although  perhaps  not  cleaned  up,  before  the  milk 
for  the  other  comes  in.  The  cream  is  put  into 
large  tin  pails,  which  stand  in  refrigerating-room, 
temperature    50'^,     until     the     faintest    acidity    is 


ileveliiped.  The  (■reain-])ails  are  then  moved  to 
the  churning-room,  and  tenqierature  gradually 
raised  to  oC  in  summer  and  to  G2'^  in  winter. 
Four  or  five  days  in  each  week  the  cliurning  is 
done,  usually  two  churnings  of  about  3i)  llis.  of 
butter  each,  from  20  gallons,  or  thereabouts,  of 
the  thin  cream.  The  Philadeljihia  barrel-churn  is 
used,  revolved  horizontally  by  steam-power,  about 
forty  turns  per  mmute ;  three-quarters  of  an  hour 
to  an  hour  is  generally  occnined  in  churning. 
When  the  butter  breaks  and  the  ]jieces  are  about 
the  size  of  peas,  the  buttermilk  is  drawn  off. 
Then  the  butter  is  rinsed  three  or  four  times  in 
the  churn,  with  pure  water  of  the  temperature  at 
which  it  is  desired  to  work  the  butter.  After  this 
it  is  gathered  as  much  as  possible  in  the  churn  and 
removed  to  a  wooden  working  table,  similar  to  the' 
Eureka  worker  (hereafter  described) .  Upon  this  the 
butter  is  rolled  out  thin,  usually  three  times,  and 
each  time  wiped,  or  rather  "  sopped,"  free  from  all 
moisture ;  then,  while  spread  thin  like  pastry,  it  is 
salted,  only  3  oz.  to  10  lbs.,  the  salt  sprinkled  on 
evenly  with  a  fine  sieve.  The  butter  is  rolled  out 
twice  more,  to  incorporate  the  salt,  and  then  sent 
into  the  refrigerating-room,  where  it  remains  from 
about  10  o'clock  a.m.  till  4  p.m.  It  is  then  re- 
worked, simply  to  throw  off  any  brine  formed  and 
to  render  it  more  flexible,  and  made  up  with  spats 
• — no  hand  contact — into  regular  triangular  prisms 
about  6  inches  long  and  weighing  I  lb.  each. 
These  rolls,  each  wrapped  in  muslin,  are  packed  on 
end  in  tin  boxes,  all  18  inches  wide  and  5  inches 
deep,  and  differing  in  length  according  to  quantity 
of  contents.  The  tin  boxes  are  in  turn  placed  in 
wooden  ones,  with  ice-packing  when  necessarv,  and 
thus  sent  by  rail  to  Boston.  The  prices  obtained 
for  several  years  have  ranged  from  45  to  75  cents, 
being  usually  about  double  the  market  quotations 
for  best  butter  in  lumps.  Mr.  Burnett  has  at 
times  purchasL'd  considerable  milk  of  neighbouring 
farmers  having  Jersey's  or  Jersey  grades,  and  thus 
increased  his  weekly  production  to  4001bs.  of 
butter,  sometimes  more;  but  he  has  invariably  been 
obliged  to  discontinue  this  because  it  lowered  the 
average  quality  of  his  butter  and  so  injured  his 
business.  The  buttermilk  goes  to  pigs,  a  choice 
article  of  pork  being  another  specialty  of  the  farm. 
The  skim-milk  is  shijiped  every  day  to  B;)stoii, 
25  miles  distant,  and  is  one  of  the  important 
matters  in  the  economy  of  the  farm  management. 
Treated    as   described,  the   milk    is    always   sweet 


44.2 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


wlien  skimmed,  and  with  a,  fair  percentage  of  fat 
remaining,  so  it  sells  readily  in  the  city  at  half 
the  price  of  whole  milk. 

Di.^tinct  from  his  hutter-making,  ]\Ir.  Burnett 
sent  to  the  Boston  market,  during  the  years  IS78 
and  1879,  a  limited  quantity  of  clotted  cream  in 
glass  jars,  which  he  prepared  as  follows  : — In  his 
milk-room  two  large  shallow  pans  were  set  in 
double  jackets,  so  their  contents  could  be  heated 
by  steam  or  hot-water  circulation,  or  similarly 
cooled.  A  cooling-chest,  like  that  described  for 
the  other  milk-setting  apparatus,  was  arranged  to 
fit  over  these  pans  alternately.  The  milk,  strained 
into  a  pan,  was  heated  by  steam  to  160'^  Fahr., 
and  then  by  replacing  the  steam  with  cold  water 
and  with  cooling-chest  over  it,  in  which  ice  and 
salt  were  used,  it  was  cooled  rapidly,  almost  to 
freezing.  This  gave  the  stiff  clotted  cream,  which 
was  removed  in  about  ten  hours.  The  skim-milk, 
as  in  the  other  case,  was  sent  to  Boston. 

Not  content  with  the  improvements  cited,  ^Ir. 
Burnett  experimented,  during  the  season  of  1879, 
with  centrifugal  cream-separators,  and  finally  had 
one  made  after  modifications  of  his  own  suggestion 
and  under  American  patents,  which  he  proposes  to 
use  henceforth.  It  operates  continuously,  and 
with  it  he  is  enabled  (1880)  to  send  milk  and 
cream,  separately  canned,  for  delivery  in  Boston 
the  same  day  it  is  taken  from  the  cow,  and  can 
place  butter  daily  on  the  dinner-tables  of  his 
customers  made  from  the  morning's  milk.  He 
has  also  adapted  the  centrifugal  principle  for  ex- 
tracting the  buttermilk  and  brine  from  his  butter, 
the  apparatus  being  devised  by  himself,  a  centri- 
fugal "  worker." 

Hon.  Harris  Lewis  is  one  of  the  bcst-knuwn 
dairymen  in  the  United  States.  He  has  been 
President  of  the  New  York  State  Agricultural 
Society,  the  State  Dairymen's  Association,  and 
the  Farmers'  Alliance.  His  farm,  of  140  acres, 
is  at  Frankfort,  in  Herkimer  County,  New  York, 
about  midway  between  Utica  and  Little  Falls  ;  it 
lies  upon  the  north  side  of  the  Mohawk  River,  and 
extends  from  that  stream  back  into  the  wooded 
hills.  About  30  acres  are  on  the  Mohawk  flat, 
overflowed  every  spring,  receiving  a  deposit  which 
accounts  for  the  famous  crops  of  hay  cut  from  this 
meadow  year  after  year.  Upon  the  upland  stand 
the  two  dwellings  of  Mr.  Lewis  and  his  son,  modest 
buildings  in  no  way  remarkable. 

The  dairy   barn   is   in   mau\    respects  a  n)odel. 


It  is  a  large  frame  building  on  four  heavy  walls, 
the  top  of  the  east-side  wall  being  le\el  witli  the 
ground,  making  easy  access  to  the  mni:i  floor  for 
the  loads  of  orchard-grass,  which  grows  abundantly 
near  by.  On  the  cattle-floor  below  are  two  rows 
of  stanchions  running  the  length  of  the  building, 
will)  ]iassage-way  in  the  centre  10  feet  wide. 

Forty  animals  stand  facing  this  passage,  into 
which  the  hay  is  thrown  from  above,  and  from 
which  ventilators  lead  to  the  roof.  A  patent 
manger  is  in  use;  when  opened  into  the  passiige 
these  make  convenient  troughs  for  hay,  and  when 
.shut  down,  a  square  box  for  meal  or  roots  is  before 
each  animal.  On  each  side,  in  rear  of  each  row  of 
cows,  is  space  wide  enough  for  a  team  to  pass 
through  with  sled  or  waggon,  and  doors  to  match 
at  the  ends.  Yet,  when  closed,  the  stable  is  w'arm 
enough  in  winter  to  keep  roots  without  freezing, 
and  a  sujiply  of  these  is  always  to  be  seen  at  one 
end,  in  their  season,  with  a  root-cutter  at  hand. 
yiv.  Lewis  is  famous  for  his  root  crops  for  winter 
feeding;  he  relies  for  feed  mainly  on  roots  and 
hay  while  in  stable,  and  pasturage  supplemented 
with  a  regular  ration  of  dry  forage  in  the  summer. 
There  is  running  water  in  the  barn-yard,  and  the 
liastures  and  lanes  to  them  are  well  furnished  witii 
watering  troughs  in  different  places,  so  the  cows 
need  never  walk  far  to  drink.  And  near  each  of 
these  many  watering-jjlaces  a  few  shade-trees  have 
been  provided.  Mr.  Lewis  believes  that  all  these 
accommodations  are  economical,  as  the  easier  he 
makes  everything  for  his  cows,  the  more  comfort- 
able and  contented  they  are,  and  the  belter  return 
they  make  at  the  milk-pail. 

The  herd  numbers  about  30  cows,  nearly  all 
full-blooded  Shorthorns,  and  about  ^5  are  usually 
in  milk.  It  is  remarkable  as  being  one  of  the 
few  noted  dairy-farms  in  .Vmerica  where  Short- 
horns are  jjreh'erred  to  other  breeds  for  dairy  pur- 
poses. 

The  dairy-hduse,  a  little  west  of  the  barn 
tiiwavds  the  highway,  and  between  the  two  houses, 
is  a  neat  wooden  structure,  raised  a  little  above 
the  ground,  and  divided  into  two  rooms.  The  one 
first  entered  is  for  churning  and  cleaning,  and  has 
an  outer  door  at  each  end ;  a  door  on  one  side  of 
this  work-room  opens  into  the  milk-room.  Four 
Jewett  pans  are  used,  each  large  enough  to  lioKl 
the  milk  of  a  single  milking  of  30  cows.  In  one 
end  of  the  room  is  an  open  tank,  supplied  with 
spriiig-ualiT  by  a   ram,  the  overflow  going  to  the 


PRACTICE    OP    VARIOUS    PARMEKS. 


448 


trouEflis  in  the  barn-yard.  Ice  is  used  in  the  tank 
as  needed.  From  this  tank  water  is  carried  under 
and  around  the  pans,  and  the  room,  receiving  no 
other  cooling',  is  by  this  means  kept  at  about  00° 
in  hot  weather.  The  milk  is  allowed  to  stand 
from  thiity-six  to  forty-eight  hours  in  the  pans, 
according  to  the  weather;  the  aim  is  to  skim  as 
soon  as  coagulation  appears  at  the  bottom  of  the 
pan.  The  churning  is  dene  every  day  in  a  BuUard 
oscillating  churn,  by  dog-power  standing  on  north 
side  of  work-room.  As  soon  as  the  butter  begins 
to  come,  the  temperature  of  the  contents  of  the 
churn  is  reduced  to  55^^  by  pouring  in  cold  water. 
AA'hen  the  butter  has  separated  from  the  milk  and 
before  it  is  gathered  into  a  mass,  being  in  lumps 
like  small  peas,  the  buttermilk  is  drawn  off  and 
water  poured  in.  This  process  is  repeated  until  the 
water  that  loins  off  is  quite  clear.  The  butter  is 
then  carefully  spread  so  as  not  to  adhere  in  a  mass, 
salt  gently  stirred  in  at  the  rate  of  |  oz.  to  the  pound, 
and  the  butter  then  placed  in  a  bowl  and  set  in  a 
cool  place  until  the  next  day.  The  incorporation 
of  salt  is  then  completed,  and  the  butter  packed 
in  jars  or  other  packages.  All  of  Mr.  Lewis's 
butter  is  taken  in  the  home  market,  and  always  at 
an  extra  price. 

W.  V.  S.  Beekman,  of  Saugerties,  New  York, 
one  of  the  prize  butter  makers  of  that  State,  gives 
the  following  description  of  his  procedure  : — He 
feeds  his  animals  all  they  will  eat  of  the  verj'  best 
food.  Average  daily  ration  in  winter  ^Olbs.  bright, 
earlj-cut  clover  hay,  4  quarts  of  fine  corn-meal, 
and  one  peck  of  roots,  carrots,  parsnips,  sugar- 
beets,  &c. ;  in  summer  he  gives  an  abundance  of 
soiling  crops  in  addition  to  pasture.  AVhile  pasture 
is  poorest,  feeds  fodder  corn,  2  quarts  eorn-meal, 
and  a  little  hay.  He  uses  stanchions,  being  led 
to  prefer  these  after  considerable  experimenting ; 
the  cows  stand  on  an  elevated  jilatform,  with  an 
18-incli  wide  gutter  at  the  rear.  Before  each 
milking  the  stables  are  cleaned,  and  absorbents  put 
in  the  gutter  and  fresh  straw  in  the  stalls.  The 
cows  are  then  brushed  off,  and  their  udders  sponged 
with  tepid  water.  He  prefers  deep  cans  for  setting, 
and  uses  the  pool  in  his  spring-house.  The  latter 
is  a  rough  board  building,  8  feet  square  and  6  feet 
high ;  the  temperature  of  the  spring  ranges  from 
40-'  to  50°  during  the  year.  Before  churning,  he 
sets  the  can  of  cream  into  a  tub  containing  water 
at  about  70*^,  and  stirs  the  cream  till  the  latter 
is  brought  to  62",  as  shown  by  a  floating  dairy 
59 


thermometer.  The  cream  is  churned  sweet,  three 
times  a  week,  in  an  old-fashioned  dash  churn. 
After  churning,  the  butter  is  taken  out.  Bibs,  or 
10  lbs.  at  a  time,  into  a  bowl,  and  washed  at  once 
rapidly,  most  of  the  buttermilk  being  removed  in 
this  washing.  Half  an  ounce  of  finely-sifted  salt 
is  used  for  each  pound  of  butter.  The  working  is 
finished  on  a  low  oaken  table  having  its  upper 
surface  an  inclined  plane,  and  the  butter  is  care- 
fully pressed,  all  the  moisture  being  absorbed  by 
applications  of  thin  muslin  cloth,  which  is  found 
preferable  to  a  sponge.  Mr.  Beekman  packs  in 
earthen  jars  in  summer  and  in  oaken  tubs  in 
winter.  By  his  management  he  was  able  to  make 
butter  of  superior  quality  in  August,  1872,  a 
month  famous  for  its  intense  heat  and  violent 
thunder  showers,  and  as  firm  as  his  product  of 
June  and  October.  He  ships  to  private  customers 
in  New  York,  and  by  night  boat,  in  summer,  not 
using  ice,  as  he  thinks  it  injurious  to  flavour.  His 
is  a  small,  private  dairy ;  he  keeps  but  six  cows  in 
milk,  feeds  and  milks  them  himself,  and  personally 
churns,  works,  and  packs  his  butter. 

The  following  are  condensed  descriptions  of  the 
processes  of  making  butter  in  jirivate  dairies,  as 
given  by  winners  of  some  of  the  highest  prizes 
awarded  at  dairy  exhibitions  in  America : — 

Premium    Daiiy   Buffer  at  Norfh-Wesfern   Dairy 
Fair,  Chicago,  December,  1877. 

Statement  of  C.  C.  Buell,  of  Rock  Falls, 
Illinois  : — Cows  mostly  common  stock,  a  few 
grades  of  Durham  and  Jersey,  40  in  all.  Fed 
(November)  by  running  in  corn-fields  during  day- 
time, where  stalks  are  standing,  and  at  night  in 
stable,  on  timothy  and  clover,  with  two  messes 
of  meal  daily,  two  parts  com  and  one  oats,  by 
measure ;  also  fed  greater  part  of  the  sour-milk 
and  buttermilk  from  dairy.  jNlilk  strained  through 
wire  strainer  into  deep  pails  as  soon  as  drawn; 
pails  stand  in  the  open  air  till  milking  is  finished. 
Then  strained  again,  into  same  pails,  through  double 
cloth  strainer.  Milk  set  in  a  room  without  fire,  lom- 
perature  40*^  to  50'^.  During  part  of  the  time, 
temperature  of  room  being  above  50°,  the  pails 
were  set  in  cold  water  for  twelve  hours.  ]Milk 
skimmed  twice  within  forty-eight  hours,  it  being 
considered  desirable  to  mix  the  newer  and  older 
cream,  for  sake  of  flavour.  All  the  cream  mixed 
after  last  skimming  and  allowed  to  stand  four 
hours  before  churning,  during  which  time  it  was 


.114 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


slowly  brought  to  a  temperature  of  63".  Two 
different  churns  are  used,  dependent  somewhat 
upon  tlie  weather  and  condition  of  cream ;  one  is  a 
vertical  dash  churn,  with  solid  dasher,  its  lower 
side  concave,  and  the  other  an  empty  box  with  ten 
sides,  which  revolves  about  forty  times  jwr  minute. 
From  a  half-hour  to  an  hour  and  a  half  is  occu- 
])ied  in  churning,  often  the  latter  with  revolving 
churn.  As  buttermilk  begins  to  appear,  a  couple 
of  gallons  of  strong  brine  is  added,  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  58*^,  and  the  churu  stopped  a  moment  later, 
as  with  this  addition  of  the  brine,  at  a  proper 
temperature,  the  butter  sejwrates  rapidly.  As 
much  brine  as  necessary  is  then  used  in  washing 
down  the  sides  of  churn,  cover  and  dasher.  The 
butter  is  then  dipped  from  the  churn  into  a  bath 
of  2  gallons  of  brine,  10  or  12  lbs.  at  a  time 
being  thus  washed,  and  four  or  five  such  i^arts, 
constituting  the  churning,  may  be  washed  in  the 
same  brine.  Removed  to  a  worker  with  a  rolling 
lever,  the  butter  thus  washed  but  once  is  worked 
as  little  as  possible,  just  enough  to  mix  in  a  little 
more  salt  and  to  make  all  compact.  Sometimes, 
instead  of  working  in  salt,  the  butter  after  the 
slightest  working  is  laid  into  a  tub  of  brine  for 
four  hours,  then  worked  enough  to  expel  the  brine, 
and  packed  for  market.  Chemical  colouring  matter 
is  used  in  the  churn.  Neatness,  scrupulous  neat- 
ness, at  all  points.  The  two  premium  tubs  were 
made  up  of  three  different  churnings. 

Premium    Bairy   Bitfler   at    International   Dairy 
Fair,  New  York,  Becember,  1878. 

Statement  by  John  S.  Murray,  Delhi,  New- 
York,  whose  butter  also  received  prize  at  the 
exhibition  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of 
England,  at  Kilburn,  1879  : — Butter  made  from 
a  dairy  of  30  cows,  principally  natives  with  a 
sprinkling  of  Alderneys  (Jerseys),  by  the  Cooley 
or  submer"-ed  process.  The  milk  remained  in  the 
vat  twenty-four  hours,  at  a  temperature  of  48''', 
when  the  milk  was  drawn  off  and  the  cream  taken 
into  a  warm  room  to  prepare  it  for  the  churn. 
Endeavour  to  have  the  temperature  and  ripeness 
come  as  near  together  as  possible,  just  before 
churning,  so  as  to  save  sudden  heating,  as  at  this 
stage  cream  is  very  sensitive  and  easily  injured. 
We  churn  when ,  the  cream  is  slightly  acid  ;  we 
churn  about  a  quarter  of  the  milk,  including 
cream;  churn  by  water-power  at  a  tenijjerature  of 
59"  to  &l"  ;  use  the  old  dash  churn  ;  churn  every 


day  except  Sundays,  some  daj's  twice;  when  it 
begins  to  come  in  small  particles,  wash  it  down 
with  cold  water,  then  take  it  out  into  the  butter 
bowl  and  sprinkle  on  a  little  salt,  add  a  few  quarts 
of  water,  stir  a  little,  and  let  it  remain  a  short- 
time;  then  let  it  drain  off  through  a  hole  in 
bottom  of  bowl ;  then  wash  in  two  waters,  at 
second  washing  press  solid.  Weigh  and  salt 
with  Joz.  of  Iliggins'  Eureka  .calt  to  I  lb.  butter, 
work  it  carefully  and  let  stand  in  a  cool  cellar 
about  four  hours,  covering  it  with  a  cloth ;  then 
work  again  slightly  on  an  inclined  plane,  in  order 
to  let  brine  run  off,  and  pack.  When  the  firkin 
is  filled,  a  cloth  is  put  on  wet  with  brine  and 
covered  with  about  an  inch  of  fine  salt,  damp.  A 
flat  stone  is  placed  on  t<jp  till  time  for  closing  the 
package  and  sending  away.  The  w-orking  is  all 
done  with  a  hand-paddle  or  ladle,  by  pressing 
carefully  so  as  not  to  injure  the  grain ;  have  tried 
several  patent  workers,  but  have  nothing  that 
would  replace  the  ladle.     No  artificial  colouring. 

Hiram  Smith,  of  Sheboygan  Falls,  Wisconsin, 
for  some  years  the  President  of  the  North- Western 
Dairymen's  Association,  made  the  butter  which 
took  the  sweepstake  special  prize  for  the  best 
made  by  any  farmer,  creamery,  or  dairyman  in  the 
United  States,  salted  with  Higgins'  Eureka  salt 
(New  York,  December,  1878).  Statement :— This 
butter  was  made  from  a  dairy  of  50  cows,  in  the 
mouth  of  November,  1878  ;  the  cows  were  fed 
during  the  time  on  hay  cut  in  June,  also  about  -t 
quarts  of  sliced  yellow-globe  mangel-wurzel  with 
4  quarts  of  wheat  middlings  to  each  cow  per  day. 
The  cows  were  regularly  salted  three  times  a  week, 
and  had  free  access  to  water  pumped  from  a  well. 
Milking  done  about  six  o\dock  morning  and 
evening;  the  milk  immediately  strained  and  sub- 
merged in  ice-water,  at  a  temperature  of  45°  in 
the  coolcry  cans,  and  allowed  to  remain  about 
eleven  hours,  or  between  milkings.  Then  the 
milk  is  drawn  off,  and  the  cream  all  mixed 
together  and  brought  to  a  temperature  of  62",  and 
stirred  at  intervals  for  twenty-four  to  thirty-six 
hours,  or  until  it  becomes  a  little  acid  and  com- 
mences to  thicken,  at  which  time  colouring  matter 
is  added  at  the  rate  of  a  tea-spoonful  to  8  gallons 
of  cream ;  temperature  of  the  cream  at  the  com- 
mencement of  churning  never  below  60"  nor  above 
62^',  and  moderate  churning  until  the  cream  breaks, 
or  until  globules  of  butter  appear  the  size  of 
wheat  kernels.     Churning  should  then  cease,  and 


PRIMITIVI':    PROCESSES. 


445 


a  gallon  of  cold  brine  to  every  8  g-allons  of  cream 
be  acldod,  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  iloating  the 
butter,  so  that  the  buttermilk  can  be  drawn  off 
free  from  the  butter.  Then  add  as  much  more 
cold  brine  to  work  and  harden  the  butter,  allowing 
it  to  remain  ten  minutes,  with  a  few  turns  of  the 
churn.  After  the  brine  is  drained  off,  the  butter 
can  be  salted  in  the  churn,  or  upon  the  butter- 
worker,  at  the  rate  of  f  to  1  oz.  to  a  pound  of 
butter,  according  to  the  dryness  of  the  butter,  and 
worked  but  slightly  at  this  time.  Cover  with  a 
cloth  and  let  it  stand  four  or  five  hours,  then  work 
it  to  the  consistency  of  conveniently  packing, 
which  should  be  immediately  done,  pressing  firmly 
down  until  the  package  is  well  filled.  Cover  with 
a  clean  muslin  cloth,  cut  the  shape  of  the  package, 
wet  with  brine,  and  keep  in  a  cool  place  until 
used. 

With  all  the  progress  that  has  been  made  and 
the  means  provided  for  facilitating  dairy  opera- 
tions, there  can  still  be  found  in  practice,  in  some 
parts  of  the  United  States,  the  most  primitive 
methods,  especially  in  butter-making.  There  are 
doubtless  a  good  many  families  who  keep  one  or 
two  cows,  and  make  all  the  butter  they  use,  yet 
never  use  a  churn.  The  writer  has  three  such  in 
mind,  as  examples,  where  all  the  butter  is  made  by 
stirring  the  cream  with  a  spoon  or  wooden  paddle, 
in  a  large  earthen  bowl. 

In  Texas  and'  New  ]\Iexico,  making  butter  is 
a  rare  occurrence.  Many  owners  of  cows  by  the 
thousand  seldom  use  milk,  but  there  are  times  and 
places  at  which  scenes  like  the  following  can  be 
witnessed  : — A  portion  of  soured  cream,  or  of  the 
whole  milk  (for  in  this  climate  the  milk  usually 
thickens  before  the  cream  separates),  is  placed  in  a 
stout  leather  bag,  that  is  tightly  closed  and  fastened 
to  one  end  of  a  long  raw-hide  rope,  or  lariat,  the 
other  end  being  attached  to  the  pommel  of  a 
Mexican  saddle,  on  the  back  of  a  half-wild  mus- 
tang pony,  with  a  rider  quite  equal  to  the  occasion. 
All  being  in  readiness,  the  rider  puts  spurs  to  his 
steed,  which  goes  off  with  a  bound.  The  lariat, 
suddenly  straightened  out  behind,  jerks  the  bag 
violently  forward,  so  that  it  falls  beside  the 
horse,  or,  perhaps,  hits  him  upon  rump  or  heels, 
or  strikes  the  rider's  back,  and  then  falls  to  the 
ground  only  to  be  the  next  moment  jerked  into 
the  air  again.  Thus  the  mustaug  careers  over 
the  prairie,  with  its  fantastic  appendage,  until  the 
practised    ear   of    the   rider   detects   the   rattling 


sound  in  the  contents  of  the  sack — as,  perchance, 
it  deals  him  a  soxind  blow  on  the  head — and  knows 
that  the  butter  has  come.  Then,  reining  in  his 
horse-power,  he  draws  his  churn  up  before  him  on 
the  saddle,  and  canters  back  to  the  ranchc. 

A  modification  of  this  rather  violent  mode  of 
churning  was  customary  for  years  among  emi- 
grants, freighters,  and  detachments  of  troops  when 
crossing  the  Western  plains.  These  caravans,  or 
trains,  moved  so  slowly  that  it  was  an  easy  matter, 
while  grazing  was  good,  to  take  along  "  an  Ameri- 
can cow  "  to  add  comfort  to  the  meagre  domestic 
provisions  for  "  the  outfit."  The  milk  not  used 
while  sweet  was  put  into  bottles,  or  small  stone 
jugs,  corked  up ;  these,  partly  filled,  were  hung 
under  waggons,  and  there  swung  and  jolted,  as  the 
train  moved  over  the  roadless  prairies  through  the 
day's  march.  Halted  for  the  night,  the  bottles 
were  buried  in  the  earth  to  cool,  and  in  the  morn- 
ing little  lumps  of  firm  fresh  butter  were  ready 
for  breakfast. 

Among  the  Cherokee  and  Muskogee  Indians, 
who  were  moved  in  the  year  18'i8  from  the  Gulf 
States  to  the  Indian  terrritory  (west  of  Arkansas), 
an  old  and  peculiar  mode  of  making  butter  may 
yet  be  found  in  j)ractice  to  some  extent.  The 
cream  is  not  removed  from  the  milk  until  the 
latter  has  fully  loppered,  and  then  care  is  taken  to 
get  only  the  cream.  A  quantity  of  this  is  kept 
until  thick  and  stiff;  it  is  then  poured  into  a 
coarse  linen  cloth,  the  mass  wrapped  up  in  several 
successive  coverings  of  any  porous  material,  and 
the  whole  bundle  then  buried  in  the  ground, 
preferably  3  feet  deep,  in  a  clean,  loamy  soil. 
Exhumed  after  twenty-four  hours,  the  inner  cloth 
is  found  to  contain  butter,  generally  dry,  firm, 
and  in  good  condition,  all  whey  and  water  having 
been  absorbed  by  the  earth.  Butter  thus  made 
has  little  colour,  but  is  excellent,  provided  the 
other  dairy  processes  are  done  in  a  cleanly  and 
judicious  manner. 

Home-made  cheese  in  the  United  States  is 
becoming  more  and  more  rare.  The  factories 
have  so  generally  sujDerseded  farm  cheese-making, 
that  the  latter  receives  very  little  attention  in  the 
consideration  of  dairy  interests  in  America.  And 
where  cheese-making  continues  in  small  quantity 
in  private  dairies,  there  is  nothing  peculiar  to  the 
processes  employed  which  calls  for  special  comment 
or  description,  H.  E.  A, 


CHAPTER     XXX. 

Dairy    Imtlements    and    Machinery. 


Milking    Machines— Strainers    and    Coolers— Milk    Cans— Milk 
Packages— (.  hecse-making    Apparali 
;.  V>^,  tc~>       Fertility  of  American  Invention. 

'tPx'^OTHlNG  is  more  noticeable 
in  connection  with  American 
dairying  than  the  great  at- 
tention paid  to  improving 
the  dairy  appliances.  And 
this  fact  in  turn  is  evidence 
of  the  development  and  importance  of 
the  dairy  interest  itself.  The  Americans 
are  famous  for  their  ingenuity,  and  no 
sooner  does  any  branch  of  industry 
become  prominent  than  many  brains 
and  hands  are  directed"  towards  pro- 
viding laljour-saving  apparatus  and  improving  the 
processes  at  all  points.  The  inventions  in  aid  of 
dairying  are  very  numerous,  and  the  progress  made 
is  quite  as  marked  as  in  the  mechanical  advance- 
mfnt  in  other  departments  of  agriculture.  Indeed, 
new  devices  for  the  dairy  appear  so  fast  that  a 
close  watch  of  the  United  States  Patent  Ofhce  is 
necessary  to  keep  up  with  them.  As  a  single 
example  of  this  activity,  from  the  time  of  the 
enactment  of  the  patent  law  there  have  been  on 
an  average  thirty  applications  a  year  for  new  or 
improved  churns;  and  although  about  one-fourth 
have  been  rejected,  1,811  patents  on  churns  have 
been  issued,  or  a  new  churn  every  seventeen  days 
(average)  for  more  than  eighty  years  ! 

This  chaj)ter  will  be  devoted  to  an  accoupt  of 
American  dairy  apparatus,  and  especially  to  de- 
scribing and  illustrating  those  articles  which  have 
borne  the  test  of  practical  application,  and  are 
recognised  as  valuable  acquisitions.  Of  the  mul- 
titude of  appliances  produced,  of  course  only  a  few 
of  the  fittest  survive  and  come  into  general  use. 
As  far  as  it  is  possible,  the  utensils  will  be 
described  in  the  order  of  the  process  of  dairy 
manipulation. 


'ans    and    Creamers— Churns -Butter  -  workers— Printers- Butter 
s— Jlilk  Vats— Presses— Hoops    and    Bandages— Cheese    Boxes— 


Milking-machines  therefore  come  first.  Con- 
sidering all  the  trouble  that  arises  from  poor 
milking,  injury  to  the  cow  and  spoiling  of  milk, 
it  is  no  wonder  that  reform  in  the  matter  of 
milking  is  so  loudly  called  for.  And  then  the 
time  consumed  :  it  is  within  bounds  to  say  that 
for  the  cows  in  milk  in  the  United  States,  this  is 
equal  to  the  whole  labour  of  :JO(J,000  men  every 
day  in  the  year.  It  is  therefore  not  surprising 
that  for  thirty  years  inventors  have  been  trying  to 
produce  a  machine  to  do  this  work.  There  have 
been  between  forty  and  fifty  patents  issued  in  the 
United  States  for  cow-milkers,  beginning  in  1849, 
and  they  may  be  classed  according  to  their  action, 
as  tappers,  squeezers,  and  suckers.  The  first  class, 
or  tube-milkers,  as  they  are  commonly  called,  are 
illustrated  and  described  on  page  58,  to  wdiich  tlie 
reader  is  referred.  While  these  tube-milkers  are 
of  occasional  service  in  eases  of  sore,  obstructed, 
and  malformed  teats,  their  continued  use  has 
generally  been  found  injurious,  in  causing  in- 
Hammation,  loss  of  milk  by  "  leakage,"  and  pre- 
mature drying.  So  far  is  it  from  being  true, 
as  sometimes  asserted,  that  these  milking  ap])li- 
ances  have  been  generally  adopted  in  America,  that 
not  a  single  well-known  dairyman  in  the  country 
has  adopted  or  endorsed  them.  Yet  they  con- 
tinue to  be  manufactured  and  advertised,  and 
must  find  bu\'ers. 

The  next  system  of  milkers  patented  attempted 
to  imitate  hand-milking,  in  squeezing  and  strip- 
ping; but  the  difficulty  of  making  a  mechanical 
substitute  for  the  human  hand  has  not  been 
surmounted,  and  no  success  has  thus  far  attended 
the  inventions  on  this  basis,  although  it  is 
unquestionably  the  direction  in  which  success 
is  most  to  be  desired. 


STRAINING    AND    COOLING. 


447 


More  than  half  the  American  patents  for 
milkers  have  been  npon  machines  which  have 
aimed  to  imitate  the  natural  motion  of  the  calf  in 
suckino^.  Ten  of  these  patents  were  issued  to 
L.  O.  Colvin,  beginning  in  IStiO,  and  it  is  upon 
the  general  plan  of  his  inventions  that  the  greatest 
hope  now  lies  for  perfecting  a  practically  satis- 
factory cow-milker.  The  latest  machine  of  this 
kind,  which  has  attained  the  highest  mechanical 
merit  and  the  most  complete  theoretical  action, 
is  that  of  Albert  A.  Durand,  made  at  Auburn, 
New  York. 

StEAIXIXG,    COOI.ING,    AND    AeEATING    MiLK. 

Straining  milk  before  "  setting  "  it  for  cream 
or  canning  it  for  shipment  is  very  essential,  and 
too  often  neglected,  coarse  cloth  make-shifts  or 
other  utensils  being  relied  upon  that  do  not  answer 
the  purpose.  In  most  metal  strainers  the  surface 
has  been  flat  or  concave,  so  it  has  not  been  possible 
to  use  wire  cloth  fine  enough  to  remove  all  im- 
purities without  filling  the  meshes  and  clogging 
the  strainer.  To  do  the  work  (piickl}^,  the  cloth  or 
wire  used  is  often  so  coarse  as  to  make  the  opera- 
tion of  little  effect.  The  best  American  article  of 
this  kind  is  More's  pyramidal  strainer,  illustrated 
in  Figs.  2-5]  and  -I'-iZ.  Its  special  advantage  is 
the  form  of  the  strainer :  the  milk  falls  upon  the 
sloping  sides  of  the  pyramid,  and  the  sediment  is 
the  constantly  carried  to  the  base,  leaving  a  clean 
surface  through  which  the  milk  rapidly  passes. 
This  permits  wire  cloth  of  100  mesh  (10,000  per- 
forations to  the  square  inch),  which  is  finer  than 
any  cloth  strainer  used,  and  cleans  the  milk  per- 
fectly. As  it  never  clogs,  it  works  very  fast. 
The  bowl  is  seam- 
less, of  Britannia 
or  copper,  of  fine 
form  and  finish, 
and  of  great 
strength.  The 

strainer      is      at- 
tached by  a  coarse 
screw,  and  can  be 
easily        removed 
and        cleaned. 
Strainers    of    dif- 
ferent meshes  are 
furnished  for  the  same  bowl,  for  various  domestic 
uses.     In  the  first  figure  a  portion  of    the  bowl 
is  cut  awaj'  to  show  the  position  of  the  strainer. 


Fig.  232.— .Strainer  in  parts. 


Fig.  231. — Pyramidal  Strainer. 


and  the  whole  rests  upon  a  circular  metallic 
support  used  in  straining  into  small  pans;  the 
second  figure  shows  the  parts  separated.  For 
use  with  large  fac- 
tory-carrying cans, 
deep-setting  pails 
and  pans,  a  simijle 
bent-wire  attach- 
ment is  furnished, 
which  gives  com- 
plete support.  This 
excellent  utensil 
is  sold  in  several 
sizes,  the  strainer 
surface  having 
from  60,000  to 
150,000  perfora- 
tions, at  from  1| 
to  2i  dollars,  with 
attachments  com- 
plete. It  is  exclusively  manufactured  by  Moseley 
and  Stoddard,  of  the  New  England  Dairymen's 
Supply  Depot,  at  Poultney,  Kutland  County, 
Vermont. 

The  subject  of  cooling  milk  before  transporta- 
tion has  received  much  attention  in  America 
during  the  last  twenty  years,  and  in  that  time 
patents  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  devices  for  the 
purpose  have  been  issued, 
twenty-one  of  them  in  the 
year  1S75,  and  twenty-four 
in  1S76.  Many  combine  the 
cooling  with  cream  -  raising, 
and  those  will  be  mentioned 
later.  The  simplest  and  most 
common  provision  is  the  tank 
or  bath  of  running  spring- 
water,  cooled  by  ice  when 
necessary,  and  tin  pails  about 
8  inches  in  diameter,  and  from 
18  to  25  inches  deep,  with 
heavy  bottom  (Fig.  23'3). 

A  clever  contrivance  for 
expelling  the  animal  heat  in 
a  quicker  way,  but  requiring 
more  labour,  is  represented  in 
Fig.  2-"34.  By  this  milk  aerator 
and  cooler,  a  hand-lever  below 
draws  air  through  an  ice-box  and  forces  it  down 
a  tin  tube  to  a  perforated  base,  where  it  is  expelled 
through  the  milk.     The  air  maj-  be  drawn  through 


Fig.  233. -Milk 
Cooler. 


448 


DAIRY    FARIMING. 


cottoii-wool,  and  so  be  purified  from  "jerms  of  fer- 
ments.    A  valve  at  the  base  of  the  tube  prevents 


Fig.  234. — Milk  Aerator. 

•the  milk  from  bciiii;-  drawn  intu  tlie  liellows.  All 
the  parts  are  detachable  for  eleaninii^.  The  figure 
shows  the  apjiaratus  by  itself,  and  also  as  attached 
to  a  can  by  the  extension  bracket,  but  without  the 
ice-box.  This  aerator  is  sold,  complete,  for  !• 
dollars,  and  fitted  to  cans  of  all  sizes. 

MiLK-CAXS. 

Milk-cans,  for  eonvej-ing-  the  article  to  fac- 
tories by  railway,  to  city  dealers  in  milk- waggons, 
and  for  delivery  in  small,  unbroken  parcels  to 
consumers,  are  very  numerous,  differing  widely  in 
patterns  and  in  size.  Over  a  hundred  patents 
on  milk-cans  have  been  issued  in  the  United 
States  since  1860. 

The  "factory"  carrying  can  has  been 
shown   in   Fig.   13^,   page   274.     It  is   usually  a 


MiLK-C.VN   HaXIU.EH. 


cylinder  with  diameter  two-thirds  of  height, 
holding  from  .j()  to  60  gallons;  when  well  made 
the  sides  are  of  a  single  jjiece  of  tin,  and  with  top 
and  bottom  hoops  and  a  midway  band.      Bottoms 


and  bands  are  often  of  wrought-iron,  tinned ;  the 
covers  in  .several  patterns  have  ventilators  attached. 
The  side  handles  may  be  quite  plain  or  of  the 
Whitney  pattern,  which  is  that  used  by  the  Iron- 
Clad  Can  Company  of  New  York,  and  shown  in 
the  engraving.  Another  improved  form  of  ean- 
JKHidles  is  Millar^■^  patent ;  these  are  a  combi- 
n;iti(in  for  eonvenieuce  in  ordinary  handling  and 
for  raising  and  tii)ping,  when  cranes  are  used 
at  a  factory.  Some  cranes  have  curved  hooks, 
and  some  hooks  squarely  bent  which  require  a 
socket  perpendicular  to  the  side  of  the  can ; 
these  handles  provide  for  both.  They  are  made 
of  malleable  iron,  japanned  or  tinned,  and  cost 
half   a  dollar  a  pair. 

JNIiLK  Settino. 

For  setting  milk  to  let  the  cream  gather, 
almost  the  only  article  used  in  the  Northern  States 
for  many  jears  was  the  shallow  tin  pan,  circular, 
with  sides  slightly  flaring ;  and  the  counterjiart  of 
this  in  the  South  and  those  regions  where  spring- 
houses  prevailed  was  the  pan,  often  aiiproacliing 
a  jar  in  form,  of  earthenware,  generally  called  a 
crock.  A  dairy  of  much  size,  fitted  wnth  small  pans 
in  the  days  when  milk  was  allowed  to  stand  forty- 
eight  or  sixty  hours  before  skimming,  presented  a 
formidable  array  of  tin-ware  ;  the  labour  connected 
therewith,  devolving  upon  the  women-folk,  was 
simply  killing.  The  tiers  of  bright  pans  upon  a 
bench,  drying  and  sweetening  in  the  sun,  is  still  a 
characteristic  f)f  the  homestead  of  the  American 
genei'al  farmer,  who  keeps  a  few  cows  and  makes 
butter  to  use  and  sell  at  the  country  store.  But 
in  the  active  dairying  districts  the  small  pans  have 
almost  disappeared. 

Patents  for  inqiroved  milk  pans  and  coolers 
began  to  be  taken  out  in  1S59,  although  few  were 
issued  prior  to  1865 ;  during  the  next  fourteen 
years,  over  one  hunilred  and  fifty  devices  of  this 
class  were  patented  in  the  United  States.  Most  of 
them  were  for  large,  shallow  setting,  holding  from 
10  to  200  gallons,  the  depth  from  5  to  8  inches, 
sometimes  10,  and  the  pans  sold  in  sets  of  four. 
Nearly  all  these  pans  have  arrangements  for  a 
circulation  of  cold  or  warm  water  around  them  for 
regulating  the  temperature  of  the  milk.  Illus- 
trations and  dcscrijjfions  of  several  of  these 
systems  of  cream-raising  have  already  been  given. 

All  these  api)lianees  for  deep-setting  dejien  1 
upon  the  use  of  ice,  and  involve  much  labour  in 


SETTING     AND     CREAMING. 


449 


handling'  and  cleaning  the  cans.  There  are  good 
AmeriLan  dairymen,  however,  who  wish  some- 
times to  apply  heat  to  their  milk,  to  vary  the 
depth  of  setting  it,  and  to  set  deep  without  so 
many  cans.  The  judges  on  apparatus  at  the 
International  Dairy  Fair  at  New  York,  in  1878, 
decided  that  the  l)est  creamer  was  one  that  would 
accommodate  methods  and  jirocesses  based  upou 
different  theories,  not  restricted  to  one,  and 
awarded  the  diploma  for  "the  best  creamer" 
accordingly. 

The  refrigerating  creamery-vat  of  Whitman  and 
Burrell,  of  Little  Falls,  New  York,  shown  in  Figs. 


236,  237,  received  the  award.  The  general  utility  of 
this  vat  is  one  of  its  chief  merits.  In  it  the  milk 
may  be  set  at  any  deiitli  up  to  20  inches,  and  the 


Fig     237  — C'RE\Mf  K\   \  VI,    CLO^tD. 

vat  may  be  of  any  size,  that  made  for  factory 
service  being  1.5  feet  long,  and  3  or  4  feet  wide, 
with  a  capacity  of  600  gallons.  Strained  directly 
into  the  vat,  the  milk  may  be  cooled  by  a  flow  of 
spring-water,  under,  aroimd,  and  through  it.  Two 
flat  tin  cases,  or  hollow  partitions,  are  suspended 
the  length  of  the  vat,  dividing  it  into  three  long, 


narrow  compartments,  and  these  conduct  cold 
water  through  the  mass  of  milk ;  if  it  is  desired 
to  prevent  cream  rising,  these  attachments,  by  a 
simple  device  (not  shown  in  the  engraving)  may 
be  put  in  motion  as  agitators.  A  light  cover, 
adjusted  by  balance  pulleys,  may  be  let  down  upon 
the  vat,  and  having  a  jambed  edge  with  india- 
rubber  packing,  all  dust  and  air  are  shut  out. 
The  cover  is  of  rooflng  tin,  double,  with  an  air- 
space of  one  inch,  the  top  painted  and  the  inside 
dressed  with  shellac  or  paraffln.  Ventilators  are 
made  in  the  cover  when  wanted.  To  expedite  the 
cooling,  thei'e  are  ice-pans  which  may  Ije  placed 
under  the  cover,  directly  over  the  milk,  with  drip- 
tubes  which  iiass  to  the  outside  of  the  vat.  With 
a  very  economical  use  of  ice,  and  perhaps  a  little 
salt,  a  body  of  .5,000  lbs.  of  fresh  milk  may  by 
this  apparatus  be  reduced  to  a  temperature  of  40* 
Fahr.  in  a  remarkably  short  time.  The  provisions 
for  water  circulation  answer  also  for  steam,  and  by 
its  application  the  contents  of  the  vat  may  be  soon 
heated  to  any  degree.  Hot  water  may,  of  course, 
1)0  used  instead  of  steam.  And  to  suit  different 
notions  in  cream-raising,  the  apparatus  atlmits 
of  the  application  of  heat  at  the  bottom  only, 
of  cold  at  the  bottom  or  the  top  alone,  or  of  heat 
below  and  cold  above.  The  milk  receptacle  is  of 
heavy  tin,  substantial  but  plain  ;  the  vat-frame  is 
thoroughly  made,  put  together  with  screw-bolts, 
well  finished,  and  the  panels  covered  with  a  non- 
conducting coat  to  economise  heat  and  cold.  The 
whole  is  simple,  every  part  accessible  for  cleaning, 
and  it  is  easily  managed.  The  milk  may  be 
drawn  off  with  faucet  and  spout,  and  there  is  the 
usual  ti])ping  contrivance  to  facilitate  emptying. 
The  cream  Avhich  forms  under  these  air-tight 
covers  is  very  tender  and  of  even  consistency, 
having  none  of  the  objectionable  skin  or  crust  so 
common  when  exposed  to  the  air,  and  so  it  may 
readily  be  drawn  through  the  large  faucet,  after 
the  milk,  and  conducted  directly  to  the  churn. 
These  various  attributes  make  this  vat  a  con- 
venient and  economical  appliance  for  either  butter- 
making  or  a  cheese-factory,  and  particularly  for 
an  establishment  where  both  articles  are  produced 
at  different  times,  or  made  from  the  same  milk. 
Six  sizes  of  these  vats  are  in  the  market,  capacity 
from  75  to  700  gallons,  and  they  range  in  price 
from  35  to  75  dollars  for  vat  alone,  and  from  50 
to  140  dollars  when  complete,  with  cover,  ice-pans, 
and  partitions. 


450 


DAIRY    FAinriX(J. 


The  Ancut  cooler  and  eream-iaisov  is  a  still 
simpler  a])i)iiratus  for  deep-setting  in  quantity,  the 
invention  of  R.  Aneiit,  the  sujierintendent  of  one  of 
the  famous  Stewart  ereamerics  in  Iowa,  the  result 
of  experience  there,  and  introduced  in  18/9.  A 
strong  tank  holds  a  set  of  ten  deep  ohlong  cans, 
each  with  capacity  for  100  Ihs.  of  milk;  they  may 
be  connected,  thus  receiving  and  discharging 
1,000  lbs.  at  once,  or  any  number  of  the  com- 
partments may  be  separately  used.  There  is 
amjjle  space  between  the  cans  to  facilitate  clean- 
ing, and  the  arrangement  presents  the  greatest 
possible  cooling  surface.  The  tank  is  made  to  use 
cold  running  water,  or  for  a  still  bath,  adding  ice  as 
required.  It  stands  above  the  floor  like  a  cheese- 
vat,  and  has  the  usual  dumping  device.  The 
gang  of  cans,  strong  and  durable,  is  easily  hiindled 
and  removed  by  one  person.  A  discharge-pipe 
allows  tlic  milk  to  be  drawn  off  from  under  the 
cream,  and  the  can-bottoms  are  so  shaped  that 
should  there  be  any  sediment  it  will  be  carried 
awav  bv  the  current  of  milk  at  ths  first  flow  on 
oj)ening  the  outlet. 

The  Fairlamb  milk-cm,  patented  in  187S,  is 
an  appliance  specially  adapted  to  a  new  system  of 
creamery  practice  introduced  at  the  North-west  by 
C.  C".  Fairlamb,  of  Arena,  "Wisconsin.    The  method 


Fig.  23!).— Section  of  C.-.x. 

consists  in  g.ithcring  tlic  cream  only  from  tl;e 
pro.lucing  dairies  instead  of  the  whole  milk. 
Instead  of  paying  for  milk  by  the  pound,  with  no 
allowance  for  difference  in  quality,  in  this  system 
the  payment  is  according  to  the  butter  value,  the 
cream  being  taken  by  the  factory  agent  from  cans 
of  uniform  size  and  construction,  and  credit  given 
according  to  the  glass  gauge  in  the  side  of  tiie  can. 
Loss  of  cream  by  too  much  shaking  of  milk  in 
hauling    is    thus  avoided,   and   all   the   skim-milk 


is  left  sweet  upon  the  farm.  The  Fairlamb  can 
is  an  es.sential  part  of  this  system  ;  a  very  good 
idea  of  it  may  be  got  from  Figs.  238,  2;i'.i.  The 
can  is  lOi  inches  high,  12  inches  in  diameter  at 
the  top,  and  lOi  at  the  bottom,  and  provided  with 
an  air-tube  in  the  centre  for  aid  in  cooling  the  milk  ; 
this  is  shown  in  the  sectional  view.  The  cover  is  of 
tin,  with  a  rubber  band  covering  the  edges,  and 
making  the  can  air-tight,  when  in  place.  A  glass 
gauge  is  H.\ed  in  the  side  for  measuring  the  depth 
of  the  cream.  The  can  may  be  used  in  water  or 
open  air ;  cooled  air  is  recommended  as  the  best  by 
the  inventor.*  A  specially-contrived  carrying  can 
is  provided  for  the  cream  gatherer,  under  this 
system,  with  follower- heads  to  prevent  churning 
in  the  waggon,  and  this  can  is  made  of  any  size 
above  20  gallons ;  it  is  also  arranged  for  regula- 
tion of  temperature  of  the  cream  during  transit. 

Baker's  excelsior  cream-strniner  is  very  con- 
venient for  reducing  a  mass 
of  cream  to  even  consistency, 
either  before  churning  or  for 
sale  for  table  use.  The  cream 
is  forced  gently  through  per- 
forations at  the  fioint  of  the 
cone-shaped  tin,  by  means 
of  a  peculiarly-shaped  wooden 
knob,  turned  with  a  crank. 
This  utensil,  price  4  dollars, 
is  made  bv  Jones,  F'aulkner,  and  Co.,  of  I  tica, 
New  York". 

Up  to  the  separation  of  the  cream  from  the 
milk,  the  various  kinds  of  apparatus  cannot  lie 
well  sub-divided,  they  are  all  used  in  connection 
with  the  raw  materials.  But  beyond  this  point 
dairy  appliances  are  naturally  placed  in  two  great 
classes,  as  they  are  intended  to  facilitate  butter- 
making  and  cheese-making. 

Churns. 

There. were  issued  in  the  United  States,  prior 
to  the  year  1879,  upwards  of  2,000  patents  for 
tools  and  implements  used  in  making  butter. 
Churns  were  the  first  dairy  utensils  ])ntented  in 
America  1802),  and  have  exceeded  all  othei-s 
combined  in  number  and  variety.  The  grand 
aggregate  of  over  1,800  patents  of  this  kind 
includes  not  only  entirely  new^  patterns  or  prin- 
ciples, but  changes  and  improvements  in  the  barrel 
or  body  of  the  churn  itself,  in  dasher.s,  in  com- 
binations,   attachments,    and    operating    devices. 


^-^ 


Fig.  240.— C'utASi- 

STB.UNEB. 


AMERICAN    CHURNS. 


451 


In  1803  a  "rockiiin'  fluirii  "  was  invented,  in  1813 
and  1831  "  jxMiduluni "  churns,  with  others 
termed  "  reciproeatini>-,"  "self-acting-,"  "oscil- 
lating," and  "  rotary."  Churns  and  butter- 
workers  combined  were  first  patented  in  1851  and 
1852.  As  a  matter  of  curiosity,  theee  churn 
patents  are  divided  in  time  as  follows  : — Prior  to  the 
year  18^5,  71 ;  during  the  twenty-five  years  ending 
with  1850,  131 ;  during  the  decade  ending  in  1800, 
117;  during  the  ne.xt  decade,  802;  from  1871  to 
1875,  inclusive,  361,;  in  1876,  86;  in  1877,  109; 
in  1878,  98.  The  greater  part  of  the  whole 
number,  therefore,  have  originated  within  twenty 
years.  Some  of  the  best  and  most  popular  forms 
of  American  churns  will  now  be  described. 

The  Davis   oscillating   churn  of  the  Vermont 
Farm  ^laehiue  Company  received  the  first  honours 


Fig.  241. — Oscillating  Chpen. 

at  the  International  Dairy  Fair,  New  York,  1878. 
It  is  a  box  with  rounded  ends,  free  from  dashers  or 
other  obstructions,  hung  in  a  portable  frame  by 


Fig.  242. — Section  or  Oscillatino  Churn. 

four  hinged  rods,  and  given  its  swinging  motion 
by  a  handle  at  either  end.      Figs.   211   and  212 
show  the  general  appearance  of  the  clim-n,  and  the 
60 


motion  given  to  its  contents  by  the  oscillation. 
It  is  very  well  made,  but  three  pieces  of  wood  in 
the  body,  except  the  cover;  and  having  no  sharp 
angles  and  corners,  it  is  easily  cleaned.  It  is  very 
efficient,  easily  managed,  and  (piite  cheap.  Several 
sizes  are  made. 

The  pendulum  churn,  John  Campbell's  patents, 
sold  by  the  Dairy  Sap])ly  Company  of  New  York 


Fig.  243. — Pendulum  Chubn. 


City,  is  on  the  same  principle  as  the  preceding  one, 
but  differs  in  details  and  in  material,  this  being  of 


111  i.iM  Churn. 


tin.      It   is    suspended   by  two    cords  with   snap 
hooks,  and  moved  back  and  forth  horizontally  by 

\  \ 


Fig.  245.  — Section  of  Pendulum  Churn. 

a  handle  at  one  end.  Figs.  213  and  211  show 
the  exterior  of  the  churn  and  the  motion  given 
to  it  as  it  swings ;  Fig.  215  the  action  of 
the  cream  in  the  churn.  The  latter  is  perfect, 
including  the  entire  contents,  so  that  no  "  dead 
cream "  can  collect  anj'where,  and  the  peculiar 
shape  of  the  interior  causes  sufticient  concussion 
without  any  dashing  o\'er;    but  for  very  active 


453 


DAIRY    rAR:\IING 


agitation  a  close  cover  is  provided,  and  this  has  two 
veut  tubes  which  may  be  kept  corked  or  left  ojien 


Fig.  246.— Whipple's  Rectangular  Churn. 

for  aeration  while  churnino-.  The  effect  upon 
the  cream  is  so  thoroui)h  ami  uniform  in  this 
churn  that  the  butter  "  comes  '•"  all  at  once.  It  is 
especially  adapted  to  prevent  ovei"-churning,  and 
to  facilitate  the  method  of  washino-  and  salting 
the  butter  in  its  granular  form.  AVhen  the 
butter  passes  the  mustard-seed  condition  and 
begins  to  form  larger  granules,  the  tendency 
in  this  churn  is  for  the  heavier  buttermilk  to  be 
thrown  into  the  cone-ends,  while  the  butter  is 
buoyed  off  and  does  not,  as  a  rule,  come  in  contact 
with  the  tin.  At  this  stage,  when  the  particles 
become  the  size  of  wheat-grains,  the  churning 
ceases,  and  some  cold  water  or  clear  brine  is  poured 
in  ;  then,  after  a  gentle  motion  to  wash  and  harden 
the  butter  grains,  a  large  cork  which  during  the 
chuniing  closes  an  opening  in  the  end  opposite  the 
handle  is  removed,  and  a  metallic  tidjular  strainer 
inserted,  through  which  the  buttermilk  is  drawn 
off,  by  tilting  the  churn  and  taking  a  half-hitch 
around  the  handle  with  the  nearest  swing  cord. 
The  ojjerator  replaces  the  churn,  adds  water,  washes 
the  butter  by  shaking  ihe  chum,  and  draws  it 
off  as  before,  repeating  until  the  water  comes  off 
clear.  The  butter  may  be  hnally  removed  with 
a  wire  dip-strainer  while  floating  upon  water  in 
the  churn,  salted  and  set  away  for  final  manipula- 
tion while  still  in  the  granular  form.  The  large 
opening  to  the  churn,  its  form,  general  simplicity, 
and  material  enable  it  to  be  very  easily  handled 
and  cleaned,  and  it  is  one  of  the  cheapest  of  good 


churns.  \Mien  not  in  use  it  occupies  no  floor 
room,  l)ut  it  is  readily  hung  up  out  of  the  way. 

"Whipple's  rectangular  churn,  made  only  by 
Cornish  and  Curtis,  of  Fort  Atkinson,  Wisconsin, 
is  A  great  favourite  in  the  North-west,  received 
the  highest  prize  at  the  Chicago  Dairy  Fair  of 
1877,  and  has  won  many  other  honours.  It  is 
easily  imderstood  from  the  illustration  in  Fig. 
■Z\i>.  A  rectangular  or  cubical  box,  quite  plain 
Ijut  strong,  with  circular  opening  and  close  cover 
on  one  face,  is  suspended  from  diagonal  corners 
ujKjn  a  light  frame  turned  with  a  crank  handle, 
and  as  it  revolves  the  cream  falls  from  corner  to 
corner,  giving  it  a  diversified  and  ra2:)id  concussion. 
Nothing  could  be  simpler,  and  it  is  very  effective 
in  its  work.  The  same  pattern  is  made  in  large 
sizes  and  fitted  with  pulley  for  operating  by 
power. 

Bullard's  oscillating  churn,  manufactured  by 
Bullard  and  Ellsworth,  of  Barre,  Massachusetts, 
is  another  of  the  same  general  class  of  churns 
without  paddles  or  dashers,  was  one  of  the  first 
introduced  on  this  principle,  is  used  by  many  of 
the  best  butter-makers  in  New  England  and  New 
York,  and  is  deservedly  popular.  It  received  the 
highest  awai'd  at  tlie  United  States  Centennial 
Exposition.  The  body  (Fig.  217)  is  a  plain  box,  the 
length  about  twice  the  other  dimensions,  opening 
and  cover  on  the  top,  with  vent.  By  a  simple 
fastening  the  box  is  held  in  place  on  a  seat  or 
frame  with  two  upright  rocking  standards,  and 
moved  back  and  forth  by  a  handle  at  one  end.  At 
the  other  end  are  two  heavy  balance  wheels  which 
overcome  the  resistance  of  the  cream  and  continue 


BULLARD'S  OsclLLATIXi;   CllURN. 


and  regulate  the  movement.  By  these  wheels, 
also,  power  may  be  a])j)lied.  But  although  con- 
tributing much  to  the  ease  and  action  of  the  churn. 


AMKRICAN    CIIUHNS. 


453 


the  wheels  add  to  its  cost  and  make  it  a  heavy  aud 
roomy  impk-ment  to  haiidh;  and  store. 

The  Blanchard  is  unqiiestionalily  tlu'  l)est,  a'^ 
it  is  the  most  widely  known 
and  used,  of  American  dash 
churns.  It  is  well  represented 
in  Fig.  248,  with  its  parts. 
These  are  some  of  its  con- 
spicuous merits  :  perfection 
of  material,  excellence  and 
thoroughness  of  manufacture, 
simplicity  of  construction,  and 
ease  of  operation.  The  form 
exposes  every  part  of  the 
interior  upon  the  removal  of 
the  cover,  and  the  dasher 
can  be  detached  by  a  single 
motion.  The  action  of  the 
dasher,  with  its  self-adjust- 
ing floats,  is  to  give  four 
motions  to  the  cream  at  every  revolution  of 
the  crank,  and  the  agitation  is  in  the  form  of 
currents,  instead  of  friction  and  blows.  A  re- 
verse motion  of  the  dasher  after  the  butter 
forms  gives  it  a  cam  pressure,  by  which  the 
buttermilk  may  be  mainly  worked  out.  Porter 
Blanchard  and 
his  sons  have 
been  making 
churns  at  Con- 
c  0  r  d,  N  e  w 
Hampshire,  for 
more  than  fifty 
years,  with  a ' 
constantly  in- 
creasing reputa- 
tion, and  are 
still  the  sole 
manufacturers  of 
the  wares  which  _  % 
bear  their  name. 
The  Blanchard 
cylindrical  fac- 
tory chiu-n  is 
one  of  the 
newest  of  the 
power  churns,  and  has  bccii  very  successful  in 
many  of  the  largest  butter-making  establishments 
in  the  United  States.  These  churns  possess  all  the 
excellent  qualities  of  the  smaller  hand-machines 
already    mentioned,    and    are    of    great  capacity'. 


LLANlII  VID   Lull  N 


The  size  shown  in  the  engraving  (Fig.  ~-l-')   will 
make    from    375  lbs.   to  -ido  lbs.   of    butter   at    a 
i/hiirning,  according  to  the  quality  of  the  cream. 
Price  for  this  size,  50  dollars. 

The  horizontal  barrel  churn, 
constructed  for  either  hand 
or  power,  has  usually  three 
dashers  running  the  length  of 
its  interior,  projecting  3  or  l 
inches  from  the  staves  towards 
the  axis,  and  jwrmanenlly 
jilaced  equi  -  distant.  This 
churn  (Fig.  250)  is  in  general 
use  in  Pennsylvania,  particu- 
hirly  near  Philadeljihia,  and  is 
often  called  the  Philadelphia 
revolving  churn.  It  is  used 
more  or  less  all  over  the 
country,  especially  in  small 
factories  or  dairies  having 
light  power,  and  is  made  by  several  of  the  best- 
known  American  manufacturers  of  dairy  ap- 
paratus. 

The  "  Queen  of  the  Dairy  "  is  the  name  given 
a  revolving  box  churn  (Fig.  251)  made  by  Gardner 
B.  Weeks,  of  Syracuse,  New  York.     It  is  made  for 

factory  use,  in 
gangs  of  two, 
three,  and  four, 
■which  may  be 
used  sej)arately 
or  all  thrown 
into  one  com- 
partment. The 
churn  is  admir- 
ably balanced, 
and  even  the 
large  sizes  may 
be  turned  by 
the  hand-crank. 
This  three-gang 
size  will  make 
400  lbs.  of 
Imtter  at  once. 
Price  complete, 
75  dollars. 

The  butter-makers  of  Orange  County,  New 
York,  still  largely  use  the  old-time  barrel  churn 
with  the  vertical  dasher.  In  large  dairies  and 
factories  two  or  more  of  these  are  made  into  a 
gang,  to  which  any  convenient  power  is  attached, 


BLANLHiBD   ClLINDRK  VL   CH     I" 


454 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


as  shown  in  Fi<?.  25:3.  Singly  and  in  gangs,  revolved;  dashers  are  made  in  the  oddest  shapes; 
these  old  -  fashioned  eliurns  continued  to  be  and  several  patents  combine  churns  and  dutlies- 
favourcd   \>y  ^oud  dairyinen   in  diii'ureut   parts  of      washing  machines.      A    little    contrivance    which 

has  received  commendation  is  a  miniature  chum 
'^-^v*^^— ^-^  of  crystal  glass,  an  u])right  cylinder  in  pint  and 

quart  sizes,  with  a  close  cover  and  vertical  dasher 
of  silver-plated  metal,  which  is  very  convenient 
for  all    kinds    of   experimental    churning.     It   ia 


Fig.  :.'")0. — Horizontal  Barrel  C'ul'HX. 

the  United  States.  The  set  here  represented  is  as 
put  uji  bv  Jones,  Faulkner,  and  Co.,  of  Utica,  New 
York. 

From  among  the  great  number  of  churns 
patented  and  offered  for  sale  in  America,  but 
never  in  general  use,  a  few  of  peculiar  construc- 
tion may  be  mentioned.  C.  H.  Carver,  of 
Taunton,  Massachusetts,  has  made  a  propeller- 
dasher,  a  large  wooden  sjiiral,  which  operated 
vertically,  by  gearing,  in  any  cylindrical  vessel, 
carries  the  cream  to  its  centre  and  bottom  with  a 
force  commensurate  to  the  speed.  It  operates 
very  easily  and  well,  is  quick  in  its  work,  and 
especially  effective  when  the  butter  comes,  in 
gathering  all  the  particles  into  i>ne  compact  ball. 


J  ig.  -JM .—'Weeks'  Kevolviso  Box  Chlkn. 

There  are  several  forms  of  churn  in  which  the 
cream-chamber  is  within  a  water-l)ox,  for  regu- 
lating the  temperatiu'e.  Boxes  of  different  shapes 
are  rotated  or  shaken  in  ^various  ways.  One 
barrel    is    hung    upon    its    transverse    axis    and 


-Tavlob'.s  Patent  Eccentric  Chirn. 

made  by  the  W.  H.  Silver  ^Manufacturing  Com- 
pany, of  New  York  City. 

In  our  notice  of  English   churns  we  omitted 

the    mention    of    Thomas    and    Taylor's    patent 

"  Eccentric  "  churn,  of  which  we  give  an  engiav- 

ing  in  Fig.  253.     In  this  churn  the  agitation  of 

the  cream  is  accomplished  ehielly  by  the 

alternate  rising  and  falling  of   the   op- 

jiosite  ends  of  the  churn.     The  inventor 

claims  that  it  is  an  easy  churn  to  work, 

and    many    peoj)le    speak    highly   of   it. 

It  has  received  a  leading  first    prize  in 

one  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society's 

competitions. 

It  is  hardly  desirable  to  describe  in 
detail  here  the  various  devices  for 
operating  churns  which  are  to  be  found 
in  America.  Sundry  combinations  of 
gearing,  with  cranks  and  treadles,  are 
provided  to  ease  human  labour  on  the 
small  churns,  and  there  are  arrangements  of 
weights  and  springs  which  only  need  a  little 
winding-up  to  do  all  the  ttu-ning.  Light  animal 
]i()wt'i's  are  made,  circular  and  with  endless  chain, 
in    which    a    dog,    goat,    sheep,    or    calf   can   be 


AAIERICAN    BUTTER-WORKERS. 


455 


Pig.  253. -Oan. 


titilisod;  and  one  patent  is  for  an  attachment 
between  a  lady's  voeking-chair  and  a  strong 
coiled  spring,  whereby  her  leisurely  oseillatiou 
while  conversing, 
reading,  or  put- 
ting the  baby  to 
sleepj  will  store 
up  sufficient  power 
to  do  the  day's 
churning  1 

Butter- WORKERS. 

Buttei'-workers 
seem  to  have 
originated  in 
America.  These  - 
implements,  as 
distinct  from 
"  gathering  and  ' 
working  churns," 
were  first  in- 
vented in  the  year 
1843  in  Connec- 
ticut, and  next  appeared  in  Pennsylvania  in 
1853.  Up  to  1860  twenty-one  United  States 
patents  had  been  issued  for  this  class  of  appliance, 
but  it  was  some  j'ears  later  before  they  became 
at  all  popular  in  any  form.  Between  1860  and 
1870  forty-five  patents  for  butter-workers  were 
taken  out,  and  up  to  1879  over  one  hundred  and 
fifty  in  all,  the  recent  average  being  ten  a 
year.  Such  of  these  utensils  as  have  proved  prac- 
ticable are  ajiplieations  of  the  lever  and  the  roller 
in  different  forms. 
In  nearly  all  of 
them  the  pressure 
is  apjilied  by  oper- 
ating the  worker 
with  one  hand, 
while  the  other 
with  a  wooden 
paddle  or  "  ladle  " 
moves  the  butter 
and  brings  it  into 
position  for  work- 
ing. Points  deemed  essential  are  that  the  butter 
sliall  come  in  contact  with  neither  the  hand  nor 
the  metallic  parts  of  the  implement,  and  that  the 
moisture  should  be  entirely  extracted  with  the 
least  possible  labour,  and  without  injury  to  the 
gi-ain    of    the     butter.      Workers    made    wholly 


of  close-grained  wood  are  preferred.  One  of  the 
earliest  and  simplest  forms  is  a  triangular  tray 
open  at  its  base  and  inclined  Inwards  the  ajiex, 
where  there  is 
fixed  in  a  loose 
socket  one  end  of 
a  large  wooden 
lever  which  can 
be  moved  to  reach 
every  part  of  the 
tray.  This  is  made 
to  use  upon  any 
table,  or  jilaeed 
upon  a  permanent 
frame  or  set  of 
legs.  The  pressure 
exerted  by  the 
lever  is  entirely 
at  the  judgment 
of  the  operator. 
The  expressed  but- 
termilk or  water 
used  in  washing 
runs  off  into  a  pail  set  l)elow  the  lowest  point. 
Fig.  254'  represents  this  kind  of  butter-worker  as 
made  by  Jones,  Faulkner,  and  Co.,  of  Utica,  New 
York,  and  Cornish  and  Curtis,  of  Fort  Atkinson, 
Wisconsin. 

The  Howe  butter-worker  is  another  pattern  of 
the  same  class.  A  rectangular  tray  has  a  sliding 
frame    fitted  to    its   lons-er  sides  which  carries  a 


r  Vektk  \i,  ]'. 


-Triangular  Butter- 
worker. 


235. — Howe  Butter-worker. 


pressing  bar  the  width  of  the  tray,  operated  by  a 
lever  handle.  The  frame  slides  ofE  at  the  end,  leav- 
ing a  plain  butter  tray.  It  is  all  of  wood,  simple, 
eheaj),  convenient,  and  efficient  (Fig.  255). 


456 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


The  Em-flea  Inittcr-worker,  made  hy  tlic  Ver- 
mont Farm  ^lachine  Comjiaiiy  before  mentioned, 
eonll)inei^  tlie  lever  with  roller.     The   butter  can 


Ki''.    L'5U.-  Kl-ltKK, 


Eli-WOKKER. 


l)e  rolled  with  any  degree  of  pressure.  Fig.  256 
well  represents  the  implement,  and  shows  how  the 
roller  may  be  carried  to  any  part  of  the  inclined 
table.  This  worker  has  great  capacity,  as  from 
10  to  70  lbs.  of  butter  can  be  easily  managed 
upon  it  at  one  time.  It  has  an  advantage  over  the 
ordinary  lever,  in  giving  an  even  pressure  to  all 
parts  of  the  butter  without  any  drawing  or  sliding 
motion,  and  over  the  fixed  rollers  in  the  ability  to 
change  the  pressure  to  suit  the  condition  of  the 
butter.  There  is  no  metal  about  this  imi)lement, 
and  none  could  be  siiniiler  in  its  jiavts  or  easier  to 


£  ^A., 


II. iiumiiiimtnl 


Cunningham  Blttek-wouker. 


manage.  In  the  hands  of  a  discreet  butter-malcer 
this  is  the  most  satisfactory  American  worker.  It 
received  a  special  dij)lom:i  at  the  New  York  Dairy 
Fair  of  1878. 

Several  butter-workers  have  been  patented  in 


the  United  States  depending  upon  the  roller 
ojjcrated  by  a  crank.  The  best  of  these  is  the 
Cunningham  butter-worker  (Fig.  257),  made  and 
sold  by  AVhitman  and  Burrell,  of  Little  Falls, 
New  York.  A  rectangular  frame  on  strong 
legs  carries  a  traverse  which  is  moved  back  and 
forth  the  length  of  the  frame,  by  sliding  it 
with  the  hand,  or  by  turning  the  crank.  The 
crank  also  turns  a  fluted  roller.  AVithin  the 
frame  is  ])laced  a  wooden  tray,  fitted  to  it  and 
holding  the  butter;  this  remains  in  place 
(luring  the  working,  but  can  be  at  once  re- 
moved. The  crank  and  roller  do  the  work, 
and  compensating  springs  at  the  ends  of  the 
roller  regulate  its  pressure  according  to  the 
consistenc}^  of  the  butter.  This  implement 
received  a  diploma  at  the  first  International 
Dairy  Fair  at  New  York.  The  price  for  one 
with  capacity  of  30  lbs.  is  8  dollars. 

Lilly's  patent  (Fig.  258)  is  the  best  of  the 
American  rotary  butter- workers.  By  simple  gear- 
ing the  crank  revolves  the  butter-bowl  and  also 
the  ladle  or  grooved  roller.  The  shape  of  the 
latter  is  peculiar,  pressing  the  butter  into  ridges  as 
it  passes  under,  which  on  the  next  turn  of  the  bowl 
are  crossed  diagonally  by  the  roller.  There  is  no 
metal  which  can 
possibly  come 
into  contact  with 
the  butter.  The 
bowl  is  concave, 
so  the  butter- 
milk all  tends 
towards  the 

centre,  where  it 
passes  down 

through  a  hol- 
low s])indle  fo 
a  vessel  ]ilaccd 
below.  The  ma- 
chine can  he 
taken  apart  in 
a  minute  and 
thoroughly 
cleaned  with 
ease.  On  de- 
taching the  roller,  the  bowl  can  be  removed  from 
the  frame  and  set  away  with  the  butter.  This 
worker  is  made  by  C.  H.  R.  Triebels,  of  Phila- 
dol])hia,  in  three  sizes;  capacity  from  5 lbs.  lo 
60  lbs. ;   prices  from   12  to  20  dollars. 


Fig.  258.— Lilly's  Bitter-worker. 


:\IOULDING    AND    PRINTLXC; 


457 


The  only  power  butter-worker  wliich  has  borne 
severe  practical  tests  in  America  is  that  manufac- 
tured by  Porter  Blanehard's  Sons,  of  Concord, 
New  Hamjishire.  The  accompanying  engraving 
(Fig.  250)  answers  every  purpose  of  description  of 
this  simple  but  efficient  utensil.  With  it  large 
quantities  of  liuttcr  are  worked   at  the  factories. 


A  very  handy  butter-worker  for  small  dairies 
consists  of  a  common  wooden  bowl,  placed  securely 


Fig.  259. — Blanch ard's  Butter- wobker. 

easily,  quickly,  and  thoroughly,  without  injuring 
the  grain.  The  butter  is  subjected  to  direct 
pressure  between  surfaces  of  wood,  and  without 
rubbing  or  drawing.  It  costs  20  dollars.  This  is 
a  great  acquisition  to  the  labour-saving  apparatus 
of  large  butter-makers. 

A  butter-worker  oi  an  entirely  different  charac- 
ter was  patented  in  the  United  States  in  INIay, 
1877,  by  Charles  A.  Sands,  of  Burlington,  Kansas. 
It  resembles  the  English  machine  of  Hancock  &  Co. 
A  wooden  tub  (Fig.  260)  has  within  it  a  metallic 
cylindrical  screen  with  a  few  perforations  ;  the  tub 
is  two-thirds  filled  with  clear  water,  and  outside  the 
screen  broken  ice  is  placed,  in  warm  weather.  The 
butter,  taken  right  from  the  churn,  is  placed  in  a 
strong  metallic  cylinder,  the  lower  part  of  which 
is  finely  perforated,  and  this  cylinder  is  placed  in 
the  water,  in  the  middle  of  the  tub,  being  kej)t  in 
position  by  radial  braces.  To  the  top  of  the  cylin- 
der is  fitted  a  follower  wdiich  is  moved  dowTiward 
by  a  large  screw  with  hand- wheel,  attached  to  a 
frame  on  top  of  the  tub.  The  screw  pressure  of 
the  follower  forces  the  butter  through  the  perfora- 
tions of  the  inner  cylinder,  and  it  tises  in  vermicelli 
form  through  the  water  within  the  screen,  being 
washed  and  cooled  thereby.  This  machine  is,  by 
the  patentee,  urged  upon  those  who  prepare  re- 
packed or  "  milled  "  butter,  but  the  fewer  facilities 
such  are  given  the  better.  It  has  not  yet  (1879) 
been  manufactured  for  sale. 


Fig.  260.— Peki'orateij  Wouker  and  Washer. 

on  a  light  stool  and  held  firmly  against  a  rest, 
which  pre\ents  it  from  breaking  or  sj^ringing 
do\vn.  The  ladle  or  paddle  is  similar  to  that 
used  by  hand,  but  larger,  attached  to  a  lever, 
and  adjusted  so  as  to  reach  all  parts  of  the  bowl. 
The  latter  may  be  revolved  either  way  at  will, 
as  readily  removed  as  from  a  table,  and  bowls  of 
different  sizes  may  be  used. 

Of   a   number  of   American    contrivances   for 
pressing  and   printing   butter,  the    simplest  and 


Fig.  261. — Butter-moulder. 


liest,  all   considered,  is  Nesbitt's  patent.     This  is 
a  hand-lever  press,  made  of  hard  wood,  with  bra.-;s 


458 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


hinges  and  screws,  few  in  numljer,  and  the  parts 
secured  by  wedges,  so  as  to  Ije  easily  taken  to 
l)ieces  for  cleaning.  It  is  plain,  but  of  fine  work- 
manship, and  capable  of  heavy  pressure  if  needed. 
AVith  this  press  butter  can  be  very  rapidly  and 
easily  formed  into  cubical  lumps  or  "  prints," 
pounds  or  half-j)ounds,  and  at  the  same  time 
imprinted  with  a  trade  mark  or  any  little  device. 
These  little  implements,  very  convenient  in  pre- 
paring butter  for  the  retail  trade,  are  sold  for  from 
5  to  7  dollars,  according  to  size,  by  the  New  York 
Dairy  Supply  Company. 

A  more  elaborate  and  expensive  machine  is  in 
use  by  some  makers  of  fancy  or  "  gilt-edged  ■" 
butter,  which  presses  a  previously  weighed  ball  or 
lump  of  butter  into  a  sis-faced  "  print "  of  any 
proportions,  leaving  devices  in  relief  upon  five  of 
its  faces,  which  is  a  pretty  sm'e  preventive  of 
imitation. 

Butter  Packages. 

Butter  packages  are  to  be  found  in  the  ITnited 
States  in  great  variety  as  to  material,  form,  size, 
and  purpose.  Over  one  hundred  patents  have  been 
issued  for  such  articles,  half  of  them  subsequent  to 
the  year  1874.  Wood  is  the  favourite  material, 
and  its  cheapness  and  lightness,  rather  than  any 
other  quality,  render  it  almost  the  one  thing  used 
in  the  wholesale  trade.  For  carrying  butter  in 
bulk,  50  lbs.  or  more  in  a  body,  the  aim  is  to 
secure  a  package  which  shall  be  strong,  to  with- 
stand the  dangers  of  breakage  in  transportation, 
easily  handled,  conveniently  opened  and  closed, 
and  in  material  and  construction  suited  to  preserve 
its  contents  from  deteriorating  in  quality. 

The  "Optiinus"  butter-tub,  made  by  James 
B.  Gilbcrds,  of  Jamestown,  New  Y'ork,  received 
the  diploma  as  the  best  package  for  the  wholesale 
trade  at  the  International  Dairy  Fair  at  New 
York,  1878.  This  is  a  white  oak  tub  w^ith  three 
hoops  and  a  white  ash  cover,  of  excellent  work- 
manship. The  latter  is  attached  by  a  fastener  of 
a  very  simple  but  clever  device,  which  leaves  no 
ears  to  be  knocked  off,  is  very  efficient,  and  can  be 
removed  in  an  instant.  The  trade  find  it  of 
decided  advantage,  as  it  admits  of  repeatedly 
showing  the  contents,  while  when  the  cover  is 
replaced  the  package  has  no  appearance  of  having 
been  opened.  The  tubs  of  this  pattern  are  sold  at 
about  4  dollars  per  dozen.  The  "  Optimus " 
return  l)utter-])ail  is  substantially  the  same 
article,    but    better    finished,    and    painted    witli 


galvanised    iron    hoops,    and    sells    at    about    10 
dollars  a  dozen. 

The  firkins  and  half-firkins,  tubs,  pails  and  half- 
pails  of  many  other  manufacturers  differ  in  details 
from  the  above,  but  not  enough  to  call  for  any 
special  description. 

A  nuich  greater  variety  exists  in  the  packages 
intended  for  shipping  butter  directly  to  the  con- 
sumer, or  for  retail  in  unbroken  parcels  of  from 
1  to  20  lbs.,  or  in  pound  lumjjs  and  smaller  prints. 

An  air-tight  glass  butter-jar  is  made  by 
N.  Ilalsted,  of  Scranton,  Pennsylvania,  which  is 
an  excellent  article.  The  jars,  of  clear  glass,  are 
strong,  hold  IGlbs.,  and  made  air-tight  by  special 
fastenings.  The  carrying-case,  of  wood,  may  be 
made  to  hold  one,  two,  four,  or  six  jars,  and  is 
ingeniously  contrived  to  ensure  safe  transportation. 
It  forms  a  return  package  superior  to  any  of  wood, 
and  is  reasonable  in  price. 

Perkins'  refrigerating  butter  package  consists 
of  a  stone  jar,  light  but  strong,  encased  in  a, 
durable  wooden  jacket  provided  with  a  bail  and 
a  double  cover.  The  jar  is  surrounded,  as  may 
be  seen  in  Fig.  262,  with  an  air-space  as  a  non- 
conductor. There  can  be  no  leak,  no  absorption, 
no  waste ;  so  the  weight  is  uniform  and  there  is 
no  reason  for  tare.  This  is  a  safe,  clean,  durable, 
and  cheap  return  package  of  decided  merit.  Jones 
and  Perkins,  of  Minneapolis,  ^Minnesota,  the 
makers,  use  glass 
as  well  as  stoue- 
wai'e.  In  both  cases 
the  wooden  honji 
at  the  rim  of  the 
jar  is  shrunk  on, 
and  the  wood-casing 
attached  thereljy. 

The      improved 
butter-tub  made  by 
J.    G.    Koehk-r,    cif 
Philadelphia,  is  one 
of    the  nicest   con- 
trivances for  carry- 
ing print   or   luni]i 
butter    from    dairy 
or  factory  to  be  de- 
livered to  the  con- 
sumer or  retailed  from  the  package.     Tliis  tui)  is 
oval  in  shape,  of  white  cedar,  liound  with  metallic 
hoops,  and  provided  with  handles.      The   lid  has 
hinyes  and  fastenings  so   t'lat    it  mav  be  locked. 


Fig.    :;02.— PEHKINS'    KEFKIUElUTiNQ 

Butter  Pack^ige. 


APPLIANCES    USED    IN    CHEESE-MAKING. 


459 


opened  half  at  a  time,  or  wholly  removed.  Within 
is  a  removable  tin  case,  with  small  air-space  sur- 
rounding. At  each  end  of  the  case  is  a  detachable 
iee-chamber,  which  can  he  emptied  and  filled 
without  disturbing  the  butter;  and  the  spaces 
occupied    by    these    chambers     are    available   for 


Fig.  2t)3.— Koehler's  Butter  Package. 

additional  butter,  when  ice  is  not  needed.  On  the 
inside  of  the  tin  case  are  ledges  to  support  wooden 
shelves  holding  prints  of  butter,  and  these  may  be 
left  out  for  packing  in  rolls  or  large  lumps. 
These  tubs,  with  capacity  for  25 lbs.  of  butter  in 
prints,  are  sold  at  5  dollars  for  those  with  iron 
trimmings,  and  10  dollars  for  those  extra  finished 
and  full  brass  trimmed  ;  with  capacity  for  lOOlbs., 
13  dollars  and  25  dollars  respectively. 

A  very  handy  form  of  preparing  butter  for  the 
retail  trade,  in  small  packages,  and  of  preserving 
it  well,  is  that  of  D.  C.  Perrin,  of  Boston.  The 
butter  is  made  up  (by  press  or  otherwise)  into 
eqiial-sized  pound  lumps,  and  each  wrapped  in  a 
piece  of  transparent  paraffined  paper.  Four  of  these 
lumps  closely 
fit  into  a  box 
of  very  thin 
wood,  which 
has  received  an 
odourless  and 
wat  e  rpr  o  of 
coating.  A 
strip  of  pap<r 
pasted  around 
the  cover  her- 
metically seals 
the      package. 

The  butter  is  admirably  pi-otected,  and  the  retailer 
saves  all  labour  in  cutting  out  and  weighing,  and 
all  loss  by  waste  and  shrinkage,  whether  the  cus- 
tomer takes  the  little  four-pound  box  or  a  single 
lump,  in  its  clean,  impervious  wrapjun*.  The  pack- 
age may  be  varied  in  size  of  lumps,  and  the  whole, 
61 


^'9. 


Fig.  264. — 1'ekkin's  Butter  Package. 


wrappers  included,  can  be  furnished  at  a  less  cost 
than  the  common  five  and  ten  pound  round  wooden 
boxes,  with  covers. 

N.  Waterliury,  of  Baltimore,  Maryland,  makes 
a  one-pound  butter-box,  with  packing-tools  to 
match,  also  intended  for  use  in  the  retail  trade. 
The  boxes  are  thin  bauds  of  wood,  bent  rouixl, 
lajiped,  anil  sewed  together  with  a  machine,  with 
loose  circular  wooden  guards  for  top  and  bottom, 
all  to  be  well  soaked  in  brine  before  using.  Four 
bands,  after  being  filled,  with  eight  guards,  and 
two  stiff  circidar  head-blocks  at  the  ends,  are 
placed  in  a  little  frame,  and  tied  up  in  a  cylindri- 
cal package.  Each  of  the  bauds  or  skeleton  boxes 
holds  a  circular  pound  lumj^  of  butter.  For  trans- 
portation a  double-walled  case  is  provided,  in  which 
twelve  of  the  four-pound  packages  are  placed,  and 
if  distance  makes  it  expedient  the  interstices  are 
filled  with  dry  salt.  The  tools  for  putting  up 
butter  in  this  form  are  convenient,  making  the 
labour  light,  and  the  whole  expense  need  not  exceed 
one  cent  a  pound. 

Cheese-making  Appllinces. 

Cheese-making  apparatus  has  not  received  in 
America  the  amount  of  attention  which  has  been 
given  to  ajipliances  for  the  manufactui'e  of  butter, 
although  the  progress  made  has  been  as  great.  In 
this  class  the  United  States  patents  number  just 
about  three  hundred,  and  these  include  agitators, 
bandages,  boxes,  curd-cutters,  curd-mills,  curd- 
sinks,  hoops,  modes  or  processes  of  manufacture, 
presses,  and  vats. 

At  the  factories,  as  the  milk  is  received  from 
the  different  patrons,  each  lot  is  weighed  in  the 
weighing-can,  and  often  several  small  lots  in  the 
same  receiver,  befoi-e  its  contents  are  run  off  to  the 
vat.  The  weigh-cans  generally  used  range  in  size 
from  40  to  90  gallons ;  one  of  the  best  is  shown  in 
Fig.  133  on  p.  274,  and  is  made  by  Childs  and 
J  imes,  of  Utica,  New  York.  It  is  of  heavy  tin,  iron- 
bound,  with  an  iron  bottom,  inclined  toward  the 
outlet  to  hasten  emptying.  The  same  firm  offer  a 
great  improvement  over  the  old  style  of  discharge- 
gates,  such  as  shown  in  this  weigh-ean,  which 
require  frequent  re-packing,  and  often  leak  at  that. 

Jones'  patent  weighing-can  gates  are  all  metal, 
opened  and  closed  by  a  lever  operating  a  rack  and 
pinion,  which  moves  one  metal  surface  upon 
another,  so  accurately  fitted  as  to  avoid  all 
packing  and  absolutely    prevent  leakage.     With 


460 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


these   gates  of  three-inch  diameter,  and  with    or     tion,  the  arrangements  for  ag-itatino^  and  eoolinc 


without  nozzk's,  the  contents  of  the  hirgest  receiv- 
ing-eau  may  soon  be  discharged. 

Great  imjjrovements  have  been    made  in    the 


conveniences  for  weigliing  the  receijjts  from  several 
successive  patrons.     Fairbanks   and    Co.  make    a 


the  milk,  for  quick  and  uniform  application  of 
heat  by  water  or  steam,  and  its  special  adajitation 
to  the  Arnold  patent  process  of  cheese-making. 

Of  the  "  self-heating  vats "  there  have  been 
few  improvements  ujion  the  "  Union  Dairyman," 
patented  in  18C;J,  and  made  by  Thomas  B.  O'Neill, 
of  Utica,  New  York,  and  it  continues  to  be  a 
favourite  with  the  cheese-makers  of  New  York. 
A  cylindrical  copper  heat  or  fire  box  extends 
along  the  bottom  of  the  vat  about  half  its  length, 
and  a  cut-off  is  provided  by  which  the  hot  water 
can  be  kept  wholly  in  a  tank  at  one  end  or  turned 
on  to  the  vat,  to  circulate  under  and  around  the 
milk.  The  milk-pan  can  be  easily  lifted  out  of 
the  tank  by  the  handles  of  its  woo<len  frame,  for 
cleaning,  &c. ;  the  whey  is  drawn  off  witii  a  sy[)lion. 
These  vats  are  made  in  sixteen  sizes,  with  capacity 
of  from  100  to  800  gallons,  and  sold  for  from  S(J 


special    cheese-factory    scale,    with    a    compound      to  300  dollars  (Fig.  20s) 


beam,  by  which  several  different  lots  of  n 
not  exceeding  200  lbs.  each,  ixnired 
into  the  same  receiver,  can  be 
successively  weighed,  the  weight  of 
each  being  shown  on  a  separate  beam. 
Each  sliding  poise  is  usually  provided 
with  a  clamp,  to  hold  it  in  place. 

There  are  different  forms  of 
spouts  and  conductors  for  conveying 
the  milk  from  weigh-can  to  vat,  but 
these  do  not  need  descrijjtion. 

Cheese-vats  and  improvements  therein  h; 
received  fifty  United  States  ])atents,  and  althoi 
the  first  was  in  the  year   1810,   only  four  w 


IimIjiIi's  "Oneida"  cheese-vat,  made  by  ("liilds 


2G8.— SELF-HEi\TING  MiLK-VAT. 


Fig.  2i;r,.-  Kaihrank 


Factory  Scale. 


and  .Tones,  of  Utica,  is  another  of  the  sell-heaters 
which  is  very  popular.  In  this  the  heater  runs 
the  entire  length  of  the  vat,  and  its  patent 
equaliser  distributes  the  heat  with 
great  evenness,  at  the  top  as  well  as 
at  the  bottom.  These  vats,  in  sizes 
corresponding  to  the  "  Union  Dairy- 
man," are  sold  at  prices  aliout  one- 
fourth  less. 

The  agitators  and  the  curd-knives 
made  by  Whitman  and  Burrell,  of 
Little  Falls,  New  York,  are  considered 
the  best  in  America.  Their  eiu-d- 
cuttcrs  have  metallic  heads,  which  add 
The  greatly  to  the  utensils  in  neatness,  lightness,  and 
and      ease    of    cieanino'.     The    blades    are    of   the    1)est 


Fig.  2fi7.— Factory 
Scale. 


issued    before    tlie    era    of  cheese-factories. 

covered      refrigerator     vat      of      Whitman 

Bvu-rell,  previously  described  among  milk  coolers  steel,    not    over    half   as   thick    as    the    old-style 

and  creamers,  page  410,  received  the  ])rize  for  the  knives,  and  pass  through  tender  curd  with  a  clean 

best  vat  at  the  International  Dairy  Fair  of   1^78.  cut,  s(|ueezing  out  no   oil.      The  thin  blades  are 

Its  special  merits  are  its  thoroughness  of  construe-  prevented    from   spreading  by  one  or  more  cross- 


CURD-DRATNER   AND   GANG-PRESS. 


461 


stays,  and  these  have  cuttiiit>-  e(lj>'es,  or  are  lilailes 
themselves.  These  cnrd-eutters  are  shown  in 
Figs.  135  and  13(i,  pages  i7b  and  270. 

Jones,  Faulkner,  and  Comjjanv's  eiird-drainer 


269.— CCRDDBAINER. 

is  of  most  approved  pattern.  The  light  wooden 
sink,  from  8  to  15  feet  long,  is  placed  upon  two 
wheel-trucks  provided  with  strong  rollers.  It  has 
a  false  bottom  of  wooden  siats,  easily  removed  in 
three  sections.  Below  is  the  drop  bottom,  in- 
clined to  allow  the  whey  to  run  off,  and  permitting 
a  free  circulation  of  air  under  the  curd.  Price, 
two  dollars  per  foot  of  length  (Fig.  269). 

The  curd-mill  was  hardly  known  among 
American  cheese-makers  up  to  as  late  a  period  as 
1806,  and  not  usually  found  at  dairy  supply  stores 
till  still  later.  It  has  since  been  not  only 
generally  introduced  but  greatly  imin'oved  in  its 
construction.  The  best  American  curd-mill  is 
undoubtedly  the  patent  of  Whitman  and  Burrell, 
made  with  knives  on  the  cylinder, 
as  shown  in  Fig.  93,  page  207.  The 
knives  are  set  spirally,  so  as  to  cut 
the  curd  and  carry  it  through  rapidly. 
The  grate  is  also  a  set  of  knives.  The 
advantage  of  knives  over  pegs  is  very 
great,  cutting  the  curd  instead  of 
tearing  it,  and  entirely  preventing 
"  white  whey."  The  engraving  shows 
its  peculiarities,  and  how  easily  it  must 
work.     The  price  is  about  20  dollars. 

Cheese-presses  have  been  invented 
and  improved  in  the  United  States,  at 
the  rate  of  one  or  two  patents  a  year, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  century, 
five  prior  to  1S50,  five  during  the  year  1876, 
and  a  total  of  over  a  hundred  up  to  1881. 
Despite  the  later  inventions,  the  old-fashioned 
vertical  press  with  a  wooden  screw  to  each 
cheese  is  still  much  in  use.     The  Frazer  gang- 


press   was  a   long  step  forward,   but    better   ones 
soon  followed. 

Tlu'  Hubliell  gang-press,  as  in  Fig.  270,  is 
one  of  the  best,  if  not  the  best  of  all ;  it  received 
first  honours  at  the  great  Dairy  Fairs  of 
I  s77  and  1878  (Chicago  and  New  York). 
Tliis  was  originally  Beach's  Patent, 
IS76,  transferred  to  J.  G.  Hubbell&Co., 
and  then  to  Whitman  and  Burrell,  who 
are  the  sule  nianufiicturers.  'J'lic 
machine  presses  a  horizontal  gang  of 
cheese,  with  capacity  for  fifteen,  each  of 
seven  inches  thick.  A  strong,  well-finished 
frame,  standing  at  a  convenient  height 
from  the  floor,  has  the  pressing  apparatus 
attached,  which  is  easily  operated  liy  a 
hand-lever,  with  ratchet  and  palls.  This  moves 
a  douljle  set  of  plain  sjiur  gearing,  the  smaller 
wheels  turning  two  screw  shafts  which  run  the 
whole  length  of  the  frame,  and  passing  through 
solid  nuts  on  either  side  of  the  platen  or  follower, 
draw  that  toward  the  head  block  with  a  perfectly 
even  motion.  This  insures  uniform  pressure  upon 
the  cheese,  resulting  in  good  form  and  avoiding  all 
tendency  to  strain  parts  of  the  machine  and  to 
bulge  the  gang  of  cheese.  The  lower  part  of  the 
frame  is  a  liquid-tight  box  in  which  all  whey 
pressed  from  the  cheese  is  collected,  and  from  which 
it  may  l)e  drawn  in  any  manner  desired  ;  this  is  great 
security  towards  cleanliness  in  the  press  room. 
This  press  is  sold  for  60  dollars    without  hoops. 


forty- 


Fig.  270.— The  Gang-press. 

The  Wilson  self-bandaging  cheese  hoops  are 
usually  sold  with  the  Hubbell  press,  and  are  shown 
with  it  in  the  illustration,  also  more  fully  in 
Fig.  275.  This  hoop  has  many  advantages  also. 
It  is  wholly  of  metal,  and  entirely  dispenses 
with  rubber  rings  and  wooden   followers.     It  is 


4G3 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


in  four  parts/ a  closed  wide  hoop,  an  open  hoop  or 
spHt  cylinder,  to  fit  within  the  first,  and  hottom 
and  top  rimmed  covers,  stamped  from  solid  metal ; 
at  one  end  of  the  outer  hoop  is  a  narrow,  in- 
wardly-projecting rim  or  flange.  The  open  and 
closed  cylinders  make  what  is  called  a  telescopic 
hoop.  In  use,  the  cover  with  widest  rim  is  placed 
on  the  ways  in  the  bottom  of  the  press,  rim 
upward;  the  cap  cloth,  as  large  as  this  bottom 
cover,  is  placed  upon  it.  Witliin  the  rim  of  the 
bottom  cover  is  set  tlio  open  hoop,  its  cut  edges 
touching;  this  is  tiie 
bandager.  The  band- 
age, a  little  longer 
than  the  hoop,  is  fitted 
within  it,  tlic  upper 
end  wet  and  turned 
over  the  top  of  tlie 
hoop.  The  solid  hoop 
is  then  put  on  top  of 
the  open  one,  and 
slipped  down  over  it 
about  an  inch ;  the  rim 
of  the  bottom  cover 
and  the  closed  hoop 
at  the  top  keep  the 
split  hoop  from  spring- 
ing open  and  hold  the 
bandage  in  jdace.  The 
outer  hoop  is  held  in 
its  position  by  little 
hooks,  attached  for  the 
purpose.  The  cheese 
curd  is  then  put  in  for 
any  desired  thickness 
of  cheese,  but  always 
enough  to  prevent  the 
outer  hoop  when  slip- 
ping over  the  inner  one,  while  pressing,  from 
being  forced  quite  down  to  meet  the  rim  of  the 
lower  cover.  The  cap  cloth  and  cover  are  then 
put  on,  the  cheese  turned  on  its  side  on  the  ways, 
and  the  top  cover  placed  close  against  the  head  of 
the  press.  In  the  same  manner  a  number  of 
hoops  may  be  filled,  the  top  cover  of  one  against 
the  bottom  of  the  preceding,  until  all  are  in  place. 
The  hooks  mentioned  are  then  unfastened  and  the 
pressure  is  applied.  After  pressing,  the  outer 
hoop,  which  has  handles,  may  be  easily  drawn  off 
the  inner,  and  that  may  be  sprung  open  enough 
to   release    the    cheese    pressed   in    its    bandage. 


Coming  from  these  Wilson  hoops  the  cheese  is 
always  found  moulded  in  perfect  form.  These 
hoops,  1.5  inches  in  diameter  and  10  deep,  or 
thereabouts,  are  sold  for  8  dollars  each,  half  of 
this  being  the  heavy  royalty  for  pressing  any 
cheese  in  a  bandage,  controlled  by  the  Andrews 
and  Orgen  patents. 

The  Freeman  hoop  is  another  oxcelicnt  one, 
which  is  also  made  by  ^^'hitman  and  IJurrcll.  Tiie 
hoop  itself  is  one  jnece  of  galvanised  iron,  with 
a  perforated  bottom,  stamjied  out  and  turned  up  on 
the  hoop.  The  band- 
ager, an  ojx^n  or  spring 
hoop,  is  made  wedge- 
shajied,  its  lower  part 
being  drawn  very  thin, 
almost  to  an  edge. 
Similarly,  the  upper 
part  of  the  hoop  itself 
is  bevelled,  so  the 
bandager  enters  it  per- 
pendicularl}',  and  the 
two  thicknesses  of 
metal  then  over-lap- 
ping equal  the  single 
thickness  of  the  hoop 
below.  This  preserves 
the  exact  cjlindrical 
form  of  the  interior, 
the  bandager  being  in 
place ;  the  latter  is  held 
by  metal  loops  on  its 
edge,  which  catch  upon 
the  top  of  the  hoop. 
The  follower  is  of 
wood,  perforated  and 
grooved,  with  rubber 
ring.  The  bandager 
and  hoop  "  telescope "  about  7  inches,  and  the 
follower  does  not  enter  the  bandage  band  till  it 
has  settled  to  its  place,  and  the  bottom  of  the  next 
cheese  in  the  gang  presses  upon  it ;  it  is  thus 
possible  to  make  in  the  one  hoop  cheeses  varying 
from  7  to  11  inches  in  thickness.  This  is  the 
chief  merit  of  the  Freeman  hoop,  and  it  is  a 
great  one. 

The  Naylor  press  is  another  made  by  the  same 
firm  as  the  Ilubbell,  and  differing  from  it  mainly 
in  being  so  constructed  as  to  enable  a  gang  of 
cheese  to  l)e  instantaneously  released  from  pressure, 
instead  of  the  slow  process  of   withdrawing  the 


Uprioht  Gang-press. 


CHEESE-HOOPS    AND    BANDAGES. 


463 


platen  by  luruin^  a  screw.  This  conveuience,  and 
its  being  10  dollars  cheaper,  constitute  its  only 
advantasjes.  The  general  form  is  the  same,  but  in 
place  of  the  two  long  screws  in  the  Hubbell  press, 
the  Naylor  has  two  bars  with  teeth  upon  which  fall 
two  sets  of  pawls  successively,  as  the  platen  is 
movetl  by  turning  a  crank.  So  by  simply  throw- 
ing out  the  pawls  with  a  lever,  pressure  is  removed, 
and  the  follower,  then  playing  loosely  upon  the 
bars,  can  be  pushed  to  any  point. 

The  upright  presses  made  by  Charles  Miller  and 
Son,  of  L^tica,  New  York,  are  an  entirely  different 
form  of  the  gang-press.  Two  of  these  presses  are 
illustrated,  one  for  a  single  gang  of  cheese,  the 
other  for  a  triple  gang.  Other  patterns  made 
allow  a  double  gang  or  one  in  sets  of  four,  sixteen 
hoops.  Tlie  principles  are  the  same  in  all.  In 
the  first  figrure  there  is  a  series  of  levers  connected 


PKESS- BOARD. 


with  weights  by  means  of  rope  and  pulley,  in  such 
manner  that  the  pressure  is  continued  and  followed 
up  by  the  weights,  and  the  screw  is  arranged  so 
that  it  can  be  raised  or  lowered  to  accommodate 
any  height  of  cheese.  In  the  second  figure  the 
levers  and  weights  are  omitted,  but  the  length  of 
the  screw  is  adjustable  as  in  the  other.  The 
general  construction  is  fully  shown.  The  presses 
represented  cost  50  dollars  and  40  dollars  respec- 
tively, and  others  of  the  same  kind  from  30  dollars 
to  90  dollars,  according  to  capacity  (Fig.  271). 

Millar's  patent  cheese-hoops,  used  with  these 
presses,  are  shown  in  Fig.  272.  They  are  made 
of  heavy  galvanised  iron,  with  a  perforated  bottom 
and  loose  open  rim,  and  are  suitable  for  any  ordi- 
nary screw-press.  Over  the  inner  spring  hoop, 
which  is  raised  to  the  height  of  the  curd,  the  press- 
board  shown  in  Fig.  273  is  placed,  and  follower 
and  rubber  ring  are  needless.  As  pressure  is 
applied,  the  loose  ring  sinks  into  the  hoop  with  the 
cheese.     Price  5  dollai-s  each. 

The  seamless  cheese-bandage  (Fig.  2  7-4) ,  patented 
Feb.  loth,  187S,  by  E.  V.  Lapham,  of  :Morrison, 
Illinois,  although  a  very  simple  thing,  is  one  of 
the  most  valuable    contributions  lately  made    to 


American  cheese-making  appliances.  It  is  sold  in 
the  bolt,  usually  fifty  yards,  like  any  i)an<hig(> 
cloth,  of  dif- 
ferent qualities 
and  sizes,  but 
is  a  continuous 
seamless  cylin- 
der. Cut  the 
right  length  and 
the  bandage  is 
ready.  It  costs 
just  the  same 
as  the  material 
alone  for  the 
ordinary  lui- 
bleached  band- 
age. Thus  it  saves  the  labour  of  making,  the 
waste  in  the  cutting  and  in  seams,  and  the 
thread.  The  bandage  is  better,  too,  for  it 
is  always  certain  to  fit  the  hoop  of  given 
size  for  which  it  is  made,  and  there  is  no 
seam  to  rip  open  or  to  mark  the  cheese 
in  pressing.  In  ordering,  the  size  of 
the  hoop  is  given,  that  of  the  bandage 
corresponding.  Whitman  and  BurrcU  are 
the  sole  proprietors  of  this  bandage,  and 
so  popular  did  it  become  during  its  second  season 
that    thirty  looms   built  expressly  for  its  manu- 


274.— Seajiless  Ba.ndaue. 


Fig.    275. — SELF-B.VNDAGINQ  ChEESE-HOOP. 

facture,  from  which  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
yards  have  baen  taken,  failed  to  supply  the  de- 
mand. 


464 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Tlie  annoyance  and  exjiense  of  makinj;  shi pping'- 
boxes  by  haud-labourj  iu  the  cbeese-makiujj  dis- 
tricts, led  to  the  inven- 
tion of  Harris's  cheese-box 
bending  machine.  This 
has  proved  its  practical 
value.  With  it  more  than 
twice  as  many  boxes  can 
be  made,  and  more  uni- 
formly, in  the  same  time, 
than  in  the  ordinary  way. 
In  niakiiig  large  quantities 
the  cost  of  the  labour  has 
been  reduced,  by  the  use 
of  this  machine,  from  2^ 
cents  and  over,  to  1  cent 
per  box.  It  is  made  by 
whitman  and  Burrell. 
The  machine  with  one 
cylinder,  which  makes  two 
sizes  of  boxes,  costs  35 
dollars;  and  with  two  cylinders,  to  make  five 
sizes,  45  dollars   (Fig.   276). 

In  this  cha])ter  the  records  of  the  United  States 
Patent  Office  have  been  frequently  referred  to,  as 
giving  the  best  available  data  as  to  the  number  of 


Fig.  27G.— Chkese-box  JI 


dairy  aj>jiliances  of  various  kinds  produced  in 
America.  But  this  is  far  from  the  tnitli,  as  many 
improvements  are  made 
and  new  articles  devised, 
of  different  degrees  of  im- 
jwrtance,  and  which  get 
'  vffi"      1  more  or  less  into  general 

j!!!!!^        •  I  use,  for  which  no  patent 

is  ever  sought.  Some  of 
those  herein  described  are 
of  the  number.  Calculating 
from  the  known  relations 
between  patented  and  un- 
patented articles  in  other 
branches  of  mechanical  in- 
genuity, it  is  estimated 
that  prior  to  the  year  1 8S0 
the  number  of  different 
dairy  ajipliances  produced 
in  the  1  nited  States 
exceeded  eight  thousand. 
And  such  is  the  progress  in  this  department  of 
the  dairy  industry,  that  before  these  pages  are  in 
tyi^e  there  will  probably  be  some  valuable  addi- 
tions to  the  long  list  of  American  dairy  inqile- 
meuts  and  machinery.  JJ.  E.  ^v. 


CHAPTER     XXXI. 


The   American    Factory    System. 

Origin  of  Co  operative  Dairying-Jesse  Williams-Spread  o£  Cheese  Factories-Different  Modes  of  Management-StatiBtics  of  Fac- 
tories- Factory  Keports-Examples  -Factory  Processes-Skim-cheese— Creameries— Butter  Factories. 


HE  commencement  of  the 
era  o£  associated  dairying, 
distinctively  known  as  the 
American  or  Factory  sys- 
tem, is  assigned  by  common 
consent  to  Jesse  WilHams, 
of  Rome,  in  the  County 
ida,  and  State  of  New  York, 
A.D.   1851. 

Co-operation  in  dairying  had  un- 
questionably been  practised  at  a  much 
earlier  date,  not  only  in  Switzerland, 
but  in  several  well-authenticated  instances  in 
different  parts  of  America.  These  trials  were 
all  in  connection  with  cheese-production,  and  in 
most  eases  the  curd,  drained  and  sometimes  partly 
pressed,  was  gathered  from  several  dairies  to 
some  central  point  to  be  made  into  cheese. 

In  a  paper  read  before  the  Wisconsin  Dairy- 
men's Association,  Mr.  J.  G.  Pickett,  of  Winne- 
bago County,  described  what  is  probably  the  first 
recorded  instance  of  co-operative  cheese-making  in 
the  United  States.  In  1810,  his  father,  Mr.  A. 
Pickett,  removed  from  Ohio,  and  settled  in  Jefferson 
County,  Wisconsin,  taking  with  him  10  cows. 
The  little  pioneer  settlement  at  Rock  Lake,  con- 
sisting of  eighteen  families,  and  others  similar  in 
the  same  region,  had  arrived  at  that  stage  of  civilisa- 
tion when  cheese  was  longed  for.  Mr.  Pickett  pro- 
posed, in  the  spring  of  1841,  to  meet  the  demand. 
He  desired  to  make  cheese  from  more  cows  than 
he  had,  but  was  unable  to  purchase  more.  Four 
neighbours,  however,  owned  among  them  10 
cows,  and  Mrs.  Pickett  suggested  the  idea  of  co- 
operating with  these  neighbours  in  cheese-making. 
Although  an  entirely  original  idea  with  her,  it  was 
deemed  a  good  one,  and  at  once  carried  out.     An 


agreement  was  made,  and  about  the  same  time  two 
other  settlers,  not  far  distant,  rented  10  cows  more 
to  Mr.  Pickett  for  two  years.  On  the  first  day  of 
June,  1811,  Mrs.  A.  Pickett,  assisted  by  her  son, 
who  relates  the  story,  made  from  the  milk  of  30 
cows,  owned  by  six  "patrons,"  the  first  cheese 
ever  manufactured  in  Jefferson  County,  Wisconsin, 
and  doubtless  the  first  made  on  the  associated  plan 
in  that  State,  if  not  in  America.  The  little  kitchen 
factory  in  the  log  house  was  operated  on  precisely 
the  same  general  principles  as  the  large  establish- 
ments of  later  years  in  the  same  county.  The 
milk  was  delivered  in  a  very  convenient  way,  safe 
from  injury  or  adidteration,  for  all  the  cows  belong- 
ing to  the  settlement  grazed  in  common,  and  were 
driven  to  Mr.  Pickett's  yard,  and  milked  by  their 
respective  owners.  The  milk  was  weighed  in  the 
pails  with  old-fashioned  steel-yards,  the  quantity 
credited  to  each  patron  daily,  and  in  the  autumn 
the  cheese  was  apportioned  according  to  the  milk 
contributed.  No  one  in  those  days  thought  of  cut- 
ting a  cheese  less  than  five  months  old,  so  when 
the  work  of  the  season  closed,  the  cow-owners  took 
their  res])ective  shares  in  cheese  instead  of  money. 
Rude  as  were  the  implements  and  the  methods 
employed,  the  quality  of  the  cheese  was  fair,  and 
the  fact  established  that  a  good  article  could  be 
made  from  the  wild  grasses  which  covered  the 
country.  The  experiment  was  so  satisfactory  that 
the  next  year,  1842,  five  more  cows  were  added 
by  the  arrival  of  two  new  families,  and  Pickett's 
cheese  soon  became  known  and  in  good  demand,  at 
a  shilling  a  pound,  from  Milwaukee  to  jMadison. 

In  the  year  1814,  Lewis  M.  Norton  built  a 
cheese-factory  at  Goshen,  Connecticut,  which  is  still 
owned  and  used  by  his  descendants.  The  cheese 
made  there  was  from  curd  collected  at  the  factory 


466 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


from  numerous  farms  in  the  vicinity.  Like  enter- 
prises in  the  same  decade  are  recorded  in  different 
parts  of  tlie  country. 

The  following  apj)eared  in  The  Allany  Culli- 
vator  in  November,  18-i9  : —  "  In  the  Western 
Reserve  of  Ohio,  where  the  making  of  cheese  has 
been  largely  carried  on  for  several  years,  a  change 
of  system  has  lately  taken  j)lace  to  some  extent. 
Certain  men,  who  are  well  acquainted  with  the 
manufacture  of  cheese,  purchase  the  curd,  unsalted, 
of  their  neighbours,  and  make  it  into  that  kind  of 
cheese  for  which  they  liud  the  readiest  sale  and 
best  price.  A  single  manufacturer  sometimes  uses 
the  curd  produced  from  the  milk  of  several  hundred 
cows.  It  is  gathered  every  morning  by  men  who 
call  at  the  different  farms  for  that  purpose.  These 
large  establishments  are  called  'factories.' " 

None  of  these  efforts  seem  to  have  become  per- 
manent business  enterprises,  to  have  reached  the 
dignity  of  a  system,  or  to  have  had  more  than  a 
local  influence.  And  even  in  New  York,  where  the 
Williams  family  iuaugui'ated  the  associated  system, 
the  beginning  appears  almost  accidental,  and  years 
elapsed  before  others,  in  any  number,  adojited  the 
co-ojDerative  methods.  To  Jesse  Williams  is,  how- 
ever, recorded  the  honour  of  being  the  first  to 
establish  a  permanently  successful  cheese-factory 
in  New  York,  and  from  him  and  his  neighbour- 
hood the  American  Factory  system  has  spread  and 
attained  its  present  proi^rtions. 

Jesse  Williams  was  born  on  his  father's  farm, 
in  the  town  of  Rome,  Oneida  County,  New  York, 
the  24th  day  of  February,  1798.  His  father, 
David  Williams,  had  been  a  soldier  at  Fort 
Stanwix  during  the  revolutionary  war,  and, 
attracted  by  the  fertility  of  that  region,  he  eventu- 
ally settled,  with  two  brothers,  near  the  town 
of  Rome,  which  occupies  the  site  of  the  old  garri- 
son. Jesse  was  the  youngest  son,  lived  upon  the 
liomestead  with  his  parents  until  the  death  of  both, 
at  the  ripe  ages  of  eighty-six  and  eight^'-seven, 
and  continued  to  reside  there  until  his  own  sudden 
death  from  paralysis,  December  20th,  1864.  He 
married  Amanda  Wells  in  February,  1822,  and 
this  widow  still  lives  (1880)  at  the  old  home,  which 
is  now  owned  by  one  of  the  sons. 

It  was  in  1831  that  Jesse  Williams  took  the 
management  of  the  farm.  It  had  then  become 
exhausted  by  continual  grain  cropping,  and  be 
determined  to  try  the  recuperative  effect  of  dairy- 
ing.    He  began  with  14  cows,  making  the  milk 


into  cheese,  and  within  three  years  increased  the 
dairy  herd  to  40.  As  was  usual  in  those  days, 
the  wife  bore  tlie  main  burden  of  the  dairy  labour; 
at  first  she  took  charge  of  the  milk  from  the  time 
it  reached  the  dairy,  and  with  her  own  hands  made 
all  the  cheese,  and  cared  for  it  until  sold.  As  the 
cows  were  increased  in  number  the  dairy  required 
the  time,  strength,  and  thought  of  both  husband 
and  wife.  By  untiring  assiduity  they  succeeded  in 
making  an  article  which  not  only  found  ready  sale, 
but  gained  a  reputation,  until  Williams'  cheese 
was  sought  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  sold  at 
an  extra  price,  and  was  shipped  to  England  to 
some  extent. 

In  the  month  of  February,  1851,  Jesse 
Williams  contracted  his  cheese  of  the  following 
season  to  merchants  at  Rome,  at  7  cents  per  pound, 
the  cheese  to  be  held  until  autumn,  with  a  view 
to  sending  it  to  Liverpool.  As  the  average  price 
in  the  neighbourhood  was  then  less  than  6  cents, 
Mr.  Williams  regarded  his  bargain  as  very  ad- 
vantageous, and,  with  a  father's  thoughtfulness, 
induced  the  buyers  to  consent  to  include  the 
season's  cheese  of  his  eldest  son,  George,  whom 
he  had  just  established  upon  a  farm  in  the 
vicinity.  This  was  agreed  to  upon  the  guaranty 
of  the  father  that  the  quality  of  the  sou's  cheese 
should  equal  that  of  his  own.  Upon  communi- 
cating the  facts  to  his  son,  the  latter  at  once 
doubted  the  ability  of  himself  and  his  young 
wife,  with  but  one  year's  experience,  to  make 
cheese  equal  to  that  of  the  parents,  who  had 
devoted  twenty  years  to  this  work.  The  family 
consultation  which  ensued  led  to  George  and 
his  wife  being  instructed  in  cheese-making  at 
the  old  homestead,  but  without  resulting  in  the 
cheese  of  the  new  farm  coming  up  to  the  father's 
standard  ;  and  then  Jesse  Williams  said : — 
"  Well,  if  you  and  Anna  cannot  make  your  cheese 
what  it  should  be  at  home,  bring  your  milk  here, 
and  your  mother  will  make  it  up  with  ours. 
The  cheese  will  then  surely  be  all  the  same." 
Made  as  a  suggestion,  to  obviate  a  lack  of 
uniformity,  and  to  secure  a  higher  average 
quality,  it  was  acted  upon,  found  practicable,  and 
j)roved  successful,  although  the  farm  of  George 
Williams  was  at  least  two  miles  distant  from 
his  fathci-'s.  Here  was  the  beginning  of  the 
Williams  co-operative  dairying,  June,  IH-Jl. 

The  next  step  was  natural  :  the  question  arose. 
Why  cannot  we  do  this  with  more  milk,  getting 


ORIGIN    OF    CHEESE-FACTORIES    IN    AMERICA. 


467 


it  from  ouv  neig-libours  ?  Mr.  Williams  found 
that  the  products  of  milk  in  the  neighbourhood 
averaged  about  5  cents  a  pound  for  cheese  fresh 
from  the  hoop,  or  an  equivalent  in  butter,  no 
allowance  being  made  for  the  labour  involved. 
Here  was  a  fair  margin  for  business,  providing 
the  milk  could  be  obtained  on  this  basis,  and  also 


]\Irs.  "Williams  made  up  at  the  farm  the  milk 
of  IfiO  cows,  and  before  the  summer  closed 
j)ledges  enough  for  the  next  year  were  secured 
to  warrant  the  erection  of  buildings  suitable  to 
handle  the  milk  of  300  or  400  cows.  A  co- 
partnership was  at  once  formed  between  Jesse 
Williams    and    his    sons    George    and    De    Witt; 


JESSE    WILLIAMS,    FOUNDER    OF    CHEESE- FACTORIES. 


providing  he  could  sell  all  the  cheese  he  could 
make  under  the  contract  at  7  cents.  The  project 
being  submitted  to  the  contractors,  they  assented, 
stipulating  that  all  should  be  of  "  the  Williams 
standard."  The  neighbours  were  next  negotiated 
with,  and  a  number  found  willing  to  sell  and 
deliver  the  milk  upon  the  basis  above  named, 
being  glad  enough  to  be  rid  of  the  labour  and 
vexations  of  the  dairy  work  at  home  and  the 
uncertainties  of  sales. 

Thus,   during  the   season    of    1851,    Mr.    and 
62 


springs  near  the  homestead  were  leased,  buildings 
erected,  and  at  the  opening  of  the  season  of 
1852,  the  original  Williams  Factory  commenced 
operations.  De  Witt  managed  the  general  farm- 
ing, while  Jesse  Williams  and  George,  with  their 
wives,  devoted  themselves  to  the  factory  and  its 
work.  That  season  the  family  held  70  cows, 
and  they  purchased  the  milk  of  290  more.  From 
its  start  the  factory  proved  a  success,  and  this 
was  largely  due  to  the  high  quality  of  its  pnxluet. 
That,  iu  turn,  is  attributed  by  the  family  to  the 


4fi8 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


scrujHiIoiis  eare,  g'ood  judgment,  and  ceaseless 
labours  of  Mrs.  Amanda  Williams,  wlio  for 
several  ycai-s  was  really  the  eheese-maker,  person- 
ally supervisiiio'  all  the  details  of  manufaeture. 
The  original  make-house,  calculated  for  operations 
untried  on  so  large  a  scale,  proved  unsuitable, 
and  has  been  degrailed  to  a  ])ig'-pen ;  but  the 
curing-room,  made  upon  plans  resulting  from 
home  experience  of  many  years,  still  performs 
its  work,  and  may  be  regarded  as  a  model.  The 
site  of  the  Jesse  Williams  Factory  is  now  occupied 
by  the  Rome  Cheese-Manufaetuiing  Association. 

It  was  a  characteristic  of  Jesse  Williams  that 
he  was  always  ready  to  receive  suggestions,  to 
seek  advice,  and  avail  himself  of  every  opportunity 
to  jirogress  and  improve  in  his  work.  Corre- 
spondingly, he  never  sought  to  hide  or  make 
mysterious  the  causes  of  his  own  success ;  the 
Williams  Dairy  from  the  first,  and  the  Williams 
Factory  to  the  last,  were  always  open  to  whoever 
came  to  learn,  and  to  strangers  and  neighbours 
alike  were  freely  given  the  fruits  of  experience 
there  gathered  by  the  open-hearted  proprietors. 
As  a  good  citizen,  Jesse  Williams  identified 
himself  with  the  interests  of  his  town  and  county, 
and  whenever  a  worthy  object  could  be  promoted 
by  his  assistance,  earnest  and  active  co-oj)eration 
on  his  part  was  not  wanting.  His  indomitable 
will  and  energy  overcame  obstacles  that  seemed 
formidable  to  other  men,  and  he  was  almost 
certain  to  accomplish  whatever  he  undertook. 
Just,  kind,  charitable,  loved  and  respected  by 
those  who  knew  him,  he  passed  away  universally 
mourned.  Not  an  aspirant  for  fame  or  public 
honours,  seeking  only  to  ennoble  his  life-work 
of  farming,  he  lived  to  see  his  native  county 
raised  to  the  head  of  the  great  dairy  interest 
of  the  greatest  dairy  State  through  the  adoption 
of  the  system  he  had  introduced,  and,  indeed,  to 
see  the  whole  land  dotted  with  cheese-factories, 
all  of  them  founded  upon  the  success  of  his 
own  modest  work. 

Yet  it  required  several  years,  at  the  outset,  of 
actual  demonstration  to  satisfy  the  dairymen  of 
Oneida  County  that  the  principle  of  co-operation  or 
association,  in  distinction  to  domestic  labour,  was 
adajjted  to  their  industry  in  general.  It  was  not 
until  May,  18o4,  that  the  second  cheese-factory 
was  opened  in  Oneida  County.  That  year  four 
were  built  at  different  places  in  the  State  of  New 
York,   two  more  the  next  year,  and  the  number 


gradually  increased,  till  in  ISOl  there  were  about 
forty  in  operation  in  that  State.  Ten  years  elapsed 
from  the  time  the  Williams  Factory  commenced 
its  full  o])erations  in  sj)ecial  buildings  before 
similar  establishments  liecame  at  all  numerous. 
Then  they  multiplied  with  great  rapidity.  A  final 
realisation  of  the  merits  and  success  of  the  system 
in  the  heart  of  the  great  cheese-making  district  of 
America  was  one  cause  ;  a  second  was  the  rapid 
increase  in  the  foreign  demand  ;  another  was  the 
organisation  of  the  first  Dairymen's  Association  in 
the  country  in  18G3;  and  a  great  incentive  was 
"  the  war  period,"  with  its  rise  in  the  \mcc  of 
cheese  from  10  cents  and  less  in  1800  to  15  cents 
in  1SG3,  and  to  20  cents  and  over  in  IBG.j. 

During  the  season  of  1862,  between  twenty 
and  thirty  cheese-factories  were  in  operation  in 
Oneida  County.  They  had  already  spread  to 
Herkimer  and  other  neighbouring  counties,  and  in 
1863  there  were  nearly  one  'hundred  reported  in 
New  York,  besides  some  in  Ohio  and  other  States. 
About  this  time  the  American  Dairymen's  Associa- 
tion began  to  keep  a  list  of  the  cheese-factories  in 
operation,  and  the  number  from  which  it  succeeded 
in  getting  reports  for  several  years  shows  the 
rapid  extension  of  the  system  : — 


Teiir       

lS6t. 

1865. 

1S66. 

1867. 

186S. 

1809. 

Factories  in  U.S.   ... 

232 

291 

495 

571 

806 

1,075 

„        in  Canada 

- 

10  1      25 

27 

31 

35 

Tear 

...      1870. 

1871. 

1872.  j  1873.      1874 

Factories  in  U.S.     ... 

II                         '1 
...      1,234    1,216    1,301    1,308    1,346 

„        in  Canada 

35        35        35        36        36 

The  location  of  the  factories  upon  the  last  list 
publi.shed  by  the  Association  (1874)  was  as 
follows :— In  44  different  counties  in  New  York, 
1,018;  in  Ohio,  108;  Indiana,  3;  Illinois,  45; 
Michigan,  2() ;  Wisconsin,  45  ;  Iowa,  7  ;  Minne- 
sota, 6  ;  Pennsylvania,  21 ;  Vermont,  32  ;  Massa- 
chusetts, 26 ;  Virginia,  Tennessee,  and  INIissouri, 
each  2 ;  and  Connecticut,  Kansas,  and  North 
Carolina,  each  1.  Factories  for  the  manufacture 
of  butter  alone,  and  those  for  making  both  butter 
and  cheese,  have  also  become  very  nimierous,  and 
a  good  many  originally  full-cream  cheese-factories 
changed  their  plan,  so  that  it  is  now  diHicult  to 


HOW    FACTORIES    ARE    CONDUCTED. 


469 


determine  the  num1)er  of  eheese-faetories  proper. 
Durint;-  the  reeent  period  of  i^-reat  depressioiiin dairy- 
ing'ahirgenumheriif  factories  in  the  east  wereclosetl, 
hut  the  extension  of  the  system  in  the  north-west 
has  caused  a  steady  increase  in  the  whole  numh>'r 
of  factories  and  creameries  in  the  country.  There 
is  a  decided  tendency  to  make  the  factories  of 
smalk'r  size  as  they  multiply,  the  better  to  accom- 
modate the  delivery  of  milk.  The  minimum  for 
economy  in  a  factory  for  butter  alone  is  regarded 
as  150  cows,  while  for  cheese  alone  it  hardly 
"pays"  to  handle  the  milk  of  less  than  250  cows. 
The  total  number  of  establishments  in  America 
which  employed  the  factory  system  in  dairvinof 
was  estimated  by  several  authorities  in  1876  and 
1877  as  4.,000,  and  it  is  believed  the  United  States 
Census  for  18S0  will  record  at  least  5,000. 

The  statistics  of  the  new  Census  regarding 
these  establishments  will  be  of  special  interest, 
because  it  is  proposed  for  the  first  time  to  syste- 
matically classify  them,  according  to  their  work, 
as  cheese  -  factories,  butter  -  factories,  combined 
butter  and  cheese-factories,  and  milk-condensing 
factories.  The  schedule  of  inquiry  contains  fifteen 
distinct  items  applicable  to  the  industry  in  general, 
and  from  five  to  ten  additional  bearing  upon  the 
different  branches.  At  the  present  writing  the 
data  have  been  obtained,  but  not  yet  compiled ;  it 
is  hoped  to  present  the  results  in  the  appenilix  to 
this  work. 

There  are  three  general  methods  under  which 
these  establishments  are  conducted  in  America. 
First,  the  purely  co-operative  plan,  by  which  the 
system  is  naturally  introduced  in  new  places, 
but  which  is  generally  soon  supplanted  by  one  of 
the  others.  On  this  plan  the  farmers  of  a  neigh- 
bourhood unite,  contributing  to  the  original 
expense  of  the  enterprise  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  cows  they  keep,  on'uing  the  property  in 
common,  and  conducting  it  by  a  committee  or 
committees,  selected  from  their  own  number  from 
time  to  time,  and  dividing  the  products  or  the  net 
proceeds  thereof  in  proportion  to  the  milk  they 
severally  supply.  To  be  strictly  co-operative,  the 
dairy,  factory,  or  creamery  should  be  wholly 
managed,  and  the  work  there  performed,  by  one  or 
more  of  the  "patrons."  Secondly,  associated  dairy- 
ing on  the  plan  of  a  joint-stock  comjiany.  In 
this,  the  organisation  and  management  is  similar 
to  that  of  a  joint-stock  concern  established  for  any 
mercantile  or  manufacturing  enterprise,  except  that 


care  is  usually  taken  to  have  most  of  the  stock 
held  by  dairymen  who  will  send  milk  to  the 
factory,  and  thus  have  a  direct  interest  in  its 
o])erations.  The  stock  capital  is  usually  sufficient 
to  cover  the  original  plant,  real  estate,  and  e(piip- 
ment,  and  leave  a  margin  for  o])erating  expenses. 
In  some  cases  a  certain  dividend  is  guaranteed  to 
the  stock,  and  this  charged  as  a  part  of  the 
expenses  of  the  factory ;  the  net  proceeds  arc  then 
divided  upon  the  basis  of  the  milk  contributed  by 
the  patrons  :  this  is  semi-co-operation.  In  other 
cases,  the  factory  once  established  contracts  for 
milk  at  a  i^rice  fixed  periodically,  often  buys  it 
largely  from  others  than  the  stock-holders,  and 
then  the  net  proceeds  are  applied  to  dividends 
upon  the  stock.  In  all  these  joint-stock  concerns 
the  control  is  usually  vested  in  a  Board  oF 
Directors,  chosen  by  the  stock-holders,  and  the 
directors  employ  their  agent,  or  business  manager, 
and  labourers  on  salary.  The  third  method  makes 
the  business  one  of  individual  or  corporate  enter- 
prise, removing  it  practically  from  the  realm  of 
agriculture  to  that  of  manufacture,  the  dairy- 
farmers  becoming  simply  the  producers  of  the  raw 
material,  milk,  which  they  sell  to  the  manufacturer 
at  rates  fixed  by  contract.  Or,  the  latter  receives 
the  milk,  charges  a  fixed  rate  for  manufacturing, 
furnishings,  and  sales,  and  makes  returns  to  the 
milk-producers  according  to  the  mai-ket.  On  this 
plan  the  land  is  purchased,  buildings  erected,  and 
the  factory  or  creamery  operated  by  some  person 
who  devotes  his  entire  time  to  this  business. 
Factories  of  this  last-named  character  are,  as  a  rule, 
more  successful,  and  give  better  satisfaction,  than 
those  managed  in  any  other  way.  Jealousies  and 
the  danger  of  too  much  management  are  avoided, 
the  business  is  more  likely  to  be  conducted  on 
business  principles,  and  have  the  benefit  of  business 
experience.  The  factory  manager  has  better  con- 
trol over  his  product,  being  able  to  accept,  criticise, 
or  absolutely  reject  the  milk  offered,  without  danger 
of  losing  his  place  as  a  result,  and  the  dairymen 
know  just  exactly  the  standard  they  must  attain 
in  their  milk. 

The  factories  have  generally  been  open  to 
inspection  by  all  interested,  enijjloyers  have  con- 
tinuallv  examined  one  another's  work,  and  there 
have  been  competing  exhibitions  of  products,  with 
meetings,  publications,  and  other  aids,  which  have 
resulted  in  developing  a  knowledge  of  the  most 
profitable  methods   of   producing   good  milk,  the 


470 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


best  and  most  economical  j)rocesses  of  manufacture, 
and  sj'stematic  provisions  for  storage,  trausjiorta- 
tion,  and  .sale. 

The  following  facts  are  selected  because  of  their 
reliability  and  interest  from  the  mass  of  pub- 
lished statistics  and  reports  reo-arding  the  cheese- 
factories  in  the  United  States  and  their  operations. 

From  the  435  factories  found  in  New  York  in 
1865,  the  superintendent  of  the  State  Census 
selected  133  from  which  the  most  complete  returns 
bad  been  obtained,  and  published  the  same  in  full. 
These  facts  are  taken  from  that  table  as  to  three  fac- 
tories, the  smallest,  the  largest,  and  one  of  medium 
size  :  also  the  average  of  the  whole  number  : — 


Beason 

Capital. 

Cost  of 
Building 
and  Ai>- 
paralus. 

Persons 
Empluyed. 

C30W8. 

Length  of  Season. 

Milk 
UBed. 

ot 
vast. 

1 

i 
& 

2 

Factory 
Opened. 

Factory 
Closed. 

Made. 

Smallest 

Dnis. 
3,200 

2 

280 

April  19 

Oct.  31 

lbs.       1     Ihs. 
881,539     86,533 

Medium 

3,000 

2 

4 

500 

May     1    Nov.  18 

1,410,590    144  059 

Largest 

4,000       5 

5 

1,200 

April  18    Not.   9 

3,977,720    384,000 

Average 

2,843       2 

Zi 

50i 

April  20    Nov.  12 

1,412,202    142,432 

The  cost  of  buildings  ranged  from  700  dollars, 
where  the  milk  of  300  cows  was  managed,  to 
5,500  dollars,  where  the  cows  contributing  num- 
bered 475.  The  average  ratio  of  made  cheese  to 
milk  was  1  to  9-915  lbs.;  average  pounds  of  milk 
to  a  cow,  2,80^;  pounds  of  cheese  per  cow,  283; 
average  price  of  cheese,  20  cents;  average  value 
of  cheese  per  cow,  56.52  dollars. 

During  the  decade  between  the  publication  of 
these  official  figures,  the  Secretary  of  the  Ameri- 
can Dairymen's  Association  collected  returns  from 
as  many  factories  as  possible  annually,  not  only  in 
New  York,  but  in  other  States.  He  succeeded  in 
getting  returns  from  thirty-three  cheese-factories, 
complete  in  each  case  for  the  ten  years,  1865-1874, 
and  they  furnish  these  results,  more  valuable  than 
any  single  year's  exhibit  can  be,  because  of  the 
length  of  time  covered  by  the  averages : — 


Tbirty-thtee 
Factories. 

1865-1874. 

No.  of   i  ^«°f*>' 
C°7     Working 

Cheese 

made 

per  Cow. 

Lbs.  of 
Milk  to 
lib.  of 
made 
Cheese. 

Anna.il 
Average 
Selling 
Price. 

Cents. 
17.02 

13.12 

14.52 

Ex- 
treme 
Prices. 

Highest  ... 
Lowest    ... 
Average  ... 

GOl 
280 
521 

235 
175 
201 

lbs. 
366 

25,5 

300 

9-95 
9-39 
976 

Cents. 
25 

11 

In  regard  to  special  statistics  for  a  single  sea- 
son, the  Assistant-Secretary,  Edward  J.  AViekson, 
made  this  statement,  which  shows  such  a  contrast 
between  the  work  of  different  factories  and  the 
productiveness  of  different  dairies  as  to  be  worthy 
of  repetition  entire  : — "  I  have  authentic  reports 
from  ninety  cheese-factories,  widely  separated  in 
location,  giving  the  average  net  return  per  cow  to 
patrons,  the  highest  average  per  cow  to  a  single 
patron,  and  the  lowest  average.  The  figures  are 
drawn  from  the  actual  records  of  more  than 
36,000  cows.  During  the  season  of  1874,  the 
value  of  the  highest  average  yield  per  cow  for  a 
single  factory  was  55.07  dollars,  the  lowest,  run- 
ning the  same  length  of  time,  31.22  dollars,  and 
the  average  for  the  ninety  factories,  39.57  dollars. 
These  are  factory  averages,  not  records  of  separate 
herds.  It  appears  from  these  reports  that  the 
average  net  return  to  patrons  per  100  lbs.  of  milk 
has  been  1.22  dollars  (about  2J  cents  a  quart)  ; 
the  highest  net  yield  was  1.38  dollars,  the  lowest 
99  cents.  I  have  been  much  interested  in  com- 
paring the  average  returns  per  cow  with  the 
average  selling  price  of  the  factory,  and  the 
quantity  of  milk  required  for  a  pound  of  cheese,  in 
order  to  determine  how  much  the  large  yield  per 
cow  is  due  to  the  dairyman,  how  much  to  the 
cheese-maker  and  salesman.  In  the  factory  report- 
ing the  highest  average  per  cow  (55.07  dollars) 
the  selling  price  for  the  season  averaged  14.11 
cents,  and  the  ratio  of  cheese  to  milk  was  1  to 
9' 76  lbs.  Comparing  this  with  the  lowest  average 
(31.22  dollars),  I  find  the  latter  sold  cheese  for  one 
quarter  of  a  cent  less  per  pound  through  the  sea- 
son, and  used  nearly  half  a  pound  more  of  milk  to 
a  pound  of  cheese.  Y'et  this  difference  in  manu- 
facture and  price  forms  but  a  small  part  of  the 
wide  range  between  highest  and  lowest  average 
returns.  The  profits  of  dairies  depend  mainly  on 
the  farm,  not  on  the  factory ;  the  difference  between 
profit  and  loss  is  in  the  quality  of  the  cows  and 
their  management.  This  is  strikingly  illustrated 
by  further  figures  derived  from  these  returns.  In 
the  whole  ninety  factories,  the  best  record  for  a 
single  dairy  is  an  average  of  82.17  dollars  per 
cow  for  the  ordinary  season,  and  the  poorest  is 
14.50  dollars  per  cow ;  the  average  of  the  best 
dairies  reported  by  the  ninety  factories  is  50.04 
dollars  per  cow,  and  of  the  poorest  dairies  in  each 
of  the  ninety  factories,  29.34  dollars."  Here  is  a 
very  wide  margin,  for  which  the  dairyman  himself 


FACTORY    REPORTS. 


471 


is  mainly  responsible,  but  which  is  developed  by 
the  factory  and  its  records.  It  is  not  the  least  of 
the  merits  of  the  factory  sj'stem  that  it  presents 
such  facts  as  these,  previously  neither  proved  nor 


The  average  annual  results  of  a  single  iactory 
in  Chatauque  County,  New  York,  whose  reports 
are  available  for  fourteen  consecutive  years,  are 
as  follows: — No.  of  cows,  917;   No.  of  patrons. 


King  Settlement  Cheese  Factory. 

Season  of  1863.      0/)aied  May   Hth ;   Closed  Kovemhcr   lOth.      I.cnijth,   191    days. 


Honth 

May. 

Jane. 

July. 

August. 

Milk  received  ...         ...         ...      Iba. 

90,568 

202,847 

212,314 

182,040 

Cured  Cheese ...        ,, 

8,756 

19,328 

20,406 

17,278 

Milk  for  lib.  Cheese ,„ 

10-314 

10.500 

10-406 

10-500 

September. 


154,440 
16,708 
9-228 


122,391 
13,805 


17,731 
2,193 


Totals  :— Milk  received,  982,331  lbs.  ;  Cured  Cheese,  98,474  lbs.  ;  Cheese  to  Milk,  1  to  9-908  lbs. 
Greatest  number  of  Cows,  315 ;  average  number,  290. 

Cheese  sold   at  different  prices,  11.50  to  13  dols.  per  cwt.  ;    total  for  98,474  lbs.,  10,395.89  dols. 

Expense  Accoi'nt  : —  Dols. 

Manufacturing,  at  1  cent  per  lb 984.74 

Bandaging,  189.64  ;  Colouring,  11.00         200.64 

Eennets  (350),  31.25  ;  Salt,  33.00 64.25 

Boxing,  224.12;  Cartage  to  E.E.,  231.48 45.5.60 


Net  proceeds  (being  88i  cents  per  100  lbs.  of  Milk) 


Schuyler's    Factory,    Westmoreland,    Oneida    County,    N.Y. 

Season  commenced  May  llth ;    Closed  October  31s<.     Working  days,   174. 


Totals  :— Milk   received,   830,493  lbs. ;   Green   Cheese,    82,580  lbs.  ;    Cured   Cheese,    78,644  lbs. 

Shrinkage,    4-75  per  cent.  ;    Milk   to   1   lb.   Green   Cheese,    10-06  lbs.  ;    to   Cured  Cheese,   10  56  lbs. 

No.  of  Cows,  307  ;  No.  of  Cheese  (6  small),  697  ;  average  weight  (20\  inch  long),  114  lbs. 


eeceipts  on  sai.es. 

EXPENSES. 

Date. 

No.  of 
Cheese. 

Lbs.  of 
Cheese. 

Price. 

Proceeds, 
Gross. 

Items. 

Gross. 

Cost  per  Cwt.  of 
Cured  Cheese. 

June  23      ... 

July    28      ... 
Aug.   17      ... 
Sept.    7      ... 
Sept.  21      ... 
Oct.      9      ... 
Dec.    15      ... 
At  Factory... 

60 
100 
100 
100 
86 
50 
197 
4 

6,783 
11,117 
11,111 
11,265 
9,965 
5,888 
22,082 
428 

Cents. 
12 

Hi 

12 
12 
12} 
13i 

15 

m 

Dols. 

814.56    i 
1,306  25 
1,333.32 
1,351.80 
1,220.71 

794.88 

3,312.30 

52.32 

Making,   1  cent  per  lb.,  green 
Bo.xes,  688  at  21  and  21*  cents 
Bandage,  42.5J  yds  at  24  cents 
Rennets,  317  at  25  cents 

Salt,  lOJ  barrels           

Boxing  (labour  by  patrons)  ... 
Cartage  (      ,,                „       )  ... 
All  other  Expenses      

Dols. 
825.80 
144.. 58 
102.06 
79.25 
22.30 
17.37 
9,5.  .50 
41.47 

Ui-nts. 
105.00 
18.  .38 
12.98 
10.08 
2. 84 
2.21 
12.14 
5.27 

Totals 

697 

78,644 

- 

10,186.14    j 

Totals          j        1,328.33 

168.90 

Cost  per  cwt.  of  Cured  Cheese,   excepting  manufacturing,  and  also  deducting  labour  performed  by  ) 

patrons  (boxing  and  cartage) ) 

Average  price  per  lb.  gross,  12.95  ;  net,  11.26  ;  net  returns  per  lb.  of  Milk 


49.55  cents. 
1.07      „ 


appreciated,  to  those  who  ought  to  know  and  to 
heed  them. 

The  accompanying  abstracts  are  given  as  good 
examples,  complete  and  condensed,  of  annual  reports 
of  American  factories,  as  made  up  for  the  patrons 
and  furnished  to  the  dairymen's  associations. 


66;  length  of  season,  218  days;  milk  received, 
2,330,536  lbs. ;  milk  to  1  lb.  of  cheese,  963  lbs. ; 
average  price  of  cheese  sold,  13.23  cents;  returns 
per  100  lbs.  of  milk,  after  deducting  all  expenses, 
1.33  dols. 

A  few  statistics  are  now  added,  for  comparison, 


ilZ 


DAlllY    FARMING. 


derived  from  factories  in  States  other  tlian  New 
York.  ^Viseonsiu  cheese  ranks  with  the  best,  and 
some  of  her  factories  give  the  followint^.  In  the 
list  for  187'1',  this  State  is  credited  with  forty-five 
factories ;  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trade  at 
Sheboj'gau  Falls  collected  reports  in  the  year  1877, 
from  sixty-two  factories,  all  in  the  county  of  She- 
boygan. The  totals  reported  by  these  were  9,870 
cows,  31,958,821  lbs.  of  milk,  and  ;3,185,275  lbs. 
of  cheese,  and  these  averages  : — Cows  per  factory, 
159  J  dieese  jier  cow,  323  lbs. ;  ratio,  cheese  to 
milk,  1  to  1003  lbs. ;  price  of  cheese,  10.85  cents 
per  lb. ;  value  of  cheese  per  cow,  35  dollars. 
Eleven  factor!  "s  in  Massachusetts,  with  a  total 
product  of  811,254  lbs.  of  cheese,  reported  the 
same  season  the  ratio  of  cheese  to  milk,  1  to 
10'273  lbs.;  cost  of  making  and  furnishing,  2 
cents  a  pound ;  net  returns  to  patrons,  2  cents  per 
quart  for  milk  delivered. 

A  cheese-factory  in  the  town  of  Winthrop, 
Maine,  was  in  operation  eighty  days  in  the  months 
of  July,  August,  and  September  of  the  year  1871', 
and  1-10  days  during  the  season  of  1^75  ;  the  milk 
used  was  from  about  200  cows,  a  large  jyavi  of 
them  full-blooded  Jerseys,  and  the  rest  high- 
grade  Jerseys.  In  1874,  1  lb.  of  cheese  was 
obtained  for  every  S"7  lbs.  of  milk,  and  the  next 
j'car  the  ratio  was  1  to  8'9  lbs.  This  was  Jeraeij 
cheese,  and  was  pronounced  by  a  competent  judge 
to  be  "  extraordinary  for  its  rich  fatness,  equal  to  a 
Stilton." 

The  remarkable  results  at  Gwillem's  Factory,  in 
Colorado,  in  1878  were  noted  on  page  377;  later 
records  of  factories  in  that  section,  situated  7,000 
to  7,300  feet  above  sea-level,  give  the  productive 
ratio  for  an  entire  season  as  8'555  lbs.  of  milk  to 
1  lb.  of  cured  cheese.  The  average  yield  of  milk 
per  cow,  although  not  exactly'  ascertained,  is  not  as 
corrcsi)ondingly  small  as  might  be  supposed  from 
this  high  cheese  qualitj-.  Extreme  dryness  of  the 
atmosphere  is  the  characteristic  of  the  climate 
there,  and  so  well  is  milk  preserved  that  no  acidity 
whatever  is  perceptible  at  any  stage  of  the  cheese - 
making  in  the  factories  of  Colorado. 

It  is  impossible  to  determine  exactly  how  and 
when  American  factories,  organised  and  estab- 
lished with  the  sole  idea  of  making  who'e-niilk 
cheese,  began  to  manufacture  skim-cheese,  and 
to  add  butter-making  to  their  other  work.  It 
seems,  however,  to  have  resulted  gradually,  from 
a   combination   of   natural    and   economic   canses. 


beginning  very  soon  after  the  factories  became 
numerous.  Thus,  late  in  the  season,  when  milk 
diminished  in  quantity,  but  grew  richer  and  kept 
good  longer,  patrons  at  a  distance  from  a  factory 
would  deliver  only  every  other  day,  and,  the 
cream  having  sejiarated  on  the  earlier  messes,  they 
would  remove  it,  to  make  butter  for  home  use, 
and  so  send  to  the  factory  milk  with  but  half  or 
a  third  of  its  cream.  And  yet  the  factory  cheese, 
from  this  milk,  would  be  apparently  equal  in 
quality  to  the  average  of  the  season.  Again, 
factories  receiving  a  part  of  their  milk  in  the 
evening,  and  failing  to  prevent  a  separation  at 
night,  woidd  try  removing  and  churning  the 
cream  of  that  part,  and  still  make  good  cheese. 
There  were  good  cheese-makers,  too,  who  noticed 
a  large  jiercentage  of  butter  in  the  whey,  and 
claimed  that  this  might  be  saved  by  taking  more 
or  less  cream  from  the  milk  for  butter  before 
maAing  into  cheese,  and  without  detriment  to 
the  latter  product.  And  frugal  factory  managers 
discovered  that  they  could  turn  out  as  many  or 
more  pounds  of  both  butter  and  cheese  from  a 
given  quantity  of  milk  as  of  cheese  alone,  and 
could  sell  the  double  jjroduct  for  a  good  deal  more 
than  the  single  one.  Facts  like  these,  and  the 
results  of  such  experiments,  were  soon  heard  in 
meetings  of  dairymen,  and  became  arguments  for 
more  or  less  skimming. 

Professor  X.  A.  Willard,  ]ierhaps  the  closest 
student  of  American  cheese- factory  practice,  as 
he  certainly  was  its  most  active  and  prominent 
advocate  in  the  early  years  of  the  system, 
favoured  skimming  within  bounds,  as  may  be 
seen  from  this  extract  from  an  address  delivered 
by  him  at  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the  American 
Dairymen's  Association,  in  Januaiy,  18C6,  and 
repeated  before  the  Ohio  State  Cheese  !Manufac- 
turers'  Association  the  same  year: — "Now  take 
these  facts  together : — First,  our  cheese  is  richer 
in  butter  than  it  need  be ;  second,  we  cannot,  if 
■we  would,  retain  all  the  butter  in  the  curds ; 
third,  the  price  of  butter  is  greatly  in  excess  of 
cheese.  These  propositions  prove  that  we  are 
aninially  throwing  away  .  millions  of  dollars, 
without  benefiting  anybody  or  anything,  except 
perhaps  the  pigs.  It  is  a  waste  which  all  of 
ns  have  been  awam  of  for  a  long  time,  but  in  our 
blindness  were  unable  to  see  clearly  how  to 
remedy.  It  can  be  done  by  the  adojition  of 
bulier-makiiig  in  connection  with  cheese  manufac- 


TlIK    SKIMMING    QTIESTION. 


473 


tuiv.  This  modification  of  our  system  promises 
to  be  a  leading  feature  in  future  operations  of 
the  dair}'.  The  plan  admits  of  various  modiil- 
cations  in  the  manufacture  of  cheese.  Some  cau 
turn  their  attention  to  purely  skim-milk  cheese, 
and  others  only  partially  so.  The  question  will 
occur,  of  course,  to  what  extent  the  cream  may 
be  removed  from  the  milk,  and  yet  a  nice,  mellow, 
palatable  cheese  be  made.  It  is  my  belief  that 
a  portion  of  the  milk  may  be  kept  twelve  hours, 
if  not  longer,  then  skimmed  and  added  to  a  fresh 
mess,  and  from  this  mixture  as  nice  an  article 
of  cheese  made  as  under  our  present  mode  of 
letting  cream  pass  to  the  whey  tubs.  To  many 
of  our  factories  the  addition  of  a  spring  or  cooling- 
room,  a  churning- room,  and  the  necessary  imple- 
ments of  butter-making,  need  cost  but  little  ; 
the  additional  labour,  with  an  ordinary  factory, 
would  be  covered  by  one  person,  and  in  some 
instances  no  addition  would  be  needed  to  the 
usual  force  employed.  The  public  necessities 
demand  that  in  every  cheese-producing  county 
several  factories  should  make  butter,  at  least 
enough  for  local  consumjjtion.  As  the  quantity 
of  skim-cheese  increases  new  markets  will  be 
opened,  and  these,  while  they  have  a  tendency  to 
continue  remunerative  rates,  must  also  operate 
advantageously  on  other  styles  of  cheese,  by 
reducing  the  quantity  of  these  kinds  and  making 
them  more  scarce.  I  do  not  advise  every  factory 
rushing  at  once  into  the  manufacture  of  skim- 
cheese.  That  would  over-do  the  business  and 
cause  a  failure,  by  throwing  upon  the  market 
too  much  of  this  kind.  But  it  would  be  safe 
for  those  factories  that  have  nice  water,  and 
locations  suitable  for  erecting  pool-rooms,  to  add 
them  to  the  factory,  and  commence  a  series  of 
experiments  to  determine  what  proportion  of  the 
butter  may  be  removed  from  the  milk,  and  yet 
retain  a  quantity  sufficient  to  produce  a  rich, 
mellow,  and  high-priced  cheese.  The  whole 
matter  at  this  time  is  crude  and  undeveloped, 
and  must  be  worked  out  in  the  future."  Professor 
"Willard  adhered  to  this  position,  for  in  a  public 
address,  some  years  later  than  the  foregoing, 
this  passage  occurred  : — "  Cheese-men  come  here, 
fearful  of  the  establishment  of  butter  factories. 
They  insist  that  every  particle  of  cream  must 
go  into  the  curds,  when  they  know  it  cannot 
all  be  retained,  while  it  has  been  proved  over 
and   over  again   that   the.  night's   milk   may   be 


skimmed  at  certain  sea.sons  nf  the  yi':ir,  and  when 
thus  treated  and  mingled  with  the  mornint;-'s 
milk,  the  expert  cannot  detect  loss  of  cream  in 
the  cheese. ''  Still  later,  in  a  similar  address, 
Professor  L.  B.  Arnold  said  this  : — ■"  The  practice 
of  skimming  is  gaining  ground  year  by  year, 
and  is  likely  to  continue,  be  the  consequences 
what  they  may  to  our  national  reputation.  So 
long  as  skimming  gives  a  better  return  on  a 
hundred  f)ounds  of  milk  than  can  be  done  by 
making  cheese  alone,  it  will  be  of  little  avail 
to  attempt  to  check  its  progress.  It  will  go  on 
until  by  natural  results  there  becomes  an  equili- 
brium in  profits,  so  I  have  no  disposition  either 
to  urge  on.  or  retard  its  progress,  for  it  will 
regulate  itself  in  time." 

With  such  teachers  and  teaching,  and  with  the 
balance-sheets  of  factories  adopting  this  advice 
showing  better  returns  than  those  adhering  to 
their  whole-milk  principles,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  skimming  became  commori;  factories  pro- 
duced more  or  less  butter,  and  changed  their  plans 
accordingly.  From  the  outset,  however,  there 
were  stout  opponents  to  all  skimming  in  connection 
with  cheese  manufacture,  conspicuous  among  them 
being  makers  whose  "  marks "  had  won  a  high 
reputation,  and  merchants  who  prided  themselves 
on  keeping  a  high  standard  in  the  markets.  The 
"  full  cream "  men  and  the  "  creamery "  men 
still  have  frequent  warm  discussions  over  the 
effects,  and  also  the  ethics,  of  their  respective 
operations. 

This  explains,  in  a  measure,  the  existing 
variety  in  the  establishments  connected  with 
American  dairying  which  come  under  the  general 
head  of  "the  factory  system.^'  Some  make  cheese 
and  nothing  else.  Others,  with  cheese  as  the 
main  product,  make  more  or  less  butter ;  they 
vary  with  the  season  and  the  market,  taking 
from  one  to  three  pounds  of  butter  from  a  himdred 
pounds  of  milk ;  and  these,  in  some  cases,  hold  on 
to  their  original  name  of  cheese-factory,  while 
others  have  changed  to  "  creamery."  Others, 
afain,  known  as  creameries,  make  both  butter  and 
cheese  at  all  times,  or  butter  mainly,  with  cheese 
only  at  times,  or  butter  alone.  Then  there  are 
those  called  butter-factories,  but  even  among  them 
more  or  less  cheese  is  made.  It  is  impossible 
longer  to  tell  from  the  name  alone  the  nature  of 
the  work  done  in  the  establishment.  "Creamery" 
is  the  most  common  name  f-pplied  in  the  United 


474 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


States  to  any  factory  where  the  article  cream  is 
separated  from  milk  or  liandled  separately. 

Creameries  came  into  existence  earlier  than 
is  perhaps  implied  by  the  foregoing,  and  .soon 
followed  the  cheese-factories,  wherever  the  latter 
were  established.  Thus,  placing  the  real  start 
of  cheese-factories  as  a  si/sfem  in  New  York  at 
1861,  the  first  creamery  was  opened  in  18G4  ;  in 
Illinois  the  first  cheese-factory  was  built  in  186:i, 
the  first  creamery  in  1867;  in  Iowa,  the  first 
cheese-factory  in  18G6,  the  first  creamery  in  1871, 
and  so  on. 

The  methods  of  conducting  creameries  differ 
more  than  those  of  cheese-factories,  just  as  there  is 
greater  variety    in  the   details   of   butter-making 


than  in  cheese-making  in  private  dairies.  In 
most  cases,  the  whole  milk  being  received,  and 
the  first  object  being  to  cool  it  and  cream  it,  the 
prevailing  methods  are  known  as  the  ])ool  and 
pail  system,  the  large  shallow-pan  practice,  and 
the  use  of  creamery  vats,  in  which  the  milk  can 
be  "  set,"  and  tlien  made  into  cheese  after  the 
skimming.  Two  of  these  methods  have  been 
already  e.'iplaincd  in  Chapter  XIX.,  and  other 
examples  will  be  hereafter  given.  There  is 
another  methotl  wliich,  because  of  its  practical 
success,  deserves  to  be  fully  described,  and 
which  is  here  alluded  to  because  its  peculiari- 
ties relate  more  to  the  cheese  part  than  to  the 
butter.  H.  E.  A. 


CHAPTER     XXXII. 

Dairy    Work    in    American    Factories. 


General    Factory   Arrangements- Examples    and    Details    of   Constraction— Cheese-vats   and   Heating   Apparatus— Curd-cutting— 
N  ■^t-'  rressing— Curing-rooms— The  Whey— Creameries,  or  Butter  Factories— Methods  and  Ajjparatus. 


i^  N   describing   the    arrangement 
of  the  buildings,  their  rooms 
and    fittings,   we    may  divide 
--j^_      them  into  two  classes.     The 
^K^'^^'ix     fi'"^*'     includes     the      oldest 
factories.     We   take,    as    an 
example  of  these,  the  Whitesboro'  Fac- 
tory, Oneida  County,  N.Y.,  the  property 
of  Dr.  L.  L.  Wight,  who  holds  a  high 
jilace  among  American  dairymen. 

Doubtless,  establishments  more  com- 
plete and  convenient  in  some  resjjects  exist,  but 
we  have  selected  this  because  it  is  a  very  good 
representative  of  the  better  class  of  American 
factories,  and  happens  to  possess  the  best  curing- 
house  we  remember  to  have  seen  in  the  United 
States. 

The  delivery  window  (Fig.  277)  is  but  a  few  feet 
above  the  road  which  rises  in  front  of  it,  so  that  while 
the  milk  can  be  poured  into  cans  on  the  weigh- 
scale  (1)  without  the  aid  of  a  hoist,  the  weighing 
platfo.m  is  still  somewhat  higher  than  the  vats  (2), 
allowing  the  milk  a  good  fall  when  discharged  into 
the  latter  through  a  conductor  pipe  from  the  weigh- 
can.  The  milk  vats  (2)  are  four  in  number,  con- 
tain about  500  gals,  each,  and  are  heated  by  steam, 
and  cooled  by  a  good  supply  of  water.  Opposite 
these  are  laid  two  iron-capped  truck-rails  (6),  ex- 
tending from  the  making-room  over  a  low  plank 
bridge  into  the  curing-house,  which  is  a  separate 
building.  A  sink  (7),  in  which  the  curd  is  placed 
for  drying,  runs  on  this  track,  on  the  other  side  of 
which  are  two  "  Fraser"  piesses  (5),  and  over  it  a 
McAdam  curd-mill  (4),  driven  by  a  2  horse-power 
oscillating  engine  (3),  which  also  pumps  water  for 
the  boiler.  By  the  arrangement  shown  the  sink 
can  be  run  under  the  mill  for  curd-grinding,  and 
63 


dra\vn  back  to  the  end  of  the  track  when  its  con- 
tents are  to  be  put  in  press.  The  boiler  (8),  set  in 
brickwork,  is  placed  in  a  partially  detached  build- 
ing, so  that  it  cannot  aft'ect  the  temperature  of  the 
making- room. 

The  curing-house  is  104  ft.  long  by  30  ft. 
wide,  and  two  storeys  high.  The  cheese-tables 
(9)  are  of  the  type  shown  in  Fig.  290,  and 
raised  about  3  ft.  above  the  floor.  When  the 
presses  are  to  be  emptied,  a  table  (11)  on  wheels 
is  run  over  the  track  into  the  making-room,  on  it 
some    half-dozen   cheeses   are  placed,    it   is   thea 


Fig.  277.— Ground-plan  of  ■Whitesboro'  Factory. 

1,  Weighiiig-niacliine  ;  2,  milk-vats  ;  3,  en^ne  ;  4,  ciird-mill ;  5,  presses ; 
6.  rails  for  pink  ;  7,  sink  ;  8,  boiler;  9,  cheese-tables;  10,  stairs  to 
upper  room  ;  11,  theese- waggon. 

drawn  back  into  the  curing-house,  and  its  load 
deposited  on  the  tables.  In  this  way  the  labour  of 
removing  the  cheese  from  one  part  of  the  factory 
to  another  is   greatly  lessened.     The  windows  of 


476 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


this  house  are  provided  with  louvre  shutters,  wliioli  fheeso  from  the  milk  of   l.oOO  cows.     It  will  he 

can  he  made  to  exclude  the  rays  of  the  suu.    During  seen  in  the  plan  that  tiie  making,  press,  and  curing- 

the  summer  months,  when   the  days  are  often  in-  rooms  are  all  in  a  line,  and  so  situated  that  when 

tensely  hot  and  the  nights  cool,  the  windows  are  the  curd  is  removed  fmm  the  vats  (.'5)  to  the  sink 


Fig.  278.- CuHiNc-iiorsr,    Wiiiii.si;. 


closed  during  the  former  and  opened  during  the 
latter,  an  ecjuable  temperature  being  thus  pro- 
cured and  preserved.  We  well  remember  the  cool- 
ness of  the  building  during  one  of  the  hottest  of 
American  summers,  the  thennometer  standing  at 
about  70",  when  the  air  in  the  open  was  between 
80"  and  90"  Fahr. 

As  another  instance  of  the  convenient  arrange- 
ment  of  the  different  parts  of  a  factory  on  the 


279. — Pl.vn  of  Trlxton  F.icroRT. 


A,  A,  Delivery  windows ;  2.  weighing-machines  nnd  cans ;  3,  milk-vats 
4,  sink ;  5,  mils  for  biiik  ;  6,  presses  ;  7,  cheese-tables. 


(I)  it  can  be  run  intu  llie  jiress-room  between  the 
lines  of  presses  (6),  and  from  them  carried  as  cheese, 
on  a  table  similar  to  that  before  described,  into  the 
curing-room,  without  exposure  to  the  open  air. 
The  truck  is  run  between  the  racks  (7)  the  whole 
length  of  this  room,  thus  rendering  any  carrying 
of  the   cheese   in    the   hands    unneeessarv.      The 


Jig 


¥ 


RRRRR 

"""JFACTURIHG  " 


CURtNQ     ROO 
AriD    OFFICE 


Fig.  280.— ri.,\N  OF  NE\vvn.LE  Factury. 

1,  Weighing-machines   and   cans ;    2,    milk-vats  :  3,  sink  ;    4,  boilc 
5,  wash- vat ;  6,  old  screw-presses ;  7*  lift ;  8,  desk. 


same  principle,  we  give  a  portion  of  the  ground- 
plan  of  Truxton  Factoiy,  in  Cortland  County,  N.Y. 
It  was   built  for  manufacturin<r  and    storiii"-  the 


making-room  for  this  factory  is  furnished  with  two 
delivery  windows  (a,  a),  to  expedite  the  weighing 
of  the  milk.      I'lider  the  platfunii  is  a  wafer-tank. 


NEWVILLE    CHEESE-FACTORY. 


477 


the  overflow  from  which  runs  over  flagstones  laid 
beneath  tlie  wood  floor,  (Uirrying  away  any  slops 
which  might  otherwise  have  collected  there. 

AVe  now  describe  a  factory  possessing  a  pecu- 
liarity in  its  construction  which,  on  account  of  the 
jtrinciple  of  manufacture  involved,  makes  it  worthy 
(if  notice.  The  Newville  Factory  is  located  near 
Little   Falls,    Herkimer  County,    N.Y.j    and  has. 


factory  the  "shute"  (see  Fig.  127,  page  250)  is 
used  when  removing  the  curd  from  the  vats  to  the 
sink — an  arrangement  described  at  p.  259.  The 
curing-rooms,  with  the  excej)tion  of  one  used  in  cold 
weather,  are  over  the  making  department,  and  the 
cheese  is  carried  to  them  by  the  hoist  (7).  This 
building  includes  living-rooms  for  the  work-hands. 
We  now  come  to  the  description  of  the  system 


through  the  skill  of  its  manager,  Mr.  A.  G. 
Weatherwax,  obtained  a  high  reputation  for  its 
goods.  The  delivery  platform  is  in  a  shed  pro- 
jecting fi"om  the  building,  under  which  the  waggons 
stand  when  delivering  the  milk.  Here  a  hoist 
lifts  the  cans  to  a  certain  height,  when  they  are 
tipped  and  their  contents  emptied  into  the  weigh- 
can  (1).  At  the  other  end,  and  within  a  foot  or 
so  of  the  five  steam-vats  (2) ,  the  floor  sinks  some 
4  ft.,  so  that  they  may  be  said  to  stand  on  a  plat- 
form, below  which,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  build- 
ing, are   the    sink    (."5)    and  presses   (6).     In  this 


of  manufacture  pursued  in  these  associated  dairies, 
and  the  apparatus  used  in  the  work.  The  cheese- 
tub,  or  vat,  is  first  in  importance.  Among  the 
earlier  apparatus  of  this  kind  is  that  known  as  the 
"  self-heater  "  vat.  It  is  constructed  with  an  outer 
case  of  wood  and  an  inner  one  of  tin.  The  sides 
and  ends  of  the  latter  slope  away  from  the  wooden 
ease  to  the  extent  of  two  or  three  inches,  as  shown 
in  Fig.  282,  which  gives  a  cross-section  of  the 
apparatus.  Under  the  body  of  the  vat  is  a  long 
metal  tube,  which  connects  with  that  part  of  the 
vat  between  the  inner  and  outer   cases   by  other 


478 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Fig.  282.— Section  op 

SELi'-llIiATtU    \  AT. 


and  smaller  tuVs.  Throug-h  this  cylinder  passes  a 
flue  (1),  at  the  month  of  which  is  fixed  a  small 
giate,  in  which  is  a  fire  to  heat  the  water,  and  this 
ill  its  turn  raises  the  temperature  of  the  contents 
of  the  vat.  The  water  is 
poured  into  the  vacant  space 
Ijctween  the  inner  and  ouler 
cases  throno'h  a  hopper,  and 
beiiinj  heated,  flows  upwards 
and  inwards  aj^ainst  the  sides 
and  bottom  of  the  tin  case, 
and  returns  to  the  flue  in 
tlie  manner  shown  by  the 
arrows  in  tl  e  illustration.  The  smoke  finds  ejifrpss 
throu(>-h  a  ]iipe  at  the  other  end  of  the  vat.  It  is 
said  of  this  apparatus  that  it  distributes  its  heat 
uniformly  and  without  the  use  of  much  fuel. 

In  Figs.  -283,  284,  and  285  are  given  illustr.n- 
tions  of  a  most  useful  combined  milk-vat  an  1 
heater,  such  as  may  be  used  in  either  factories  or 
farm-house  dairies. 

The  heater  is  constructed  separately  from  the 
vat,  and  consists  of  wrought-iron  pipes,  screwed 
together  in  such  a  manner  as  to  form  a  fire 
chamber,  and  present  a  large  amount  of  heating 
surface  directly  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  fire. 
This  coil  of  pipes  is  enclosed  in  brickwork,  which 


as  to  distribute  the  heat  equally.     The  lower  pijie, 
the  one  that  supplies  the  coil  with  water  from  the 


Fig.  283.— Milk-vat  and  Heater. 

prevents  loss  of  heat.  A  pan,  or  tank,  rests  on  the 
top  of  the  brickwork,  and  is  connected  to  the  coil 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  form  a  perfect  circulation  ; 
so  that  when  the  tank  is  filled  with  water,  and  a 
fire  started,  the  water  is  warmed  very  rapidly.  A 
flue  is  formed  underneath  the  bottom  of  the  tank, 
so  that  it  receives  the  heat  from  the  fire  after  it 
has  passed  the  coil. 

The  coil  is  also  connected  with  the  vat,  and 
forms,  with  that,  a  perfect  circulation.  The  upper 
pipe,  the  one  that  supplies  the  heat  to  the  vat, 
branches  off,  and  two  smaller  jiipes  are  connected 
to  it,  and  these  extend  through  the  space  between 
the  tin  and  wooden  \'ats,   and  are  perforated,   so 


Fi^.  2S4.— Heati.ng  Aitauails. 

vat,  is  attached  directly  to  the  bottom  of  the 
wooden  vat.  Proper  stop-cocks  are  attached,  so 
that  the  heat  from  the  coil  may  be  turned  on  or 
shut  off  from  either  the  tank  or  vat  at  pleasure. 
A  safet\--pipe  is  attached  to  the  cold  water,  or 
lower  pijie  of  the  coil,  which  allows  the  water  and 
steam  to  escape  into  the  tank,  to  prevent  all 
danger  of  exploding,  in  case  all  the  stop-cocks 
should  be  negligently  closed  at  once. 

The  tank  is  filled  with  water,  a  fire  started  in 


Fig.  285.— Mn.K-VAT,  with  Isneu  Shell  Removei 


the  chamber  formed  by  the  coil  of  pipes,  and  the 
water  in  the  tank  is  first  warmed ;  the  stop-cocks 
that  connect  it  to  the  coil  being  open,  while  those 


HKAT-GENEKATORS. 


479 


to  the  vat  aro  closed,  thus  forming  a  ciiculatiou 
^vit'.l  the  tank  only.  After  this  water  is  warm, 
and  when  the  milk  has  been  placed  in  the  tin  vat, 
the  stop-cock  to  the  vat  is  opened,  and  the  warm 
water  immediately  passes  from  the  tank,  filling  the 
space  between  the  tin  and  wooden  vats.  ^Vheu 
filled,  the  stop-cocks  are  closed,  leaving  the  coil 
in  connection  with  the  vat  only.  The  heating  of 
the  vat  then  immediately  commences.  The  water 
passes  from  the  vat  through  the  lower  pipe, 
and  circulates  slowly  through  the  coil,  becoming 
gradually  heated,  until  partially  converted  into 
steam.  In  this  condition  it  is  returned  to  the  vat 
through  the  perforated  pipes,  and  by  them  is  most 
evenly  distributed.  As  the  steam  condenses  on 
meeting  the  cooler  water  in  the  vat,  the  same  cir- 
cuit is  continued  until  the  proper  temperature  is 
reached,  when  the  stop-cock  to  the  vat  should  be 
closed.  This  cuts  off  the  circulation,  and  prevents 
a  further  rise  of  temperature.  When  the  heat  is 
sbut  off  from  the  vat,  the  stop-cock  to  the  tank 
should  at  onee  be  opened,  and  the  tank,  having 
been  re-filled  with  cold  water,  receives  the  heat 
from  the  coil  until  the  vat  is  ready  to  be  warmed 
again.  In  this  manner  a  supply  of  hot  water  may 
be  kept  on,  and  for  any  purpose.  One  or  more  vats 
may  be  attached  to  a  single  heater,  and  the  whole 
construction  is  such  that  it  can  scarcely  be  injured, 
even  by  the  greatest  careless. less. 

We  now  give  an  illustration  of  a  neat  and  effi- 
eieht  combined  steam-generator  and  engine   (Fig. 

286),  in  general 


the 


use  among 
factories.  It  is 
fitted  for  burning 
wood  or  coal,  and 
1  lie  flues  are  ar- 
ranged to  present 
a  great  amount 
1  if  heating  surface 
to  the  action  of 
tlie  flames,  by 
which  economy  of 
fuel  is  obtained. 
In  some  dairies 
self-filling  tanks 
are  attached  to 
the  boiler.  One  of  these  is  shown  in  Fig.  287, 
elevated  on  a  wooden  frame,  and  connected  with 
the  boiler  by  two  pipes.  When  the  water  in  the 
generator  is  so   low  as   to    free    the    end    of    the 


Fig.  286.— Combined  Boiler  xxn 
Engine. 


^a=a 


'^ 


-SELF-KIL  ,1M 
TANK. 


j)ipe   (1),  the    steam  rushes   through   it  into  the 

t.ink,  some  of  the  water  from  which  passes  thro.igh 

pipe    (2)    into    the 

boiler,  neither  water 

nor  steam  being  able 

to  return,  the  valves 

working    only    (inc 

way.      This  insures 

absolute     safety    if 

the    valves    are    in 

working    order   and 

the  tank  filled. 

When  enough  of 
the  morning's  milk 
has  been  delivered  to  fill  one  vat,  the  work  of  making 
the  cheese  commences.  The  agitator  floats  are  re- 
moved, the  milk  heated  to  about  81)'^  Fahr.,and  the 
rennet  and  sour  whey  added.  Tlie  veils  used  for 
making  rennet  among  the  American  factories  are 
dried  and  stretched  on  sticks,  often  badly  cured,  and 
always  variable  in  their  action.  Some  factories  are 
supplied  by  the  patrons,  who  cure  them  at  home. 
Nothing  surprised  us  more  in  our  visits  to  Ameri- 
can dairies  than  to  find  a  rennet  of  such  an  un- 
certain chai-aeter  so  commonly  in  use.  In  Canada, 
however,  much  better  veils  can  be  obtained;  these 
are  known  as  "  C.  P.,"  and  are  selected  and  cured 
by  an  English  dealer. 

AA  hen  coagulation  is  completed— generally  in 
sixty  minutes  or  less — the  curd-knife  is  called  into 
use.  There  are  two  sorts  of  knives — the  vertical 
and  the  horizontal  (see  Figs.  135  and  136,  pp.  275 
and  276).  The  former  consists  of  a  number  of 
sharp  steel  blades  fixed  half  an  inch  apart  in  a 
head-piece  of  wood  or  metal,  and  j)rovided  with  a 
handle.  In  the  latter  the  blades  are  fixed  hori- 
zontally to  two  side-strips  of  steel.  Wherever  this 
is  used  the  vertical  knife  accompanies  it,  though 
in  many  cases  the  perpendicular  instrument  is  used 
alone.  The  latter  is  drawn  through  the  curd  from 
one  end  of  the  vat  to  the  other,  then,  after  an 
interval  of  several  minutes,  across  it.  Now  another 
pause  occurs  in  the  work,  and  then  either  the  hori- 
zontal knife  is  used  to  cut  it  as  far  as  possible  into 
cubes,  or  with  the  vertical  instrument  it  is  divided 
into  still  smaller  pieces.  After  a  time  the  con- 
tents of  the  vat  are  stirred  b}'  the  hands  and  arms 
of  the  maker,  or  by  a  rake,  such  as  that  shown  in 
Fig.  137,  p.  276.  We  have  seen  this  work  done 
with  common  hay-rakes,  by  makers  who  preferred 
them   to   all    other    implements    for    the    pm-pose. 


480 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Fig.  288.— Section  of 
Curd-lump. 


When  the  pieces  of  curd  are  reduced  to  about  one- 
third  their  original  size,  steam  is  turned  on,  and  the 
whole  mass  heated  to  about  95'^  Fahr.  When  it 
has  been  scalded  sufKeicntly  it  is  allowed  to  sink 
to  the  bottom  of  the  vat,  and  remains  there  under 
the  whey  for  some  two  hours,  more  or  less,  to 
become  acid. 

When  the  curd-knife  is  used  (which  essentially 
belongs  to  the  American  and  not  to  the  Cheddar 
system)  it  must  be  at  intervals,  or  loss  of 
solids  will  be  the  result.  But  during  these 
intervals  the  strips  or  lumps  of  curd  grow 
tough  and  skinny.  By  the  time  the  scalding 
process  is  com])leted  each  lump  has  become,  as 
it  were,  dry  and  tough  on  the 
outside,  though  gradually  more 
moist  towards  the  middle,  the 
whey  not  having  been  properly 
separated.  We  have  split  open 
many  such  lumps,  and  found 
this  to  be  invariably  the  case  to 
a  greater  or  lesser  extent.  We 
give  (Fig.  288)  an  enlarged  section  of  such  an  one, 
which  will  explain  our  meaning.  Now,  whatever 
may  be  the  belief  of  the  followers  of  that  system 
on  the  question,  the  whey  not  separated  before  the 
scalding  process  is  finished  will  never  be  separated 
by  pressing,  nor  fully  by  grinding,  although  by 
the  latter  treatment  some  whey,  and  with  it  solid 
matter,  may  be  worked  out.  This  result  of  grind- 
ing, not  known  with  well-made  Cheddar  curd,  is  so 
common  in  America  as  to  have  necessitated  a  curd- 
mill,  with  knives  instead  of  bars  (see  Fig.  9^3, 
page  207).  We  have  seen  in  American  factories, 
where  the  curd  was  ground  with  the  oi-dinary  peg 
or  bar-mills,  a  quantity  of  thick  white  liquid 
pressed  fi-om  it  in  the  grinding.  But  whether 
ground  or  not,  there  is  enough 
whey  left  in  to  account  for 
t  he  Itad-keeping  quality  of  much 
American  cheese.  A  lack  of 
acid  will,  in  a  fair  curing  tem- 
perature, render  the  cheese  taste- 
less and  "soapy ;"  too  much  acid 
and  moisture  will  produce  a  ten- 
dency to  early  decay. 

When  the  curd  is  sufficiently 
acid  the  whey  is  drawn  off  with 
a  syphon,  with  which  is  used  a  cylindrical  strainer, 
both  shown  in  Fig.  130,  page  278.  In  factories 
on  the  plan  of  the  Whitesboro'  and  Truxton  estab- 


380.— Fl.it-side 
Pail. 


lishments,  the  next  work  is  the  removal  by  the 
"fiat-side  pail"  (Fig.  289)  of  the  curd  and  remain- 
ing whey  to  the  "  sink."  It  will  be  readily  seen 
that  this  utensil  is  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  pur- 
pose. When  the  vat  is  tapped,  nearly  all  its 
contents  may  be  removed  by  it. 

In  salting,  the  proportion  of  salt  to  curd  varies 
in  diiTerent  factories,  but  about  2  lbs.  to  1,000  lbs. 
of  milk  manufactured  is  the  general  rule.  A  large 
quantity  of  English  salt  is  imported  for  the  dairy 
trade,  being  considered  by  many  the  best ;  but  some 
American  firms  are  producing  a  really  fine  article, 
such  as  that  of  the  "  Onondaga  Works,"  at  Syra- 
cuse, New  York,  where  it  is  manufactured  on  a 
process  perfected  by  Dr.  Goessman,  a  noted 
chemist,  by  which  freedom  from  impurity  is 
obtained.  This  article,  known  as  the  "  Onondaga 
Factory-filled  Salt,"  enjoys  a  well-earned  reputa- 
tion. 

The  best  press  yet  in  use  in  America  is  that 
made  by  Messrs.  Fi-aser  and  Benson  at  Rome, 
New  York,  and  known  as  the  "  Gang-press " 
(Fig.  270,  page  461).  It  is  so  constructed  that  the 
cheeses  are  pressed  horizontally  against  each  other, 
the  lower  part  of  one  hoop  fitting  into  the  upper 
part  of  the  next.  The  screw  runs  in  a  movable 
wooden  block,  which  can  be  set  in  the  proper  posi- 
tion for  one  or  two  cheeses  as  well  as  for  the 
whole  number  for  which  the  press  is  intended. 

As  soon  as  the  newly-made  cheeses  reach  the 
cnring-room,  they  are  neatly  marked  on  the  band- 
age with  the  date  of  the  manufacture,  a  dam]) 
paste  being  used  for  the  purpose,  applied  with  a 
stiff  brush  over  a  stencil-jilate.  In  the  "  drying" 
or  cheese -rooms  two 
classes  of  racks,  or 
tables,  are  sometimes 
to  be  found.  The  one 
of  which  we  give  a 
section  in  Fig.  290  is 
the  most  convenient, 
and  allows  more  cheese 
to  be  stored  in  the 
same  space. 

The  temperature 
believed  to  be  most  favourable  to  the  early  ripening 
of  American  cheese  is  70°  Fahr.,  in  which  it  usually 
becomes  fit  for  exportation  in  three  weeks.  When 
a  quantity  has  been  sold,  each  cheese  is  weighed 
separately,  scales  of  the  ]iattern  shown  in  Fig. 
291    being    used.     This  machine  serves  two  pur- 


Fig.   290.  — C'KEESE-TABLE. 


FLOATING    CUKDS. 


481 


posi's  :  in  the  scoop  (a)  salt,  &c.,  may  bo  wciglu'il  ; 
ou  the  table  (b)  cheese. 

The  cxjiense  of  packing  the  cheese  in  boxes 
for  exportation  is  considerable,  each  box,  10  inches 
deep,  costing  one  half- 
penny for  every  inch 
of  its  diameter ;  a  pack- 
age of  that  depth,  and 
16  inches  across,  cost- 
ing IC  cents,  or  Sd. ; 
and  if  a  greater  depth 
Fi-.  -'ill  —t'liEisE  .sc\i  Ks  than  10  inches  is  neces- 

sary, a  cent  is  charged 
for  every  additional  inch  of  vertical  measurement. 
Thin  discs  of  wood,  called  "  scale-boards,"  ai"e 
placed  against  the  top  and  bottom  for  protection 
of  the  cheeses  when  they  are  boxed. 

Many  dealers  visit  the  factories  and  inspect 
the  goods  previous  to  the  weekly  market,  but 
the  cheese  from  the  dairies  of  reputed  makers 
is  generally  sold  without  any  such  inspection,  and 
sometimes  even  without  samples.  Some  dairymen, 
well  known  on  the  market  as  skilful  makers, 
receive  a  certain  sum  per  pound  in  advance  of 
all  other  prices,  and  sell  their  goods  only  to  one 
house.  The  dealers  are  well  aware  that  in  first- 
class  factories  the  quality  of  the  goods  is  uniform, 
and  great  confidence  is  therefore  placed  in  the 
managers  of  such  establishments.  When  samples 
are  carried  to  the  markets  (for  factory-cheese  is 
never  sold  and  delivered  on  the  spot,  as  in  our 
English  fairs)  the  "  plugs "  are  often  placed  in 
glass  tubes,  and  carried  in  a  leather  ease  (see 
Fig.  219,  page  -IIG),  by  which  means  they  are 
preserved  from  dust  and  damage. 

There  is  a  time  in  every  season  when  the 
inferior  condition  of  much  cheese  that  is  made  in 
American  factories  seriously  affects  the  market. 
Those  goods  made  during  the  months  of  June, 
July,  and  August  go  "  off  flavour "  rapidly,  and 
have  to  be  sold  at  a  lower  figure  on  that  account. 
"  Hot  weather "  cheese  becomes  a  drug  on  the 
market,  a  source  of  vexation  to  all  parties  con- 
cerned, from  the  patron  to  the  consumer.  The 
causes  of  this  are  not  difficult  to  discover.  The 
mischief  may  be  traced  to  the  farm,  where  the 
cows  drink  water  from  stagnant  pools ;  to  the 
factory,  v/hcre  the  whey  tanks  and  hoggeries  are 
situated  too  near  to  the  making-room,  and  send 
forth  their  vile  odours  to  taint  the  milk.  We 
have  seen  the  curd  made  from  tainted  milk  rise. 


<luring  the  scalding  ))roccss,  eii  iiKis-tr  to  the 
surface,  and  at  such  times  the  work  is  positively 
unhealthy,  on  account  of  the  smell  rising  from 
the  vat.  We  remember  visiting  a  factory  where 
a  bad  "floater"  was  being  dealt  with,  and 
hastening  from  the  vat  to  the  door,  found  that 
escape  from  one  evil  only  brought  us  in  contact  with 
another — the  smell  from  the  whey-tanks,  which 
were  within  a  few  feet  of  the  spot  we  occupied. 

In  the  management  of  "  floating  curds,"  two 
principles  are  usually  recognised — that  acid  will, 
in  a  measure,  overcome  taint,  and  that  a  minute 
division  of  the  curd  will  do  much,  by  liberating 
the  gases.  In  factories  where  the  "loose  curds" 
system  prevails,  the  mill  is  used  for  the  latter 
purpose.  By  following  these  principles,  makers 
have  in  many  instances  succeeded  in  so  far 
conquering  the  mischief  as  to  produce  cheese  in 
which  only  a  slight  peculiarity  of  flavour  could 
be  detected  as  the  result  of  the  original  taint. 
But  while  such  is  the  case,  it  is  yet  certain  that 
great  losses  are  sustained  every  year  through  the 
milk  supplied  in  a  tainted  condition  to,  or  spoilt  in, 
the  factories  during  the  summer  months.  The 
cheese  which  goes  "  off  flavour "  early  is  not 
all,  however,  necessarily  made  from  bad  milk, 
for  the  produce  from  the  sweetest  and  purest  milk 
will  also,  under  circumstances  unfavourable  to  its 
proper  naking  and  curing,  be  more  or  less  injured 
in  "  keeping "  quality.  On  the  markets  many 
persons  betray  anxiety  to  clear  out  "  hot-weather  " 
stocks  at  almost  any  obtainable  figure,  especially 
if  the  factory  euring-i-ooms  are  unfit,  through 
faulty  construction  and  a  lack  of  the  means  of 
procuring  and  preserving  a  correct  and  uniform 
temperature,  for  holding  such  goods. 

In  most  factories  the  whey  is  conveyed  by 
pipes  or  shutes  from  the  vat  directly  to  the  tanks, 
and  drawn  from  these  either  by  the  farmer  to  his 
home,  or  for  the  fattening  of  hogs  on  the  factory 
premises.  In  the  former  case,  the  patron  is 
allowed  to  take  a  quantity  proportionate  to  his 
milk-supply,  as  part  payment  for  the  latter,  or 
he  can  remove  as  much  as  he  requires  at  a  fixed 
jirice  per  gallon;  while  in  cases  where  the  fatten- 
ing of  pigs  is  a  part  of  the  factory  business,  the 
patron  is  allowed  one  pig  for  every  five  cows' 
milk  supplied,  or  the  company  owning  the  build- 
ings use  the  whey  on  their  own  account. 

Some  years  ago  considerable  attention  was 
directed  to  the  manufacture  of  whcy-cream  butter, 


482 


IVVTRV    FARMTXCr. 


ami  a  fair  article  was  jinMliii-i'il  \>y  two  processes. 
Olio  of  tiicse,  knowu  as  tlie  ''hot"  i)rofoss,  con- 
sisted in  the  addition  to  the  whcv,  if  sweet,  of 
a  certain  amount  of  soiu-  whey,  and  heating  it 
to  175"  Fahr.  and  upwards,  by  which  means 
sufficient  cream  was  raised  to  produce  rather  over 
Joz.  of  butter  to  a  gallon  of  whey.  Tlie  other 
method  of  cream-raising  was  surrounding  the 
tank  containing  the  whey  with  cold  water.  The 
churning  in  either  case  was  performed  in  the 
ordinary  manner,  at  a  temperature  of  about  60" 
Fahr.  But  the  manufacture  of  this  article  has 
been  to  a  great  extent  aliandoncd,  being  considered 
unprofitable,  and  the  practice  is  now  confined  to 
a  few  establishments.  In  many  factories,  however, 
a  "grease"  is  prepared  from  whey,  by  heating 
and  removing  from  it  the  cream  and  albumen, 
which,  when  cold,  is  used  for  rubbing  tlie  cheese. 

The  quantity  of  milk  required  to  produce  a 
pound  of  cheese  varies  greatly  in  different  in- 
stances, both  the  quality  of  the  milk  and  the  skill 
of  the  maker  influencing  the  results.  From  the 
statistics  of  forty-eight  factories  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  in  186-i,  we  leani  that  the  largest 
quantity  was  lO'SSlbs.,  and  the  least  S-;31]bs., 
whilst  the  average  of  the  whole  number  was 
9'82  lbs.  of  milk  to  every  pound  of  cured  product. 
The  average  of  forty-eight  factories  in  1865  was 
9-81  lbs. ;  of  thirty-nine  in  1866,  9-68 lbs.;  of 
twenty-eight  in  1867,  9-83  lbs. ;  of  thirty-seven 
in  1868,  9\S81bs. ;  of  forty-two  in  1869,  9-64  lbs.; 
and  of  twenty-five  in  1870,  9-95  lbs. ;  showing  a 
general  average  of  980  Ib'S.  of  milk  to  1  lb.  of 
cured  cheese.  From  the  reports  of  ten  well-known 
factories  in  the  columns  of  the  Utica  Herald  (De- 
cember, 1876),  we  find  that  they  have  used  on  an 
average  101I)S.  of  milk  for  the  production  of  lib. 
of  cheese. 

The  quantity  of  milk  required  to  make  a  pound 
of  clieese  is  the  basis  of  the  calculations  regarding 
the  payment  for  milk,  the  patron  receiving  for  it 
as  much  as  the  price  per  pound  obtained  for  cheese, 
less  the  cost  per  pound  of  making.  Let  us  sup- 
pose that  during  a  certain  week  10  lbs.  of  milk 
were  used  to  each  pound  of  cheese  produced,  and 
the  latter  was  sold  at  1 0  cents  (5d.)  per  pound, 
while  the  cost  of  manufacture  was  2  cents  (Id.) ; 
the  patron  would  receive  8  cents  (Id.)  for  each 
10  lbs.  of  milk  delivered  by  him. 

When  the  dividend  is  declared,  a  statement  is 
presented    to    each    patron,     showing    the    price 


realised  for  cheese,  tlie  quantity  of  milk  supplied 
by  and  the  sum  due  to  him,  witli  any  other 
statistical  information  which  it  may  ajipear  de- 
sirable to  publish.  We  give  a  specimen  of  such  a 
form  : — • 

t'HF.h:.sE  Factory. 

For  week  ending 188  . 

Milk  supplied lbs. 

Cheese  sold lbs. 

Milk  required  for  one  pound  of  cheese lbs. 

Cost  of  manufacture  per  lb 

Milk  supplied  by  Mr lbs. 

Value  per lbs 

Value  of  milk  supp'icd ■$ 

,  Secretary. 

In  certain  cases,  especially  where  the  factory 
is  owned  by  a  private  individual,  the  system  of 
regulating  the  price  of  milk  by  the  figures  of  other 
factories  is  adopted.  The  patrons  choose  two 
dairies  well  known  for  their  fine  goods,  and  agree 
to  accept  as  much  for  their  milk  as  is  the  average 
of  the  prices  paid  by  these  dairies  ;  so  that  if  one 
pays  8  cents  (4d.)  and  the  other  nets  its  patrons 
7  cents  (3id.),  the  average,  7i  cents  (^fd.l,  will 
be  paid  by  the  proprietor  for  the  quantity  of  milk 
representing  a  pound  of  cheese. 

GliEAMERIF.S. 

Since  their  introduction,  in  ISGl,  butter- 
factories  have  spread  rajiidly,  and  at  the  present 
time  a  large  number  are  in  operation.  But  by  far 
the  largest  proportion  of  American  butter  is  still 
made  in  farm  dairies,  the  quantity  from  the  former 
in  1874  being  3,214,125  lbs.,  whilst  that  made  in 
the  latter  amounted  to  107,873,361]bs.;  so  that 
for  every  pound  of  butter  made  in  factories,  33  lbs. 
were  made  in  the  liomes  of  the  people.  The 
creameries  are  increasing  in  number ;  but  as  a  fine 
quality  of  butter  is  produced  in  home  dairies  at 
less  expense  and  with  far  more  cerfciinty  than 
first-class  cheese,  they  are  not  likely  to  monopo- 
lise the  manufacture  of  the  former  as  the  cheese- 
factories  have  done  that  of  the  latter. 

The  "spring"  system  of  cooling  and  setting 
milk  followed  on  many  farms  may,  at  the  outset, 
bo  briefly  described,  the  main  principles  having 
been  adojited  in  most  of  the  early  factories.  Over 
a  cool  spring  of  water,  and  a  portion  of  the  stream 
flowing  from  it,  stands  a  small  wooden  building 
known  as  the  "  milk-house."  The  bed  of  the 
stream  within  the  house  is  made  uniform,  and  its 
sides    extended   to    suit    the    farmer's    necessity. 


VARIOUS     AMERICAN     FACTORIES. 


483 


Stones  are  fixed  here  ami  there  in  the  water,  to 
prevent  the  milk-paus  being  moved  by  the  force 
of  the  stream.  The  milk  is  brought  to  this 
spring-house  and  poured  into  clean  earthen  crocks. 
These  are  placed  in  the  water  between  the  stones, 
covered  by  a  tile  or  piece  of  wood,  and  left  until 
the  cream  has  risen.  Among  the  first  factories 
this  arrangement  in  a  modified  foi-m  was  generally 
followed,  though  other  methods  of  milk-setting 
have  since  been  introduced. 

As  an  instance  of  a  factory  where  the  "spring" 
setting  is  followed,  we  select  that  belonging  to 
Mr.  Gardner  B.  Weeks,  of  Syracuse.  The  water 
from  the  spring  is  conducted  by  a  pipe,  situated 
20  inches  under  the  ground,  to  a  large  pool  (2),  in 
which  the  pails  are  placed,  the  water  flowing  into 
the  pool  in  suflScient  volume  to  retain  its  natural 


r"    ^v      1  = 

1 Ti 

2 
o 

71 — ^ — ^i 

li — ^ — \^ 

w 

|i n ^" 

h ^ — 1 

II 


I— w— ' 


Fig.  292. — Plan  of  Gardner  B.  'Weeks'  Facioky. 

1,  Weigb-can  ;  2,  pool ;  3,  milk-vats ;  4,  sink ;  5,  presses ;  6,  chwms  ; 
7,  cold-water  tank  ;  8,  hot-water  tank ;  9,  steam-boiler ;  10,  steam- 
pipe  ;  11,  stairs  to  curing-room  ;  12,  cheese-tables. 


coolness,  and  to  rise  around  the  pails  to  within  2 
inches  or  so  of  their  tops.  The  pails  are  8  inches 
in  diameter  and  20  inches  deep.  An  example  is 
given  in  Fig.  168,  page  30().  The  milk  is  left  in 
the  pool  until  all  the  cream  has  risen,  when  the 
latter  is  removed  by  the  "dijiper"  (Fig.  168),  a 
long-handled,  conical  cup,  which  is  pushed  down- 
wards into  the  milk  of  the  pail  until  its  edge  is 
slightly  below  the  surface,  when  the  cream  mns 
into  it,  and  is  poured  from  it  into  another  vessel  to 
await  churning.  Some  butter-makers  believe  that 
the  cream  will  not  all  rise  in  less  than  thirty-six 
hours ;  others  skim  at  twenty-four  hours  after 
setting,  and  hold  that  all  that  may  be  removed 
afterwards  will  not  be  worth  waiting  for;  but 
there  are  many  cireum.stances  to  be  taken  into 
account  in  these  calculations  outside  the  mere 
question  of  time. 

The  skimmed  milk  is  emptied  into  the  vats  (3) 
and  made  into  cheese,  and  the  pails  cleansed  for 
the  next  setting. 
64 


We  have  selected  for  purposes  of  illustration 
two  other  creameries,  each  possessing,  in  its  con- 
struction and  furnishing,   peculiarities  worthy  of 


Fig.  293.^Plan  ok  Finck's  Basin  Creameuy. 

1,  Weigbiiig-macbine ;  2,  milk-vats ;  3,  press  ;  4,  boiler  and  engine  ; 
5,  "Blanchard"  churn;  6,  shelf;  7,  cupboard ;  8,  spring;  9,  stairs 
to  ciiriug-room  ;  10,  whey-pump. 

notice.  The  first  of  these,  the  Finck's  Basiu 
Creamery,  is  located  near  Little  Falls,  N.Y.,  and 
is  the  property  of  Messrs.  Whitman  and  Burrell, 
an  enterprising  hardware  firm  of  that  town. 

The  delivery-window  at  this  establishment  opens 
on  a  covered  drive-way,  under  the  shelter  of  which 
the  patrons  unload  their  milk.  The  making-room 
contains  three  vats  (2),  a  large  gang-press  (3),  and 
in  a  partitioned  recess  a  combined  horizontal  boiler 
and  engine  (4) .  The  milk  is  set  in  the  ordinary 
steam  milk- vats  (2),  and  to  cool  it  rapidly  a 
very  ingenious  apparatus  is  used.  This  "cooler" 
(Fig.  2!)-l)  consists  of  a  frame  of  tin  pijies,  of  1| 
to  2  inches  in  dia- 
meter, fitting  into 
two  similar  pipes  at 
each  end,  the  length 
and  width  of  the 
frame  being  a  little 
less  than  those  of 
the  vat.  At  one 
corner  is  a  pipe  (1) 
with  a  funnel-shaped  mouth,  into  which  cold 
water  flows  from  the  supply,  and,  circulating 
through  the  frame,  emerges  at  the  end  of  the  bent 
pipe  (2)  at  the  opposite  corner  of  the  apparatus. 
This  frame  is  suspended  from  the  sides  of  the  vat 
by  hooks  (4),  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be  at 
about  half  the  depth  of  the  milk.  After  the  cream 
is  taken  off,  the  cooler  is  also  removed,  steam  ap- 
plied, and  the  skim-milk  made  into  cheese.  In  the 
butter-room  is  a  large  "  Blanchard  "  churn  (Fig. 
249,  p.  453)  driven  by  steam-power,  a  wide  shelf 
(6,  see  plan),  and  a  large  spring  water-tank  (8), 


Fig.  291.— Whitjian  a.nd  Ei'Ekell's 
Cooler. 


484 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


over  p;irl  of  wliirli  a  codlinii^'-cnpltoard  (7)  is  fixrd. 
AVhen  the  Imtter  has  bpcn  taken  from  the  chum, 
and  the  buttermilk  worked  out  by  the  "Cuunint^;'- 
ham  "  worker  (Fig.  2U7),  it  is  placed  in  this  tank, 
and  when  firm  removed  to  the  cupboard.  A  very 
superior  butter  is  made  here,  and  the  business  is 
profitable  to  owners  and  patrons. 

The  other  examjilo  is  a  creamory  near  Rome, 
Oneida   County,  iS'.Y.,   the   i)iopcrty    of    Messrs. 


H-^- 


Curing    rooms 


EZj         man  s""  i 

,     I f T|   BOOM    I 


Fig.  295.— Plan  of  Gaddis,  BIcAdam,  and  Co.'s  Ckeamery. 

1,  Weighing-machine ;  2,  milk- setting  vats;  3,  cheese-making  vats; 
4,  "Blanchard"  churns;  5,  cooling-vat ;  6,  *'Fraser"  presses; 
7,  stepa  to  store-room  ;  8,  coal ;  9,  vertical  boiler  ,  10,  engine. 

Gaddis,  McAdam,  and  Co.  Here  the  milk-setting 
and  cheese-making  dei)artments  are  separated. 
The  milk,  after  being  weighed,  is  set  in  the  vats(;J), 
which  are  constructed  as  shown  in  section  in 
Fig.  29(5.  The  outside  wooden  case  is  similar  to 
the  corresponding  part  of  a 
milk-vat.  In  this  two  tin 
cases,  of  the  shape  shown  in 
the  annexed  illustration,  are 
jilaced  side  by  side,  which 
arrangement  allows  more  room 
for  the  water  supplied  for  cool- 
ing. The  water  (2)  is  kept  at 
a  slightly  higher  level  than  the 
surface  of  the  milk  (I).  On 
the  top  of  the  cooler  is  placed  a  cover  having  a 
ledge  (:i)  raised  around  it,  cross-strings  (4)  for 
strength,  and  cylindrical  ventilators  (."))  fixed  at 
intervals  throughout  its  length.  Over  this  cover 
water  flows  continually,  materially  assisting  in  the 
rapid  cooling  of  the  milk.  AYhen  the  cream  is 
skimmed  off,  the  milk  is  conducted  to  the  vats 
(3,  see  plan)  and  made  into  cheese.  The  "Fraser" 
press,  the  "Blanchard"  churn,  and  the  "Cunning- 
ham" butter-worker  are  all  in  use  iu  this  factory, 
and  butter  of  a  fine  fpiality  and  good  skim  cheese 
were  being  made  at  the  time  of  our  vi.sit  in  187(). 

It  is  generally  held  by  American  butter-makers 
that  cream  should  be  churned  at  a  temperature 
ranging  from  58°  Fahr.  in  summer  to  65°  in 
winter,  and  if  it  does  not  stand  at  the  proper 
heat,   the   pail   containing    it   is    placed    in    warm 


Fig.  200.— UrcAiiAM 
Cooler. 


or  cold  water  until  the  thermometer  indicates 
the  retjuired  lemperature.  Ampng  the  Orange 
County,  New  York,  makers,  the  old  vertical  dash 
churn  (Fig.  'Zb',i,  page  455)  is  a  favourite,  and 
various  devices  are  emplo^-ed  to  work  several  of 
these  at  one  time  in  large  establi.shments. 

In  most  American  butter-factories  the  human 
hand  has  been  superseded  by  machinery  for  work- 
ing the  butter  after  it  comes  from  the  churn. 
The  appliances  for  the  puqwjse  are  many,  ranging 
from  complicated  and  exjiensive  machines  to  the 
simplest  and  cheapest  form  of  pressure  lever. 

The  rotating  butter-worker  with  corrugated 
roller  (shown  in  Fig.   17!),  page  313)  is  also  used 


:97.— "  Cl'NNlNGHAJI  "  BdTTER-WORKER. 


in  American  creameries,  but  the  best  worker  we 
have  seen  in  America  is  the  "  Cunningham " 
(Fig.  297),  a  machine  in  which  the  corrugated 
roller  is  used,  as  in  the  last  example ;  but  in 
this  instance  it  (2)  is -attached  to  a  movable 
frame  which  traverses  the  length  of  a  sloping- 
table,  running  smoothly  and  being  kept  in  place 
by  small  wheels  and  cleats.  On  the  frame  are 
brass  springs  (3),  to  govern  the  rising  and  falling 
of  the  roller,  and  at  the  lower  end  of  the  table 
is  a  hole  through  which  the  buttermilk  escajies 
to    a    pail    (•!■)    suspended    from    a    hook.      The 


Fig.   29S.— "Ol'NNINfillAM  "  AVORKING. 

operation  of  "working"  is  shown  in  Fig.  29S, 
whore  the  roller  has  spread  out  the  butter  on  the 
table.      The  handle  being  turned,  the  roller  and 


^[ARKKTlNCr    THE    PRODUCTS. 


485 


frame  move  to  and  fro  over  the  len<;th  of  tlie 
table,  the  former  releasiut;:  the  })uttermilk,  which, 
with  a  bowlful  of  water,  is  swilled  into  the  pail. 
When  this  has  been  done  a  few  times,  the  butter 
is  gathered  together  by  a  change  of  motion 
peculiar  to  this  machine.     The  roller   (Fig.   299), 


Fig.  2'J9. — "Cunningham'"  Rolling. 

being  brought  below  the  butter,  is  turned  by 
the  right  hand  in  the  direction  of  the  arrow, 
while  the  frame  is  pushed  by  the  handle  (1) 
towards  the  upper  end  of  the  machine,  the  butter 
being  rolled  before  it,  as  shown  in  the  cut. 
Brought  thus  into  a  large  lump,  it  is  placed  in 
the  centre  of  the  table  by  the  ladles,  sjiread  out 
a  little,  and  the  operation  of  working  repeated. 
It  has  been  said  that  by  the  use  of  a  machine 
of  this  kind  the  grain  of  the  butter  will  be 
injured;  but  from  personal  knowledge  we  may 
say  that,  when  this  "  worker  ■"  is  used  with  due 
care,  such  a  result  is  not  possible.  The  salt 
is  incorporated  with  the  butter  by  this  machine 
in  somewhat  the  same  way  that  the  buttermilk  is 
removed.  The  butter  is  spread  out  on  the  table  as 
in  Fig.  298,  the  salt  sprinkled  evenly  ujion  it, 
then  rolled  together  as  in  Fig.  299,  turned 
and  spread  again,  and  the  rolling  and  working 
continued  until  it  is  uniformly  salted. 

The  degree  of  saltness  in  butter  is  a  matter 
of  taste,  and  depends  also  on  whether  the  goods 
are  to  be  exported  or  sold  for  immediate  home 
consumption.  No  fixed  rules  are  therefore  fol- 
lowed on  this  point,  though,  the  fancy  of  the 
consumer  or  demand  of  the  trade  once  ascertained, 
the  maker  aims  at  uniformity  in  that  respect. 
The  Liverpool  and  Onondaga  salts  are  mostly 
used  in  the  butter-factories. 

In  packing  butter  for  the  market,  "  pails " 
or  "  pots "  are  used.  With  the  "  firkin "  and 
"half  firkin''  of  the  export  trade  we  are  all 
familiar ;  but  there  are  vessels  in  which  the 
produce  is  sent  to  the  private  consumer  and  the 
home  market  generally,  constructed  on  a  better 
plan,  with  a  more  finished  appearance,  and  having 
some   neat  arrangement    for    fastening    up    safely 


and  j)reserving  the  contents  from  injury.  Such 
a  one  is  the  "Westcott"  return-pail  (Fig.  'M)0), 
made  from  white  oak,  and  provided  on  the  cover 


Fig.  30U.  -  "  \Vi>.iL.in"  );etl-en 

BUTIEK-PAIL. 


Fig.  301.— Founder. 


with  a  simple  hinge  and  staple,  fastened  by  a 
wire  or  lock.  In  pressing  the  butter  into  these 
packages,  a  wooden  pounder  (Fig.  301)  is  used, 
and  great  care  is  exercised  to  fill  every  part  and 
exclude  all  air. 

For  "  roll  "  or  "  p:it '"  butter,  the  best  package 
is  the  "Philadelphia"  pail  (Fig.  3U2).  The  ends 
are  partitioned  ofE  and  filled  with  broken  ice, 
and  the  butter  arranged  on  plates,  as  in  our 
illustration,  thus  insuring 
its  coming  to  market  in  a 
good  condition. 

The  variation  in  the 
proportion  of  butter  to 
milk  is  great,  the  amount 
of  the  latter  required  to 
produce  a  pound  of  the 
former  ranging  from  7  to 
17  quarts.  This  may  be 
accounted  for  partly  l)y  the  management,  but 
mainly  by  the  difference  in  the  quality  of  the 
milk  in  various  instances.  The  purchase  of  milk 
for  butter-making  at  a  price  regulated  by  the  per- 
centage of  cream  it  gives  is  therefore  reasonable. 

In  Wisconsin  a  creamery  has  lately  been  started 
in  which  it  is  proposed  to  manufacture  into 
butter  the  cream  from  the  milk  of  4,000  cows,  the 
patrons  setting  their  milk  at  home,  and  the  agent 
visiting  them  daily  to  convey  the  cream  to  the 
factory.  By  this  system  the  farmer  will  be  saved 
the  trouble  of  delivering  the  milk ;  and  as  the 
cream-raising  and  skim  cheese-making  will  be 
removed  from  the  creamery,  the  making  and 
maiketing  of  the  butter  can  be  dune  with  fewer 


Fig.  302. — Philadelphia 
Pail. 


4S6 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


1  aids,  and  thus  i^-reat  economy  of  lalmur  will  1x' 
one  result  of  its  adoption.  By  it  also  the  ob- 
jectionable custom  of  paying  for  poor  milk  at  the 
same  rate  as  for  that  which  is  rich  in  cream  will  be 
done  away  with,  and  it  will  be  to  the  farmer's 
interest  to  raise  as  good  milk  as  possible.  This 
new  development  of  the  principle  of  association 
gives  promise  of  rapid  growth,  and  of  solid  benefit 
to  the  dairy  interest. 

We  have  already  stated  that  the  skimmed  milk 
of  the  creameries  is  made  into  cheese.  The  manipu- 
lation is  the  same  as  in  the  manufacture  of  whole- 
milk  goods,  but  more  rennet  and  heat  are  used  in 
coagulation,  and  a  greater  amount  of  acid  developed 
in  the  curd  before  pressing.  Creamery  cheese  is  to 
a  large  extent  exported,  being  suited  to  the  trade 
of  warm  countries. 


Some  years  ago  an  attempt  was  made  at 
improving  skim  cheese  by  adding  to  the  milk 
an  animal  fat  known  as  "oleomargarine/'  which, 
it  was  believed,  would  in  coagulation  become 
incorporated  with  the  curd,  and  so  take  the  place 
of  the  butter  removed.  A  patent  was  taken  out 
on  the  process  by  Mr.  H.  O.  Freeman,  who  built  a 
large  factory  at  Ridge  ^lills,  near  Home,  N.Y., 
where  it  is  carried  out  on  a  large  scale.  As  in 
another  part  of  this  work  the  subject  is  treated 
more  at  length,  we  will  not  enter  into  a  description 
of  the  process,  but  simply  remark  that,  after  having 
seen  it  at  the  Ilidge  Mills  establishment,  we  do 
not  consider  it  a  success,  and  believe  that  a  more 
palatable  and  saleable  class  of  goods  may  be  made 
from  the. .pure  skim-milk  than  from  any  to  which 
foreign  fats  have  been  added.  J.  O. 


CHAPTER    XXXIII. 

Recent   Modification.-;   in   American    Cheese-making. 


JIa'.'.ins  Cheese  without  Acid— Professor  Arnold's  Improved  Jlethod— New  Method  of  Making  Skim-mllk  Cheese— Estimates  for 

an  American  Factory. 


D>  CIDITY  has  been  of  very  great 
service  to  American  cheese- 
making.  In  a  hot  climate  like 
that  of  the  States  tainted  milk 
is  a  common  occm-rencej  and 
particularly  so  in  the  case  of 
cheese-factories  where  the  milk  is  carried 
a  mile  or  two  in  closely-lidded  cans,  and 
projier  care  is  not  taken  to  cool  and 
aerate  it  soon  after  it  is  milked.  Acid  has 
bridged  over  many  a  difficulty,  seen  and  unseen, 
but  American  authorities  on  cheese-making  think 
the  time  has  come  when  it  must  be  employed  in 
a  different  manner ;  and  they  pay  a  high  com- 
pliment to  English  Cheddar  cheese-makers  by 
going  back  more  closely  to  the  original  Cheddar 
system.  In  the  following  article,  Professor  L.  B. 
Arnold  sets  forth  very  clearly  the  new  line  which 
American  dairymen  are  about  to  adopt  :^ 

"  Making  Cheese  without  Acid. 

"  In  the  days  of  dairy  cheese-making,  before 
factories  came  into  use,  it  was  the  almost  invariable 
practice  as  soon  as  the  curd,  after  being  cut  and 
'  scalded,'  had  become  tolerably  firm — -so  it  would 
squcMik  between  the  teeth  and  feel  hard  when 
squeezed  in  the  hand — -to  draw  the  whey,  cool  the 
curd  at  once,  and  salt  and  put  it  to  press.  This 
was  emphatically  a  sweet-eurd  process,  no  acid 
being  used  or  developed  in  any  stage  of  the 
manufacture.  But  this  is  far  from  being  the 
'no-acid  process'  I  have  recently  advised.  This 
was  a  faulty  mode  of  making,  and  is  not  to  be 
recommended.  It  left  too  much  whey  in  the 
cheese.  They  would  often  huff,  lean  aside,  be 
porous  and  spongy,  and  assume  all  sorts  of  flavours, 
according  to  the  extent  of   whey  retained  in   the 


curd,  so  that  it  was  difficult  for  two  workmen,  or 
even  the  same  one,  to  make  cheese  alike.  Though 
there  was  usually  a  decided  cheesy  flavour  de- 
veloped in  this  process,  the  want  both  of  high 
qualities  and  uniformity  made  it  a  bad  article  for 
commercial  transactions.  The  cheese  being  dif- 
ferent on  each  farm,  the  purchaser  never  knew 
what  he  was  getting  without  a  personal  inspection 
of  every  man's  dairy  or  every  man's  load  of  cheese 
as  it  came  to  market,  and  much  of  it  being  short- 
lived, as  well  as  otherwise  faulty,  the  traffic  in 
cheese  in  those  days  was  a  precarious  business. 
These  circumstances,  which,  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent, still  lie  against  dairy  cheese,  materially 
lessened  its  market  vahie. 

"  When  the  factory  system  was  introduced,  this 
sweet-curd  process,  with  but  few  exceptions,  was 
in  full  vogue,  and  was  carried  into  the  factories, 
where  it  worked  even  worse  than  in  the  dairies. 
When  made  up  on  the  farm  there  was  no  tam- 
pering with  the  milk  to  its  injury.  It  had  all 
the  freshness  and  qualities  it  possessed,  whatever 
they  might  be,  which  it  had  when  it  came  from 
the  cows.  But  in  the  factories  it  was  different. 
Being  carried  from  one  to  two,  three,  or  four  miles 
from  the  farm  to  the  factory,  while  warm  and  closely 
covered,  the  animal  odour,  or  peculiar  odour  of  new 
milk,  became  developed  into  taint,  especially  when, 
from  bad  water,  heat,  or  other  cause,  there  ^A•as  any- 
thing like  feverishness  about  the  cows.  Animal 
odour,  tainted  milk,  and  floating  curds  became  the 
pest  of  the  factory  system,  and  caused  many  a  ton 
of  spoiled  cheese  to  be  taken  from  the  factory  slyly, 
and  buried  or  thrown  into  the  dock  after  it  got  to 
the  market.  The  increased  development  of  odour 
and  taint  from  the  lack  of  cooling  and  proper 
ventilation  while  in  transit  t  i  the  factory,  and  also 


488 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


from  keeping'  milk  in  ]ar<je  masses  over-night 
without  suffificnt  coulinn;,  ga.\c  so  much  trouble  to 
cheese-makers  who  worked  after  tiie  swect-eurd 
proeess,  that  the  whole  factory  system  was  at  one 
time  threatened  with  annihilati  )n. 

"  By  degrees  factory-men  found  an  improvement 
by  (as  they  called  it)  cooking  or  scalding  their 
curds  more,  which  simply  meant  keeping  them  in 
the  warm  whey  longer,  to  effect  a  greater  separation 
of  whey.  This  made  the  curd  and  cheese  harder 
and  drier.  It  took  more  milk  to  make  a  pound  of 
cheese,  but  the  cheese  was  better.  At  length  the 
curd  was  continued  in  the  whey  till  the  latter  was 
distinctly  sour.  The  souring  made  the  separation 
of  whey  as  complete  as  desired.  It  retarded  curing, 
and  for  a  time  at  least  held  the  taint  in  check,  and 
became  an  antidote  for  floating  curds.  This  was 
a  great  point  gained  for  the  factory-man.  He  was 
now  able  to  manage  milk  in  almost  any  condition 
successfully.  If  it  was  much  '  off '  he  soured  more ; 
if  in  better  condition  he  soured  less.  Thus  with  a 
little  experience  he  was  able,  by  nice  discriminations 
in  the  degree  of  acidity  in  his  whey,  to  control  the 
curds  to  his  liking.  This  acid  process,  then  new 
to  the  great  majority  of  cheese-makers,  wij)ed  out 
all  tendency  to  huffing  and  porosity.  The  cheeses 
made  by  it  had  the  merit  of  being  firm  and  com- 
pact in  texture.  They  would  stand  up  stiffly  in 
hot  weather  till  they  could  be  got  to  market,  and 
they  had  the  further  merit  of  greater  uniformity 
than  manufacturers  had  been  able  to  give  them 
before. 

"  The  ability  to  secure  these  qualities  has  given 
satisfaction  to  manufacturers  and  dealers,  and  in 
the  markets  of  the  past  has  secured  prices  fairly 
remunerative  to  producers.  Probably  nineteen- 
twentieths  of  the  cheese-makers  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada  are  now  following  out  the 
priictice  of  developing  a  decided  acid  in  the  whey, 
and  keeping  the  curds  in  it  till  they  are  matured 
for  the  press,  and,  feeling  satisfied  with  their  work, 
regard  the  acidity  developed  as  the  sheet-anchor 
of  their  art.  The  acid  process,  as  described,  was 
unquestionably  a  step  in  advance  of  our  early 
factory  make.  Indeed,  almost  anything  was  better 
than  a  cheese  full  of  tainted  whey,  whose  tenure 
of  life  was  so  uncertain  that  it  was  not  always 
sure  of  reaching  the  market  it  was  made  for.  The 
certainty  of  reaching  fair  and  approximately  uni- 
form results,  whether  the  milk  was  all  right  or 
not,  was  an  item  of  importance.     While  I  concede 


and  appreciate  fully  all  the  excellences  of  the  acid 
process,  I  do  not  regard  it  as  the  end  of  perfection. 

"  It  fails  to  meet  many  of  the  requirements  of 
a  perfect  cheese.  The  acid  cheese  is  generally  too 
short-lived,  or,  if  made  for  keeping,  it  is  too  dry 
and  hard,  and  insipid.  It  develops  too  little  of  ^ 
distinct  cheesy  flavour,  and  too  much  of  a  sour 
one  instead.  It  is  not  salvy  and  rich  enough.  It 
dries  up  too  readily  when  cut.  Its  cheesy  matter 
is  too  insoluble,  and  it  is  so  difficult  of  digestion 
as  to  favour  dyspepsia  and  constii)ation,  and  much 
of  it  is  positively  unhealthy  for  invalids  and  dys- 
peptics, who  constitute  a  very  large  jier  cent,  of 
our  population. 

"  The  great  bulk  of  our  factory  cheese,  though 
made  on  the  acid  plan,  is  not,  even  with  all  the 
cream  worked  in,  sufficiently  appetising  and  health- 
ful to  promote  a  liljeral  use  of  it  by  our  people. 
The  amount  of  cheesy  flavour,  the  rich  and  buttery 
texture  of  fine  old  cheese,  the  rapid  melting  on  the 
tongue  like  a  ripe  pear,  and  the  solubility  of  the 
caseous  matter,  all  depend  on  the  comjjleteness  of 
the  cheesy  fermentation  induced  by  the  agency 
of  rennet.  As  I  demonstrated  last  summer  by 
thorough  tests,  the  acid  in  sour  whey  permanently 
injures  the  action  of  rennet,  so  that  the  cheesing, 
or  curing,  as  it  is  called,  all  other  conditions  being 
the  same,  never  goes  on  so  well  when  the  curd  is 
affected  by  its  presence  as  when  it  is  not.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  the  more  acid  we  use  the  less 
cheesy  taste  we  get,  the  less  buttery  texture,  the 
less  of  the  cheese  is  soluble,  and  the  less  of  it 
digestible. 

"  T/ie  CJicihlar  process,  in  a  somewhat  modified 
form  of  the  English  mode,  has  been  adopted  to 
some  extent  in  this  countiy,  and  has  worked  well. 
It  mends  many  of  the  defects  of  the  acid  process. 
The  factories  atlopting  it  proceed  about  as  follows  : 
The  milk  is  set  for  curding  at  80'^'  to  81",  the  curd 
is  cut,  worked,  and  '  scalded '  to  blood-heat  or 
thereabouts,  the  same  as  in  the  acid  process.  The  . 
distinctive  feature  of  this  system  consists  in  draw- 
ing the  whey  at  some  period  before  the  curd  is  ripe 
enough  for  pressing.  The  time  for  doing  this  is 
different  in  different  factories.  Oftener  than  other- 
wise it  is  drawn  as  it  approximates  souring.  The 
vat  being  tipped  to  secure  ready  drainage,  the  curd 
is  heaped  upon  its  upper  end,  where  it  is  allowed  to 
pack  and  keep  warm  till  the  requisite  amount  of 
whey  is  expelled,  and  the  curd  is  rijie  enough  for 
the  press,   which   is   generally  determined  by  the 


DISADVANTAGES    OF    ACID. 


489 


liol-iron  test.  At  this  stage  it  is  ground  fine 
enouo-h  to  take  salt  evenly,  and  is  cooled  and 
pressed. 

"  While  cheese  made  by  this  process  is  as  firm 
and  close  in  texture  as  that  made  by  the  acid  pro- 
cess, it  is  better  in  most  respects.  First,  it  will 
have  a  more  nutty  flavour.  The  acid  in  the  whey 
'  cuts '  the  flavouring  oils  in  the  curds  lying  in  it, 
and  carries  them  off,  leaving  the  cheese  insipid  and 
wanting  in  the  delicate  aroma  which  cheese  fan- 
ciers highly  esteem.  The  more  acid,  the  less  nutty 
flavour.  Second,  it  will  have  more  cheesy  flavour, 
be  richer  and  more  buttery,  melt  sooner  on  the 
tongue,  and  be  very  much  easier  of  digestion.  All 
this  because  the  action  of  rennet  is  not  interfered 
with  by  acid  whey.  By  ripening  the  curd  a  part 
of  the  time  out  of  the  wdiey,  as  good  a  cheese  can 
be  made  of  the  same  milk,  after  skimming  the 
night's  milk,  as  can  be  made  with  the  cream  all 
in,  when  the  curd  is  wholly  matured  in  the  whey, 
and  the  acid  well  developed.  Third,  it  will  keej) 
better. 

"  Lactic  acid  is  a  strong  antisejitie.  But  it  is 
an  animal  acid,  and  unstable,  soon  changing  into 
other  forms.  "While  it  endures,  it  is  a  powerful 
antidote  for  taints  in  cheese-making,  but  it  kills 
none'  of  them,  it  only  siispends  their  activity. 
Its  amount  in  cheese  is  limited  by  the  sugar  in  the 
whey  retained.  Whenever  it  assumes  a  new  form, 
as  it  soon  will,  it  loses  its  preservative  power,  and 
the  taints,  if  any  are  present,  resume  their  sway  at 
once,  and  carry  the  cheese  to  swift  destruction. 
This  is  the  fate  of  cheese  by  our  acid  process,  when, 
to  guard  against  the  effects  of  faulty  milk,  a 
strong  acid  is  developed.  The  cheese  stands  up 
well  while  it  lasts,  but  goes  down  at  one  leap  when 
the  acid  has  spent  its  force.  Cheese  made  by  the 
Cheddar  process,  if  we  may  so  call  it,  meets  with 
no  such  sudden  failure.  It  ripens  and  decays 
gradually,  and  for  a  long  time  grows  better  wdth 
age. 

"  Dr.  Voelcker  asserted  several  years  ago  that 
whey  reacted  upon  the  curd  which  lay  soaking  in 
it.  Warm  whey,  like  warm  milk,  is  a  most  fertile 
field  for  the  develo^^ment  of  ferments,  which 
always  mean  change.  Whey,  we  know,  is  all  the 
time  changing,  from  the  moment  it  separates  from 
the  curd  till  it  is  disposed  of,  and  the  curd  lying 
in  it  feels  instantly  all  the  effects  of  its  ever- 
changing  condition.  In  the  last  stage  of  the  acid 
process,   the  whey  makes  its  most  damaging  im- 


pression when  it  has  become  sour  and  stale,  but  its 
influence  is  deleterious  all  the  way  along.  Obser- 
vant cheese-makers  will  recognise  these  facts.  The 
change  which  I  have  recently  urged  in  our  process 
of  cheese-making  is  simply  to  draw  the  whey 
earlier  than  is  generally  done  in  the  Cheddar  process 
— to  draw  it  at  the  earliest  moment  practicable.  By 
letting  the  wliey  run  off  as  fast  as  expelled,  the 
cause,  or  a  part  of  it,  is  removed  w'ith  the  whey, 
and  the  fault  is  reduced  instead  of  aggravated. 
This  process  is,  therefore,  not  only  adapted  to  milk 
in  its  normal  condition,  but  also  to  that  which 
is  in  any  way  demoralised.  In  extreme  cases  it 
admits  of  rinsing  the  curd  in  warm  water,  to  re- 
move more  completely  any  remaining  traces  of 
taint  or  acid.  It  is  important,  in  any  process, 
that  the  temperature  of  the  curd,  whether  in  the 
whey  or  out,  should  be  kept  up  scpxarely  till  it  is 
done.  To  fail  in  this  is  to  do  damage  to  the 
resulting  cheese.  ^Manufacturers  who  attempt  to 
experiment  in  this  early  drawing  of  the  whey 
should  provide  themselves  beforehand  with  the 
means  of  keeping  their  curds  at  blood-heat  till 
they  are  done,  whether  in  the  whey  or  not.  The 
whey  will  then  separate,  and  the  curd  ripen  just  as 
perfectly  and  as  rapidly  out  of  the  whey  as  when 
in  it.  If  this  precaution  is  observed  it  will  be  safe 
to  draw  the  whey  as  soon  after  heating  up  as  the 
largest  lumps  of  curd  have  become  thoroughly 
warmed  through,  and  for  the  rest  to  follow  the 
Cheddar  method. 

"  It  will  facilitate  the  process  and  save  curd, 
and  require  less  labour  and  skill  in  manufacturing, 
to  heat  the  milk  to  98°,  and  apply  the  rennet  at 
that  temperature  instead  of  heating  up  after  it  is 
coagulated.  ]\Iilk  may  be  heated  much  more 
evenly  and  rapidly  than  the  eurd  can  be.  Several 
experiments  in  this  direction  have  worked  finely. 
When  setting  milk  so  warm,  the  smaller  quantity 
of  rennet  which  must  be  used  to  prevent  coagu- 
lation before  the  milk  comes  to  rest  may  not  push 
the  curding  so  fast  as  some  may  desire ;  otherwise 
there  seems  to  be  nothing  in  the  wa)'  of  heating 
the  milk  instead  of  the  curd,  and  thus  simplifying 
and  facilitating  the  work.  The  process  I  have 
endeavoured  to  describe  has  been  called  a  'no-acid 
process,'  and  it  is  essentially  such,  as  it  objects 
to  the  use  of  acid,  either  in  rennet,  in  milk,  or  in 
whey  in  which  curd  is  held.  The  questions  in 
respect  to  whey  escaping  from  warm  curd  while 
packed  in  the  vat,  whether  acid  or  otherwise,  and 


490 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


the  indications  of  the  hot-iron  test  in  ren^ard  to 
acidity  and  cheesing,  have  not  yet  been  sufficiently 
investigated  to  be  considered  in  this  connection. 
They  must  be  left  for  future  study." 

The  sj'stcm  here  advocated  by  Professor  Arnold 
is  not  strictly  a  no-acid  process,  because  keeping 
the  curd  at  blood-heat,  after  the  whey  is  removed, 
will  cause  acid  to  develop.  It  is,  however,  a  very 
different  thing  from  allowing  the  acid  to  develop 
before  the  whey  is  removed.  It  should  be  called  the 
no-acid -in-the-whcy  process,  which  would  be  a  cor- 
rect definition,  though  not  perhaps  a  comj)lete  one. 
It  really  consists  in  drawing  off  the  whey  while  it  is 
perfectly  fresh  and  free  from  acid,  and,  by  keeping 
the  curd  covered  and  at  a  temperature  of  98'^,  to 
develop  acid  in  the  curd;  and  in  order  to  this  the 
curd  has  to  lie  a  longer  time  before  grinding  and 
salting  takes  place.  It  is  a  fact  well  kno^^-n  to 
those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  Cheddar  system 
of  cheeseTmaking,  whether  in  factories  or  in  farm- 
houses, that  excessive  acidity  produces  a  cheese 
which,  when  cut  for  eating,  is  to  all  taste  and 
appearance  poor  in  fat;  it  will  be  dry,  hard,  and 
granular,  not  moist,  soft,  and  mellow  in  texture. 
This  is  not  wholly  because  such  acidity  destroys 
or  carries  off  a  portion  of  the  butter — though  it 
certainly  does  cany  off  or  destroy  the  light  oils 
which  give  a  flavour  to  cheese  and  butter — but 
because  it  cheeks  the  ripening  of  the  cheese  by 
weakening  the  action  of  the  rennet ;  and  an  unripe 
or  imperfectly-ripened  cheese  never  appears  to  be 
so  rich  as  a  properly-ripened  cheese  in  fats. 

At  the  same  time  this  acidity  checks  the  fur- 
ther development  of  taints  that  have  already  taken 
possession  of  the  milk ;  and  were  it  not  for  the 
acid,  such  milk  would  produce  a  cheese  in  which 
the  incipient  taint  would  go  on  developing  during 
the  time  the  cheese  was  ripening,  becoming  very 
offensive  at  the  last;  hence  the  employment  of 
acid  in  making  cheese  from  milk  that  is  more  or 
less  tainted,  though  it  may  do  some  harm  in  the 
way  of  dissipating  the  flavouring  oils  and  in  re- 
tarding the  ripening  of  the  cheese,  does  good  in 
the  way  of  checking  taints,  in  expressing  the  whey, 
and  in  causing  the  cheese  to  be  more  comjjact  than 
it  would  be  without  it. 

The  following  description  of  Professor  Arnold's 
system  of  cheese-making,  written  by  IMr.  T.  D. 
Curtis,  Secretary  of  the  American  Dairymen's 
Association,  is  both  interesting  and  important : — 

"Heat. — The  milk  is  received  in  the  ordinary 


vat  in  the  ordinary  way,  and  then  gradually  heated 
to  the  temperature  of  1)0°  before  the  rennet  is 
added.  The  customary  way  is  to  set  the  milk  at 
Si"  to  8G".  The  new  method  prefers  the  higher 
heat  because  the  liquid  is  more  readily  and  more 
evenly  heated  than  a  solid  is.  The  temperature 
of  QS'',  or  blood-heat,  would  be  preferred  for  the 
same  reason,  but  experiment  shows  that  the  rennet 
does  not  produce  as  good  results  at  98'^  as  at  90°, 
but  they  are  better  when  the  setting  is  done  at 
90°  than  when  it  is  done  at  a  lower  temperature. 
After  the  curd  is  cut  it  is  allowed  to  stand  until 
suflieiently  hardened  to  permit  of  stirring  without 
waste;  then  the  temperature  is  steadily  raised  at 
the  rate  of  a  degree  in  two  minutes,  to  98°.  Here 
it  is  kept,  as  nearly  as  circumstances  and  facilities 
for  keeping  up  the  temperature  will  permit,  until 
the  end  is  reached.  But  a  slight  fall  of  tempera- 
ture, or  even  its  gradual  descent  to  80°,  does  no 
damage  to  the  curd,  if  it  does  not  sour ;  it  simply 
retards  the  action  of  the  rennet,  and  delays  the 
time  of  going  to  press.  Unless  the  milk  is  sour 
or  too  far  gone  with  age  the  curd  is  not  allowed  to 
remain  in  the  whey  long  enough  to  sour.  Where 
acid  comes  on  before  the  whey  is  separated,  special 
treatment  is  required. 

"Setting  the  Milk. — This,  as  before  said,  is  done 
at  90°.  Prepared  rennet,  of  uniform  strength,  is 
preferred.  It  is  better  to  mix  the  concentrated 
liquid — one  pint  of  which  is  sufficient  for  3,500  or 
4,000  lbs.  of  milk — in  about  "one  gallon  of  water 
at  or  a  little  above  the  temperature  of  the  milk,  for 
every  pint  of  rennet  used.  This  secures  an  evcner 
action  of  the  rennet  throughout  the  mass  of  milk 
than  could  be  secured  if  it  is  added  to  the  milk  in 
the  concentrated  form,  no  matter  how  much  it  is 
stiiTed.  It  is  readily  distributed  evenly  through 
the  water  without  affecting  in  any  way  the  virtue 
of  the  rennet ;  but  when  in  the  concentrated  form 
it  strikes  the  milk,  some  of  its  virtue  is  expended 
upon  the  milk  first  touched,  and  this  coagulates  a 
little  in  advance  of  the  mass,  making  denser  points 
all  through  it,  as  can  be  seen  by  putting  the  hand 
in  the  curd  and  permitting  it  to  run  off  gradually 
as  the  hand  is  raised.  These  points  get  too  much 
rennet-notion  at  the  expense  of  the  rest  of  the 
mass.  Hence  the  advantage  of  diluting  the  concen- 
trated liquid  rennet  in  water.  The  stirring  to  incor- 
porate the  rennet  should  be  continued — agitating 
the  whole  mass,  and  not  merely  rulfiing  the  sur- 
face, as  some  do — until  the  milk  will  barely  have 


PROFESSOR    ARNOLD'S    PROCESS. 


491 


time  to  come  to  rest  before  coa<;-ulation  begins. 
Tlie  strength  of  the  rennet  being  known  by  ac-tual 
experience,  a  good  judge  of  the  condition  of  the 
milk  can  easily  approximate  the  time  at  which 
coagulation  will  begin.  He  will,  of  course,  avail 
himself  of  anj-  doubt,  and  stop  stin-ing  soon  enough 
not  to  spoil  the  curd.  If  he  uses  enough  rennet  to 
cause  coagulation  to  begin  in  fifteen  minutes,  he 
is  safe  in  agitating  the  mass  of  milk  for  twelve 
minutes. 

"  Cutting  the  Card. — Under  the  old  method 
there  is  no  definite  rule  for  cutting  the  curd. 
It  is  an  advantage  of  the  new  method  that  it 
furnishes  a  definite  rule,  in  no  way  depending 
on  contingency  or  guesswork.  The  operator 
may  be  deceived  in  the  strength  of  the  rennet, 
if  it  is  a  batch  he  has  not  carefully  tested,  and 
get  coagulation  sooner  or  later  than  he  desires. 
He  proportions  his  rennet  to  the  time  he  wants 
the  cheese  to  cure  and  keep.  If  he  wants  it  to 
keep  a  long  time,  he  uses  a  proportionately  less 
amount  of  rennet,  which  will  require  more  time 
in  which  to  perfect  the  cheesing  jirocess.  If 
he  wants  a  quick-curing,  short-keeping  cheese 
for  immediate  consumption,  he  adds  a  larger 
amount  of  rennet.  The  day  we  spent  with 
Professor  Arnold  he  wanted  to  make  a  rather 
quick-euring  cheese,  and  put  in  rennet  enough 
to  cause  the  beginning  of  coagulation  in  a  little 
over  eleven  minutes.  Had  he  wanted  a  fairly 
slow-curing  and  long-keeping  cheese,  he  would 
have  had  the  point  of  coagulation  at  twenty 
minutes  or  longer.  And  here,  after  these  ex- 
planations about  proportioning  the  amount  of 
rennet  to  the  character  of  cheese  desired,  comes 
in  the  rule  for  cutting.  No  matter  how  soon 
or  late  the  coagulation  begins,  the  time  interven- 
ing between  that  and  the  setting  is  multiplied 
by  1\,  and  this  gives  the  time  after  setting  when 
the  cutting  should  be  done.  For  illustration : 
The  day  we  were  with  Professor  Arnold  coagula- 
tion began  in  a  little  over  11  minutes;  he 
cut  the  curd  28  minutes  after  setting.  Thus 
2|  times  11  are  27i,  and  making  allowance  for 
the  time  over  11  minutes  when  coagulation  began 
made  28  minutes  from  the  time  of  setting  the 
milk.  If  coagulation  had  begun  in  20  minutes, 
the  cutting  would  have  been  done  at  the  end 
of  .50  minutes.  This  makes  a  rule  that  every 
one  can  comprehend,  but  it  requires  a  timepiece 
and  strict  attention  to  business.  It  is  valuable, 
65 


however,  as  everything  definite  about  so  empirical 
an  art  as  cheese-making  helps  to  reduce  it  to 
a  science,  and  enables  us  to  secure  uniform 
and  reliable  results.  The  cutting,  when  begun, 
should  be  continued  with  tolerable  expedition 
until  finished,  and  the  cutting  should  be  what 
is  called  '  fine '  —  quite  fine.  The  object  in  cut- 
ting is  to  facilitate  the  escape  of  the  whey  from 
the  curd,  and  hence  the  finer  it  can  be  cut  without 
waste,  the  more  the  escape  of  the  whey  is  facili- 
tated. The  day  of  what  was  called  '  coarse  curds ' 
long  since  passed,  except  among  a  few  fossils  who 
never  change,  and  all  intelligent  dairymen  now 
concur  in  the  practice  of  fine  cutting. 

"  Stirring  the  Card. — With  the  process  of 
raising  the  heat  begins  the  stirring,  not  only  to 
prevent  the  packing  of  the  curd  on  the  bottom  and 
aroimd  the  sides  of  the  vat,  where  the  heat  is 
greatest,  but  to  secure  an  even  distribution  of  the 
heat  throughout  the  mass  of  curd.  Some>  but  not 
so  many  as  formerly,  think  it  necessary  to  begin 
the  stirring  and  breaking  of  the  curd  with  the 
hands.  Once  there  was  no  cutting  of  curds,  and 
all  breaking  was  done  with  the  hands.  Even  since 
the  days  of  associated  dair^-ing  and  dairymen's 
conventions,  some  leading  dairymen  have  inveighed 
against  the  use  of  the  curd-knife  as  dangerous  and 
wasteful.  The  same  class  maintain  the  use  of  the 
hands  in  the  first  stages  of  stirring  the  curd,  and 
oppose  and  denounce  the  use  of  the  rake  as  likely 
to  '  make  white  whey.'  But  they  are  honestly 
mistaken,  and  stand  in  their  own  light.  The  rake 
at  all  stages  when  it  is  safe  to  stir  the  curd  will 
do  it  more  easily,  more  expeditiously,  and  more 
cleanly  than  the  hands.  It  is  disgusting  to  see 
perspiring  men  and  women  working  in  the  whey 
up  to  their  shoulders,  and  jsainful  to  see  them 
nearly  breaking  their  backs  reacliing  across  the 
edge  of  the  vat.  They  may  be,  and  are  quite 
likely  to  be,  more  destructive  and  wasteful  than 
the  rake.  Professor  Ai-nold  uses  the  rake  from  the 
be""inning  until  the  whey  is  drawTi  off.  All  the 
stirring  done  in  the  whey  is  done  with  the  rake, 
and  a  smooth  hand  hay-rake,  with  about  one-half 
the  handle  cut  off,  is  as  good  as  any.  The  stin-ing, 
after  the  heat  is  up  to  90*^,  does  not  need  to  go 
bej'ond  just  sufficient  to  keep  the  curd  from  pack- 
ing and  gathering  in  large  lumps,  which  will  not 
readilv  take  the  salt  when  salting-time  comes. 

"Drawing  the  Whey. — Formerly  a  portion  of 
the  whey  was  drawn  off  as  soon  the  curd  acquired 


492 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


6ufficient  hardness  to  not  run  through  the  strainer. 
Enough  was  left  to  float  the  curd  easily,  and  this 
was  kept  on  until  sufficient  acid  was  developed  to 
make  the  curd  fit  to  dip.  Then  there  were  great 
hurry  and  commotion  to  get  the  balance  of  the 
whey  oflF  and  the  curd  dipped  and  salted  before  it 
got  too  sour.  But  sometimes  the  acid  developed 
so  rapidly  that  it  would  get  the  start  of  all  hands, 
and  the  curd  would  be  more  or  less  injured  by  too 
much  acid.  Gradually  it  became  the  practice 
among  cheese-makers  to  draw  off  all  the  whey  as 
soon  as  there  was  any  indication  of  souring,  and 
cheddar  the  curd — that  is,  haul  it  away  from  one 
end  of  the  vat,  elevate  the  other  end,  and  then 
part  the  curd  in  the  middle,  lengthwise,  piling  it 
up  along  the  sides  of  the  vat,  so  that  the  whey  ran 
off  and  settled  in  the  lower  end  as  fast  as  it  exuded 
from  the  curd.  This  is  now  the  prevailing  method, 
the  hot  iron  being  depended  upon  to  indicate  the 
degree  of  cheesing  or  acidity,  whichever  it  may 
be  called,  by  the  number  and  length  of  the  threads 
of  toasted  curd  that  can  be  drawn  out  when  the 
hot  iron  is  applied  and  adheres  to  it.  "When  ready, 
the  curd  has  to  be  ground  in  a  curd-mill  before 
salting.  The  new  method  draws  off  the  whey 
early — as  soon  as  the  curd  is  hard  enough  to  pre- 
vent all  waste — and  keeps  the  curd  from  packing 
and  lumping  by  stirring  with  the  hands  until  it 
reaches  the  point  where  it  will  not  pack,  so  that  it 
cannot  be  readily  crumbled  apart  by  stirring  and 
using  the  hands ;  and  it  is  desired  to  avoid  all 
necessity  for  grinding,  while  the  hot  iron  is  con- 
sidered useless  as  an  indicator  of  condition.  But 
here  comes  in  a  contrivance  for  facilitating  the 
separation  of  the  whey  and  keeping  up  the  tem- 
perature, while  making  the  work  of  stirring  easier 
and  aiding  in  'oxygenising  '  the  curd. 

"  The  Rack.- — Something  like  the  old-fashioned 
sink-rack  is  placed  in  the  bottom  of  an  empty 
second  vat.  One  extra  vat,  in  place  of  the  usual 
sink,  would  answer  for  a  factory,  as  the  first  vat  is 
emptied  in  transferring  the  curd  to  the  second,  and 
the  vat  just  emptied  can  be  used  as  a  second  vat 
or  sink  for  the  next  one.  But  let  us  describe  one 
or  two  peculiarities  of  this  rack.  It  is  made  in 
two,  three,  or  four  sections,  as  may  be  chosen 
for  convenience  of  handling.  The  slats,  1  inch 
or  \h  inches  wide,  run  crosswise  of  the  vat,  and 
are  placed  so  as  to  nearly  touch  each  other.  Of 
course  they  are  as  long  as  the  vat  is  wide.  These 
are  nailed  to  side  pieces,  running  lengthwise  of  the 


vat,  and  placed  4  to  6  inches  from  the  sides. 
These  side  pieces  are  i  inch  or  J  inch  thick 
when  planed,  are  10  inches  w4de,  and  stand  up 
edgewise,  thus  causing  a  space  of  10  inches  be- 
tween the  lower  side  of  the  slats  and  the  bottom 
of  the  vat.  These  side  pieces  are  supported  by  one 
or  two  braces  on  each  section  of  the  rack  near 
the  bottom,  but  not  so  as  to  obstruct  the  passage 
of  whey  under  them.  The  side  pieces  are  10 
inches  wide,  not  only  for  the  purpose  of  leaving 
considerable  space  below  the  cuitl,  as  it  lies  on  the 
rack,  but  so  as  to  raise  the  rack  high  enough  to 
make  it  convenient  to  stir  the  curd  on  it  with  the 
hands.  If  permitted  to  lie  too  near  the  bottom, 
the  reaching  would  be  tiresome,  and  even  painful. 
On  this  rack  is  spread  an  ordinary  cloth  strainer, 
and  then  the  curd,  with  as  much  whey  in  it  as 
is  left  when  the  syphon  stops  drawing,  is  dipped 
and  emptied  in  this  cloth  and  rack.  Of  course 
the  whey  drains  through  and  occupies  the  10-inch 
space  beneath.  This  whey  is  not  only  thus  easily 
got  rid  of,  with  the  whey  remaining  in  the  curd 
as  fast  as  it  exudes,  but  aids  in  keeping  up  the 
temperature  and  in  keeping  it  even  and  not  too 
dry.  This  warmth  is  not  so  essential  to  making  a 
good  curd  as  it  is  in  hastening  rennet  action  and 
expediting  work.  If  in  cold  weather  it  is  likely 
to  get  too  low,  steam  is  turned  on,  and  the  tem- 
perature of  the  whey  is  raised,  which  warms  the 
curd  by  radiation.  In  ordinary  summer  weather 
no  additional  heat  will  be  needed. 

"  Oxidation. — Here  we  have  to  consider  one  of 
the  principal  points  of  the  new  method.  It  has 
for  some  time  been  known  that  to  let  a  curd  stand 
in  the  open  air,  with  occasional  stin-ing  after  salt- 
ing, appears  to  improve  the  texture  and  flavour 
of  the  cheese,  and  many  of  our  best  cheese-makers 
practise  airing  the  curds  as  much  as  possible  in  this 
way.  But  none  of  them,  so  far  as  we  know,  have 
tried  the  experiment  of  airing  curds  before  salting. 
Under  the  new  method,  the  early  drawing  of  the 
whey  and  spreading  it  on  the  rack  we  have  de- 
scribed is  for  the  purpose  of  airing  or  oxidising  tho 
volatile  oils  in  the  curd.  These  form  gases  by  oxi- 
dation while  curing,  and,  if  they  form  gases  faster 
than  they  can  escape  freely  through  the  rind  of  the 
cheese,  cause  porousness  and  huffing,  so  much  dis- 
liked by  all.  But  exposing  the  curd  to  the  air  by 
stirring  it  on  the  rack,  while  it  helps  to  get  rid  of  the 
whey,  also  oxidises  the  volatile  oils  and  gets  rid  of 
them,  while  such  as  are  not  volatile,  Init  remain  to 


PROFESSOR    ARNOLD'S     PROCESS. 


493 


give  flavour  and  richness  to  the  cheese,  are  pro- 
gressed in  the  process  of  curing  to  an  advan- 
tageous degree.  In  cheddaring,  this  oxidation 
is  greatly  facilitated,  and  hence  the  advantage 
of  tliis  method  over  that  of  keeping  the  curd 
in  the  whey,  where  little  or  no  oxygen  reaches 
it,  save  as  it  is  brought  to  the  surface  by 
stirring.  Aside  from  this,  there  is  a  positive 
disadvantage  in  leaving  the  curd  in  the  whey 
and  excluded  from  the  air.  This  exclusion  of 
the  air  facilitates  fermentation  or  the  develop- 
ment of  the  yeast  fungus.  There  is  not  only 
decomposition,  but  recomposition  by  the  action 
of  organic  forces.  It  is  when  this  action  begins 
that  it  is  so  difficult  to  get  rid  of  the  whey 
and  salt  the  curd  before  it  is  injured  by  acid. 
The  avoidance  of  this  fermentative  action  is 
what  gives  the  cheddaring  method  its  superiority. 
All  who  have  tried  cheddaring  know  that  it 
greatly,  if  not  entirely,  avoids  the  danger  of 
too  much  acid,  unless  it  be  by  misjudgnient. 
But  the  new  method  does  not  want  the  acid 
development  at  all  in  the  curd,  and  seeks  to 
avoid  it.  It  aims  at  simple  chemical  changes, 
by  breaking  up  old  combinations  and  forming 
new  ones.  Two  agents  only  are  recognised — 
rennet  and  oxygen — and  these  are  relied  upon 
to  produce  only  chemical  changes,  such  as  break- 
ing up  some  combinations  and  forming  others 
without  develojiing  organic  action.  The  rennet 
gradually  destroys  the  cohesive  power  of  the  atoms 
of  casein,  and  prepares  them  to  unite  more  closely 
with  the  new  compounds  formed  by  the  fats 
and  oxygen.  The  casein  has  no  positive  flavour 
of  its  own,  and  without  the  proper  chemical 
union  with  the  fats,  which  the  rennet  prepares 
the  casein  for  and  the  oxygen  prepares  the 
fats  for,  it  is  practically  indigestible  and  in- 
nutritious.  By  the  oxidation  of  the  fats,  car- 
bonic acid  gas,  as  well  as  other  gases,  is  thrown 
off;  and  the  union  of  the  oxygen  with  these 
fats  is  what  gives  the  distinctive  cheesy  flavour. 
When  this  flavour  is  attained,  it  is  desirable 
that  the  oxidation  should  go  no  further.  Beyond 
this,  decay  is  gradually  approached,  and  is  in- 
dicated by  the  rank,  '  off-flavour '  taste,  which 
grows  stronger  and  stronger  until  putrefac- 
tion is  reached.  The  rennet  action  is  chiefly 
digestive,  and  should  keep  pace  with  oxidation. 
When  the  culminating  point  of  both  is  reached, 
we  have  the  best  flavoured   and  most   digestible 


and  nutritious  article  of  cheese.  "Whoever  dis- 
covers a  method  of  stopping  the  action  of  both 
rennet  and  oxygen  at  this  point  will  confer  a 
boon,  not  only  on  the  dairyman,  but  on  man- 
kind, and  stand  a  fair  chance  of  reaping  a 
handsome  reward. 

"  Saltbig. — With  the  new  method  it  is  not 
so  particular  when  the  salting  is  done,  provided 
the  milk  is  all  right  to  begin  with,  and  there 
are  no  signs  of  fermentation.  It  is  usual  with 
those  who  adopt  the  new  method  to  let  the 
curd  air  until  about  ready  for  the  press,  before 
adding  the  salt.  At  first  the  curd  steadily 
hardens  as  the  whey  separates,  until  it  feels 
quite  hard  and  harsh.  But  gradually,  as  oxi- 
dation goes  on,  after  the  rennet  has  expelled 
the  whey,  the  curd  softens  and  grows  smooth 
and  silky  to  the  touch.  It  also  grows  tenderer, 
and  gets  quite  mellow,  apparently  becoming 
richer  in  flavour  and  appearance,  or  showing 
more  '  quality,''  as  the  buyers  say  of  cheese 
when  it  is  fine  and  butteiy.  When  the  proper 
degree  of  softness  is  reached,  or  the  cheesing 
and  oxidation  are  progressed  far  enough — to 
determine  which  is  a  matter  of  observation,  ex- 
perience, and  judgment  —  the  curd  is  salted, 
and,  if  cool  enough,  is  put  to  press.  In  hot 
weather  the  curd  should  not  be  pressed  at  a 
temperature  much  above  80°,  but  in  cooler 
weather,  if  the  temperature  of  the  press-room 
is  not  kept  up,  S-l"  to  85°  would  not  be  an 
injurious  temperature.  Unless  the  surrounding 
atmosphere  is  quite  cool,  so  that  there  is  con- 
siderable escape  of  heat  by  radiation,  the  tem- 
perature of  the  cheese  will  rise  after  it  is  put 
to  press,  owing  to  the  combined  action  of 
rennet  and  oxygen,  and  the  centre  of  the  cheese 
will  be  warmer  than  the  outside,  because  curd  is 
a  poor  conductor  of  heat,  and  the  heat  generated 
will  but  slowly  pass  off  by  radiation.  The  tem- 
perature of  a  curd  in  the  vat  or  on  the  rack 
may  be  raised  somewhat  by  allowing  it  to  re- 
main quiet,  so  the  heat  will  not  radiate  into  the 
atmosphere.  The  salting  should  be  at  the  rate 
of   2i  lbs.  to  1,000  lbs.  of  milk. 

"  Taints. — It  is  claimed  for  the  new  method 
that  by  oxidation  the  taints  in  milk  can  be  wholly 
got  rid  of;  and  that  even  the  flavour  of  onions, 
leeks,  turnips,  rank  grasses,  or  other  strongly- 
flavoured  food  can  be  dissipated  into  the  atmos- 
phere, as  all  these  flavours  and  smells  depend  on 


4-94 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Volatile  oils  which  pass  through  the  cow's  system 
into  the  milk,  and  are  oxygenised  and  expelled  in 
the  form  of  gases,  by  exjjosure  on  the  rack.  The 
thorough  separation  of  the  whey  from  the  curd,  as 
fast  as  it  exudes,  also  facilitates  the  eseayie  of  the 
elements  of  taint.  Hence,  in  working  tainted  milk, 
the  process  of  oxidation  is  prolonged  until  the 
taints  disappear ;  but  should  there  he  danger  that 
fermentation  will  set  in,  the  curd  may  be  salted 
and  afterwards  exposed  to  the  atmosphere,  the  salt 
not  hindering  the  action  of  the  rennet  or  of  the 
oxygen,  but  checking  the  development  of  acetic 
acid.  Lactic  acid  may  be  had  by  simple  oxidation 
without  fermentation,  which  should  be  prevented 
if  possible,  and  checked  as  much  as  possible  should 
it  set  in.  Floating  cm'ds  and  slippery  curds  are 
improved  by  oxidation  before  or  after  salting. 
They  are  always  tainted  curds. 

"  Soiir-milk  Curd. — When  the  milk  is  so  far 
gone  that  souring  cannot  be  prevented,  it  should 
be  set  at  a  low  temperature,  and  not  heated  beyond 
94°.  But  the  cutting  and  separation  of  the  whey 
should  be  exjjedited  in  every  way,  and  the  salt, 
in  extra  quantities,  got  on  as  soon  as  possible.  If 
some  is  thrown  into  the  milk  before  it  is  set,  and 
stirred  in  with  the  rennet,  it  will  be  an  advantage, 
as  the  sole  effect  of  the  salt,  beyond  flavouring,  is 
to  cheek  fermentation  and  retard  decay.  It  may 
safely  be  used  freely  on  a  sour  curd  because  thrown 
on  early,  and  much  of  it  is  carried  away  by  the 
whey,  whicdi  will  hold  it  in  solution.  If  a  curd  is 
very  sour,  it  may  be  washed  by  pouring  warm 
water — say  of  100°  to  105° — over  it  while  stir- 
ring it,  and  improved  thereby. 

"  Cnring. — There  is  nothing  peculiar  about  the 
curing  process  under  the  new  method,  save  that  it 
continues  its  philosoi^hy  in  the  curing-room.  The 
temperature  should  be  even,  and  should  be  65° 
to  75°,  according  as  more  or  less  rapid  curing  is 
desired.  Here  the  oxidising  process  which  was 
put  ahead  of  the  cheesing  process  in  the  make- 
room — in  order  to  volatilise  all  offensive  oils,  and 
expel  them  in  the  gaseous  state — needs  to  be 
held  in  abeyance,  to  give  the  rennet  a  chance  to  do 
its  work.  Too  much  ventilation  is  not  good  for 
a  curing-room,  if  cheese  is  properly  made  so  that 
offensive  gases  will  not  be  geneiated.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  prevent  further  oxidation — at  least  in  the 
ordinary  curing-room — but  it  can  and  should  be 
ke])t  down  to  the  minimum  ])oint  until  tlie  cheese 
is  lit  fur  market.    It  must  go  on  so  slowly  that  the 


small  amount  of  gases  generated  may  find  escajie 
through  the  rind,  and  not  cause  the  cheese  to  puff, 
or  show  its  former  presence  in  excess  in  the  form  of 
holes,  big  or  little,  when  the  cheese  is  bored  or  cut. 
Nor  should  oxidation  be  raj)id  enough  to  generate 
too  much  heat  and  cause  fermentation  to  set  in,  as 
the  yeast  plant  will  play  upon  the  casein  and  form 
out  of  it  a  compound  neither  valuable  nor  profit- 
able; and  this  fermentation,  with  the  rajjid  oxida- 
tion of  the  fats,  will  soon  form  a  comi)ound  of 
decay  and  low  organism  unfit  for  human  food. 

"  Colourinrj. — We  have  thus  far  said  nothing 
of  colouring,  because  on  the  day  that  we  took  our 
first  lesson  in  the  new  method  of  cheese-making, 
Professor  Arnold  was  making  cheese  for  himself, 
and  used  no  colouring.  But  we  got  his  views  on 
the  subject,  which,  as  may  be  inferred,  were  not 
favourable  to  putting  colouring  matter  into  cheese. 
He  says  the  addition  of  the  vegetable  matter  used 
for  colouring  slightly  affects  the  flavour,  and  is  an 
element  of  fermentation  and  decay.  If  used  at  all 
it  ought  to  be  cut  with  oil  instead  of  alkali.  ATI 
colouring  for  cheese-making  is  dissolved  in  potash. 
The  alkali  unites  with  the  colouring,  but  when  put 
into  the  cheese  the  alkali  finds  a  stronger  aflinity  in 
the  casein  and  unites  with  it — instead  of  with  the 
fats,  as  some  have  supposed — while  the  annatto 
forms  new  combinations  with  the  fats  and  oxygen, 
both  sets  of  new  combinations  making  a  bad  flavour 
and  hastening  decay." 

A  Nkw  Method  op  Making  Skim-milk 
Cheese. 

It  might  have  been  thought  that  almost  every 
possible  and  impossible  method  of  cheese-making 
had  been  tried  in  America — the  country,  par  ex- 
cellence, of  exijeriments.  We  have  heard  of  oleo- 
margarine cheese,  in  which  melted  animal  fat  has 
been  substituted  for  the  butter  of  which  it  has 
been  deprived ;  oil  from  suet,  or  from  leaf-lard, 
has  been  used  for  the  purpose;  and  broad  hints 
have  been  given  from  time  to  time  that  more 
questionable  ingredients  have  been  employed  to 
give  to  skim-milk  the  adventitious  richness  wliich 
naturally  belongs  to  cheese  made  from  milk  that 
has  not  been  skimmed.  A  wholesome  jirejudice 
against  such  bastard  cheese  has  grown  up,  and 
the  "  system  "  on  wliich  such  cheese  was  made 
is  likely  soon  to  die  out. 

The  inventors  of  the  new  method  of  making 
skim-milk  cheese  are  Amos  L.  Larabel  and  Joseph 


NEW    METHOD    OF    MAKING    SKIM    CHEESE. 


495 


M.  Jocelyn.  The  process  is  carried  oxit  at  the 
factory  of  Whitmau  and  Burrell,  of  Utica,  N.Y., 
and  is  described  as  follows  : — 

"The  cheese-vat  contained  milk  that  had  heen 
set  for  twenty-four,  thirty-six,  and  forty-eight 
hours,  and  the  cream  taken  off  as  closely  as  it 
could  he  gathered.  The  proportions  were  585  lbs. 
at  twenty-four  hours,  ;37i  lbs.  at  thirty-six  hours, 
and  547  lbs.  at  forty-eight  hours,  making-  1,504  lbs. 
in  all.  This  included  the  buttermilk,  which 
amounted  to  about  300  lbs.  The  skimmed  milk 
was  heated  to  83°,  the  buttermilk  was  poured  in 
and  mixed  well  with  it,  and  the  whole  was  then 
allowed  to  stand  until  the  entire  mass  was  properly 
acid,  as  it  is  considered  that  thoroughly  sour  milk 
makes  better  cheese  under  this  process  than  sweet 
milk.  It  was  then  heated  to  86°,  and  at  this 
point  the  anti-hufRng  extract,  which  is  the  pecu- 
liar feature  of  the  process,  was  added  in  the  ratio 
of  1  ounce  to  100  lbs.  of  milk.  This  extract  is 
composed  of  an  alkali,  which  changes  the  milk 
from  sour  to  sweet,  and  it  is  an  antiseptic  which 
acts  as  a  preserver.  For  ten  minutes  the  m.ilk 
Avas  continually  stirred,  in  order  to  have  the  ex- 
tract thoroughly  distributed  through  it.  Then 
the  requisite  amount  of  Hansen's  extract  of  rennet 
was  added;  in  eleven  minutes  the  milk  began  to 
thicken,  and  in  twenty-five  minutes  it  was  cut. 
The  heat  was  then  increased  to  98°  (this  cheese 
being  intended  for  a  southern  market),  although 
ordinarily  it  would  only  be  scalded  to  94°  or  96°, 
according  to  the  weather.  As  soon  as  the  curd 
was  well  separated  from  the  whey,  the  latter  was 
drawn  off,  leaving  the  curd  perfectly  sweet.  The 
object  then  was  to  get  it  to  press  as  soon  as  suf- 
ficiently cool,  and  the  temperature  was  reduced 
to  70°  by  pouring  on  cold  water.  The  curd  was 
then  salted  at  the  rate  of  3  lbs.  to  100  lbs., 
which  was  rapidly  but  evenly  mixed  in,  and  then 
it  went  to  press.  It  is  considered  of  more  im- 
portance to  put  the  curd  to  press  while  still  sweet 
than  to  have  it  thoroughly  drained,  as  the  whey 
will  be  squeezed  out  in  the  press. 

"  The  most  striking  peculiarity  of  this  process 
is  its  positive  contrast  with  the  old  method.  In- 
stead of  working  a  sweet  milk  up  to  an  acid 
standard,  it  reduces  sour  milk  to  a  perfectly  sweet 
curd.  The  alkali  used  to  effect  this  result  is 
potash,  a  substance  that  is  taken  out  of  the  milk 
along  with  the  cream,  and  is  as  essential  to  its 
full  value  as  any  other  constituent.     Of  course. 


there  is  always  more  or  less  fat  which  is  not 
taken  out  of  the  milk  by  skimming,  and  it  is 
claimed  that  the  alkali  '  saponifies '  this  fat 
so  that  it  will  not  become  rancid  upon  exposure 
to  the  atmosjihere.  During  nearly  the  whole 
process,  before  setting  and  after  cutting,  the  milk 
and  then  the  curd  was  kept  in  a  state  of  agitation 
by  the  hands  and  arms  of  the  men  working  it. 
No  curd-mill  was  used,  Mr.  Jocelyn  claiming 
that  he  could  make  a  better,  finer,  and  more  even 
curd  by  hand  than  he  could  by  the  use  of  a  mill. 
The  extract  alone  gives  a  rich  colour  to  the  milk ; 
but  where  a  deep  colour  is  desired,  annattoine  is 
added  in  the  proportion  of  about  1^  drachms  to 
100  lbs.  of  milk. 

"  It  remains  to  give  the  result  of  operations 
upon  the  mass  of  milk  of  which  we  have  been 
speaking.  From  this  1,504  lbs.  of  milk,  59  lbs.  of 
butter  and  146  lbs.  of  cheese  were  made.  The 
average  would  be  1  lb.  of  butter  to  25J  lbs.  of 
milk,  and  lib.  of  cheese  to  lOjijlbs.  of  milk. 
This  was  in  the  latter  part  of  October.  IMr. 
Burrell  was  selling  his  butter  at  35  cents  per  lb., 
and  at  the  rate  at  which  the  cheese  has  sold 
during  the  jmst  summer  (1880),  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  this  will  bring  11  cents  when  it  is  ready 
for  market.  The  total  value  of  the  products  of 
this  milk  would  therefore  be  36.71  dollars,  or  an 
average  of  2.44  dollars  per  100  lbs.  of  milk — 
almost  double  the  amount  received  by  the  patrons 
of  our  cheese-factories.  We  regret  exceedingly 
that  the  process  should  show  such  a  result,  as  it 
Avill  have  a  tendency  to  draw  full-milk  cheese- 
makers  into  the  skimming  business.  But  we 
believe  that,  one  of  these  days,  a  change  must 
come  over  the  cheese-trade.  Either  full-milk 
cheese  must  rise  to  a  price  which  will  make  its 
returns  commensurate  with  those  of  the  butter  and 
skimmed-milk  cheese-factories,  or  cheese  of  the 
latter  quality  must  be  reduced  to  a  much  lower 
level  in  price.  As  the  prospect  of  the  latter 
alternative  is  rendered  more  unlikely  than  ever 
by  the  successful  introduction  of  the  anti-mottling 
and  anti-huffing  cheese  extract,  we  shall  expect 
to  see  our  full-milk  cheese  establishments  either 
driven  to  the  wall,  or  else  compelled  to  go  into 
the  manufacture  of  butter  and  cheese  with  the 
use  of  this  extract.  Mr.  Burrell  has  been  making 
this  quality  of  cheese  during  the  whole  summer, 
and  with  astonishing  results.  It  has  sold  far 
beyond  his  expectations.     It  seems  to  have  kept 


496 


DAIRY    FAR^riNG. 


as  well  as  full-milk  stock.  It  shows  up  rich  and 
stocky  under  the  trier.  And  as  the  maker  gains 
more  experience  in  its  manufacture,  it  steadily 
improves  in  quality.  He  is  now  making  a  lot 
of  small  cheese,  weighing  only  25  lbs.  each,  for 
the  express  purpose  of  shipping  to  the  West 
Indies,  to  test  their  keeping  qualities  as  severely 


the  lowest  and  highest  given  in  the  catalogues  of 
reliable  American  dealers  in  dairy  implements  and 
machinery  for  the  year  1880.  The  different  prices 
named  for  the  same  utensil  indicate  difference  in 
quality,  in  kind  or  in  pattern.  For  example  : — 
A  "  factory-churn "  may  be  a  plain  barrel  of  the 
Philadelphia  pattern,  costing  only   10  dollars,  or 


List  of  Articles,  with  Prices,  required  to    thorougldy  Equip  a  Factor^/  or  Creamery  receiving  the  Milk 

from  about  500   Cows. 


Akticles. 

WLolp-milk 
Cheese  Factory. 

Cheese  and  Butter 
Factory. 

Pool  and  Pail 
Butter  Factory. 

Pan  or  Vat 
Butter  Factory. 

Butter  Factory 

receiviut; 

only  Cream. 

Number  and  Name. 

From 

DSUT 
300 

120 

"s 

1.5 
40 
(iO 

"20 
10 
4 
10 

'"7 
2 
10 

2 
2 
2 

"1 
5 
1 
4 
2 
25 

To 

From 

To 

Prom 

To 

From 

To 

From 

To 

1  Steam  Boiler,  Engine,  Pump,  &c.,  (  4  H.P. 
complete          1 6  H.P. 

2  COO-gallon  Steam-vats          

4  300-gallon  Cooling-vats       

3G0  Deep  Cooler  Pails            

Cream-vats,  1,  2,  or  3 

1  Curd-drainer  ...         

1  Curd  mill       

1  Gang  Cheese-press  (or  2) 

20  Cheese-hoops 

1  Factory-churn            

1  Butter-worker            

1  Platfonn-scale  for  Millc       

1  Butter  or  Cheese  Scale        

1  Salting-scale 

1  Receiving  or  Weigh  Can 

Hauling-cans      

Hoisting-crane  Fixtures 

Milk-spout  and  Conductor     

Curd-knives        

Syphon  and  Strainer    ...         

1  Set  Creamery  Gl;)ss-ware 

1    „    Stencils  and  Markers 

Small  Cheese  Utensils...         

Small  Butter  Utensils 

Tryers,  Butter  and  Cheese     

Kennet  and  Colouring  Jars 

Cleaning  Utensils         

Kubber  hose       

Account  Books 

Plumbing,  Snafting,  &c 

Bols. 
500 

150 

"in 

25 
90 
liiO 

■50 

15 
5 

15 

"io 

15 
4 
6 
3 
5 

""2 
15 
3 
6 
5 
30 

1,134 

Dole. 

400 

300 

"30 
8 
15 
40 
60 
10 
8 
20 
10 
4 
10 
50 
7 
2 
10 

2 
2 
2 
3 
2 
5 
1 
4 
3 
50 

Dols. 
600 

400 

'C5 
15 
25 
90 

160 
.50 
25 
50 
15 

15 
100 

10 
5 

15 
4 
6 
3 
5 
6 
4 

15 
3 
6 
6 
100 

Dols. 
300 

250 
20 

"io 

8 
20 
8 
4 
10 

"'7 

2 

"3 
2 
2 
1 
4 
2 
25 

Dols. 
400 

275 
40 

"(io 

50 
10 
5 
15 

io 

"'6 
3 

■"6 
3 
5 
2 
0 
5 

100 

Dols. 
300 

300 
'20 

10 
8 

20 
8 
4 

10 

■"7 
2 

■"2 
2 

■■■3 
2 

1 
3 
2 
50 

Dols. 
450 

400 
"40 

"(io 
25 

50 
10 
5 
15 

10 
5 

"'e 
3 

'"6 

3 

5 

5 

5 

100 

Dols. 
300 

"25 

"20 
8 

'"8 
4 

■30 

"1 
2 

'"3 

i 
2 

25 

Dols. 
400 

"go 
"go 

25 

"io 

5 
"60 

"2 
3 

"g 

3 
5 
2 
4 
5 
100 

Total       Dollars 

652 

1,060 

1,803 

680 

1,026 

756 

1,205 

435 

750 

as  possible.  The  success  attained  hitherto  war- 
rants the  belief  that  there  will  be  no  failure  in 
this  experiment." 

Estimates  and  Costs. 

To  explain  in  detail  the  articles  necessary  for 
fitting  out  dairying  manufactories  of  different 
kinds  and  the  cost  of  the  same,  the  subjoined  list 
has  been  prepared.  The  size  assumed  is  a  capacity 
for  the  milk  of  500  cows.  For  a  smaller  factory 
the  fittings  would  cost  nearly  as  much,  and  for 
•me  twice  as  large  the  equipment  would  cost  only 
20  or  30  per  cent.   more.     The  prices  stated  are 


the  same  of  best  finish,  22  dollars,  or  a  100-gallon 
"  Blanehard,"  45  dollars,  or  a  gang  box-churn, 
60  dollars.  Any  one  of  these  might  serve  the 
purpose,  but  true  economy  would  dictate  a  churn 
costing  40  to  50  dollars  for  a  creamery  of  the  size 
assumed.  Again,  there  is  a  great  difference  in 
the  expense  between  fitting  up  a  cheese-factory, 
with  the  old  style  single  screw-presses  and  plain 
hoops  of  wood  or  metal,  and  giving  it  a  full  com- 
plement of  gang-presses  and  patent  self-bandaging 
hoops.  Several  articles  named  in  the  list  might  be 
dispensed  with,  while  some  managers  would  wish 
to  add  others.  H.  E.  A. 


CHAPTER     XXXIV. 

Canadian    Paikying. 


Advantages  Possessed  by  Canadian  Dairymen— General  Comparison  of  the  Provinces— Present  Supremacy  of  Ontario  as  a  Dairy 

Province— The  Maritime  Provinces. 


,  HE  dairying'  linsbandry  o£  the 
United  States  has  been 
treated  at  length  and 
elaborately  in  the  preceding 
chapters;  and  the  descriji- 
tion  may,  to  a  great  extent, 
stand  for  that  of  Canada  as 
■well,  because  there  are  so  few  salient 
differences  between  the  practices  of  the 
two  countries.  A  few  general  remarks, 
mentioning  climate  and  other  differ- 
ences, so  far  as  they  may  be  said  to  exist, 
will  be  sufficient,  and  for  details  of  the  methods  em- 
ployed the  reader  must  needs  be  referred  back  to 
American  dairying.  It  would  indeed  be  strange  if 
the  dairying  of  two  closely-adjacent  countries,  whose 
boundary-line  for  the  most  part  is  not  even  a  river, 
but  has  to  be  marked  out  on  terra,  fir  ma,  and  whose 
people  and  language  are  the  same,  should  differ 
in  any  essential  features  beyond  those  which  are 
easily  accounted  for  in  the  difference  of  climate, 
and  in  the  trilling  variations  of  local  practice;  and 
it  may  be  affirmed  that  differences  quite  as  great 
are  found  within  the  limits  of  either  country  sepa- 
rately as  are  found  between  the  two  combined. 

The  southern  latitude  of  Canada  at  its  lowest 
point  is  that  of  Madrid,  Rome,  or  Constantinople, 
and  its  northern  terminates  at  the  North  Pole,  so 
that  it  may  be  suj^posed  to  have  all  the  climates 
of  Europe  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Frozen 
Sea;  still  no  part  of  Canada  has  a  summer  climate 
so  unhealthy  as  that  of  Rome,  nor  is  its  general 
climate  so  fickle  as  that  of  Europe;  as  a  general 
thing  it  may  be  said  that  the  climate  of  Southern 
Canada  resembles  that  of  Western  and  Central 
Europe,  except  that  its  summers  are  somewhat 
hotter,  and  its  winters  as  a  rule  more  severe,  yet 


neither  the  heat  nor  the  cold  of  Canada  is  so  hard 
to  be  borne  as  the  same  degrees  are  in  Europe, 
mainly  because  the  air  is  drier.  Such  a  crop  as 
Indian  corn,  which  will  seldom  rijjcn  in  England 
or  in  the  northern  departments  of  France,  is 
cultivated  to  a  vast  extent  in  the  valley  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  and  in  the  north-west  teiTitory  it 
comes  to  maturity  in  a  latitude  equivalent  to  that 
of  Liverpool. 

Over  the  United  States,  especially  over  the 
Western  ones,  Canada  has  the  immense  agricul- 
tural advantage  of  a  summer  rainfall,  which  pre- 
vents the  land  from  being  parched  and  scorched 
with  excessive  heat  and  drought.  Wheat  will 
ripen  at  latitude  58°,  and  barley  at  6.5",  which  is 
some  three  to  four  hundred  miles  north  of  the 
Orkneys  and  Shetlands;  but  this  occurs  only  in 
the  north-west  of  Canada,  for  in  the  north-east,  in 
the  direction  of  Hudson's  Bay,  the  arctic  currents 
that  sweep  down  the  coast  of  Labrador  lower  the 
temperature,  and  push  further  south  the  limits 
of  grains  and  grasses.  But  wherever  wheat  and 
barley  will  ripen,  in  a  climate  whose  summer  rain- 
fall can  be  depended  on,  there  is  a  good  prospect 
for  grasses  and  roots  and  green-crops  generally; 
and  though  the  winters  ai'e  severe,  making  the 
wintering  of  live-stock  an  arduous  duty,  they 
begin  and  leave  off  again  with  a  regularity  which 
enables  the  farmer  to  make  nicer  calculations  than 
he  can  think  of  doing  in  the  British  Islands ;  and, 
as  the  frosts  are  keen,  and  last  as  a  rule  for  a 
considerable  period,  the  ground  is  mellowed  and 
pulverised  to  a  degree  which  greatly  lessens  the 
work  of  preparing  it  for  the  seed,  while  the  gradual 
melting  of  the  snow  in  spring  gives  to  the  soil  a 
supply  of  moisture  which  is  of  great  service  to 
the  newly-germinated  seeds. 


498 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Over  a  coiisideralilc  poition  of  the  United 
States,  west  of  St.  Louis — west,  that  is,  of  the  98th 
meridian — the  summer  rainfall  is  altogether  insuffi- 
cient for  the  needs  of  vegetation.  During  four  or 
five  months  of  the  year,  and  they  the  most  imj^or- 
tant  agricultural  months,  grasses  cannot  flourish^ 
and  roots  and  green-crops  arc  out  of  the  question, 
so  that  the  vast  district  west  of  Illinois,  reaching 
to  the  Pacific,  is  not  adapted  to  dairying,  and 
never  can  be,  unless  vast  forests  are  planted  to 
increase  the  rainfall,  and  irrigation  works  on  a 
vast  scale  are  carried  out  wherever  water  for  the 
purpose  may  be  had.  All  this  tells  against  the 
exjiansion  of  American  dairying  to  the  almost 
unlimited  extent  which  would  otherwise  have  been 
possible ;  and  Canada  promises  at  no  distant  period 
of  the  world's  histoiy  to  become  almost  as  great 
a  stock-raising  and  dairying  country  as  its  neigh- 
bour the  United  States — pursuits  for  which  its 
soil,  climate,  and  general  characteristics  appear  to 
be  eminently  suitable.  The  soil  and  climate  of 
Canada,  in  fact,  throughout  a  vast  area,  are  favour- 
able to  the  growth  of  many  useful  jiasture  and 
forage  grasses,  and  the  country  in  general  is  well 
watered,  while  both  the  land  and  labour  are  cheaper, 
and  taxation  lighter,  than  in  the  United  States. 

The  Province  of  Quebec  possesses,  in  common 
with  the  maritime  provinces  of  the  Dominion,  for 
the  pursuit  of  dairy-farming,  advantages  which  are 
unsurpassed,  and  probably  unequalled,  in  any  other 
portion  of  North  America.  Throughout  the  summer 
months  the  temperature  is  cooler  and  the  rainfall 
greater  than  in  the  western  or  southern  portions 
of  the  Continent.  Proximity  to  the  sea,  to  the 
St.  Lawrence,  the  Saguenay,  and  the  St.  Maurice 
rivers,  and  to  the  innumerable  lakes  and  streams 
which  cover  a  large  portion  of  the  province,  makes 
the  climate  moister,  and  secures  excellent  meadows 
and  the  best  of  pastures ;  and  the  rich  bottom-lands 
or  alluvial  flats,  so  general  alongside  the  larger 
rivers,  especially  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  are  extremely 
fertile  in  the  production  of  an  abundance  of  food 
for  cattle,  while  the  general  health  of  stock  is 
excellent.  Springs  of  pure  cold  water  are  found 
in  many  places,  and  in  the  winter  a  supply  of 
ice  for  summer  use  may  be  secured  with  case  and 
facility;  these  advantages  arc  of  great  value  in 
cheese  and  butter  making  during  the  hot  portion 
of  the  year. 

In  the  neighbourhood  of  IMontrcal  there  is  a 
large  tract  of  country  adapted  to  daiiyiiig;  Init  it 


is  the  district  known  as  the  Eastern  Towiishijis, 
lying  to  the  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  bor- 
dering on  the  States  of  ISIaine,  New  Hampshire, 
and  Vermont,  which  may  be  regarded  as,  and 
will  ultimately  become,  the  best  dairying  region  in 
the  extensive  and  straggling  Province  of  Quebec. 
Here  the  configuration  of  the  .country  is  rolling, 
and  the  soil,  as  a  rule,  is  loamy;  there  are  also 
many  streams  and  running  brooks — features  that 
may  be  regarded  as  essential  to  a  dairpng  and 
stock-raising  country.  So  far,  however,  the  pro- 
vince has  not  made  the  progress  it  might  have 
done  in  agricultural  pursuits.  Live-stock  of  all 
kinds,  especially  dairy-stock,  stand  in  need  of  cul- 
tivation and  imj)rovcment,  and  the  general  con- 
dition of  agriculture  is  far  enough  below  its 
possibilities.  Improvements,  however,  are  now  in 
progress,  and  as  the  province  enjoys  the  advantage 
of  a  contiguous  sea-board,  which  gives  ready  access 
to  European  markets,  and  as  many  of  the  pojjulous 
places  in  the  Eastern  States  are  within  easy  reach 
of  the  southern  part  of  it,  we  may  expect  dairy- 
farming  to  spread  while  it  improves  in  many  parts 
of  Quebec. 

At  the  present  time  Ontario  is  far  ahead  of 
any  other  province,  alike  in  its  dairying  as  a 
speciality,  in  the  quality  of  its  cattle,  and  in  its 
agriculture  generally.  For  dairying  districts, 
many  portions  of  both  Eastern  and  Western 
Ontario  are  clearly  well  adapted.  At  a  moderate 
expenditure  of  labour  and  money,  large  croj)s  of 
various  kinds  of  forage  can  be  grown  for  winter 
feeding,  while  for  summer  use  it  is  easy  to  have  a 
succession  of  green-crops  for  soiling.  For  the 
former,  timothy  grass  and  red  clover  are  extensively 
and  most  successfully  grown ;  for  the  latter,  clover 
and  "  green  corn  ■" — that  is,  maize  planted  thickly 
and  cut  green — are  chiefly  employed.  In  some 
cases  maize  is  planted  thickly  in  rows  which  are 
some  I'Z  to  18  inches  apart,  horse-hoed  until  it  is 
far  enough  ahead  of  the  weeds,  and  cut  green  as 
it  is  wanted.  Portions  of  land  may  be  planted  at 
intervals,  giving  a  succession  of  crops.  If  there 
hap]iens  to  be  more  of  the  green  corn  than  is 
wanted  for  soiling,  it  is  a  simple  matter  to  stook  it 
up  in  sheaves,  each  stook  containing  a  dozen  or 
more  sheaves.  In  this  form  the  corn  stands  well 
out  in  the  fields,  and  is  fetched  in  as  it  is  wanted 
during  the  winter.  To  be  utilised  in  this  manner 
as  winter-forage,  it  is  considered  expedient,  and  no 
doubt  it  is  expedient,  to  cut  the  stalks  while  they 


PROGRESS    IN    CANADA. 


-199 


are  still  green,  tender,  and  sappy,  and  when  the  ear 
of  corn  is  still  "  in  the  milk  ;  "  this  will  be  about 
the  time  when  the  plant  has  attained  nearly  its  full 
growth  in  height.  Cut  at  this  period,  the  plant 
retains  the  nutritive  properties  which  have  been 
elaborated  in  it  during  its  growth ;  it  has  a  smaller 
proportion  of  woody  fibre,  is  sweeter  and  tenderer, 
and  an  altogether  better  article  of  food  for  stock. 


smaller  ones  of  which  are  either  less  numerous 
now  than  they  were  before  the  forests  were  cut 
away,  or  are  dry  when  they  are  most  wanted. 
This  question,  indeed,  is  one  which  forces  itself 
on  the  attention  of  dairymen  in  most  parts  of 
North  America,  and  it  has  to  be  met  either  now 
or  in  the  future  by  wells  and  ponds  and  meres. 
In  various  Canadian  provinces  cheese-factories 


Fig.  303.— Creameet  of  Messrs.  Hettle  and  Inglis,  Teeswater,  Ontario. 


than  if  cut  when  the  ear  is  fully  formed  and  the 
stalk  and  leaves  are  turning  yellow  with  ripeness. 
Turnips,  mangels,  carrots,  and  the  like  grow  suc- 
cessfully, and  even  luxuriantly,  in  many  parts  of 
Canada,  and  seldom  better  than  in  Ontario.  It 
would  seem  probable  that  such  soiling  and  forage 
crops  as  lucerne,  vetches,  the  rye-grasses,  and  the 
various  trifoliums,  not  to  mention  rape,  mustard, 
and  the  like,  would  grow  well  on  the  loamy  soils 
which  are  almost  everywhere  found.  The  chief 
want  of  Ontario,  generally  speaking,  is  that  of 
streams  and  springs  and  running  brooks,  the 
66 


are  already  very  numerous,  and  creameries,  for  the 
production  of  large  quantities  of  butter  on  the 
associated  system,  are  spreading  in  many  parts. 
These  institutions  have  at  once  increased  the  pro- 
duction and  improved  the  quality  of  Canadian 
dairy  produce,  which  no  longer  ranks  behind  that 
of  the  United  States,  and  they  are  now  counted  by 
hundreds.  In  the  annexed  engraving  (Fig.  303)  we 
give  a  view  of  a  creamery  situated  at  Teeswater, 
Ontario,  and  belonging  to  Messrs.  Hettle  and 
Inglis,  whose  butter  for  some  time  has  enjoyed  a 
.reputation  in  Glasgow,. to  which  city  it  is 


500 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


cliicfly  shij)j)C'tl.  Tliis  factory  cost  about  4,000 
dollars,  which  includes  the  cost  of  some  expensive 
implements  that  have  been  discarded.  It  has  been 
built  at  three  different  times,  each  year  making  it 
necessary  to  increase  the  size.  The  buildings  are 
76  feet  long  by  26  feet  wide.  One  department  has 
a  concrete  floor;  in  this  building  six  wooden  vats 
are  set,  about  15  feet  long,  3  feet  wide,  and  1^  feet 
deep.  Tin  vats  are  placed  in  the  wooden  ones, 
leaving  a  space  between  the  two  to  allow  cold 
water  to  run  at  the  bottom  and  sides  of  the  vats. 
The  milk  is  poured  into  the  vats  at  a  temperature 
of  80°  to  90°;  it  is  then  reduced  to  (U)".  In 
addition  to  the  cold  water  running  around  the  vats, 
a  zinc  float  having  ice  in  it  is  put  into  the  vats ; 
this  is  floated  up  and  down  each  vat  until  the 
temperature  is  sufficiently  reduced ;  the  milk  stands 
from  twelve  to  twenty-four  hours,  and  is  then 
skimmed.  Before  churning,  the  cream  is  allowed 
to  "  ripen,"  that  is,  to  get  a  little  sour,  and  care 
is  taken  to  have  it  all  in  the  same  condition.  They 
formerly  used  large  upright  dash  churns,  but  these 
have  been  discai'ded,  and  the  "  Blanchard  "  churn  is 
now  used.  They  churn  about  150  to  200  lbs.  at  a 
churning,  and  churn  twice  a  day.  The  churning 
is  done  1iy  steam ;  it  is  commenced  with  thirty 
revolutions  a  minute,  and  gradually  increased  to 
fifty.  It  takes  from  one  to  one  and  a  quarter  hours 
to  churn.  The  butter  is  then  taken  to  a  worker, 
washed,  worked,  salted,  and  allowed  to  stand  one 
day ;  it  is  then  worked  over  and  packed  in  firkins 
that  have  been  soaked  three  days,  then  steamed  for 
three  hours  in  salt  and  water,  and  properly  pre- 
pared. A  cloth  is  laid  at  the  bottom  of  the  firkin 
and  another  on  the  top;  the  top  is  then  covered 
with  a  thin  ]ayer  of  salt.  The  keg  is  then  put  into 
the  store-room,  which  is  kept  nearly  ice-cold ;  there 
it  is  safe  for  shipment  at  any  time. 

There  is  another  room  in  which  the  engine  and 
boiler  are  kept.  The  engine  is  only  a  3  horse- 
power, but  it  has  proved  itself  of  sufficient  power 
for  the  factory.  Cheese  is  made  from  the  skimmed 
milk,  when  the  milk  is  only  allowed  to  stand 
twelve  hours.  After  the  milk  has  been  skimmed, 
steam  is  put  into  iron  pipes  that  are  laid  in  the 
bottom  of  wooden  vats.  The  water  is  soon  heated, 
and  the  heat  is  imparted  to  the  milk  in  the  tin 
vats ;  when  at  a  proper  temperature  the  rennet  is 
put  into  the  milk,  which  soon  coagulates.  Tlie 
j)roeess  is  then  gone  through  as  in  cheese-factories, 
and  the  cheese  is  taken  to  a  drying-room.      The 


skim-milk  cheese  sells  from  4  to  6  cents  a  pound, 
and  the  butter  fetches  120s.  per  112  lbs.  in  the 
Glasgow  markets. 

A  plentiful  supply  of  good,  cold,  clear  water  is 
essential  to  a  butter-factory.  On  a  rising  ground 
near  this  factory  is  a  beautiful  spring  of  water; 
this  is  conveyed  to  the  factory  in  wooden  jiipes,  and 
thence  into  iron  pipes.     An  ice-house  is  close  by. 

As  in  the  United  States  so  in  Canada,  cheese- 
making  has  in  the  past  had  more  attention  paid  to 
it  than  has  the  sister  art  of  butter-muking.  Cheese- 
factories  are  more  numerous  than  creameries,  and 
so  it  follows  that  cheese  has  become  more  a  cen- 
tralised, while  butter  has  remained  more  an  isolated, 
manufacture,  the  one  receiving  collective  and  the 
other  individual  study  and  experiment.  It  is  pro- 
bable, however,  that  this  disparity  between  the  two 
industries  will  not  exist  in  the  future.  Mr.  Bal- 
lantyne,  M.P.P.,  of  Stratford-on-Avon,  Ontario, 
is  among  the  prominent  men  who  have  worked 
out  the  problem  of  factory  cheese-making  in 
Canada,  and  his  efforts,  along  with  those  of  other 
agricultural  reformers,  have  done  much  towards 
raising  the  cheese  of  the  Dominion  in  the  estima- 
tion of  English  buyers. 

Formerly  there  was  great  difficulty  and  un- 
certainty in  making  autumn  cheese  in  Ontario ;  it 
was  liable  to  be  huffy  and  porous  ;  and,  as  the 
whey  was  not  always  well  got  out  of  it,  the  flavour 
was  frequently  unpleasant.  This  difficulty  has 
been  completely  overcome  by  "rijiening"  the  milk 
before  adding  the  rennet  to  it.  Mr.  Ballantyne 
thought  the  matter  out  in  his  mind,  and  urged  it 
to  us  in  this  wise  :  the  summer's  milk  kept  through 
the  night  is  not  so  deadly  cold  as  the  autumn's, 
and  so  is  in  a  more  natural  condition  ;  its  warmth 
has  brought  it  into  that  state  which  produces  the 
best  cheese — that  is,  it  has  ripened  somewhat,  be- 
cause warmth  as  well  as  time  is  necessary  to  the 
ripening  of  anything.  He  declares  his  belief, 
further,  that  the  best  cheese  cannot  be  made  from 
fresh,  warm  milk ;  because,  though  it  is,  of  course, 
warm  enough,  and  has  never  been  cold,  it  has  not 
the  required  age,  and  so  is  unripe.  Hence  he 
prefers  that  one-half  of  the  milk  he  makes  cheese 
from  should  be  twelve  hours  old,  and  this,  being 
ripe  enough  in  itself,  ripens  the  fresh  morning's 
milk  when  the  two  are  mixed  together.  In  summer 
the  ripening  of  the  evening's  milk  is  enough  for 
the  purpose,  but  in  the  colder  weather  of  autumn 
it  is  not,  so  the  morning's  and  evening's  milk  are 


STATISTICS    AND    SUMMARIES. 


501 


warmed  up  together  to  a  temperature  of  90*^  or 
sOj  and  allowed  to  stand  several  hours  before  the 
rennet  is  mixed  with  them  for  coagulation,  and 
this  is  done  because  the  autumn's  evening  miik 
has  been  too  cold  to  admit  of  enough,  if  any,  ripen- 
ing.    As  the  mass  of  milk  stands  at  the  tempera- 


the  best  system  the  world  knows  for  making  plain 
"  hard "  cheese — consists  in  the  ripening  which 
the  curd  gets  after  separating  it  from  the  whey, 
and  before  salting  and  pressing  it.  This  ripening 
comes  of  keeping  the  curd  warm,  and  exposing  it 
to  the  air.     But  even  in  the  Cheddar  system  it  is 


FopulaCwn,  Ayi-icullure,  and  Dairying  at  various  dn/es,  rclnliiig  to  the  Dominion  of  Canada. 


Persons  engaged 

Tear. 

Population. 

Agriculture. 

Cows. 

Butter  made. 

Cheese  made. 

Notes. 

A.D. 

lbs. 

lbs. 

1G67   ... 

3,918 

(668  Families.) 

1,500 

(3,107  "cattle  "in  all.) 

Census  of  "  New  France." 

1719   ... 

22,530 

9,000 

(18,241  "cattle  "in  all.; 

Do.     does  not  include  Acadia,  &c. 

176.5   ... 

69,810 

(12,230  Houses.) 

22,748 

(50,013  "cattle  "in  all.) 

(  Census  of  "  Canada,"  which  does  not 

1784   ... 

113,012 

(18,924  Houses.) 

44,294 

(98,594  "cattle"  in  all.) 

<j      include  Nova  Scotia,  &c.     Pop.  of 
I     N.  S.,  i-c,  1784-5,  about  55,000. 

1827  ... 

774,279 

378,031 

(  Census  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada 
I      and  Nova  Scotia. 
Pop.  of  New  Brunswick,  Newfound- 

land, and  Assiniboia,  130, 054  (182S). 

|Does  not  include  Nova  Scotia  andl 

(  Census,  including  Upper  and  Lower 

1848  ... 

1,089,041 

502,503 

<      New  Brunswick.    Pop.  estimated,  J. 
(,     400,000.                                            j 

<      Canada,     Nevrfoundland,     Prince 
(.     Edward's  Id.,  Manitoba,  &c. 

I  Census  Returns  for  Upper  and  Lower 

1852  ... 

2,312,919 

215,079 

730,238 

32,330,397 

4,834,719 

<      Canada,    Nova   Scotia,   and   New 
(.     Brunswick. 
I  Includes  Upper  and  Lower  Canada, 

1861  ... 

3,301,147 

337,304 

995,506 

51,700,440 

4,002,143 

I      Nova  Scotia.    From  census.    New 
j      Brunswick,   Prince    Edward    Id., 
'      Manitoba,  and  Newfoundland. 
^From   Census  Returns   1870-71,    in- 

1871  ... 

3,738,546 

483,984 

1,292,839 

75,035,031 

22,277,747 

<      eluding  same   provinces  as   1801, 
(     above. 
Province  of  Ontario  alone. 

1871  ... 

1,620,851 

228,708 

638,759 

37.023,043 

17.979,817 

1871  ... 

1,191,516 

160,641 

400,542 

24,289,127 

2,2.52,015 

Pro\Tnce  of  Quebec  alone. 

1871   ... 

285,594 

40,394 

83,220 

5,11.5,947 

224,8.33 

Province  of  New  Brunswick  alone. 

1871  ... 

387,800 

49,709 

122,088 

7,161,807 

1,244,853 

Province  of  Nova  Scotia  alone. 

1871    Census.     Number  and  Si 

je  of  Farms  in  the  Four  (4)    Chief  Provinces, 

Dominion  of  Canada. 

Province. 

No.  of 
Owners. 

No.  of 
Tenants. 

No.  of  Farms 

of  10  acres  and 

below. 

No. 
10  to  50  acres. 

No. 
50  to  100  acres. 

No. 
100  to  200  acres. 

No. 
Over  200  acres. 

Ontario      

Quebec      

New  Brunswick 

Nova  Scotia 

144,212 
109,059 
29,059 
43,830 

28,046 
9,027 
2,143 

2,486 

19,954 
10,510 
2,009 
7,148 

38,882 
22,379 
6,415 
11,201 

71,864 
44,410 
11,888 
13,138 

33,984 
30,891 
6,900 
10,401 

7,574 
9,896 
3,330 
4,428 

Notes.— 1871 :  Four  provinces,  333  cheese-factories,  998  emploj^s,  120,026  dels,  wages,  1,601,738  dols.  factory  cheese  sold. 


ture  named,  it  ripens,  and  the  difficulty  previously 
so  common  disappears,  the  autumn  cheese  having 
all  the  warmth  and  mellowness  of  character  of  the 
summer  cheese,  and  it  is  not  liable  to  be  injured 
by  the  excessive  heat  of  the  summer  climate ;  this 
autumn  cheese,  in  fact,  take  it  for  all  in  all,  is 
probably  the  best  of  the  season,  whereas  it  was 
formerly,  in  many  cases,  the  worst. 

The  grand  principles  of  the  Cheddar  system  of 
cheese-making — which,   by  the  way,   is  jjrobably 


well  known  that  autumn  cheese  does  not  mature 
like  that  of  summer,  and  this  !Mr.  Ballantyne  de- 
clares is  owing  to  the  evening's  milk  of  autumn 
not  having  a  chance  to  ripen  like  that  of  summer. 
Professor  Arnold,  an  able  exponent  of  the  Cheddar 
system,  has  done  much  good  in  Canada  in  teaching 
dairymen  how  to  manage  floating-curds — that  is, 
by  exposing  them  longer  in  the  vat,  and  by  develojv 
ing  more  acidity  to  checkmate  the  taint  which  is 
common  to  tioatino'-curds.     The  milk  is  generally 


502 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


delivered  once  a  day  to  tlie  Canadian  factories, 
and  the  farmers,  under  pain  of  having  their  milk 
rejected,  are  required  to  take  proper  care  of  the 
evening's  milk,  and  to  deliver  it  in  good  condition 
at  the  factory.  This  done,  the  transit  is  supposed 
to  do  good  rather  than  harm  to  the  milk. 

In  the  foregoing  table  we  give  a  record  of  the 
population,  agriculture,  and  dairying  of  Canada, 
from  which  will  be  easily  gathered  the  rate  of  pro- 
gress of  the  country  up  to  the  year  1871,  when  the 
last  census  was  taken.  It  wll  be  noticed  that  the 
great  bulk  of  farmers  own  their  land  and  farm  it, 
and  that  there  are  more  farms  of  50  to  100  acres 
than  of  any  and  all  sizes  below  those  limits  on  the 
one  hand  and  above  them  on  the  other. 


the  transit.  The  trains  commonly  run  close  up  to 
ships  that  are  about  to  sail ;  the  cheese  and  buUer 
are  taken  on  board  the  last  thing,  are  on  their  way 
to  England  or  Scotland  without  delay,  and  are 
unshipped  before  any  other  lading  is,  on  arrival  ou 
this  side. 

In  18G5  Canada  imported  cheese  from  the 
United  States  to  the  value  of  200,000  dollars,  her 
own  production  being  not  enough  for  her  own 
wants ;  but  since  that  period  the  establishment  of 
factories  has  so  increased  the  production,  that  she 
not  only  supplies  the  wants  of  an  ever-increasing 
population,  but  exports  large  quantities  to  the 
mother-country.  The  production  and  exporta- 
tion of  dairy  products  from  Canada  are  destined 


Krporkd  from    the    Dominion    of    Canada. 


BUTTEE. 

Che 

ESE. 

Tears. 

Produce  of  Canada. 

Foreign 

Produce. 

Produce  of  Canada. 

Foreign  Produce. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

Quantity. 

Value. 

U.S. 

Dnis. 

Iba. 

Dola. 

lbs. 

Dots. 

lua. 

D0I3. 

18C8      ... 

10,649,7S3 

l,69S,n42 

6,141..570 

620,.>43 

1869      ... 

lo,sr,:j,2G8 

2,3)L>,270 

4,503,370 

549,572 

1870      ... 

12,'2r)il,8S7 

2.3r.:!.n70 

5,S27,7S2 

674,486 

1871      ... 

15,43'.l,2(ir> 

3,0r..'i,-J-j;i 

8,271,4.39 

1,109,906 

1872      ... 

19,0li8,448 

3,(ilLM;7'.i 

16,424,025 

1,840,284 

1873      ... 

15,208,633 

2, SI  IS.;  17!  1 

7.710 

1,546 

19,483,211 

2,280,412 

2,8.32 

1874      ... 

12,233,046 

2.6L'ii,»ri 

L',S43 

713 

24,0."i0.9S2 

3,523,201 

298,820 

33,3.>4 

187.5      ... 

9,268,044 

2,:w7,:fL'i 

6_',7l'6 

12,803 

32,342,030 

3,886,226 

221,S',I4 

20,750 

1876      ... 

12,250,066 

2,r.lii,s:n 

l-l'.'.:i(ll 

38,.537 

35,024,0'.I0 

3,751,268 

2,861  iiii; 

298,740 

1877      ... 

14,691,789 

3,07o.-tii'.l 

7s7.1i;i 

151,572 

35,930,.V.'4 

3,74S,.-,75 

l,770,;i97 

149,393 

1878      ... 

13,006,626 

2,382,237 

4:17,491 

91,960 

38,0.54,294 

3,997,521 

1,316,845 

123,780 

1879      ... 

14,307,977 

2,101,897 

22s,  21 15 

3(;,550 

46,414,035 

3,790,300 

.3,202.3,89 

244,4.50 

1880      ... 

18,535,362 

3,058,009 

352,341 

01,093 

40,308,678 

3,072,434 

3,072,434 

200,680 

The  ordinary  mode  of  disposing  of  cheese  in 
Canada  is  for  the  buyers  to  visit  the  factories 
weekly  to  see  that  the  quality  is  right,  and  cither 
buy  the  cheese  on  the  spot,  or  at  the  adjacent 
towns  on  market  days.  The  districts  being  exten- 
sive and  the  factories  some  distance  apart,  it  is 
next  to  impossible  to  take  the  cheese  in  bulk  to 
market,  and  to  obviate  this  the  buyers  inspect  the 
cheese  where  it  is  made.  In  other  cases  cheese  is 
bought  from  sample,  and  in  yet  others  it  is  con- 
tracted for  at  a  given  price  for  the  season.  When 
the  cheese  is  sold,  the  farmers  haul  it  in  their 
waggons  to  the  railways,  whence  it  is  taken  to 
the  shipping  ports.  Special  trains  run  on  stated 
days  for  the  conveyance  of  cheese  and  butter,  and 
in  the  summer  months  refrigerator  cars  arc  used 
to  preserve  the  goods  from  injury  by  heat  during 


to  increase,  and  in  course  of  time  to  exceed,  in 
all  probability,  those  of  the  United  States. 

In  the  table  given  above,  for  which  we  are 
indebted  to  Professor  George  Buckland,  of  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  and  Arts  of  Ontario, 
we  give  a  statement  showing  the  quantity  and 
value  of  butter  and  cheese  exported  from  the 
Dominion  of  Canada  during  the  thirteen  years 
ending  ISSO. 

Notes  on  the  D.\irying  Industry  of  the  M.\ri- 
TiME  Provinces,  specially  of  Nova  Scotia. 
By  George  Lawson,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  F.I.C. 

In  order  to  give  a  correct  indication  of  the  pre- 
sent state  of  the  dairy  industries  in  the  maritime 
provinces,  it  is  necessary  to  refer  briefly  to  the 
agricultural  conditions  of  those  countries,  which 


THE    MARITIME    PKOVINCES. 


503 


differ  essentially  from  Ontario  iu  depending'  loss 
upon  wheat-growing  and  the  raising  of  beef-cattle, 
and  more  upon  the  productions  of  the  forest,  the 
mine,  and  the  sea.  The  "  ^Maritime  Provinces  " 
(as  they  are  called)  consist  of  New  Brunswick, 
Nova  Scotia,  and  Prince  Edward  Island;  to  the 
eastward  of  these  lies  the  large  island  of  New- 
foundland, whose  bays  and  banks  have  been  so 
long  and  favourably  known,  in  common  with 
ncigliboiu-ing  shores,  for  the  extent  and  value  of 
their  fisheries.  Of  the  three  confederated  provinces, 
the  smallest.  Prince  Edward  Island,  is  most  exclu- 
sively devoted  to  agriculture,  whilst  Newfound- 
land, geographically  although  not  yet  politically 
connected  with  them,  is  dependent  upon  its  neigh- 
bours to  a  large  extent  for  agricultural  supplies. 
In  Prince  Edward  Island  the  soil  is  light,  easily 
worked  and  free  from  stones,  and  there  are  exten- 
sive deposits  of  mussel-mud  at  or  below  low  tide- 
mark,  which  serves  as  a  valuable  fertiliser  to  lauds 
near  the  shore.  Large  quantities  of  barley,  oats, 
potatoes,  besides  butter,  poultiy,  eggs,  and  other 
produce,  are  annually  exported,  chiefly  in  the  fall 
of  the  j'ear  (before  the  ice  forms  around  the  shores), 
to  the  adjoining  provinces,  to  England,  and  to  the 
United  States.  There  is  a  Government  stock- 
fai-m  at  Charlottetown  for  the  improvement  of 
dairy  and  other  stock,  and  the  interests  of  agri- 
culture are  steadily,  if  not  rapidly,  advancing. 
Dairying  and  cattle-raising  appear  to  be  subsidiary 
to  the  raising  of  grain  and  potatoes,  so  far  as 
the  supjjly  of  foreign  markets  is  concerned.  In 
New  Brunswick,  which  is  of  great  area,  but  only 
partially  cultivated,  grain-growing  and  dairying 
are  both  practised  to  a  large  extent,  although  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  rural  population  are 
engaged  during  a  part  or  the  whole  of  the  year  in 
the  wild  forest  lands,  chopping  logs  and  bringing 
them  down  the  rivers  to  the  numerous  and  exten- 
sive saw-mills.  Increased  attention  is  being  given 
to  agriculture ;  the  Provincial  Government  make 
frequent  importations  of  thoroughbred  stock  from 
Ontario,  England,  and  the  United  States,  and 
agricultural  exhibitions  are  held  under  Govern- 
ment sanction  for  the  reward  of  successful  culti- 
vators and  stock-raisers.  For  many  years  Jersey 
and  Aryshire  stock  have  been  raised  to  some  extent 
in  New  Brunswick,  and  have  tended  to  improve 
the  dairy  qualities  of  the  cattle  generally.  The 
occupations  of  the  people  of  Nova  Scotia  are  more 
diverse    than   those    of   the    other   provinces,    for, 


whilst  large  numbers  are  engaged  in  lumbering, 
shipbuilding,  and  the  fisheries,  no  inconsiderable 
portion  find  remunerative  employment  in  the  coal 
and  gold  mines,  and  the  quarries  of-gypsum,  grind- 
stone, and  sandstone.  In  Nova  Scotia  as  iu  New 
Brunswick,  so  large  a  number  of  the  people  being 
engaged  in  other  than  agricultural  pursuits,  there 
is  a  home  market  for  country  produce  which  pre- 
vents the  dairy  and  other  farm  products  from 
obtaining  as  much  attention  in  foreign  markets 
at  present  as  they  are  likely  to  command  in  the 
future.  Notwithstanding  the  diversitj^  of  industries 
in  Nova  Scotia,  dairy-farming  is  carried  out  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  and  with  greater  or  less 
success,  throughout  the  whole  country,  and  not 
alone  by  the  class  who  are  properly  styled  farmers, 
for  many  of  the  fishermen  and  lumbermen,  who 
can  only  jAy  their  vocations  during  a  portion  of 
the  year,  have  small  farms  by  which  they  are 
enabled  to  sujij^ly  at  least  their  own  domestic  wants 
in  the  way  of  milk,  butter,  cheese,  pork,  poultry, 
and  other  produce.  The  possession  of  land  and 
one  or  more  cows  by  the  lumbermen  and  fishermen 
generally  throughout  the  proviuce,  although  it  does 
not  make  any  show  in  the  exports,  forms  a  very 
important  factor  in  the  real  wealth  of  the  country, 
and  the  comfort  of  the  people,  who  have  thus, 
even  in  the  most  adverse  of  seasons,  the  means 
of  healthy  subsistence.  In  Nova  Scotia  the  rural 
population  never  want  for  the  necessaries  of  life. 

Where  the  attention  is  divided  between  different 
occupations,  we  are  not  to  expect  the  best  methods 
of  cultivation,  the  most  improved  implements,  the 
finest  live-stock,  or  rapid  progress  in  the  adoption 
of  new  processes.  Accordingly  in  many  parts  of 
the  country,  especially  in  the  shore  counties,  there 
is  much  room  for  improvement,  much  poor  cultiva- 
tion, and  imperfect  management  of  dairy-stock. 
Where  holdings  are  small  and  scattered,  the  im- 
provement of  live-stock  is  especially  difficult,  as  it 
is  not  profitable  (even  if  it  were  practicable)  for 
a  fisherman-farmer  to  purchase  an  expensive  male 
animal,  and  the  distance  of  neighbours  prevents 
combination  for  this  purpose.  It  is  otherwise  in 
many  inland  localities  where  farming  is  the  exclu- 
sive or  principal  pursuit,  and  particularly  amund 
the  bays  and  estuaries,  where  rich  dyke-lands  have 
been  reclaimed  from  the  sea,  or  where  extensive 
deposits  of  marine  marsh-mud  prevail ;  under  such 
circumstances  agriculture  is  conducted  on  a  larger 
scale  and  iu  a  more  systematic  manner,  the  newest 


504 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


improvements  in  implements  are  introduced,  and 
attention  is  specially  given  to  the  character  and 
management  of  the  live-stock.  The  dykes  under 
])roper  management  yield  crops  of  timothy  hay 
{P/ileum  pratense)  of  from  two  to  three  or  more 
tons  per  acre,  which  su])i)ly  feed  for  the  winter, 
and  the  "after-grass"  furnishes,  during  the  autumn 
months,  an  abundant  and  rich  pasturage,  which 
greatly  promotes  the  flow  of  milk.  The  marine 
marsh-mud  and  mussel-mud  are  used  for  spreading 
on  the  uplands,  and  are  found  to  be  very  cfKcacious 
not  only  in  promoting  the  growth  of  grass  for  hay, 
but  also  in  yielding  large  crojis  of  e.xcellent  potatoes 
and  other  roots.  The  cultivation  of  grain,  and  es- 
pecially of  wheat,  has  for  many  j'ears  been  rather 
neglected,  on  account  of  the  markets  being  tilled 
with  flour  and  grain  at  low  prices  from  Ontario 
and  the  western  States;  but  within  the  last  j-ear 
or  two  farmers  have  become  more  alive  to  the  im- 
portance of  grain-growng  in  a  regular  system  of 
husbandry.  From  these  explanations  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  Nova  Scotian  farmer  cannot  avail 
himself  of  straw  and  grain  cleanings,  which  are  so 
useful  as  winter  feed  to  stock  in  essentially  grain- 
growing  countries,  but  that  the  abundant  crops 
of  hay  and  the  excellent  pasturage  throughout  the 
whole  summer  and  autumn  months  make  up  for 
the  deficiency,  and  specially  indicate  an  adaptability 
of  the  country  for  dairy-farming.  Turnips  and 
mangels  thrive  well  in  all  parts  of  the  country, 
and  there  is  a  tendency  to  increase  in  their  cul- 
tivation, the  chief  obstacles  apparently  being  the 
expense  of  summer  labour  and  the  want  of  manual 
skill  in  hoeing. 

We  have  no  reliable  statistics  of  the  dairy-pro- 
duce of  Nova  Scotia  since  1871,  when  the  general 
census  was  taken.  It  is  certain  that  there  has 
been  a  steady  increase  in  all  such  jn-oducts,  as  well 
as  in  all  the  field  products  of  the  country,  since 
that  year.  The  quantity  of  butter  produced  in 
1871  was  upwards  of  seven  millions  of  pounds 
(7,1C1,8G7  lbs.).  The  jwoduction  of  New  Bruns- 
wick during  the  same  jear  was  nearly  a  third  less, 
the  exact  quantity  being  5,115,917  lbs.  Analysing 
the  returns  of  the  several  counties,  we  find  that  the 
smallest  quantity  was  produced  by  Queen's,  one 
of  the  Atlantic  shore  counties,  viz.,  1;3^,15;3  lbs. ; 
the  largest  by  Pictou  County,  which  bounds  on 
the  gulf  shore,  opposite  Prince  I'xlward  Island, 
801,()(il  lbs.  A  large  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Pictou  County  are  of  Scotch  descent.  The  quantity 


of  home-made  cheese  produced  in  the  Province  of 
Nova  Scotia  in  the  year  1S71  was  881,853  lbs., 
the  quantity  made  in  New  Brunswick  in  the  same 
year  being  not  much  more  than  a  sixth  of  that 
amount,  viz.,  151,758  lbs.  The  principal  cheese 
county  in  Nova  Scotia  is  Annapolis,  which  fur- 
nished 270,306  lbs.  ;  Halifax,  a  very  large 
county,  which  embraces  the  City  of  Halifax,  the 
great  local  mart  for  all  produce,  manufactured  only 
28;J  lbs.  of  cheese,  all  of  which,  except  12  lbs.,  was 
made  in  the  eastern  division  of  the  county.  Since 
1871  a  great  change  has  taken  place  in  the  cheese 
manufacture.  No  doubt  the  quantity  of  "  home- 
made "  cheese  is  less  now  than  formerly.  But  the 
total  amount  of  cheese  produce  in  the  country 
must  be  greatly  in  excess  of  the  records  of  1871, 
for,  within  the  last  five  or  six  years,  cheese-factories 
have  been  established  throughout  the  country, 
particularly  in  the  counties  of  Colchester,  Anna- 
polis, and  Pictou.  The  factories  are  light  wooden 
structm-es,  with  appliances  sufficient  for  working 
up  the  milk  of  two  or  three  hundred  cows.  The 
milk  is  brought  by  the  farmers,  or  by  special 
carriers,  an  account  of  its  weight  kept,  and  it  is 
paid  for  at  a  rate  proportionate  to  the  profits  of 
the  factory  or  market  value  of  the  cheese  produced. 
Although  all  these  factories  are  worked  on  a  more 
or  less  co-o]ierative  system,  experience  has  intro- 
duced variations  in  the  business  management  in 
different  localities.  The  whey  is  used  for  the 
fattening  of  pigs,  and  may  be  carted  home  in 
casks  to  the  farm,  or  the  farmer  may  send  his 
pigs  (limited  in  number  to  the  quantity  of  milk 
he  supplies)  to  the  factory,  where  there  are  pens 
furnished  with  troughs,  into  which  the  whey  is 
conducted  as  it  drains  away  from  the  curd-vats. 

The  common  cattle  of  Nova  Scotia  vary  much  in 
size  and  appearance  in  different  districts,  and  even 
in  the  same  district,  although  they  are  commonly 
spoken  of  as  the  "  native  breed."  They  are  rather 
distinguished  for  their  hardiness  and  suitability  for 
rough  pastures  than  for  size  or  beef  qualities,  yet 
many  of  them  are  excellent  milkers.  No  disease 
is  ever  known  among  them.  For  fifty  years  or 
more  Guernsey  stock  has  been  in  use  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Halifax,  and  the  male  calves  of  the 
Guernsey  cows,  sent  year  by  year  from  the  city  to 
various  jiarts  of  the  country,  have  improved  the 
milking  qualities  of  tjie  cows  in  many  districts. 
Cows  are  frequently  found  giving  exceptionally 
large  yields  of  milk,  or  milk  of  remarkable  rich- 


LIVE-STOCK    IN    NOVA    SCOTIA. 


505 


ncss,  well  adapted  for  buttcv-niaking',  and  in  such 
cases  it  is  usually  found  on  inquiry  that  they  have 
inlieritcd  some  Guernsey,  Jersey,  or  Ayrshire 
blood.  Within  the  last  twelve  years  the  improve- 
ment of  the  neat-stock  has  been  systematic  and 
rapid.  Commencing  wnth  the  year  lSCl5,  the 
Board  of  AgricuUui'e,  acting  under  the  Govern- 
ment, have  made  regular  importations  of  thorough- 
bred stock  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  various 
Agricultural  Societies.  Ayrshires  have  been  im- 
ported from  Scotland  and  from  the  Provinces 
of  Quebec  and  Ontario,  Devons  and  Shorthorn 
Durhams  from  England  and  Ontario,  and  Jerseys 
from  the  United  States.  Twelve  years  ago  there 
was  not  a  single  pedigreed  animal  in  Nova  Scotia. 
Now  there  are  of  thoroughbred  registered  animals 
in  the  province : — 160  Shorthorns,  200  Ayrshires, 
100  Devons,  50  Jerseys,  4  Guernseys,  besides 
many  animals  whose  pedigrees  have  not  been  pre- 
served, especially  of  the  last-named  class.  As  the 
herds  of  thoroughbred  animals  are  being  rapidly 
swollen,  not  only  by  natural  increase,  but  by  yearly 
or  more  frequent  importations  from  abroad,  and 
there  are  at  present  hardly  any  exports  of  this 
class  of  stock,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  domestic 
animals  in  Nova  Scotia  must  be  very  rapidly 
undergoing  change.  There  are  eighty  agricultural 
societies  spread  over  the  eighteen  counties,  and 
every  society  is  enjoined  by  the  Central  Board  to 


maintain  a  certain  number  of  bulls  (proportionate 
to  the  financial  ability  of  the  society)  for  the 
improvement  of  the  stock  in  the  district.  In  this 
way  it  is  hoped,  befoi-e  very  many  years,  to  effect 
a  complete  change  in  the  character  of  the  live- 
stock of  the  whole  province.  In  rich  agricultural 
districts  where  the  raising  of  cattle  for  beef  is  a 
principal  object,  the  Shorthorns  are  chiefly  in 
favour,  and  grade  oxen  of  this  breed  are  now 
becoming  common.  "Where  cattle  are  used  for 
working  as  well  as  for  beef,  the  Devons  are  to  be 
preferred.  In  the  dairy  districts  the  preference 
for  Ayrshires  is  very  decided,  and  is  now  begin- 
ning to  extend  to  Jerseys  and  Guernseys,  pure 
or  grade  Aryshires  being  found  most  useful 
for  cheese-making,  whilst  the  admixture  of 
Guernsey  and  Jersey  blood  increases  the  propor- 
tion of  cream  and  capacity  of  the  milk  for  butter- 
making. 

The  depression  of  trade  during  the  last  year  or 
two  has  given  an  impetus  to  agriculture  in  Nova 
Scotia.  The  country  is  naturally  adapted  for  dairy- 
farming.  Should  the  spirit  now  evoked  continue, 
it  may  be  expected  that  before  many  years  the 
butter  and  cheese  produced  on  the  rich  pastures 
of  this  cool  healthy  country  will  make  their  mark 
in  the  markets  of  Europe  and  America,  as  the 
unrivalled  fruit  of  the  extensive  apple  orchards  has 
already  done. 


CHArTER    XXXV. 


Continental      Dairying, 


France— Sweden— Russia    Denmark— Germany— Austria— Switzerland— Italy— The  Netherlands. 


r^*  S  the  nearest  to  us,  we  commence 
i>^  notice  of    the    Dairying    of    the 
Continent  with 

FRANCE. 

On  the  one  hand  the  dairy  in- 
dustry of  France  is  stimulated  by 
a  very  large  home  consumption  of  cheese 
and  butter,  and  on  the  other  by  an  ex- 
tensive export  trade  in  the  latter  article,  and  a 
not  inconsiderable  one  in  the  former.  The  Nor- 
mandy and  Brittany  butters  have  long  been 
well  received  in  English  markets,  where  they 
have  obtained  a  position  from  which  they  will 
not  easily  be  displaced,  and  they  are  also  ex- 
ported in  considerable  quantities  to  tropical  cli- 
mates, chiefly  to  Brazil  and  the  South  American 
Republics.  Dairy-farming  is  also  extensively 
followed  in  all  the  north-western  departments 
of  France,  in  some  districts  very  successfully, 
on  systems  from  which  British  farmers  may 
copy  much  that  will  be  to  their  advantage. 
The  leading  features  in  them  are  arable  cultiva- 
tion of  the  land  in  certain  districts,  minute  care 
and  cleanliness  in  the  manufacture  of  the  butter, 
and  surpassing  neatness  in  the  methods  of  packing 
it  for  the  market. 

Mr.  n.  M.  Jenkins  says* : — ''■  The  extent  of 
business  done  by  some  of  the  French  butter  mer- 
chants is  astonishing.  For  instance,  the  firm  of 
Lepelletier,  of  Carentan,  whose  trade  is  solely  with 
England,  send  the  butter  over  in  their  own  vessels, 
and  in  1877  their  exportation  exceeded  4,000  tons, 
and  the  estimated  average  value  in  France  for  the 
ten  years  then  ended  was  nearly  half  a  million 
sterling  per  annum.  They  estimated  that  in 
1878   their  trade  would  show   an  increase  of  30 

•  Journal  of  tlie  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England, 
vol.  XV.,  part  i.,  1879. 


per  cent,  over  its  average  amount  in  the  previous 
ten  years. 

"  French  butter  is  sent  to  market  in  a  great 
variety  of  packages,  according  to  the  requirements 
of  each  locality.  For  the  London  market  kegs 
holding  about  70  lbs.  each,  crocks  holding  50  lbs., 
and  boxes  containing  one  dozen  2-lb. rolls  are  most 
frequently  seen.  Extreme  cleanliness  and  refresh- 
ing neatness  (amounting  almost  to  what  the  French 
call  coquet f eric)  are  characteristic  of  all  the  methods, 
and  they  are  further  distinguished  by  the  free 
and  almost  lavish  use  of  clean  linen  linings.  The 
kegs  and  linen  linings  cost  about  Is.  9d.  each;  the 
crocks,  which  are  protected  by  an  outside  basket, 
and  also  lined  with  linen,  cost  about  2s.  each,  in- 
cluding everything ;  and  the  boxes  holding  a  dozen 
rolls  cost  about  9d.  each,  including  linen  and  ])apcr. 
In  the  hottest  weather  the  boxes  are  sometimes 
double,  the  space  between  the  two  boxes  being 
filled  with  cotton  wadding.  In  fact,  the  French 
butter-merchants  thoroughly  realise  the  importance 
of  delivering  llieir  wares  in  an  attractive  condition, 
entailing  neither  trouble  nor  waste  upon  the  re- 
tailer. On  this  point  I  may  be  allowed  to  quote 
the  remark  of  an  English  friend  : — '  My  cheese- 
monger said  to  me  the  other  day, "  Look  here  at  this 
French  box.  I  open  it "  (which  he  did) ;  "  here  is 
the  butter  fit  to  weigh  out  to  you  without  an  atom 
of  loss.  Now  let  us  break  open  this  cask  of  Irish : 
you  see  I  have  to  scrape  it  all  round  and  lose  a  lot, 
besides  the  trouble. '^ '  Small  tins  for  exportation 
to  the  tropics  add  something  considerable  to  the 
price  of  the  butter — namely,  in  round  numbers, 
UA.  for  1-lb.  tins,  .Sid.  for  "2-lb.  tins,  and  5d.  for 
tins  holding  lib.  Tluis  the  cost  per  lb.  decreases 
very  rapidly  in  jiroportion  to  tlie  augmentatioti  in 
the  size  of  the  tin." 

The  cheese-making  of  France,  as  of  most  other 
Continental  countries,  is  wholly  different  in  cha- 


DAIRYING    IN    FRANCE. 


507 


racter  from  that  of  England,  and  it  is  distinguished 
by  a  much  greater  variety  of  features.  While  in 
England  scarcely  any  sort  but  hard  cheese  is  made, 
in  France  there  is  little  else  than  soft  varieties, 
most  of  which  ripen  in  a  short  time  and  yield  a 
quick  return  to  the  farmer.  These  soft  cheeses  are 
small  in  size  and  pungent  in  flavour,  generally 
speaking,  and  are  usetl  less  as  a  food  and  more  as  a 
flavour  than  is  the  case  with  English  cheese.  Many 
of  the  French  kinds  of  cheese,  varying  in  shape  and 
size,  look  very  much  like  cream-cheese  that  is 
mouldy  with  age,  and  some  of  them  are  not  unlike 
it  in  texture  and  flavour.  Being  wholly  different 
in  all  the  essential  points,  and  not  less  so  in  appear- 
ance than  in  flavour,  from  English  cheese,  they  do 
not  at  present,  save  to  a  limited  extent,  appeal  to 
the  tastes  of  the  English  people;  for  though  con- 
siderable quantities  of  the  more  famous  kinds  are 
sent  to  this  country,  they  are  i-equired  for  the  most 
part  for  the  use  of  foreign  residents,  and  it  is  pro- 
bable that  they  will  not,  for  a  long  period,  become 
so  generally  used  in  this  country  as  to  encourage 
the  English  farmers  to  undertake  the  making  of 
them.  At  the  same  time  it  must  be  admitted  that 
our  national  taste  is  undergoing  more  or  less  of 
modification,  so  far  as  dairy  products  are  concerned ; 
and  it  is  none  the  less  true  that  these  various 
foreign  cheeses  could  be  very  closely  imitated  in 
this  country  by  simply  adopting  the  foreign 
methods  of  making. 

There  ai'e,  however,  two  conspicuous  exceptions 
in  France  to  the  general  run  of  soft  cheeses,  and 
these  are  the  justly  famous  Gruyere  and  Roque- 
fort. The  former  of  these  is  certainly  as  "  hard  " 
a  kind  of  cheese  as  we  usually  find  made  in 
English  dairying  districts,  and  the  Roquefort  is 
not  in  any  sense  a  soft  cheese.  Gruyere  is  usually 
associated  with  Switzerland,  but  large  quantities 
of  it  are  made  in  France  ;  it  has  a  peculiar  flavour 
which  is  very  acceptable  to  those  who  are  used  to 
it,  but  it  is  less  tender  in  texture  than  a  ripe 
English  cheese.  It  is  usually  made  in  very  large 
sizes,  flat,  but  of  considerable  diameter,  and  in 
appearance  it  is  one  of  the  handsomest,  as  in 
flavour  it  is  one  of  the  most  pleasing  kinds  of 
cheese  made  anywhere.  Hard,  like  the  English 
cheese,  yet  very  different  in  other  respects,  these 
two  kinds  are  better  known  in  England  than  any 
other  of  the  French  cheeses.  The  Gruyere  is  made 
from  cow's  milk,  and  in  many  countries,  but  the 
Roquefort  is  confined  to  the  south  of  France,  and 
67 


made  from  the   milk   of   sheep    and   goats.      We 
come  now  to  the  dairy  methods  of  the  country. 

Milking. 
The  cows  are  milked  mostly  twice,  in  some 
cases  three  times  per  day.  Wooden  milking-pails 
are  still  in  use  generally,  though  in  not  a  few 
dairies  tinned  pails  are  preferred.  For  transport- 
ing the  milk   short  distances,   for   instance,   from 


Fig.  305. 
Milk-sieve. 


the  stable  to  the  dairy,  iron  or  wooden  tubs 
holding  9  to  18  gallons  are  carried  on  a  pole  by 
two  men.  To  prevent  spilling,  a  wooden  dish  is 
allowed  to  swim  on  the  surface  of  the  milk.  In 
the  department  of  Bessin  the  milk  is  carried  in 
jugs  (Fig.  30i),  which  are  placed  in  wickerwork 
baskets  after  the  Dutch  fashion.  The  milk  is 
passed  through  a  sieve  (Fig.  305)  of  wood  or  tin. 
The  first  consists  simply  of  a  wooden  funnel,  the 
aperture  being  stuffed  with  a  bunch  of  clean  straw  j 
but  the  latter,  which  is  in  use  in  the  improved 
dairies,  has  a  fine  netting  of  horsehair,  which  keeps 
back  effectually  all  impurities.  Another  kind  of 
sieve  is  used  in  the  Bessin.  It  consists  of  a 
wooden  bowl  without  bottom,  and  is  laid  out  with 
a  piece  of  linen.  In  the  Calvados  tin  sieves  (Fig. 
306)  are  employed,  laid  out  with  linen. 

Transport  op  Milk. 

If  the  milk  has  to  be  taken  a  long  way,  tin 
cans  (Fig.  307)  are  used.  Very 
great  care  is  taken  in  France 
as  to  the  treatment  of  milk  re- 
quired to  stand  a  long  transport, 
and  we  think  that  the  immense 
consumption  of  Paris  is  not  the 
least  reason  for  it.  Paris  con- 
sumes no  less  than  50,000  gal- 
lons a  day  of  milk,  which  is 
brought  by  rail,  not  counting 
the  considerable  quantities  pro- 
duced in  the  suburbs  and 
around    them,    which    are    transported    by    cart. 


Fig.  307. -Milk-can. 


608 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


making  in  all  an  estiinated  711,000  gallons  per 
day.  As  to  the  prices,  the  farmevs  are  gene- 
rally paid  10  to  13c.  (hi. 
to  lid.)  per  litre  (If  pints), 
by  the  wholesale  dealers, 
who  supply  the  retailers  in 
Paris  for  20  to  22  e.  (2d.), 
while  the  consumer  must 
pay  25  to  30  c.  (2|d.  to 
3d.)  per  litre ;  some  of  the 
leading  dealers,  who  send 
out  their  milk  in  a  most 
cleanly  manner  in  sealed 
cans,  can  command  70  c. 
(7d.)  jier  litre,  or  45  c. 
(4.id.)  per  half-litre,  de- 
livered at  the  house.  Milk 
from  the  suburbs  or  the 
town  itself,  "  baby's  milk," 
as  it  is  called,  is  much 
more  expensive ;  35  c.  to  1 
franc     (3|d.    to    lOd.)    per 

litre,    or   4d.   to    Is.  per  quart.       The    treatment 
of   milk  destined  for  the  Parisian   market  is  the 


in     a     water-bath     (Fig.    310)    filled    with    cold 
water.     In  the  evening    (.">  —  7   p.m.),    when    the 


;!0.s.— Milk  PAILS. 

following : — The  morning's  milk  amives  at  the 
depots,  from  whence  it  is  sent  to  Paris,  at  8  or 
10  a.m.  It  is 
then  poured 
into  tin  pails 
(Fig.  308), 
which  are  placed 
in  the  water- 
bath  (Fig.  309), 
which  has  been 
previously 
heated  to  the 
boiling-point. 
After  the  milk 
has  reached 
206°    Fahr.    it 

is   cooled    as   rapidly    as    possible    by    jiouring   it 
back    in    the    railway-cans,    and     putting    these 


:.  309.— HoT-WATEK  Bath  fob  Milk. 


evening's  milk  arrives,  it  is  placed  directly  in  cold 
water  and  kept  there  to  cool.  Afterwards  the 
morning's  and  evening's  milk  are  mixed  in  a  large 
iron  vessel  (Fig.  311),  in  which  a  .sieve  (b)  with  a 
high  sideboard  (h)  is  hung  on  two  hooks  (cc).  The 
milk  is  poured  from  the  cans  through  the  sieve, 
and  the  cans  (p)  are  filled  again  directly  by  the  tap 
(r)  .  Then  the  cans  are  packed  in  railway-ears  (Fig. 
312),  and  go  by  the  night  trains  to  Paris,  where 
they  are  immediately  distributed  to  the  retailers 
by  carts.  In  great  heat,  sometimes  funnels  (Fig. 
313)  are  emploj'ed,  filled  with  ice.  The  ends  of 
these  funnels  fit  exactly  in  the  raihvay-eans,  and  a 


Cold-water  Bath  for  Milk. 


small  tul)e    (/)  allows  the  air  to  escape  when  milk 
is  poured  in.     In  the  lower  part  of  the  funnel  at 


BUTTER   IN    FRANCE. 


509 


a — h  a  perforated  tin  disk,  uud  at  c — d  a  fine  metal 
netting'  are  placed,  whieli  can  be  taken  out  for 
cleaning. 

Milk-setting. 

In  France  the  utensils  for  milk-setting  are  still 
very  undeveloped  in   shape,   and   often  positively 


i"\^.  :_;il.- iliLk.-nixLNG  Can. 

bad.  We  only  mention  the  earthenware  milk-pots 
of  the  Bretagne,  &c.  (Fig.  314),  the  Bessin  (Fig. 
315),  and  Isigny  (Fig.  316).  Flat  dishes  are  also 
used  a  great  deal.  For  taking  the  cream  off,  shells, 
tin  and  wooden  spoons,  sometimes  perforated,  are 
employed.  The  newer  methods  of  milk-setting 
have  as  yet  found  few  fi-iends  in  France. 

BUTTER-JIAKING. 

The  most  famous  French  butter  is  made  in  the 
Bessin    district    of  Normandy,    and  is  known   as 


"»•#■#»-. 


finest  quality.      The  process  is  described    by  Mr. 
II.  ^I.  Jenkins  in  the  following  manner: — 

"  In  this  district  the  cows  are  milked  morning 
and  evening,  and  in  some  cases  three  times  a 
day,  into  jug-shaped  vessels,  made  of  copper  lined 
with  tm,  and  holding  about  i,  gallons  each.  The 
milk  is  taken  to  the  dairy,  and  that  from 
the  several  cows  being  more  or  less  mixed 
together,  it  is  strained  through  a  sieve  lined 
with  clean  linen  into  earthenware  buckets. 
These  buckets 
are  placed  in  a 
row  in  the  milk- 
house,  generally 
on  a  course  or 
two  .of  brick- 
work raised 
above  the  gene- 
ral level  of  the 
floor,  and  the 
milk  is  then  set 

for   twelve    hours.     The  cream  skimmed  after 
the  first  twelve  hours  is  not  mixed  with  what 
is  taken  ofi:  afterwards  until  immediately  before 
churning,  and  in   some  instances  butter  of  ex- 
ceptional delicacy  for  Paris  is  made  entirely  from 
the  twelve  hours'  cream.     Some  farmei-s  let   the 
milk    stand    twenty-four   hours    in    summer  and 
forty-eight  in  winter,  and  others  even  longer  still, 
but  it  is  almost  needless  to  add  that  they  do  not 
get  the  best  price  for  their  butter.     Nor  does  the 


'■(■/-'■."•'^^ 


Fig.  314. 


Fig.  315.  Fig.  316. 

EAUTHENWAHE   JIlLK-POTS. 


Fig.  312. — R.iu,\VAY  JIiLK-VAN. 


Isigny  butter.  The  best  dairies  in  this  district 
(Fig.  317)  are  built  and  arranged  with  sjjecial 
regaixi  to  cleanliness  and  uniform  temperature,  and 
no  pains  are   spared  to  produce  an  article  of  the 


increase  in  quantity  which  they  obtain  compensate 
them   for  lack  of  quality. 

"  The  cream  is  churned  twice  or  three  times 
a  week  in  a  barrel  churn.  Generally  the  true 
Norman  barrel  churn  is  used  (Fig.  318).  It  has 
fixed  dash-boards,  and  they  do  not  extend  to  the 
circumference  of  the  chum.  Thus  the  only  corners 
where  butter  or  buttermilk  could  lodge  are  very 
small  ones  at  each  end  of  the  dash-boards.     The 


510 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


dash-boards  are  perfectly  plain  laths,  and  the  ehurn 
altogether  is  a  model,  of  siniplieity  and  effective- 
ness, comiiletely  illustrating  the  truth  of  the  con- 
clusion arrived  at 
by  the  judges 
of  dairy  appli- 
ancesat  Bristol — 
'  that  numerous 
and  large  dashers 
are  a  mistiike/ 
According  to  the 
size  of  the  churn, 
it  is  furnished 
with  one  or  two 
large  openings, 
which  are  opened 
and  shut  by  one 
of  the  usual  con- 
trivances em- 
jjloyed  in  other 
barrel  churns. 
There   is   also    a 

vent-peg  jilaced  in  or  near  the  head,  and  intended 
to  be  used  as  a  ventilator  if  necessary,  and  a 
spigot  placed  in  the  bulge  midway  between  the 
two  large  openings  of  a  large  churn  or  opposite 
the  large  opening  of  a  small  one.  This  spigot 
plays  an  important  part  in  the  process  of  butter- 
making. 

"  The  churn  is  about  half  filled  with  cream,  at 
a  temperature  more  frequently  guessed  at  than 
tested — of  about  57"'  Fahr.,  and  the  best  butter- 
makers  do  not  churn  at  a 
greater  pace  than  from  thirty 
to  forty  revolutions  per  minute, 
according  to  the  season.  As  a 
rule,  the  butter  comes  in  from 
twenty  to  thirty  minutes, 
and  the  cluuner  listens  most 
attentively  so  as  to  detect  in 
an  instant  the  slightest  altera- 
tion in  the  sound  of  the 
churning  cream.  An  altera- 
tion being  detected,  or  even 
being  thought  to  be  detected, 
the  churn  is  at  once  stopped,  in  such  a  position 
that  the  spigot  is  at  about  the  level  of  the  cream 
in  the  ehurn.  The  spigot  is  then  carefully  with- 
drawal, and  the  adherent  matter  minutely  examined. 
If  this  is  still  cream,  the  churning  is  renewed  and 
the  sound  carefully  attemled   to ;    but    if,   on  the 


A    XOKMAN    DAIliV. 


contrary,  there  are  particles  of  butter  on  the 
spigot,  no  larger  even  than  a  pin's  head,  the 
churning  proper  is  finished.     A  quarter  of  a  tui-n 

of  the  handle 
now  brings  the 
spigot  to  its 
lowest  (nearest 
the  ground),  and 
immediately  be- 
neath it  is  placed 
a  sieve  over  a 
vessel  to  receive, 
or  over  a  con- 
duit to  carry 
away,  the  butter- 
milk. The  spi- 
got being  then 
slightly  drawn 
out,  the  butter- 
milk eseajies  and 
filters  through 
the  sieve,  which 
retains  even  the  smallest  particle  of  butter  which 
may  be  carried  out  with  the  buttermilk.  When 
most  of  the  buttermilk  has  thus  been  withdrawn 
from  the  churn,  the  small  quantity  of  escaped 
butter  is  replaced  in  it,  and  fresh  spring  water 
is  also  put  into  the  churn  until  it  is  half  full. 
Three  or  four  turns  are  then  given,  and  the 
mixture  of  water  and  buttermilk  is  again  with- 
drawn as  before.  This  process  is  repeated,  often 
seven  or  eight  times,  until  the  water  which  comes 
out  of  the  churn  is  as  bright 
and  as  clear  as  when  it  was 
put  into  it. 

"  These  various  washings 
and  turnings  completely  cleanse 
the  butter  from  the  butter- 
milk from  which  it  had  been 
separated  during  the  process  of 
churning,  and  at  the  same 
time  they  consolidate  gradually 
the  particles  which  have  been 
individually  thoroughly  scoured. 
At  the  end  of  the  process  the 
butter  may  be  seen  floating  as  one  mass  in  a 
small  lake  of  clear  water.  When  removal  from 
the  churn  by  means  of  large  wooden  spoons  or 
spatuhe,  the  butter  requires  no  more  working 
than  is  sufficient  to  solidate  it  and  express  the 
particles  of  clear  water  from  its  interstices.     The 


BUTTER   IN    FRANCE. 


511 


butter   tluis   made   goes    direct    to    Paris,  and   1 
am  infoniifd  on  hig-h  autliority  that  the  farmer 


jI'.i.-  Lump  ok  Buttek. 


liUTTiiH-JtASKET. 


receives  for  it    as  much  as  iis.  and  upwards  per 
English  pound,  according  to  the  season. 

"  The  mere  fact  of  such  high  prices  being  given 
for  first-class  butter  implies  that  there  is  compara- 
tively little  of  it.  In  fact,  it  may  be  safely 
asserted  that  none  of  it  comes  to  England,  and 
that  the  butter  which  is  still  good  enough  to  com- 
mand higher  prices  than  our  own  on  the  London 
market  is  made  with  far  less  care  and  skill  than 
that  just  described.  A  careful  inquiry  into  the 
manner  in  which  butter  is  made  in  the  several  dis- 
tricts of  Normandy  has  convinced  me  that,  other 
things  being  equal,  the  quality  of  the  butter 
depends  upon  the  earlier  or  later  period  at 
which  the  ^cashing  in  the  churn  is  commenced. 
This  is  so  far  recognised  by  some  of  the  dairy- 
farmers  that  they  have  their  chm'ns  fitted 
with  a  glass  window  to  enable  the  eye  to  see, 
and  thus  assist  the  ear  to  hear  when  the  butter 
first  begins  to  be  formed." 

The  butter  of  Isigny  is  formed  into  conical 
lumps  (Fig.  319),  wrapped  in  a  piece  of  clean 
linen,  and  put  each  into  a  wicker  or  wooden 
basket  lined  with  straw  and  sewed  up  with 
some  coarse  linen  (Fig.  320).  The  superior 
brands  of  this  butter  go  mostly  to  Paris,  the 
good  and  middling  qualities  are  bought  up 
by  dealers,  assorted,  salted,  and  exported  to 
England. 

The  butter  of  Gournay  has  also  a  very  good 
name,  and  fetches,  after  Isigny,  the  largest 
prices  in  the  market.  The  fabrication  resembles 
very  closely  the  one  just  described.  AVhen  the  butter 
has  formed  into  pellets  of  the  size  of  a  pea,  the 
stopper  is  taken  from  the  small  opening  of  the 
barrel  churn,  and  the  buttermilk  allowed  to  run 


out  through  a  hair-sieve  to  collect  the  small  par- 
ticles of  butter,  which  will  come  out,  though  one 
is  careful  to  cover  part  of  the  hole  with  his  fingers. 
Then  the  stopper  is  put  back,  the  butter  on  the 
hair-sieve  having  been  returned,  and  cold  water  is 
poured  into  the  churn.  After  turning  a  few  times 
the  water  is  drained  off,  fresh  water  added,  and 
tliis  is  repeated  until  it  runs  off  quite  clear. 

The  butter  de  la  Prevalais  (Hie  et  Vilaine)  is 
also  well  known  enough,  but  is  an  inferior  produc- 
tion, only  made  marketable  by  an  immense  amount 
of  labour  bestowed  on  it,  which  might  be  much 
lessened  if  the  dairying  was  reformed  there  in 
23rinciple.  The  cows  are  milked  at  3 — 5  a.m.,  and 
again  at  noon,  but  not  in  the  evening.  Special 
dairies  are  very  scarce,  and  mostly  the  milk  is 
kept  in  the  kitchen.  The  milk  is  set  in  unglazed 
earthenware  pots,  containing  2  to  4  gallons.  Of 
com'se  they  require  a  daily  boiling  in  water  and 
a  great  deal  of  scrubbing  to  keep  them  clean. 
With  the  exception  of  some  dairies  which  make 
sweet  butter  for  neighbouring  towns,  the  milk  is 
allowed  to  turn  sour  before  churning.  Whether 
sweet  or  sour  butter  is  made,  a  part  of  the  milk  is 
added  to  the  cream  for  churning.  The  churns  used 
are  the  common  cylindrical  or  slightly  conical  tubs, 
and  their  movement  is  sometimes  made  easier  by 


Fig.  321. 

simple  mechanical  means  (Fig.  321).  When  the 
butter  has  formed  into  pellets,  they  are  taken  out 
with  a  spoon  and  put  into  a  flat  wooden  dish  (Fig. 
322),  where  they  are  worked  by  hand  for  a  long 
time,  but  without  using  any  water.     Indeed,  this 


512 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


butter  is  very  often  overworked,  and  therefore  not 
durable  but  greasy. 

Fiuistcre  has  a  dairy  industry  rich  in  original 
details.  Considering  that  these  are  the  result  of 
sujierstition  or 
ignorance,  it  may 
be  believed  that 
dairying  in  these 
districts  is  still 
at  a  very  low 
point.  Wc  will 
only  mention  that  unsalted  butter  is  deemed 
unhealthy,  and  is  therefore  salted  immediately 
after  making.  Also  skim-milk  in  an  unboiled 
state    is    thought    injurious   to   the   health,    and 


together.  In  other  cases  the  milk  is  not  skimmed 
imtil  after  it  has  turned  sour,  which  comes  to 
nearly  the  same  thing,  as  the  souring  of  the  milk 
causes  the  separation  of  a  portion  of  the  curd  from 
the  whey.  The  objects  in  view  are  to  increase  the 
quantity  of  so-called  butter,  and  to  obtain  a  con- 
stant supply  of  curd,  which  is  a  staple  article  of 
food  for  the  Breton  labourers  who  are  fed  on  the 
farm,  and  indeed  for  people  in  more  affluent  cir- 
cumstances. It  need  not  be  said  that  the  money 
return  from  such  an  attempt  to  do  two  things 
together — namely,  cream-rising  and  curd-separat- 
ing— that  ought  to  be  done  in  succession,  is  not 
favourable  to  the  pockets  of  those  who  follow  it ; 
but  the  Breton  is,  more  than  any  other  Frenchman, 


Classijication  of  French  Cheese. 


I.  Fromages  de  consistence 
moUe. 
(Soft  cheese.) 


II.  From.ages  de  consistence 
solide  ou  pute  ferme. 
(Hard  cheese.) 


1.  From;iges  frais. 

(New  cheese.) 


Maigres,  mous  k  la  pie. 

a,  la  creme,  double  creme,  Neufch&tel,  Bondons. 

de  Rouen,  Malakotf,  &c. 

Coulommiers,  Gournay,  Mont  d'Or  fruis. 


2.  Fromages  affines. 

(Improved  cheese.  ] 


Maroilles,  Rollot,  Maquelines, ,  Compiegnes,  Neufchatcl. 

Camembert,  Livarot,  Pont  I'EviJque,  Jlignot. 

Brie,  Coulommier,  Troytjs,  Ervy,  Barberey,  Chaource. 

St.  Klorentin,  OUivet,   Epoisse,  Laugres. 

Mont  d'Or,  Saint  Marcellin. 

Senecterre,  G^rardmer  ou  Gerome. 


1.  Fromages  presses  et  sales. 

(Pressed  and  salted  cheese.) 


HoUandes  frangais,  fromage  de  Bergues. 
Fromage  du  Cantal  ou  d'Auvergne. 
Septmoncel,  Gex,  Mont  C^nis,  Gerome  sec. 
Sassenage,  Roquefort  et  fa(;on  Roquefort. 


!.  Fromages  cuits,  presses  et  sales.  )      Q^^.es  fran^ais,  Port  du  Salut,  Rangiport. 

(Cooked,  heated,  and  pressed  cheese.)    )  •"  "  ■         o  i 


may  not  be  brought  to  the  market  without  being 
boiled,  wherefore  it  is  boiled  in  pots  until  the 
surface  is  covered  by  a  thick  skin.  In  this  state 
it  is  brought  to  the  market,  and  the  price  is  put 
the  higher  the  thicker  the  skin.  Another  kind 
of  milk  is  prepared  by  boiling  whole  milk  -with  a 
little  old,  soured  milk;  it  is  called  le  gros  lait. 
The  churning  is  only  done  once  or  twice  a  week. 
The  production  of  butter  in  the  Finistere  is  very 
considerable. 

Some  French  methods  of  butter-making  are 
none  of  the  best,  and  Mr.  Jenkins  speaks  of  them 
in  the  following  manner  : — "  In  the  different  parts 
of  Brittany,  butter  is  made  by  systems  which 
vary  between  that  of  Isigny,  already  described,  to 
the  churning  of  a  mixture  of  cream  and  curd.  In 
the  most  pronounced  of  the  latter  methods  the 
milk  is  actually  curdled  by  artificial  means,  so 
that  to  a  certain  extent  curd  and  cream  may  rise 


obstinate  in  his  adherence  to  old  practices,  which 
even  time  and  tradition  should  allow  to  be  more 
honoured  in  the  breach  than  the  observance." 

CUEESE-MAKING. 

Pom-ian  gives  the  above  table  of  cheese  made 
in  France. 

Mi(i(/res,mous  a  la  pie  (Skim-milk,  New  (^heesc) . 


Fig.  323. 


Fig.  324. 
Cheese-moulds. 


— The  milk  is  U'Et  to  stand  until  soured,  when  the 
cream  is  taken  off  and  the  curd  tilled  into  a  form 
of  wood,  iron,  or  earthenware  (Figs.  Z12>,  324-,  'i'lh), 


FRENCH    CHEESES. 


513 


and  placed  on  a  table  on  which  the  whey  is  col- 
lected and  drained  off  (Fig-.  3£6).     From  a  gallon 


"7  /  /  /  /  /  /  /   ^^7Z 

Fig.   32G. — CHEESE-TiVBLE. 

of  milk  about  one  pomid  of  this  cheese  is  made, 
which  is  eaten  fresh  with  a  little  salt  added. 

Fromagehlanc  (White  Cheese). — Tliis  cheese  is 
made  by  the  great  milk-dealers  of  Paris  from  the 
milk  left  unsold  on  their  hands.  The  skimmed 
milk  is  left  alone  for  twenty-four  hours  to  three 
days,  according  to  the  season,  but  before  it  gets 
thick.  The  milk  is  warmed  to  77"  Fahr.,and  then 
the  rennet  is  added.  When  thick  the  curd  is  care- 
fully put  in  successive  layers  into  wooden  forms, 
consisting  of  a  hoop,  the  bottom  of  which  is 
covered  with  wickerwork.  These  hoops  are  VI 
inches  in  diameter,  and  about  2  inches  high, 
and  are  placed  on  little  straw  mats.  After  the 
whey  is  drained  off,  the  cheeses  in  their  hoops 
are  put  into  tin  receptacles  made  for  this  purpose 
(Fig.  327)  for  transportation.  In  the  shops  these 
cheeses  are  kept  on  perforated  tin  plates,  so  as  to 
allow  the  whey  to  run  off,  which  is  still  let  out  by 
the  cheese. 

Fromage  a  la  crhne  (Cream  Cheese). — In  Paris 
cream  cheese  is  universally  liked,  and  almost  every 


Fig.  327. 

visitor  during  the  season  has  seen  the  people 
carrpng  in  baskets  the  heart-shaped  forms  of 
wickerwork  containing  the  favourite  fromage  a  la 
crhne.  Fresh  curd  is  allowed  to  drain  very  com- 
pletely,   and   afterwards    thoroughly   mixed   with 


cream,  for  which  operation  a  small  tin  trowel  is 
used.  When  the  mass  has  become  a  homogenous 
paste,  a  wickerwork  form  (Fig.  328)  is  lined  out 
with  a  piece  of  fine  linen  and 
filled  with  curd,  which  is  pressed 
down  with  a  trowel  or  spoon. 
In  two  hours  the  cheeses  have 
acquired  enough  firmness  to 
keep  their  shape,  and  they  are 
sold  as  soon  as  possible,  to  be 
eaten  with  some  fresh,  sweet 
cream.  In  the  summer  months  large  quantities  of 
this  cheese  are  daily  sent  to  Paris  from  the  depart- 
ments. There  they  are  generally  made  of  whole 
milk. 

Fromages  ile  NenfcJuUel  frais  (Fresh  Neufchatel 
Cheese) . — This  cheese  is  of  cylindrical  shape,  about 
3  inches  high  and  2  inches  in  diameter.  To  whole 
milk  about  half  its  volume  in  cream  is  added 
from  other  milk,  and  it  is  then  coagulated  with 
rennet.  The  curd  is  left  standing  until  the  whey 
is  mostly  separated,  and  then  filled  in  the  forms, 
breaking  it  as  little  as  possible.  It  is  slightly 
pressed  by  putting  a  small  weight  on  the  top, 
and  the  linen  wrapped  round  it  turned  every  hour. 
When  it  has  acquired  the  necessar}^  consistency,  it 
is  taken  out  of  the  form,  wraj)ped  in  thin  blotting- 
paper,  and  placed  on  straw,  where  it  keeps  for  ten 
to  twelve  days. 

Coidommier  frais  (Fresh  Coulommier  Cheese). 
— These  cheeses  have  a  diameter  of  5  inches,  and 
are  rather  more  than  1  inch  in  height.  They  are 
made  like  the  foregoing,  some  makers  preferring, 
however,  to  mix  the  cream  with  the  curd  when  the 
latter  has  been  already  put  in  the  forms. 

Fromages  snisses,  Bondons  cle  Rouen,  Mala- 
i'offs,  and  Anciois  imjieriaii.r. — These  are  all  made 
in  the  same  way,  and  their  difference  lies  only  in 


the  shapes,  as  may  be  seen,  for  instance,  in  the 
Bondons  {a),  the  Malakoffs  (i),  the  Imperiaux  (e). 
Fig.  329.  The  most  important  ones  of  this  class 
are  the  suisses.  Whole  milk  is  warmed  to  about 
77"  Fahr.,  and  rennet  added.  The  curd  is  worked, 
mixed  with  cream,  slightly  pressed,  and  the  whey 
allowed  to  run  off.  The  action  of  the  rennet  must 
be  a  slight  one,  so  that  the  curd  does  not  get  too 


514 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


hard.  The  curd  is  collected  into  cloths  and  hung 
uj)  for  the  whey  to  drain  off.  Afterwards  it  is 
j)ut  between  two  boards  or  hurdles  and  wei<jhted  to 
effect  this  purpose  still  more  completely.  The  curd 
is  now  rolled  in  a  cylindrical  form  and  wrapped 
in  paper;  larger  quantities  are,  however,  much 
better  made  with  the  apparatus  sliown  in  Fig.  330. 


fc  L- 


Fig.  330. 

While  the  little-  wooden  piston  paper  rolls  are 
arranged  in  the  little  tin  cylinders,  the  curd  is 
fdled  in,  and  the  cheeses  are  taken  out  when 
hardened  sufficiently.  When  the  whey  is  quite 
drained  off,  the  cheeses  are  packed  in  boxes  con- 
taining a  dozen  of  them,  and  sent  to  the  place  of 
consumption  as  rapidly  as  possible.  These  cheeses 
are  even  made  by  machiner3\ 

Fromage  de  Camembert. — This  cheese  (Fig.  331) 
is  about  4  inches  in  diameter  and  1  inch  in  height. 
The  making  has  a  great  many  nice  points,  and  is 
considered  difficult.  The  rennet  is  added  to  the 
whole  milk  at  about  78"  Fahr.,  as  soon  as  possible 


Fig.  331. 


Fig.  333. 


after  each  milking  has  been  poured  into  stone 
pots  (Fig.  333),  containing  about  15  gallons. 
Great  care  is  taken  to  secure  a  imiform  texture 
of  the  curd  by  employing  the  rennet  with  all 
possible  precaution.  The  vases  are  then  covered 
up  and  left  standing  for  four  to  six  hours,  when 
the  whey  must  have  separated  from  the  curd.  The 
tin  forms  are  then  placed  on  mats  of  bamboo 
splints;  the  first  (Fig.  333)  are  12  cm.  high  and 
of  the   same  diameter.     With   a  spoon  the  curd 


is  fdled  into  the  forms  in  such  a  way  that  they  are 
full  with  four  spoonfuls  each.  In  summer  the 
curd  lets  off  more  whej^  in  the  form  than  in  winter, 
and  sometimes  they  have  to  be  filled  up  with  curd 
from  the  next  cheese-making.  After  some  time 
the  forms  are  turned,  and  at  the  same  time  the  top 
of  the  cheese  is  salted.  The  next  morning  the 
cheeses  are  taken  out  of  the  forms,  rublied  all 
around  and  on  the  lower  side  ^\•ith  salt,  and  placed 
on  boards,  where  they  remain  for  one  or  two  days. 
In  some  districts,  instead  of  the  stone  jugs, 
smaller  earthenware  pots  are  used,  which  are 
wheeled  on  a  kind 
of  rolling  chair 
(Fig.  334)  to  the 
form  tables. 

When  the  salt- 
ing has  been  done 
as  above  mentioned, 
the  cheeses  are  re- 
moved to  the 
sechoir  or  Jialoir 
(drying-room),  and 
put  on  shelves 
which  have  been 
covered  with  straw. 
This  room  must 
have  exclusive  ar- 
rangements fiir  ven- 
tilation. The  cheeses  stay  here  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  days,  and  are  at  first  turned  every  day,  later 
on  every  second  day.  !Monld  apjicars  on  the  third 
day,  with  brown  Wwy  dots,  which  grow  in  about 
eight  or  ten  days  into  a  rank  white  vegetation.  The 
cheese  becomes  a  dark  yellow  in  colour.  ^Vhen  the 
cheeses  have  arrived  at  a  certain  state  of  softness, 
\\hich  can  only  be  ascertained  by  experience,  they 
are  taken  into  the  cave  de  perfection,  or  cellar.  This 
cellar  must  be  kept  somewhat  damp  and  of  a  very 
even  temperature;  no  draughts  are  allowed.  Here 
the  cheeses  remain  twenty  or 
thirty  days,  and  are  turned 
every  day  or  second  day. 
The  treatment  at  this  stage 
is  a  very  complicated  and 
difficult  one,  and  on  it  de- 
pends the  success  of  the  dairy. 
Fromage  de  Livarof. — In 
the  Calvados,  where  this  cheese  is  made,  the  milk 
is  set  in  earthenware  conical  dishes  (Fig.  335), 
and  the  cream  taken  off  after  twenty-four  hours. 


Fig.  334. 


Fig.  335. 


FRENCH    CHEESES. 


515 


The  milk  is  llion  slowly  lienfcd  nntil  a  very 
line  skin  forms  at  the  surfaeo,  wliich  is  taken 
away  and  tlie  rennet  added.  The  forms  are  tlie 
same  as  Tised  for  the  Camemherts,  but  larger 
(15  cm.  diameter)  and  ])erf orated.  They  are 
made  very  like  the  Camcmberts,  only  the  curd 
is  thoroughly  cut  up  before  boing^  filled  in  the 
formsj  and  the  cheeses  are  wetted  with  water  when 
being  turned  in  the  sccliorr,  or  with  salt  water, 
should  they  have  not  yet  enough  salt.  After 
having  been  eight  or  ten  days  in  the  cave,  their 
top  and  lower  sides  are  bound  up  with  horse-tongue 
leaves  {Ti/pha  calij'ol'ui)  in  order  to  keep  the  cheeses 
in  shape.  They  remain  altogether  three  or  four 
months  in  the  "  cave/'  and  are  coloured  before 
the  sale.  This  cheese  is  generally  made  in  July, 
August,  and  September,  and  in  some  cases  it  is 
made  from  new  milk  with  cream  added,  like  the 
Neufehatcl  or  the  Stilton. 

Fromnge  de  Punt  I'Evcqne. — This  cheese  was 
made  as  long  ago  as  the  thirteenth  century.  Several 
different  kinds  are  made  : — First  qualiiy  are  called 
fie  commando,  or  delait  donx;  they  are  maxle  cither 
with  milk  fresh  from  the  cow,  or  even  mixed  with 
the  cream  of  the  last  milking.  Second  qnalit//. — ■ 
With  the  fresh  morning's  milk  the  two  last  milk- 
ings  from  the  day  before  (noon  and  evening)  are 
mixed  after  the  cream  has  been  taken  off.  Third 
quality. — The  skimmed  milk  is  used  from  the  three 
milkings  of  the  day  before. 

The  first  quality  is  made  in  tbe  follo«ang 
way : — The  milk  is  put  on  the  fire  until  a  little 
more  than  tepid,  and  then  the  rennet  is  added. 
The  action  of  the  rennet  ought  to  be  completed  in 
about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  then  the  curd  is 
cut  up  with  a  wooden  sword,  and  pressed  with  a 
dish  to  make  the  whey  separate.  For  ten  minutes 
the  curd  is  covered,  and  then  heaped  on  mats  of 
bamboo  splints  and  left  there  to  drain,  after  which 
it  is  filled  into  the  square  forms  made  of  wood. 
In  the  first  twenty  minutes  the  forms  are  turned 
seven  or  eight  times,  and  then  taken  to  another 
table,  where  they  ai"e  turned  as  often  again  during 
the  rest  of  the  day.  After  forty-eight  hours  the 
cheeses  are  taken  out  of  the  forms,  salted  with  dry, 
fine  salt,  and  salting  on  one  side  in  the  morning, 
on  the  other  in  the  evening,  is  continued  until  the 
cheeses  are  sufficiently  salted.  They  are  afterwards 
placed  on  drying  hurdles  covered  with  rye-straw, 
and  left  to  dry  in  an  airy  place  for  two  or  three 
days,  during  which  time  they  are  turned  once  a 
68 


d;iy.  Now  they  are  broiiglit  to  the  cellar  and 
packed  tightly  against  each  other  in  lx)xes.  The 
treatment  the  cheeses  receive  in  the  cellar  is  the 
following: — They  are  turned  every  second  day  for 
two  weeks  to  four  months,  those  containing  much 
cream  taking  the  least  time  for  curing.  Genei-ally 
about  one-twentieth  part  of  boiling  water  is  jjoured 
into  the  milk  just  before  adding  the  rennet,  as  the 
people  believe  this  to  make  the  cheese  soft.  Of 
course  this  is  not  correct,  and  can  only  tend  to 
spoil  the  quality. 

Fromarje  de  NenfcIi(i(cL — We  have  already 
described  the  making  of  Neufchatels  for  consump- 
tion in  their  fresh  state ;  but  the  making  of  cured 
Neufehatels  is  also  a  considerable  industry.  Fresh 
milk  is  brought  to  a  room  wliieii  ought  to  be  kept 
at  a  uniform  temperature  of  59'^  Fahr.,  and  poured 
into  pots  containing  about  4  gallons  each,  when 
rennet  is  added,  and  the  pots  covered  up  with  some 
woollen  stuif  to  keep  them  warm.  Twenty-four 
hours  after  the  addition  of  the  rennet  the  curd 
and  whey  are  poured  into  a  wicker  basket  or  per- 
forated wooden  dish  lined  with  a  piece  of  linen, 
and  left  there  twelve  hours  to  drain.  Now  the 
curd  is  wrapped  in  the  linen  on  which  it  lies,  put 
into  a  perforated  wooden  box,  and  pressed  by  put- 
ting weights  on  the  top.  After  again  twelve  hours 
have  elapsed  it  is  worked  into  a  stiff  paste  with 
the  hands.  This  curd  is  filled  into  little  tin  cylin- 
ders of  2J  inches  in  diameter  and  3  inches  in 
height,  smoothed  on  both  sides  and  taken  out 
again.  Then  it  is  salted  on  both  ends  by  strewing 
some  fine  salt  on  them,  and  afterwards  treating 
the  sides  in  the  same  way  by  i-oUing  them  lightly 
between  the  hands,  which  are  covered  with  salt. 
The  cheeses  are  left  to  drain  for  twenty- four  hours, 
and  are  placed  afterwai'ds  in  another  room  on  dry 
straw  on  shelves,  so  that  they  do  not  touch  each 
other.  During  the  next  two  or  three  weeks  they 
are  turned  often  enough  so  as  not  to  lose  in  shape 
and  stick  to  the  straw.  At  the  end  of  this  time 
they  are  covered  by  a  blue  mould,  and  then  they 
are  taken  into  another  room,  where  they  are  put 
on  straw  as  before,  but  on  their  ends,  and  turned 
from  time  to  time.  Another  three  weeks  elapse, 
when  red  spots  begin  to  be  visible  on  the  cheeses. 
In  this  condition  they  are  marketable,  but  not 
entirely  cured  until  two  weeks  more.  In  this 
state  they  can  be  kept  about  two   months. 

Fromage  de  Brie. — This  well-known  cheese 
rejiresents  a  great  French  industry.      It  is  made  in 


516 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


several  (li'iiardnciils,  l)iit,   in  tlic  ^■rcatcsl  tccluiical  tiiii.  in   dianictcr.     Those  forms  (Fifj.  .337)  are  fin 

perfection    in    tlie    clej)artments    de    la   Meuse  et  hoops    (l),  resting'  on  a  small  mat  of  rushes  (b) 

Marne.     We    give    the   description    of   the  dairy  placed  on  a  table   (a).     The  hoops  are  filled  by 

Maison-du-Val    near    Revit;ny    (Meuse),    as    de-  carefully  cuttinp:  slices  from  the  curd  with  a  per- 

scribcd  by  Professor  Ponrian  : —  forated  tin  spoon    (Fig.   3.'5s).     After  some  time 

The  milk  is   collected  in    vans,   on   which    tin  the  hoous  are  changed  for  others  which  are  less 


Fi'',  3oG. — MiLK-HEATiNc;  Apparatus. 


cans  of  2  to  4  gallons  capacity  are  placed.  The 
milk  is  strained  and  then  poured  into  large 
copper  receptacles,  where  it  is  heated  by  steam, 
the  receptacles  having  double  bottoms  (Fig.  33G). 
AVhen  the  wished-for  temperature  has  been  arrived 
at,  the  receptacles  are  ojicned  and  the  milk  runs 
in  a  kind  of 
gutter  into  the 
cheese  -  making 
room,  where  it 
is  received  in 
buckets  and 
poured  into  re- 
ceptacles,  where 

the  rennet  is  added.  In  about  two  hours  and 
a  half  some  cream  has  risen,  which  is  taken  off, 
as  it  would  be  detrimental  to  the  uniformity 
of  texture  in  the  cheese.  This  represents  only 
about  3  lbs.  of  butter  per  100  gallons  of  milk. 
About  fifteen  minutes  or  half  an  hour  after- 
wards, when  the  whey  appears  sufficiently  clear 
above  the  cm-d,  the  latter  is  jait  into  forms  which 
are  made  of  three  sizes — viz.,   Kiln.,   l;2in.,  and 


Fisj.  3.37. 


high,  and  can  be  made  smaller  or  lai'ger  .as  con- 
venient (Fig.  339).  The  next  morning  early  the 
cheeses  are  taken  into  another  room,  and  after 
leaving  them  for  a  few  hours  to  settle,  the  hoops 
are  opened  and  the  fop  as  well  as  the  rim  of  each 
cheese  is  salted  and  the  hooji  put  on  again, changing 
the  mats  for  dry 
ones  at  the  same 
time.  After  six 
hours  the  cheeses 
are  covered  with 
small  straw  mats 
and  turned,  and 
after  an  hour  the 
hoops  are  opened  and  the  lower  side  salted.  The 
cheeses  are  now  put  on  fresh  straw  mats  and  placed 
for  two  days  on  shelves,  salting  and  turning  them 
each  day.  The  making  of  the  cheese  until  this  point 
can  be  seen  very  well  from  the  annexed  engraving 
(Fig.  340).  After  the  second  day  the  cheeses  are 
taken  to  the  drying-room,  where  they  are  turned 
every  other  day,  giving  them  a  fresh  mat  every 
time.    The  cheeses  get  covered  now  with  a  coating 


FRENCH    CHEESES. 


517 


of  wliito  iiinuld,  wliic'Ii  turns  into  lilue  <;'radualh', 
:iud  after  a  \vook  tlu'y  may  he  taken  into  the  cellar, 
which  is  arrang'cd  for  extensive  ventilation.  Everv 
second  day  the  cheeses  which  lie  on  shelves  are 
turned,  and  from  time  to  time  fresh  mats  are  ofiven. 
The  blue  mould  turns  first  yellow,  then  red,  and  in 
about  two  weeks  the  curing  is  eomjileted.  The  cellar 
ought  to  be  kept  at  a  temperature  of  5^3'^ — o?"^  Fahr. 

Fromage  ila  Coulommiers. — This  cheese  is,  in 
fact,  a  "  Brie,"  but  of  smaller  shape.  It  is  only 
6  inches  in  diameter,  and  is  made  and  treated  in 
exactly  the  same  way,  ripening,  however,  in  a  few 
days  less  than  "  Brie." 

Frumanu  de  Mont  d'Or. — The  milk  is  brouy-hi 


conveyed  to  the  drying-room,  where  thev  arc  laid 
without  hoops  on  shelves  covered  with  straw.  This 
drying-room  must  be  well  ventilated.  On  the 
shelves  the  cheeses  arc  turned  every  two  or  three 
hours,  and  moistened  each 
time  with  a  solution  of 
salt.  The  curing  lasts  six 
to  eight  days  iu  summer, 
and  about  twice  as  long 
iu  winter. 

Frowiif/e  de  Gi'mme  a 
pale  molle  (Soft  Geroine  Cheese;. — This  cheese 
(Fig.  3-i^)  is  identical  with  the  German 
"  Schachtel  Kase  "  (box  cheese)  described  later  on. 


W^- 


I'ii 


to  the  dairy  twice  a  day,  and  is  immediately  put  in 
earthenware  vases  containing  already  some  rennet, 
and  after  the  coagidation  is  complete  the  curd  is 
put  with  a  spoon  into  the  tin  hoops  (Fig.  34-1), 
which  are  placed  on  larger 
wooden  hoops  which  are  covered 
with  a  matting  of  rye-straw.  The 
hoops  have  two  sizes,  the  diameter 
is  in  both  5  inches,  but  the  height 
3  to  4  inches  in  one  case  and 
1  inch  in  the  other.  The  forms  are  placed  in 
rows  on  inclined  shelves,  and  the  whey  allowed 
to  nin  off.  After  two  or  three  hours  the  cheeses 
are  turned,  and  this  is  repeated  during  the  next 
twelve  hours,  when  the  smaller  hoops  are  substi- 
tuted,   and    after    another   twelve  hours  they  are 


Fromage  Roqiieforf. — This  celebrated  cheese  is 
made  from  sheep's  milk.  The  plateau  of  Larznc, 
which  is  the  home  of  this  industry,  has  a 
diameter  of  about  16  to  iO  English  miles,  and  its 
height  above  the  sea  is  about  900  metres.  The 
top  is  almost  denuded  of  vegetation,  wdiile  the 
mountain-sides  are  covered  with  a  thin  but  good 
grass.  On  this  pasture  the  sheep  used  to  be  solely 
fed,  but  the  increased  demand  for  Roquefort  cheese 
has  already,  since  the  beginning  of  this  century, 
occasioned  the  cultivation  of  crops  of  luccnie,  sain- 
foin, clover,  and  artificial  grasses.  Since  that  time 
the  milking  qualities  of  the  sheep  have  been  im- 
proved. In  1785  about  150,000  sheep  were  kept 
in  this  district,  50,000  of  which  were  in  milk ;  to- 
day the  first  number  has  risen  to  050,000  head. 


518 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


and  the  fubrifutioii  of  llomifrdi't  cheese,  once 
limited  to  the  phiteau  ol'  Lar/ue,  h;is  sjiread  I'roin 
that  centre  very  considerably. 

The  sheep  are  milked  eveniiifr  and  niornini;, 
seven  persons  beinjjf  necessary  for  milkinj^-  iOi) 
head.  The  foam  of  the  evening's  milk  is  first 
skimmed  off,  and  the  milk  left  staiulino;  for  three- 
quarters  of  an  hour,  when  it  is  strained  throui>-li  a 
piece  of  linen  and  poured  into  a  kettle  made  of 
copper  and  tinned  on  the  inside.  Here  it  is 
heated  up  to  a  certain  point  (not  boiled,  however), 
which  varies  very  much  according  to  the  different 
weather,  &c.,  and  which  is  one  of  the  nice  points 
of  the  i)rocess.  The  hot  milk  is  distributed  in 
gla/.eil  eartlienware  pots,  and  the  er(!am  taken  nlf 
next  morning.  The  morning's  milk  is  poured  info 
the  ketfle,  the  eveiiiug's  milk  added,  and  bofli 
wanned  a  little,  when  the  rennet  is  mixed  with  the 
contents.  As  soon  as  coagulation  is  complete,  the 
curd  is  cut  up  in  all  directions  with  a  wooden 
knife,  and  the  whey  which  separates  is  taken  off 
immediately  during  this  operation.  The  curd  is 
then  lightly  squeezed  with  a  dish  to  extract  still 
more  of  the  whey,  until  no  more  ap])ears,  and  then 
it  is  worked  with  the  hands.  The  forms,  made  of 
glazed  earthenware,  are  Hat,  perforated  cylinders 
with  bottoms,  and  about  8  inches  in  diameter. 
The  height  of  the  forms  is  i  inches.  Three  layers 
of  curd  are  put  in  each  form,  and  between  the 
first  and  second  and  the  second  and  third  finely- 
ground  pain  moisi,  (moulded  bread)  is  strewed. 
The  last  layer  is  shajied  dome-like,  so  as  to  reach 
about  ;3  inches  above  the  rim  of  the  form.  By 
putting  several  forms  on  the  top  of  each  other  the 
cheeses  are  pressed,  and  the  dome  serves  to  fill  the 
forms  exactly.  The  next  two  or  three  days  the 
fdled  forms  pass  into  large  wooden  boxes,  being 
turned  twice  a  day.  These  boxes  are  kept  warm 
and  damp  by  placing  repeatedly  in  them  vases 
filled  with  hot  water.  Afterwards  the  cheeses  are 
brought  for  two  or  three  days  into  the  drying- 
room,  which  lies  towards  the  north  and  is  well 
ventilated,  where  they  are  laid  on  shelves  sjiread 
with  dry  cloths  and  turned  twice  a  day. 

The  pain  moisi  spoken  of  above  is  prepared 
with  great  care,  as  the  quality  of  the  cheese  partly 
depends  on  it.  A  paste  is  made  of  equal  parts 
of  wheat,  summer  barley,  and  winter  barley ;  a 
good  deal  of  very  strong  leaven  and  some  vinegar 
are  added.  This  mass  is  kneaded  very  thoroughly 
and  baked  rather  long.     Tho  luavcs   arc   kept    in 


a  warm  i)lace  until  mould  has  (piile  la'. en  liol] 
of  them  ;  the  crust  is  then  takin  oil',  and  the  rest 
ground  in  a  hand-mill  and  sifted. 

The  cheeses  are  mostly  taken  at  night  to 
the  caves  to  obviate  their  being  exposed  to  heat. 
These  caves  are  formed  by  nature  in  the  above- 
mentioned  mountain,  and  their  temperature  is 
maintained  at^y^  to  iC^  Fahr.,and  their  humidity 
at  about  GU  ])er  cent.,  by  the  water  appearing  in 
them  and  the  draughts  created  by  the  many 
fissures  and  holes  in  the  rocks.  The  word 
"  cave  "  comprises  in  this  case  not  only  the  cave 
itself,  but  also  a  room  where  the  cheeses  are  re- 
ceived from  the  dairy  and  the  salting-room,  both 
the  latter  being  built  above  the  cave. 

The  cheeses  received  from  the  dairy  are  put  on 
the  straw-covered  floor  of  the  room  designed  for 
this  purpose  and  left  there  twelve  hours.  Then 
they  are  taken  to  the  salting-room,  and  on  each 
a  handful  of  salt  is  spread  on  one  side,  three 
cheese  being  laid  on  each  other.  vVfter  twenty- 
four  hours  the  pile  is  turned,  and  the  other  sides 
salted.  After  forty-eight  hours  they  are  rubbed 
strongly  with  a  coarse  towel  all  over,  and  piled 
up  again.  In  this  state  they  remain  lor  two  days, 
when  they  are  taken  back  into  the  receiving-room 
for  the  raclaye.  With  a  knife  the  glutinous 
coating  of  the  cheese  is  scraped  off,  and  also 
another  whitish  coating  immediately  beneath  the 
first.  After  this  has  been  done  the  loaves  are 
taken  back  into  the  cave,  where  they  are  ke]]t  in 
piles  of  three  for  eight  days.  Then  they  are  put 
on  their  rims  (Fig.  3 IS),  but  in  such  a  way  that 
they  do  not  touch  each  other.  They  get  a 
yellowish  or  reddish  skin  in  the  cave.  Exterior 
white  mould  must  be  scraped  off"  when  it  appears  ; 
this  is  the  case  every  week  or  two.  After  thirty 
or  forty  days  they  are  cured,  and  may  be  sold. 
They  keep  for  several  months  afterwards. 

Modes  of  Datuy  Fauming. 

As  we  have  before  stated,  French  dairying  is 
in  some  districts  carried  out  to  a  great  extent  in 
connection  with  arable  farming  and  the  growth 
of  green  crops,  amongst  which  lucerne  holds  a 
foremost  position.  Mr.  H.  AI.  Jenkins  tells  ns 
that  "in  the  two  westernmost  departments  of 
Normandy — the  celebrated  dairy  departments  of 
La  Manche  and  Calvados — much  less  than  one- 
fourth  of  the  whole  cultivated  land  is  in  permanent 
grass  of  all  qualities;   in  the  Lower  Seine  and  the 


FRENCH    CHEESES. 


519 


Onie,  lietu'OL'ii  ono-lil'tli  ami  ono-sixtli,  and  in  tho 
Eui-e  scarcely  more  than  onc-tcutli.  lu  Brittany 
the  permanent  grass  is  even  less  extensive. 

"  In  Cornwall,"  by  way  of  contrast,  "one-third 
of  the  whole  cultivated  area  is  in  permanent  grass, 
in  Devonshire  the  proportion  is  considerably  more, 
and  in  Dorsetshire  amounts  to  one-half.  In 
Somersetshire  two-thirds  of  the  agricultural  land 
is  in  permanent  grass,  but  in  Wiltshire  nut  much 
more  than  one-fourth. 

"In  the  treatment  of  dairy-cows  the  farmers 
of  each  district  jjursue  the  same  method;  but  there 


priiportion  of  the  lucerne  are  always  reserved 
fur  hay. 

"  An  intermediate  practice  is  to  be  found  in 
some  districts,  where  lucerne  is  pastured  during 
the  summer  by  dairy-cows,  which  are  tethered 
or  folded.  In  the  latter  case  the  cows  are  placed 
at  night  in  a  small  fold  near  the  homestead,  and 
not  unfretpiently  the  hind  sleeps  in  a  movable  hut 
placed  close  to  the  fold." 

It  is  a  commonly  accepted  fact  that  in  Eng- 
land the  extensive  employment  of  green  crops 
and    artificial     grasses,    whether    in     soiling    or 


Fig.  343.— FiNisHiXG  Eoqiefokt  Cheese. 


is  the  greatest  possible  contrast  between  the  prac- 
tices of  the  grass-laud  and  the  arable  dairy  districts. 
In  the  best  district  for  Camembert  cheese  (Pays 
d'Auge)  and  in  the  butter  district  of  Isigny  (le 
Bessin)  the  cows  are  always  kept  on  the  pastures, 
except  for  a  short  time  before  and  after  calving. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  the  arable  regions  of  Eastern 
Brittany  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Paris,  cows 
are  kept  in  the  sheds  all  the  year  round,  except 
for  a  short  time  in  the  moruing  and  afternoon 
in  summer.  Again,  the  food  is  nearly  always 
the  natural  jiroduce  of  the  soil,  the  substances 
generally  known  as  '  artificial '  foods  being  seldom 
used  in  France  for  dairy-cattle.  Bran,  however, 
is  largely  used  in  the  aral)le  districts,  where, 
also,  the  whole  of  the  natural  grass  and   a  large 


grazing,  however  well  it  may  be  adapted  to  the 
production  of  a  maximum  quantity  of  milk,  is 
more  or  less  inimical  to  the  production  of  sound 
cheese,  though  it  is  not  so  to  the  production  of 
a  large  quantity.  But  in  France  the  case  is 
different,  and  the  soft  cheeses  of  that  country 
are  none  the  worse  for  being  produced  almost 
wholly  away  from  permanent  pastures.  With 
butter  the  same  difliculty  is  not  to  the  same  ex- 
tent experienced,  though  it  is  also  true  that  there 
is  somewhat  less  trouble  with  it  when  it  is  made 
from  milk  that  is  produced  from  old  pasture  land. 
In  soiling  cattle  with  green  crops  the  difficulty  is 
lessened  by  letting  the  green  food  become  "  wilted" 
a  little  between  the  cutting  and  the  feeding; 
that    is,  alluwin<>-  it    to   be   sun-dried  for  a   short 


520 


DAIRY    i'ARMING. 


time,  and  not  feoJing'  it  to   the  cows  immediately 

it  is  eut. 

SWEDEN. 

Sweden,  with  its  mouutainous  country  and  cold 
climate,  wliioli  affords  but  a  limited  area  to  the 
successful  raisinnf  of  cereals,  has  for  a  long  time 
devoted  much  attention  to  dairying,  but  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  ago  its  products  were  not  so  famed  in 
the  market  as  they  are  now.  Sweden  has  made 
an  immense  step  in  the  advancement  of  dairying 
during  that  period.  About  the  year  1818,  however, 
Major  Gussander  invented  a  new  method  of  milk- 
sotting  in  very  shallow  tin  pans,  which  became 
popular  throughout  the  country,  while  until  then 
won, 1(11  milk-dishes  had  been  almost  exclusively 
in  use.  This  method  is  still  in  use  in  many 
l)laees,  not  only  in  Sweden,  but  also  in  some  parts 
of  Germany ;  but  as  it  is  now  almost  entirely 
supplanted  by  the  Swartz  method,  we  need  not 
describe  it.  The  Swartz  system  itself  has  been 
fully  described  and  illustrated  in  the  ch;iptcr  on 
butter-making  (see  p.  2'Ji). 

In  Sweden  and  Norway  there  are  many 
factories  which  make  butter,  and  either  sell  their 
skimmed  milk,  or  make  skim-milk  cheese.  Whole- 
milk  cheese  is  rarely  made.  Amongst  the  Swedish 
dairy  products  there  is  one  that  is  totally  unknown 
in  England,  and  a  short  description  of  it  may  be 
interesting  : — - 

Long-m'ilk  [Threail-milk ;  Swed.  Fil,n-l\[fil!c). 
— This  preparation  is  made  in  the  whole  of  Sweden, 
and  is  a  favourite  dish  with  the  people.  It  seems 
externally  not  to  differ  from  oitlinary  milk ;  it  has 
quite  the  colour  of  it,  but  it  is  so  slimy  that  it 
may  be  pulled  out  in  long  threads  or  ribands,  and 
it  is  just  possible  to  wind  the  contents  of  a  small 
tub  on  a  stick.  It  has  also  the  valuable  quality 
of  keeping  for  weeks  and  even  months  sweet 
and  eatable.  This  very  cemarkable  substance,  the 
nature  of  which  is  yet  unexplained,  is  produced  by 
feeding  to  cows  some  dried  or  fresh  Flngulcida 
vidijaris  (butter-wort),  a  small  plant  found  in  early 
spring  almost  everywhere  on  hillsides,  swamps, 
and  wet  meadows ;  or  it  will  do  as  well  to  put  a 
few  handfuls  of  the  plant  in  a  pail  with  fresh  milk, 
which  after  a  few  days  will  have  thickened  and  be- 
come "  long-milk."  When  this  is  once  obtained  it 
can  be  propagated  like  yeast  by  jiouring  about  4 
inches  deep  of  long-milk  into  a  milk-pail  and  fdl- 
ing  up  with  fresh  milk  ;  in  two  or  three  days  the 
whole  will   have  become  long-milk.       Strange  to 


say,  the  Piiiguicula  vuhjtrls  seems  not  to  have 
this  i^roperty  everywhere,  for  the  writer  has  tried 
the  experiment  repeatedly  with  the  plant  from  the 
Alps  and  from  the  plains  below,  and  alwa^'s  un- 
successfully. 

Mjsost. — This  is  a  kind  of  whey-cheese  of 
sweet  taste,  which  consists  of  a  little  fat  and 
casein,  the  albumen,  sugar,  and  salts  of  the  milk. 
It  is  made  in  the  following  way  : — Directly  after 
the  cheese  has  been  taken  out  of  the  kettle,  the 
whey  is  heated  to  the  boiling-point  as  rapidly  as 
possible,  but  not  stirred,  and  the  whey-C  vam  taken 
off  as  soon  as  it  rises  to  the  surface.  After  this 
the  Hald  is  stirred  with  a  wooden,  lon.i^-handled 
spatula  until  two-thirds  are  evaporated.  To 
accelerate  this,  the  whey  is  sometimes  continually 
dipped  out  and  poured  back  again  from  a  height 
of  about  2  feet  with  large  wooden  spoons.  Then 
the  whey-eream  is  added  again,  and  if  a  superior 
quality  of  mysost  is  wanted,  some  cream  or  butter- 
milk is  likewise  added.  The  stirring  is  continued 
until  the  bubbles  which  rise  form  a  foam  on  the 
surface,  but  from  the  moment  when  bubbles  appear 
the  fire  must  be  lessened.  In  four  or  five  hours 
the  whey  is  turned  into  a  kind  of  paste,  which  is 
poured  into  a  wooden  dish  and  there  pounded  with 
a  wooden  instrument  until  it  is  quite  fine,  after 
which  it  is  filled  into  smiU  square  wooden  forms, 
where  it  remains  one  or  two  days,  and  it  is  then 
sold  for  immediate  consumption,  as  it  does  not 
keep  lung. 

RUSSIA. 

Russia  has  no  less  than  thirty  millions  of 
cattle  on  her  vast  domains  in  Europe,  but  how 
great  the  augmentation  of  this  large  number  might 
still  become  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  she  has  only 
300  head  per  square  (geographical)  mile,  while 
England  has  no  less  than  1,300.  The  Russian 
cattle  are  composed  of  many  breeds,  the  most  im- 
portant of  which  are  the  following  : — 

I.  The  Jlolmogorij  breed  derives  its  origin 
from  Dutch  cattle,  which  were  brought  into  the 
province  l)y  the  command  of  Peter  the  Great.  It 
still  resembles  the  Dutch  cattle  very  closely  in 
appearance  and  qualities,  but  it  is  thoroughly 
acclimatised  and  has  grown  much  less  fastidious  as 
to  quality  and  kind  of  food.  Cows  of  this  breed 
give  on  an  average  no  less  than  600  gallons  of 
milk  per  year.  The  breed  has  been  crossed  with 
many  of  the  indigenous  breeds,  and  in  this  way 


DAIRYING    IN    RUSSIA. 


521 


several  suh-broods  have  boon  producod  \vlioi50  bovc- 
ditary  qualities  are  now  fixed. 

2.  Tbe  Taroslmo  breed  are  (if  modium  size, 
but  give  a  good  quantity  of  luilk,  wbieb  is  rieber 
tban  tbat  of  tbe  Iloimogory  cows.  Tbey  yield 
about  500  gallons  per  year. 

3.  Tbe  common  liitssian  breed,  distributed  fiver 
all  districts  of  the  country,  is  very  different  in 
its  qualities,  according  to  tbe  locality  in  wbieb  it 
is  found.  On  tbe  wbole  it  may  be  said  tbat  tbis 
breed  bas  neitber  milking  nor  fattening  qualities 
wortb  speaking  of,  but  proof  bas  been  given  that 
with  careful  selection  and  feeding  a  wonderful 
development  may  be  attained. 

4.  The  Ul-raine  breed  is  esteemed  jirineipally 
for  working  purposes,  as  the  yield  of  milk  is  not 
great. 

5.  The  Komolaya  breed,  which  is  hornless, 
gives  about  260  gallons  of  good  rich  milk  per 
annum. 

Russia  has  imported  many  animals  of  renowned 
breeds ;  the  Shorthorn,  Dutch,  Friesland,  Angeln, 
Breitenburg,  Algiiu,  Simmenthal,  and  others  are 
represented,  and  herds  of  them  are  kept  at  the 
expense  of  the  government,  on  the  farms  affiliated 
to  the  different  agricultural  colleges  and  schools. 

The  export  of  cheese  has  been  greatly  reduced 
of  late  years,  and  the  Russians  explain  tbe  falling 
off  by  saying  tbat  the  consumption  has  largely 
increased  amongst  the  lower  classes,  with  whom 
cheese  was  formerly  considered  a  luxury.  The 
lack  of  persons  who  know  how  to  make  marketable 
products  is  the  principal  reason  why  tbe  dairy 
industry  has  made  only  slow  progress  in  Russia. 
Government  bas  made  and  is  making  praiseworthy 
efforts  to  overcome  this  difficulty,  and  dairy- 
schools  for  men  and  women  have  been  estab- 
lished in  different  provinces. 

For  butter-making  tbe  milk  is  set  generally 
in  wooden  or  earthenware  vessels,  but  of  late 
Swartz's  method  of  deep-setting  and  cooling  has 
been  adopted  on  many  farms.  IMany  different 
kinds  of  chums  are  in  use,  but  the  old  high  coni- 
cal churn,  in  which  is  a  rod  with  a  perforated 
board  attached  to  its  end,  is  still  very  common. 
The  methods  of  making  a  few  of  tbe  more  specially 
Russian  dairy  products  are  as  follows  : — - 

Paris  Butter. — Tbe  kind  of  butter  which  is  sold 
imder  this  name  at  St.  Petersburg,  at  high  quota- 
tions, is  generally  called  Petersburg  butter  on 
the  Continent.     Perfectly  sweet  creani^  which  bas 


been  allowed  to  rise  in  about  twelve  Imurs,  is 
skimmed  from  its  milk  and  poured  into  a  tin  vessel, 
wliicb  is  steeped  in  boiling  water  until  the  cream 
bas  assumed  a  temperature  of  158"  to  103"  Fahr., 
but  extremes  of  1-iO"  and  190"  are  sometimes 
used.  The  cream  is  slowly  stirred  all  the  time  to 
acquire  xiniform  beat,  and  then  directly  cooled  to 
53"  to  57"  Fahr.,  whereupon  it  is  churned.  Of 
course  the  cream  must  be  quite  sweet  to  stand 
tbe  beating,  otherwise  it  would  coagulate.  The 
churning  of  such  cream  is  easy,  and  it  ought  not 
to  be  agitated  too  strongly.  The  taste  of  the 
butter  is  very  sweet  and  delicate,  and  has  a  peculiar 
flavour  which  is  much  appreciated  by  tbe  gour- 
mands of  tbe  capital. 

Tworog. — Milk  is  allowed  to  stand  until  sour, 
then  it  is  skimmed  and  poured  into  a  pot,  wbieb 
is  j)laced  on  a  warm  stove.  After  twenty-four  hours 
tbe  curd  is  poured  on  a  sieve,  where  it  is  allowed 
to  remain  until  all  the  whey  is  drained  off.  The 
curd  is  afterwards  put  into  wooden  forms,  which 
are  closed  by  a  well-fitting  cover  which  is  pressed 
down  by  weights.  To  keep  the  tworog  fresh 
some  water  is  poured  on  the  cover.  Tworog  is 
eaten  in  large  quantities  by  the  rural  population, 
and  also  employed  to  bake  a  kind  of  bread,  tbe 
Wotruschki.  Also  sheep's  milk  is  employed  to 
make  tworog,  especially  in  Bessarabia,  where  flat 
loaves  of  salted  tworog  are  made  in  two  sizes ;  the 
smaller  are  called  Brinsa,  tbe  larger  (2| — 5  lbs.) 
Katcbkawal. 

Koumiss. — This,  the  favourite  alcoholic  drink 
of  tbe  nomadic  tribes  in  South-eastern  Russia,  is 
made  from  mares'  milk.  Tbe  excellent  effect 
it  bas  on  weak  constitutions,  and  on  persons 
brought  Aovra  very  low  by  disease  and  exposure, 
was  known  long  ago  to  the  nomads;  but  it  is 
only  during  the  last  thirty  years  that  the  medical 
faculty  bas  made  any  use  of  it.  Up  to  this  day 
its  effects  are  not  closely  studied,  but  it  may  be 
stated  that  it  is  a  rich  food,  easily  assimilated, 
and  of  very  beneficial  effect  on  tbe  energy  of  the 
physiological  processes  in  the  human  bodv. 

Tbe  iH-ejiaration  of  koumiss  is  simple.  Some 
old  koumiss  is  poured  into  a  vessel,  and  fresh 
milk  is  added.  The  whole  is  stirred  violently  for 
fifteen  minutes,  and  then  again  for  a  few  minutes 
every  few  hours.  The  next  morning  some  more 
milk  is  added,  and  the  same  treatment  is  pursued 
during  the  day.  In  the  evening  the  koumiss 
may  be  passed  through  a  sieve  (to  bold  back  tbe 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


casein)  and  filled  into  liottles.  Some  of  it  is, 
however,  reserved  to  be  used  as  ferment  for  a 
new  leaven.  In  three  days  after  bottling  the 
koumiss  may  be  used,  but  it  may  be  readily  kept 
another  fortnight  and  even  longer,  growing  stronger 
all  the  while.  The  bottles  must  be  strong  and  the 
stoppers  secured,  otherwise  the  bottles  will  burst 
and  the  stoppers  be  driven  out  by  the  force  of  the 
carbonic  acid  which  is  developed.  The  tempera- 
ture of  the  room  in  which  koumiss  is  made  ought 
not  to  be  below  60°  Fahr. 

DENMARK. 

Dairying  is  in  a  state  very  near  to  perfection 
in  Denmark,  the  chief  incentive  being  the  great 
facility  for  exportation  which  the  country  pos- 
sesses. An  excellent  breed  of  dairy-cattle,  the 
Angler,  has  also  contributed  in  no  small  measure  to 
the  success  of  Danish  dairying ;  this  breed  came 
from  Schleswig-Holstein,  and  is  now  to  be  found 
everywhere  in  Denmark.  The  exf)ort  of  butter  to 
England  has  been  going  on  for  a  long  time,  and  of 
such  excellent  quality  is  it,  that  it  is  commonly  sold  to 
the  consumers  under  celebrated  French  names,  as  if 
it  were  made  in  France  ;  but  the  principal  cause  of 
the  rapid  development  which  has  made  the  Danish 
daily  interest  what  it  is  now,  is  the  export  of 
butter  to  hot  countries.  Year  after  year  since 
1870,  when  this  industry  began  to  grow  in  im- 
portance, it  has  extended,  and  still  there  is  no  limit 
to  the  quantity  which  the  tropics  absorb.  The 
Danes  have  notably  develojied  their  butter  industry 
wonderfully,  but  they  have  also  improved  their 
cheese-making  very  much,  and  have  created  another 
export  article — skini-milk  cheese.  These  different 
dairy  products  are  made  in  the  following  man- 
ner : — 

Butter  for  Exportation. — The  method  on  which 
this  is  made  is  not  alone  applicable  to  export  butter, 
but  it  is  certainly  the  best  method  of  obtaining 
a  perfectly  sweet,  durable  article  of  first  quality 
for  any  purpose  whatever.  Milk  from  sick  cows, 
diseased  milk,  colustrum  for  eight  to  twelve  da\-s 
after  parturition  is  condemned;  it  may  not  be  used  for 
butter-making.  The  first  condition  is  the  setting  of 
the  milk  at  a  low  temperature,  after  S  wartz's  method . 
The  cream  is  taken  off  after  twelve  hours,  never 
later.  The  morning^s  milk  is  skimmed  in  the 
evening  and  put  in  a  tin  can,  which  is  placed  in 
the  water-bath  to  keep  cold  until  the  morning, 
when  it  is  mixed  with  the  cream  from  the  eveninji''s 


milk  and  churned.  The  cream  must  be  churned 
every  day,  and  if  there  should  not  be  enough  of  it 
to  fill  the  churn  sufficiently  the  missing  quantity 
may  be  supplied  by  sweet  milk.  In  winter  the  tin 
can  with  the  cream  is  placed  in  warm — not  hot — 
water,  and  stirred  until  it  has  acquired  a  tempera- 
ture of  52'^  Fahr.  Now  the  cream  is  poured  into 
the  churn,  which  in  the  winter  is  previously  rinsed 
with  hot  water,  the  colour  is  added,  and  the 
churning  begins.  The  cream  ought  to  be  52^ 
Fahr.  before  churning,  and  59"  after  it,  and  the 
time  occupied  about  forty  minutes.  The  butter 
must  not  be  brought  in  contact  with  water,  and 
the  rinsing  of  the  sides  of  the  churn,  which  is 
done  to  obtain  the  small  particles  of  butter  at- 
tached to  them,  may  only  be  done  with  skim-milk. 
The  churns  most  generally  in  use  in  Denmark  are 
called  the  Holsteiu  or  Danish  churns,  of  which  an 
illustration  is  given  in  Fig.  181,  page  315.  They 
are  very  convenient  and  efficient.  The  churning 
is  stopped  when  the  butter  has  been  formed  in 
little  pieces  of  the  size  of  a  jiea,  which  are  collected 
by  the  aid  of  a  hair-sieve.  Immediately  afterwards 
the  butter  is  taken  to  the  butter-trough  and 
kneaded  there  by  pressing  pieces  of  about  2  lbs. 
with  crossed  hands  against  the  sides  of  the  wooden 
trough  (Fig.  34'4),  turning  them  over  and  pressing 
again  four  or  five 
times.  Now  the 
butter  is  weighed, 
and  the  pieces 
piled  on  the  top  of' 
each  other,  with 
about  3  per  cent, 
of  salt  strewed 
between  the  layers. 
To  impregnate  the 

butter  evenly  with  the  salt,  pieces  of  about  3  lbs. 
are  taken  from  the  pile,  by  cutting  them  off  so 
as  to  cut  through  all  the  layers,  and  with  crossed 
hands  are  kneaded  ten  or  twelve  times  (Fig.  315) . 
Now  the  butter  is  left  alone  for  some  time  to 
assume  the  necessary  firmness.  If  it  lies  too  long 
in  winter  it  gets  hard  and  crumbling,  but  if  the 
right  moment  is  hit,  the  butter  will  be  just  right 
after  the  fluted  roller  of  the  butter-kneading  board 
(Fig.  3-10)  has  passed  over  it  ten  or  twelve 
times. 

In  summer  the  butter  requires  application  of 
cold  before  it  is  kneaded  on  the  boaixl,  and  it  is 
therefore    formed    in    elongated    pieces    of    about 


DAIRYING    IN    DENMARK. 


523 


2  lbs.  each  and  put  crossways  (Fig.  Sll)  in  a  tin 
can  {Fig.  3-i8),  in  the  bottom  of  which  a  piece  of 
board  has   lieen    placed,  and    flat  pieces  of  wood 

loosely  arranged 
all  round,  so  that 
the  butter  can- 
not come  in  con- 
tact with  the  tin 
(Fig.  31.9).  This 
can  is  placed  for 
a  few  hours  in 
cold  water.  Im- 
mediately after 
the  butter  leaves  the  kneading-board  it  must 
be  packed  in  the  wooden  casks  in  which  it  is  sent 
to  the  market. 

PacJcing  Bidier  for  TS.rportation  to  Hot  Cli- 
mates.— As  before  mentioned,  this  is  one  of  the 
principal  features  of  the  Danish  trade  in  dairy 
produce.  The  butter  arrives  in  barrels  at  the 
packing-house  every  day  from  the  farms.  In  sum- 
mer the  barrels  have  an  envelope  of  strong  packing- 
cloth  stuffed  with  straw  to  protect  them  from  the 
heat.  They  are  ojiened  and  classed  by  an  expert, 
then  the  butter  is  cut  iu  pieces  and  well  mixed 
again  and  re-salted  on  large  rotary  kneading 
machines  (see  Fig.  180,  p.  313).  By  the  aid  of 
machinery  the  round  tin  boxes,  which  must  be 
perfectly  air-tight,  are  filled  -wath  butter,  whose 
surface   is  scraped   and   polished   with  a  wooden 


Fig.  346. — Butter-kneading  Board. 

spatula.  The  lids  of  the  boxes  are  then  soldered 
on,  and  afterwards  painted  and  supplied  with  a 
label.  The  house  of  Busk  &  Co.  alone  exports  no 
less  than  2,500,000  lbs.  of  butter  jier  year,  packed 
in  1  lb.,  2  Ib.j  4  lb.,  8  lb.  and  larger  tins. 
69 


Export  Cheese.— IXxa  skimmed  milk  is  heated 
to  90"  Fahr.,  and  1.5  per  cent,  of  quite  fresh 
buttermilk  added.  Tiie  buttermilk  must  not  be 
heated  along  with  the  skimmed  milk,  otherwise 
the  cheese  becomes  bitter.  Colour  and  rennet  are 
now  added,  the  wooden  tub  into   which  the  milk 


Fig.  347. 
Butter  in  Can, 


Fig   34',P. 

Bl'TTEli  IN   C'.UI. 


has  been  poured  from  the  kettle  in  which  it  has 
been  heated  is  covered  np,  and  the  curd  cut  very 
slowly  after  twenty-five  minutes,  when  the  coagula- 
tion should  be  perfect.  With  the  "  lyra,"  an  instru- 
ment consisting  of  a  wooden  frame  spanned  with 
brass  wire,  this  cutting  up  is  done  first  in  one 
direction  and  afterwards  in  the  other.  For  ten 
minutes  this  is  continued,  and  then  half  of  the 
whey  is  drained  off.  Now  the  movement  of  the 
lyTa  is  accelerated  to  get  the  curd  broken  up  into 
pieces  of  equal  size.  When  this  is  done  the  curd 
is  allowed  to  settle  a  few  minutes,  and  then  the 
whey  is  drained  off  as  much  as  possible.  Now 
enough  of  the  curd  is  taken  to  fill  one  of  the 
roimd  wooden  forms  (Fig.  350)  which  are  in  use, 
and  thoroughly  kneaded 
for  a  few  minutes  in  it. 
After  this  the  curd  is 
pressed  with  the  palms  of 
the  hands,  so  that  the 
whey  which  has  collected 
can  be  poured  off  (Fig. 

351),  and  the  form  will  then  only  be  half  full. 
The  upper  layer  is  now  loosened  again  with  the 
fingers  (Fig.  352),  and  more  curd  is  added  and 
kneaded  until  the  form  is  nearly  full.  A 
cover  is  then  put  on  the  form  and  weighted 
with  about  20  lbs.,  and  the  cheese  frequently 
turned.  After  twelve  hours  it  is  laid  in  strong 
brine,  where  it  remains  three  days  and  nights, 
being  turned  twice  a  day,  and  a  handful  of  salt 
strewed  on  the  upper  side  of  the  loaf.     It  is  then 


350.— C'HEE-iE 
OR   "YaT." 


'  Form," 


524 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


taken  outj  dipped  in  water,  dried  and  wiped  with 
a  towel,  and  taken  into  the  ceDar,  which  is  kept 
dai'k  and  q-uarded  against  draught.  A  temperature 
of  59''  Fahr.  is  desirable.  In  the  first  five  weeks 
the  cheeses  are  daily  turned  and  wiped  with  a 
towel ;  later  on  they  are  brushed  a  few  times  in 
the  week  with  a  soft  brush,  and  also  turned 
once  a  day.  By  this  treatment  the  cheeses 
ripen  in  a  very  short  time,  are  mellow,  and  of 
good  flavour,  and  the  rind  is  thin,  dry,  and 
elastic,  occasioning  no  loss,  as  there  is  no  need 
of  scraping  it. 

Skim-milk  Cheese. — Another  kind  of  skim-milk 
cheese  of  very  superior  quality  is  made  in  the  fol- 
lowing way  : — The  milk  is  heated  to  93*  Fahr., 
and  the  buttermilk  added  when  the  milk  has 
reached  S  6 ''  Fahr.j 
then  clear  but 
soured  whey  is 
added  (20  per 
cent.),  the  whole 
stirred  for  five 
minutes,  and  when 
it  has  reached  93" 
Fahr.  rennet  and 
colour  are  em- 
})loyed.  In  thhty- 
five  minutes  the 
mixture  ought  to 
be  coagulated, 
when  it  is  cut  up 
slowly,  and  care- 
fully stirred  for 
fifteen  minutes.  The  eurd  is  then  allowed  to 
rest  for  three  minutes,  the  whey  drained  mostly 
off,  and  the  stirring  continued  for  five  minutes. 
Now  the  course  of  work  alternates  in  the 
following  way : — Rest  seven  minutes,  stirring 
five  minutes ;  rest  fifteen  minutes,  stirring 
five  minutes;  rest  twenty  minutes,  stirring  five 
minutes ;  rest  thirty  -  five  to  forty  minutes. 
During  the  last  two  stiiTings  the  curd  is  heated 
to  91°  Fahr.  by  adding  hot  whey.  Now 
the  whey  is  drained  all  off,  the  curd  put  on 
a  ]>erforated  table,  gently  kneaded  with  the 
hands  and  filled  into  the  forms.  The  cheese 
is  turned  in  the  form  several  times  during 
the  next  four  or  five  hours.  The  next  morn- 
ing it  is  put  in  brine  for  three  days,  and 
tuvnwl  three  times  a  day,  while  fresh  salt  is 
strewed  on  it. 


Fig.  351. 
POUBING  OFF  THE  WhET. 


GERMANY. 

SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN. 

The  largest  part  of  this  province  is  under  a 
peculiar  system  of  cropping :  fallow,  three  to  four 
winter  or  summer  grain-crops,  pasture.  The  fields 
are  enclosed  by  a  mound  on  which  a  hedge  is 
grown.  This  arrangement  is  of  course  very  favour- 
able to  cattle-grazing,  and  it  must  be  remembered 
that  in  Germany  fields  are  generally  not  enclosed. 
All  over  the  province  the  cows  are  grazed 
during  the  summer,  mostly  on  ground  laid  do^vn 
with  grass  and  clover.  In  the  "Marsch'"  the 
pastures  are  used  to  fatten  cattle  which  are  sent 
to  England.  In  some  places  the  cattle  are  tethered. 
The  grazing  lasts  from  the  15th  of  May  to  the 
1st  of  November. 
In  the  winter  the 
feeding  is  done 
\\ith  oats  and 
barley,  straw,  hay, 
and  all  kinds  of 
artificial  food.  The 
heifers  are  timed 
to  have  their  first 
calf  when  they 
are  two  and  a  half 
years  old.  The 
cows  ai-e  milked 
twice,  rarely  three 
times  per  day, 
and  on  the  aver- 
age 410  to  480 
gallons  of  milk  may  be  counted  upon  j^er  head, 
and  year,  some  cows  giving  as  much  as  1,000 
gallons. 

The  milk  is  made  into  cheese  and  butter.  The 
latter  is  well  and  favourably  known  in  the  market, 
and  great  efforts  have  been  made  to  reach  again 
the  first  rank,  which  Sweden  and  Denmark  have 
now  occupied  for  some  time.  Especially  the  larger 
estates  and  farms  have  taken  the  lead  in  this 
effort.  The  dairy  is  generally  superintended  by  a 
married  coujile.  The  husband  (Ilaushiilter)  over- 
looks the  feeding,  milking,  and  treatment  of  the 
cows,  and  the  wife  (Meierin)  makes  butter  and 
cheese  alone,  or  in  larger  dairies  with  her  help- 
mates, the  dairymaids  or  apprentices,  of  whom 
some  are  generally  found  at  the  better  dairies,  as 
all  the  daughters  of  peasants  and  farmers  learn 
dairy-work.     Two  dairy-schools  are  erected  for  the 


Fig.  352. 
Loosening  and  Kneading. 


DAIRYING    IN    GERMANY. 


purpose  of  tlicoretico-practical  instruction,  and  a 
consulting  chemist  on  dairy  matters,  who  is  at 
the  same  time  director  of  the  Dairy  Experimental 
Station  at  Kiel,  furthers  the  scientific  development 
of  this  branch  of  agriculture.  In  those  parts  of 
the  country  where  small  farms  are  prevalent, 
associations  have  been  formed,  and  generally  one 
of  the  comjjany  builds  and  works  the  dairy,  while 
the  surrounding  farmers  undertake  by  contract  to 
furnish  the  milk  for  ten  years  at  a  price  which  is 
in  a  certain  proportion  to  the  price  of  butter  at 
Hambiu'g. 

Butter. — Butter  is  made  almost  without  excep- 
tion from  soured  cream.  But  the  degree  of  acidity 
is  attended  to  with  great  care,  and  the  cream  there- 
fore watched  attentively.  After  skimming,  the 
cream  is  heated  to  100°  to  120*  Fahr.,  poured 
into  a  wooden  tub  which  stands  in  the  milk-room, 
remains  about  twenty-four  hours  there,  and  is 
frequently  stirred  with  a  stick.  When  the  cream 
is  "  ripe "  it  ought,  if  a  stick  is  inserted  and 
taken  out  again,  to  nin  off  quite  slowly,  spin- 
ning a  thread,  and  leaving  a  shining  coating 
equally  distributed  on  the  stick.  If  the  room 
is  too  warm  the  process  of  souring  is  too  fast, 
and  if  too  cold  it  is  too  slow,  and  either  cold 
or  hot  milk  must  be  added  to  attain  the  desired 
temperature.  Sometimes  cream  is  not  heated 
before  pu.tting  in  the  tub,  but  in  this  case  is 
mostly  allowed  to  stand  for  tliirty-six  hours  before 
churning.  This  is  why  such  cream  must  be  always 
watched.  Butter  made  from  soured  cream  has 
a  i^eculiar  taste  which  is  much  liked  in  North 
Germany. 

Skim-milk  Cheese. — The  cheese  of  Schleswig- 
Holstein,  made  from  skim-milk,  is  generally  of  an 
indifferent  quality,  and  certainly  much  below  the 
Danish  article.  It  is  made  in  different  ways,  but 
the  following  may  be  said  to  be  one  of  the  best 
methods  : — The  skimmed  milk  is  poured  into  a 
kettle  and  heated  by  fire  or  steam.  In  large 
dairies  a  wooden  tub  of  about  3  feet  in  depth,  and 
sometimes  large  enough  to  contain  300  gallons,  is 
used.  When  the  milk  has  reached  'd^°  Fahr.,  the 
rennet  is  added  and  the  tub  covered  up.  In  about 
an  hour  the  milk  is  coagulated,  and  is  broken  up 
in  pieces  of  the  size  of  an  egs;.  Then  the  curd  is 
allowed  to  settle  for  a  few  minutes,  after  which  it 
is  again  stirred  a  little,  and  when  settled  again  the 
whey  is  drained  off.  Now  the  curd  is  worked  for 
ten  minutes  with  the  hands  and  then  put  in  the 


forms.  The  cheeses  are  either  salted  in  the  curd,  or 
by  placing  the  loaves  for  two  or  three  days  in  a 
salt-bath,  after  they  have  been  twenty-four  hours 
in  the  press. 

Hanover. 

This  jirovince  has  a  groat  variety  of  soils  and 
climates.  It  has  mountains,  plains,  and  sea-shore  ; 
and  its  agriculture  is  therefore  very  diversified. 
In  some  districts  the  cattle  are  grazed  during 
the  summer,  in  others  they  are  kept  all  the  year 
through  in  the  stables,  but  fed  with  green  fodder 
during  the  summer.  In  the  neighbourhood  of 
towns,  where  a  good  deal  of  artificial  food  is  used, 
larger  stables  are  not  infrequent,  where  the  cows 
give  over  650  gallons  per  head  a  year.  In  the 
small  stables,  where  inferior  cows  are  kept,  and 
inferior  feedmg  the  rule,  300  to  500  gallons  may 
be  taken  as  an  average.  In  Ostfriesland  the  milk 
is  made  generally  into  butter  and  skim-milk 
cheese;  some  farms  make  Edam  cheese,  but  in 
several  districts  the  milk  is  churned,  when  the 
yield  is  too  small  to  allow  of  cream-churning  every 
day  or  every  other  day.  The  small  farms  are 
rather  advanced  in  dairying,  and  have  profited 
much  from  their  Dutch  neighbours.  In  the  other 
parts  of  the  province  dairying  is  still  in  its  infancy. 
The  milk  is  set  in  earthenware,  glass,  or  metal 
dishes,  and  left  standing  until  it  is  quite  sour  and 
thick.  The  cream  is  then  churned,  and  the  curd 
formed  by  hand  into  small  hand-cheeses  of  about 
four  ounces  each  in  weight,  which  are  very  much 
liked  by  the  population.  In  some  instances  persons 
make  a  business  of  it  to  buy  the  curd  of  the 
peasants,  and  turn  it  into  "  Handkjise "  (hand- 
made cheese).  Larger  sizes,  but  of  the  same  make, 
are  known  in  this  case  under  the  name  of  "  Harz- 
kase,"  because  they  are  mostly  made  in  the  Harz 
mountains.  On  some  farms  the  method  of  Swartz 
has  been  introduced,  and  there  the  skim-milk 
is  turned  into  Limburg  cheese,  the  fabrication  of 
which  vnW  be  described  further  on.  In  the  Liine- 
burg  district  the  j)roduction  of  milk  only  suflices 
for  the  nourishment  of  the  people,  who  have  not 
yet  learnt  how  to  save.  We  find  many  places  in 
Germany  where  the  same  evil  exists.  In  other 
districts  calves  are  fattened  and  sent  to  Bremen  and 
Hamburg,  and  most  of  them  are  bought  from  sur- 
rounding farms.  In  the  district  of  Hildesheim  a 
dozen  dairy-factories  have  been  established. 

Harz  Cheese.  —  When  the  cream  has  been 
taken  off  the  sour  milk,  the  latter  is  poured  into  a 


526 


DAIRY    FAimiNO 


copper  kettle  and  wanned  witli  a  rapid  fire  to  88° 
Fabr.j  which  makes  the  whey  separate  from  the 
curd.  Now  the  whole  mass  is  poured  into  a, 
wooden  tuL,  where  it  is  left  standing  for  three  to 
six  hours.  If  it  shoidd  remain  in  the  copper 
kettle  durin<4'  that  time,  the  latter  would  oxidise. 
After  some  hours  the  curd  is  put  into  coarse  sacks, 
and  these  are  jiut  on  an  inclined  table,  where  the 
whey  can  run  off.  Then  some  stones  are  put  on 
the  sacks  to  get  out  most  of  the  whey,  or  if  this  is 
not  sufficient  the  sacks  are  pressed.  The  curd  is 
now  poured  on  a  table  and  well  mixed  with  salt  at 
the  rate  of  1  lb.  of  salt  to  40  lbs.  of  curd.  After 
this  it  is  passed  through  a  curd-mill,  and  kneaded 
on  a  table  until  it  has  turned  into  a  tough  paste ; 
then  the  forms  are  filled,  and  after  standing  some 
time  the  cheeses  are  taken  out  and  put  on  boards  in 
an  airy  room,  where  they  are  daily  turned  until 
they  leave  no  wet  sjiot  where  they  have  stood. 
This  generally  lasts  some  days,  and  afterwards 
they  are  packed  pretty  tightly  in  a  case,  but  never 
more  than  two  in  one  pile.  The  cellar  where  they 
are  now  kept  must  be  cool  and  dry,  and  during 
the  curing  they  must  be  taken  out  once  a  week 
and  rubbed  a  little  all  round  with  the  palm  of  the 
hand  to  destroj'  the  fungi  which  invariably  appear, 
and  would  make  the  cheese  bitter  if  let  alone.  This 
kind  of  cheese  ought  to  have  a  humid,  soft, 
yellowish  rind. 

Prussia. 

In  this  province  cereal  crops  are  extensively 
raised,  and  large  tracts  of  sandy  soil  form  one  of 
the  principal  features  of  the  country.  Many  large 
estates  exist.  Most  of  the  cattle  are  alreatly  im- 
proved by  crosses  with  imported  foreign  stock.  The 
improved  breeds  are  represented  in  the  province  in 
the  following  order : — Dutch,  Oldenburger  and 
Ostfriesen,  Broitenbm-ger  and  Wilst<?rmarsch, 
Angler  and  Shorthorns,  Algaiier  and  Moutafuner, 
Simmenthaler.  In  the  summer  the  cattle  are 
almost  everywhere  grazed;  in  some  districts  are 
very  good  pastures,  so  that  oxen  are  fattened  on 
them.  In  the  wnter  roots  are  fed,  with  straw, 
hay,  and  artificial  food.  A  good  deal  of  potato 
refuse  from  the  distilleries  is  fed.  In  one  part 
of  the  province  large  dairies  are  established,  and 
the  Tilsit  cheese,  made  after  the  Limburg  fashion, 
is  well  known  in  the  trade  there.  Factories  on 
the  principle  of  association  have  become  quite 
numerous  of  late,  and  the  Swai'tz  system  is  in  use 


in  all  the  dairies  of  newer  date  where  its  applica- 
tion was  possible.  la  all  the  dairies  the  principal 
object  is  the  making  of  line  table-butter,  which  is 
sent  to  Berlin  in  great  quantities,  and  also  direct 
to  consumers  in  small  casks  containing  about 
20  lbs.  each. 

Ostpreusnsclie  Geutme. — This  kind  of  cheese  is 
of  very  simple  make,  and  only  adapted  for  house- 
hold use.  The  soured  thick  milk  is  warmed  by 
adding  hot  water,  or  over  the  fire,  to  86*^  Fahr., 
and  the  curd  taken  out  with  a  jjcrforated  ladle 
in  large  pieces  and  put  on  a  hau'-sieve  to  drain. 
When  this  is  done  it  is  eaten  with  fresh  milk  or 
with  cream. 

POSEN. 

This  province  contains  very  large  farms,  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  also  very  small  ones.  The  large 
farmers  breed  all  kinds  of  imjiroved  races  of  cattle ; 
there  may  be  found  Dutch,  Oldenburger,  Berner, 
Swiss,  Algiiuer,  Montafuner,  Voigtlander,  Schein- 
felder,  Simmenthaler,  Ba^Teuther  Scheeken,  Wils- 
termarscher,  Angler,  Ayrshire,  Shorthorn,  &c. 
The  Shorthorns  have  not  had  much  success,  be- 
cause they  do  not  give  enough  milk,  and  for  fat 
cattle  there  is  no  very  good  market.  The  Dutch 
cattle  and  other  closely-related  breeds  have  sho\\Ti 
too  much  inclination  for  ])leuro-pneumonia,  and 
therefore  the  attention  of  the  farmers  has  been 
drawn,  with  very  good  results,  to  Bavarian  and 
Swiss  cattle.  The  cattle  of  the  peasants  are  of 
very  bad  quality,  are  fed  very  poorly,  and  their 
milking  and  flesh-forming  propensities  are  pro- 
portionately small.  On  the  large  farms  the  food 
is  not  of  first  quality,  as  straw  plays  the  principal 
part  in  it,  siqjplemented  by  the  products  of  distil- 
leries, beet-sugar  factories,  &c.  Mangels,  jwtatoes, 
and  rape-cakes  are  frequently  fed. 

While  the  jx^asants  keep  the  milk  until  it  is 
sour,  and  make  bad  butter  and  inferior  little  hand- 
made cheeses,  the  larger  farms  let  their  milk  gene- 
rally to  a  cheese-maker,  who  makes  butter  and 
Limburg  cheese.  Some  large  farms  work  the 
dairy  by  their  own  people  in  very  good  style.  The 
Swartz  system  is  employed,  or  iron  enamelled 
milk-pans,  which  are  frequently  cooled  with 
running  water.  All  these  large  dairies  send  their 
butter  to  Berlin  and  other  large  markets,  but  the 
quality  of  the  butter  of  small  makers  is  very  in- 
ferior, and  averages  less  than  half  the  jirice  that 
the  butter  of  Schleswiu-Uolstein  commands. 


SILESIA    AND    BRANDENBURG. 


527 


Silesia. 

The  soils  and  agritniltural  capaLilltics  of  tliis 
province  are  very  varied,  but  with  the  exception 
of  smaller  portions  of  mountainous  and  ewampy 
country,  it  may  be  said  that  it  enjoys  generally 
favourable  circumstances.  Grazing  is  limited,  and 
the  feeding  on  bmall  farms  rather  indifferent. 
The  large  farms  have  augmented  their  herds  since 
sheep-raising  has  become  unprofitable.  More 
green  crops  have  been  raised,  and  the  produce  of 
the  technological  establishments  combined  with 
almost  every  farm  are  used  as  fodder. 

Dairying  was,  until  a  few  years  ago,  in  a  de- 
plorable state.  At  the  small  farms  the  milk  was 
kept  until  quite  sour  and  the  cream  churned,  while 
the  milk  was  either  eaten  or  made  into  the  small 
ordinary  hand-cheesos.  In  larger  dairies  the  milk- 
rooms  were  a  little  better,  the  butter  was  washed 
before  salting,  and  there  was  less  salt  mixed  with 
it.  But  otherwise  there  was  no  improvement, 
until  cheese-makers  came  from  Switzerland  and 
South  German)'  and  rented  the  milk  on  the  farms. 
Instead  of  the  old  earthenware  milk-dishes,  tin, 
wood,  or  glass  dishes  began  to  be  used,  and  better 
chm'ns  were  introduced.  Swartz's  method  is  now 
also  introduced.  The  cheese  made  is  generally 
Limburger  of  skim-milk,  but  also  Emmeuthaler  is 
produced  at  one  or  two  dairies.  Artificial  butter 
from  Aienna,  and  ordinary  cooking  butter  from 
Galieia,  are  extensively  imported. 

Schlesischer  IFeichquarg. — This  cheese  is  quite 
a  specialty  of  Silesia.  The  soured  milk  is  warmed 
to  100"  to  105®  Falir.,  and  the  curd  collected  on  a 
sieve  and  then  filled  into  a  sack,  which  is  suspended 
to  allow  the  whey  to  drain  off,  and  afterwards  laid 
on  a  kind  of  ladder  and  pressed  by  straining  a 
board  over  it.  The  board  is  tightened  from  time 
to  time,  after  the  curd  has  been  shaken  up.  After 
tweuty-f  om'  hours  most  of  the  whey  is  extracted,  aud 
the  cm'd  is  now  mixed  Avith  salt,  aud  sometimes 
a  little  caraway-seed,  and  well  kneaded  with  the 
hands  in  a  trough.  When  this  is  done  the  eurd 
may  be  eaten  fresh  with  potatoes  or  bread,  and  it 
is  mixed  for  this  purpose  with  milk  or  cream ; 
others  add  some  garlic  or  onions.  Otherwise  the 
curd  is  left  standing  for  a  few  days  to  undergo  a 
kind  of  fermentation,  and  it  shows  in  such  eases  a 
yellowish,  transparent,  rough  skin.  Six  parts  of 
skimmed  milk  yield  one  part  of  "  Weichquarg." 

SchlesiscJter  Sauermilchkase  (Silesiau  Soui'-milk 
Cheese). — The  salted    cm'd  mixed  with  caraway- 


seed,  made  as  described  before,  is  formed  by  tho 
hands  into  little  flat  loaves  of  l.  to  6  oz.  weight, 
and  laid  on  straw  to  dry,  in  summer  in  a  shady 
place  in  the  open  air,  and  iu  winter  near  the  stove. 
During  the  drying  tho  cheeses  become  covered  by  a 
transparent  wrinkled  skin,  and  in  this  state  they 
are  often  eaten,  or  they  are  dried  until  quite  hard. 
This  drying  must,  however,  be  conducted  slowly, 
as  the  cheeses  arc  otherwise  ujit  to  crack,  and  in  the 
cracks  mould  would  appear.  AVhen  the  cheeses  are 
thoroughly  dried  they  keep  a  long  time,  Init  before 
they  are  eatable  they  must  undergo  another  treat- 
ment. For  this  purpose  they  are  put  in  layers 
in  a  barrel  or  pot,  between  layers  of  damp  straw 
or  brewers'  grains,  or  wrapped  in  wet  linen  rags. 
The  cheeses  regain  here  the  humidity  lost  by  their 
drying,  and  begin  to  decompose,  which  shows  it- 
self by  the  rind  becoming  dark  yellow  and  soft. 
Every  four  to  six  daj's  the  cheeses  are  re-packed 
in  this  way  after  having  been  cleaned  \vith  hot 
water,  and  in  three  to  eight  weeks  they  are  ripe 
for  eating.  If  they  are  kept  warmer  the  ripening 
proceeds  more  rapidly. 

Brandenburg. 

In  this  province  also  the  development  of  dairy- 
ing is  of  modern  date,  and  large  districts  are  still 
in  the  old  way.  There  the  cattle  are  worthless, 
the  meadows  are  in  a  bad  state,  green  crops  are 
not  raised,  and  the  soil  is  continually  impoverished 
by  grain  crops.  A  rational  system  of  feeding 
is  practised  only  exceptionally.  The  dairies  are 
consequently  in  a  very  primitive  state,  and  the 
peasants  make  inferior  butter,  but  a  few  associa- 
tions which  have  been  formed  produce  good 
marketable  butter  and  cheese. 

Mdrkiscker  PressM-se. — This  cheese  is  matle 
by  filling  fresh  salted  curd — j'l't'P'ii'ed  from  soured 
milk  by  heating  to  about  100*^  Fahr.,  but  not 
higher — into  a  small  bag,  which  is  tied  up  and 
pressed  very  strongly  for  forty-eight  hours.  Then 
it  is  cut  in  oblong  pieces  and  treated  like  the 
Silesian  Weichquarg,  by  curing  in  barrels  or  pots, 
interlayered  with  damp  straw. 

Koclikiise  or  Topfkdse  (Potted  or  Cooked  Cheese) . 
— Curd  made  from  sour  milk  is  put  in  a  warm  place 
for  a  few  days  until  it  begins  to  get  soft,  and  then 
is  mixed  with  salt,  caraway-seed,  and  butter  (half 
an  ounce  to  the  pound),  aud  put  over  the  fire.  It 
must  be  stirred  all  the  time,  and  when  the  whole 
mass  is  melted  to  a  uniform  paste  it  is  iilled  in 


S23 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


pots,  where  it  stiffens  to  a  tniusparent  jelly-like 
substance  which  may  be  ealen  at  once. 

PeOTINCE    on   TItE    RlIIXE. 

This  province  has  a  good  deal  of  clay  land, 
some  of  it  being  very  strong;  10  per  cent,  of 
the  total  area  is  permanent  pasture,  and  7  per 
cent,  meadows,  which  are  well  kept  and  in  many 
instances  watered.  In  the  lower  part  of  the  pro- 
vince Dutch  cattle  are  prevalent ;  some  farmers  have 
introduced  Shorthorns  to  produce  more  meat,  and 
in  the  other  districts  of  the  jirovince  native  breeds 
are  to  be  found.  Birhcnfeld  cattle  show  still  in 
their  massive  forms  the  infusion  of  Bernese  blood 
effected  at  the  beginning  of  this  century.  Wester- 
wdlder  are  middle-sized  cattle,  and  give  much  milk 
of  a  very  good  quality.  The  cattle  in  the  Eifel 
mountains  have  of  late  been  much  improved  by 
crossing  with  imported  Swiss  or  Bavaiian  bulls. 
In  some  parts  of  the  province  the  cattle  are  grazed 
during  the  summer,  in  others  they  are  fed  in  the 
stable.  The  growing  of  green  crops  is  very  ex- 
tensive ;  amongst  them  are  clover,  lucerne,  sain- 
foin, rye,  Trifolium  incarnatum,  vetches,  maize, 
turnips,  mangel,  carrots,  and  swedes.  In  the 
winter  all  kinds  of  cake,  brewers'  grains,  pulp 
from  beet-sugar  factories,  &c.  &c.,  are  added  to 
the  straw  and  hay.  On  the  smaller  farms,  which 
belong  to  peasants,  the  cattle  are  not  so  well  fed, 
but  on  the  whole  the  improvements  have  been 
marked  of  late  years. 

In  the  well-selected  herds  of  Dutch  cattle,  the 
average  yield  of  milk  may  be  taken  at  550  gallons 
per  year,  but  cows  are  to  be  found  that  give  no 
less  than  26  quarts  of  milk  daily,  in  the  flush. 
The  cattle-dealei's  generally  promise  a  certain 
amount  of  milk  after  calving  for  each  cow  which 
he  sells  in-calf ;  if  it  turns  out  to  be  less,  he  pays 
back  a  certain  sum  for  each  quart  below  the 
promised  quantity.  It  speaks  volumes  for  the 
milking  capacity  of  the  breed  that  dealers  promise 
up  to  17  quarts  per  day  after  calving. 

The  province  of  the  Rhine,  containing  many 
large  towns  and  a  considerable  factory  population, 
is  adapted  to  selling  fresh  milk  direct  to  consumers, 
which  is  done  on  a  large  scale.  The  Swartz 
method  has  been  introduced  on  many  large  farms 
where  butter  is  made,  but  on  the  small  holdings 
the  milk  is  still  kept  in  earthenware  and  wooden 
vessels  containing  3  to  5  quarts,  until  it  is  quite 
sour.     The  butter  is,  therefore,  mostly  bad.     ^Vll 


the  more  so  as  the  milk  is  generally  placed  in 
the  living-room,  where,  with  tobacco-smoke, 
cooking,  &c.,  and  without  ventilation,  the  air  is 
quite  the  reverse  of  pure.  In  general  the  princi- 
j)al  product  is  butter,  wliile  the  soured  milk  is  used 
for  feeding,  but  many  farms  produce  also  cheese, 
made  after  the  Gouda  (Dutch)  or  Emmenthal 
fashion.  The  sale  of  dairy  products  in  the  whole 
province  is  easy  and  profitable,  and  rising  prices 
have  been  the  rule  for  fifty  years.  The  pro\ince 
cannot  supply  its  own  wants,  and  butter  as  well 
as  cheese  is  largely  imjsorted  from  the  neigh- 
bouring countries,  France  and  Bavaria. 

RheiniscJter  Kdse  (Cheese  from  the  Rhine). — 
The  fresh  milk  is  poured  into  a  wooden  tub  and 
the  rennet  added.  In  three-quarters  of  an  hour 
the  milk  ought  to  be  coagulated.  It  is  then 
broken  up  softly  with  the  hands,  and  water  at 
the  temperature  of  120°  Fahr.  in  a  quantity  equal 
to  one-tenth  of  the  milk  previously  emjjlojed 
is  now  added.  In  a  quarter  of  an  hour  the  whey 
is  drained  off,  and  the  curd  well  pressed  against 
the  bottom  of  the  tub  with  a  little  board  one  foot 
long  and  a  quarter  of  a  foot  broad  held  in  both 
hands.  Now  the  curd  is  cut  up  with  a  knife, 
in  pieces  one  inch  square,  and  kneaded  Avith  the 
hands  before  the  forms  are  tightly  packed  with  it. 
These  forms  are  made  of  tin,  and  are  square,  but 
twice  as  broad  as  the\'  are  high.  The  curd  is  taken 
out  of  the  forms  again,  and  re-packed  in  one  form 
of  double  size  containing  about  10  lljs.  After 
this  the  form  is  put  under  the  press,  and  frequently 
turned  for  the  next  twelve  hom-s,  when  the  cheese 
is  taken  out  and  put  for  three  days  in  a  salt  bath. 
The  cheese  is  cured  in  a  cool  drpug-room,  and  daily 
turned  and  put  on  a  fresh  dry  place  on  the  boards.  In 
four  to  sis  weeks  it  is  sufficiently  ripe  to  be  saleable. 

Maimer  Hand-Kdsc. — This  cheese,  which  de- 
rives its  name  from  being  made  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Mayence,  is  very  much  like  the  other  hand- 
made cheeses,  only  that  it  is  richer.  The  curd  is 
prepared  in  the  way  which  has  been  described 
before  (Harzkase),  but  when  it  has  been  pressed, 
salted,  and  crumbled,  it  is  moistened  with  sweet 
milk  or  cream,  before  it  is  formed  into  the  small 
disks  of  biscuit  size.  The  further  treatment  is 
identical  with  that  of  the  Harz  cheese. 

Westphalia. 

The  greatest  part  of  this  province  is  in  tlie 
bauds  of  small  owners.     There  arc  many  factories. 


WESTPHALIA    AND    BAYARTA. 


329 


and  the  province  is  tliickly  populated.  In  some 
parts  the  cattle  are  grazed  throughout  the  year, 
in  others  only  during  the  summer  months,  and  in 
yet  others  they  are  fed  entirely  in  the  stahle. 

A  great  deal  of  the  milk  is  sold  fresh  to  the 
towns;  the  remainder  is  generally  used  for  making 
butter,  fattening  calves  and  pigs,  and  some  for 
making  cheese.  The  butter  has  a  very  good 
market  in  the  industrial  towns.  The  system  of 
Swartz  is  adopted  in  many  dairies,  but  on  small 
farms  the  old  earthenware  dishes  are  still  in  use. 

Westfalischer  Kdse  (Westphaliau  Cheese). — 
This  cheese  is  made  from  skimmed  milk.  The 
cream  is  not  taken  ofE  until  the  milk  has  acquired 
a  slightly  sour  taste.  After  this  has  been  done 
the  milk  is  put  on  the  fire  to  coagulate.  The 
curd  is  now  put  in  a  sack  of  coarse  linen  and 
pressed,  so  as  to  extract  the  whey.  When  no  more 
whey  runs  off,  the  curd  is  crumbled  with  the 
hands  and  put  in  a  wooden  tub,  where  it  is  allowed 
to  ferment  for  eight  or  ten  days,  but  before  it  is 
covered  with  a  thick  crust  it  is  taken  out,  salted 
butter  and  a  third  part  of  fresh  curd  mixed  with 
it,  and  formed  into  loaves  or  cylinders.  In  the 
forms  it  remains  until  sufficiently  hard. 

Nieheimer  Cheese. — These  cheeses,  made  around 
Nieheim  in  Westphalia,  are  well  known  on  the 
Berlin  market,  where  they  are  also  called  Frankfort 
cheese.  The  milk  is  kept  until  sour  and  the  cream 
taken  off.  The  milk  is  now  heated  to  about 
130°  Fahr.,  and  poured  into  a  sack  of  coarse 
linen,  where  it  remains  to  drain  for  twenty-four 
hours.  Then  the  curd  is  poured  on  a  table  and 
rubbed  with  a  small  board  until  quite  fine.  It  is 
now  spread  2  inches  thick  in  small  trays,  and  put 
in  the  cellar  to  ferment,  where  it  is  frequently 
turned.  After  three  to  eight  days  this  process  is 
finished,  and  may  be  judged  by  the  aspect  of  the 
curd,  which  must  be  a  homogeneous  yellowish 
mass  without  white  specks  of  unfermeuted  curd. 
Now  salt,  caraway-seeds,  and  milk  are  added, 
and  the  cheeses  are  made  with  the  hand.  The 
finished  cheeses  are  put  on  boards,  covered  thinly 
with  straw,  and  left  to  dry  in  a  cool  and  airy 
room.  The  packing  of  the  cheese  is  done  between 
layers  of  hops,  which  have  been  already  used  for 
beer-brewing,  but  afterv,  .irds  dried  again. 

Bavatua. 

The  climate  of  the  country  is  on  the  whole 
good,    with   the    exception    of    the    mountainous 


parts,  and  especially  the  Alps,  which  form  the 
southern  boundary-line  of  the  kingdom.  In  the 
northern  provinces  the  grape-vine  is  extensively 
cultivated,  and  also  tobacco,  which  speaks  well 
for  the  climate ;  but  towards  the  south  it  is  more 
elevated  and  cold.  It  may  be  understood  that 
the  dairy  interest  is  therefore  principally  concen- 
trated in  the  last-mentioned  parts. 

Bavaria  has  several  breeds  of  cattle.  The  best 
milkers  are  the  Ahjduer,  which  are  to  be  found  in 
the  mountainous  district  of  Algau.  The  cows  are 
light  or  dark  grey,  and  not  very  large — about 
850  lbs.  They  yield  about  500  gallons  of  very  good 
milk  per  annum.  This  breed  has  long  been  exported 
to  all  the  countries  of  the  Continent,  and  its  fame 
is  great.  In  crosses  and  pure-bred  herds  it  is  to 
be  found  on  a  great  many  farms. 

In  the  north  of  Bavaria  dairj-ing  is  not  in  a 
very  flourishing  state,  because  the  breeding  of 
draught-oxen  is  the  first  consideration.  The  milk 
is  generally  put  in  earthenware  dishes  and  allowed 
to  become  sour.  The  cream  is  made  into  butter, 
and  the  sour  milk  is  either  used  as  food  or  made 
into  the  small  hand-made  cheese,  as  described  in 
the  dairying  of  the  Prussian  provinces.  On  the 
large  farms,  of  course,  the  dairymg  is  better,  and 
the  milk  is  sometimes  rented  to  a  cheese-maker. 
The  latter  custom  is  very  common  in  the  south 
of  the  country.  In  large  and  sometimes  even  in 
small  villages,  cheese-makers  work  on  their  own 
account,  and  buy  the  milk  from  the  peasants ;  also 
the  larger  farms  commonly  sell  their  milk  in  this 
way.  Butter-making  is  in  a  very  bad  state  in 
Bavaria ;  even  in  the  best  dairy  districts  second 
and  third  qualities  are  the  rule.  The  small  farms 
especially  melt  great  quantities  of  butter  to  pre- 
serve it.  This  is  generally  used  for  cooking 
purposes.  The  butter  is  never  salted.  In  places 
where  no  cheese-makers  are,  on  small  single  farms, 
&c.,  the  waste  of  milk  is  frequently  deplorable. 
Very  often  the  cream  is  taken  from  the  milk  and 
the  skimmed  milk  given  back  to  the  cows,  and  the 
families  of  the  peasants  drink  astonishing  quanti- 
ties of  milk,  and  in  some  cases  two  cows  are  re- 
quired for  each  member  of  the  household.  Almost 
all  the  dairies  of  larger  farms  are  pretty  well 
appointed,  and  furnished  with  tin  or  wooden 
milk-dishes ;  also  the  Swartz  system  is  employed 
by  many,  though  it  was  only  introduced  a  few 
j-ears  ago. 

The  Government  employs  a  chemist,  who  makes 


530 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


a  specialty  of  resoarclios  on  dairyin;;,  in  order  to 
give  advice  on  dairy  matters  to  all  the  farmers 
who  apply  for  it.  He  furnishes  plans  and  esti- 
mates for  new  dairies,  or  arranges  old  ones.  If 
necessary,  he  visits  the  farms  in  question.  He 
also  lectures  on  dairy  questions  at  farmers'  clubs, 
&c.  As  he  is  paid  by  the  Government,  his  whole 
work  is  absolutely  gratuitous  to  the  farmers  who 
consult  him. 

Bachtein  Kiise. — This  cheese  is  a  modifica- 
tion of  Limburg  cheese,  which  comes  from  Liege, 
in  Belgium.  It  is  generally  made  of  half  milk  or 
skim-milk.  The  milk  is  put  in  a  kettle  and  heated 
to  about  90°  Fahr.  in  the  summer,  in  the  winter 
to  95°  or  96°  Fahr.,  and  so  much  rennet  added 
that  the  milk  is  coagulated  in  forty  to  forty-five 
minutes.  After  this  has  been  arrived  at  the  curd 
is  cut  into  squares  of  about  3  inches  with  a  wooden 
sword ;  it  is  then  allowed  to  rest  for  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes,  and  then  is  broken  up  with  a  stick 
into  pieces  about  the  size  of  an  egg,  and  put  in 
the  forms,  which  consist  of  perforated  wooden 
boxes.  Here  it  remains  a  few  hours,  until  most  of 
the  whey  has  run  off,  and  then  is  taken  from  the 
forms  and  cut  into  square  pieces  ;  these  are  laid  on 
a  table  with  a  rim  about  6  inches  high,  and  from 
this  point  the  treatment  and  curing  are  identical 
with  those  of  the  Limburg  cheese,  as  described 
elsewhere. 

Romadour  Kcise.  —  The  fabrication  of  this 
cheese  closely  resembles  that  of  Baekstein,  but  as 
Romadour  is  made  from  whole  milk,  the  rennet  is 
added  at  a  higher  temperature.  The  curd  is  also 
cut  into  squareSj  but  these  are  halved  again  so  as 
to  form  pieces  whose  long  sides  are  of  equal 
dimensions.  This  cheese  must  be  turned  every 
day  when  curing,  and  requires  a  good  deal  of 
care.  When  three-quarters  ripe  it  is  wi-apped  in 
tinfoil,  which  makes  the  ripening  more  equal. 

Schachtel  Kiisc. — This  cheese  is  very  delicious, 
but  as  it  does  not  keep  long  when  once  ripe,  it 
is  hardly  ever  made  in  large  quantities.  The  fresh 
milk  is  w-armed  to  95°  Fahr.,  rennet  added,  and 
after  half  an  hour  the  curd  ought  to  be  formed. 
This  is  cut  up  slowly  and  carefully,  and  stirred 
gently  until  the  pieces  are  about  the  size  of  a 
hazel-nut.  Now  the  tin  or  wooden  forms  (6  to 
8  inches  in  diameter)  are  filled,  and  after  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  the  contents  turned.  This 
turning  is  repeated  several  times  during  the  day, 
and  next  morning  the  cheese  is  put  in  the  drying- 


room,  and  daily  salted  for  the  next  three  to  five 
days,  when  it  is  put  in  the  cellar  to  be  cured. 
Every  second  day  the  cheese  must  be  rubbed  over 
with  the  hand  a  little  and  turned.  In  eight  to 
twelve  weeks  it  is  ripe  and  eatable.  By  wrapping 
it  in  tinfoil  for  a  few  weeks  before  ripening  it  is 
much  improved. 

"WtTRTEMBETlG. 

This  country  is  blessed  with  very  good  soils. 
Large  farms  are  rare,  and  the  peasants  own  their 
small  farms.  Green  crops  of  all  kinds  are  exten- 
sively raised.  The  greatest  part  of  the  milk  produced 
is  sold  in  a  fresh  state  to  the  consumers.  Also  large 
quantities  are  used  for  feeding  young  pigs.  In 
the  small  dairies  the  treatment  of  milk,  generally 
speaking,  is  still  in  a  very  backward  state.  In 
large  dairies,  where  the  milk  is  often  I'ented  by 
cheese-makers,  mostly  Baekstein  cheese  is  made; 
in  some  instances  also  Emmenthaler.  The  country 
does  not  produce  enough  butter  or  cheese  for  its 
own  use,  and  imports  largely,  while  the  export 
amounts  to  next  to  nothing. 

Ilohenhelmer  Kiise.  —  At  Hohenheim,  near 
Stuttgart,  a  special  kind  of  cheese  is  made  in  the 
following  way.  The  evening's  milk  is  skimmed 
on  the  following  morning,  and  the  morning's  milk 
added  to  it  in  the  kettle.  It  is  then  warmed  up 
to  107°  Fahr.,  coloured,  and  the  rennet  added  in 
such  a  measm-e  that  coagulation  is  complete  in 
about  an  hour  and  a  quarter.  ^The  curd  is  then 
cut  into  square  pieces  with  a  wooden  sword,  and 
further  broken  up  with  the  hand.  After  a  few 
minutes'  standing  the  whey  is  drawn  off  and  some 
caraway-seeds  added,  and  the  curd  made  still 
finer,  until  the  pieces  are  of  the  size  of  a  bean. 
Now  the  curd  is  filled  in  cylindrical  tin  forms  of 
4  to  6  inches  diameter,  which  are  perforated. 
The  cheeses  are  turned,  at  first  very  frequently,  by 
upsetting  the  form,  which  has  been  covered  up 
■\vith  a  little  board.  After  eight  or  ten  hours  the 
cheeses  are  put  in  lower  wooden  forms  and  salted 
every  day  for  four  hours.  After  this  has  been 
done,  they  are  put  in  the  cellar,  and  take  about 
three  mouths  to  be  perfectly  cm-ed. 

Saxony. 

The  Kingdom  of  Saxony  contains  a  large  pro- 
portion of  mountainous  country  and  a  large  popula- 
tion. The  culture  of  the  arable  land  is  therefore 
forced  to  a  cousiderublc  degree.     Grazing  is  only 


MECKLENBERCi    SCIIWKRIN    AND    IIKSSK. 


j;31 


allowed  in  the  aiituniii ;  in  suninicr,  (-lover  miiiI 
{grasses;  in  winter,  niani;el,  imtatoes,  e:ilil)ai;v,  ^c 
Artitieial  food  is  universally  em])lr)yed.  As, 
g'eiieraliy,  good  cattle  are  imported,  the  avera^-e 
ot"  milk  per  cow  from  the  larger  farms  may  be 
computed  at  400  to  700  gallons   per   year. 

About  half  of  the  milk  produced  is  used  as 
such.  Flat  wooden  milk-dishes  are  employed 
generally,  but  newer  methods,  as  for  instance 
Swartz's,  are  the  rule  on  larger  farms,  which  sell 
their  milk  to  a  cheese-maker,  or  work  their  dairies 
on  their  own  account ;  there  mostly  Bact^tein 
cheese  of  skimmed  milk  is  made,  and  the  butter 
sold  direct  to  the  towns.  Cheese-making  is  little 
developed  in  Saxony,  and  large  quantities  of  better 
cheese  are  imported.  Butter  is  in  such  demand, 
that  only  a  little  more  than  half  that  is  required  is 
produced  in  the  country,  while  the  rest  is  imported. 
The  small  farmers  produce  hand-made  cheese, 
but  a  great  deal  of  milk  is  used  by  them  for 
rearing  and  fattening  pigs. 

^Mecklenburg  Schwerin. 

Tills  grand-duchy  contains  mostly  large  farms. 
The  small  farms  are  not  owned  by  the  peasants, 
bnt  are  rented  by  them,  and  generally  descend 
from  father  to  son.  In  1873  Mecklenburg  con- 
tained ^7:1,795  head  of  cattle,  including  200,126 
cows.  In  the  summer  the  cattle  are  mostly 
grazed.  The  country  possesses  no  breed  of  its 
own ;  the  so-called  native  cows  are  a  mixture  of 
all  kinds  of  breeds,  and  they  are  very  inferior 
as  to  form.  Angler  are  bred  very  frequently ; 
Breitenburger,  Ostfriesen,  and  Dutch,  are  to  be 
found  also,  but  Ayrshires  have  lost  the  position 
they  once  had.  The  principal  food  for  the  winter 
is  straw,  with  some  hay  or  oil-cakes. 

The  milk  is  mostly  used  for  making  butter, 
the  remainder  for  feeding  purposes,  and  cheese- 
making  is  rare.  The  milk  is  kept  in  glass  or 
stoneware  dishes,  rarely  in  wooden,  bnt  is  treated 
in  the  same  way  as  in  Holstein.  The  butter  is 
mostly  sent  to  Hamburg,  in  wooden  casks.  At 
Raden  there  is  a  dairy-school  and  dairy  experi- 
mental station,*  which  were  founded  by  a  few 
large  landowners. 

*  The  Expenmental  Dairy  Station  here  alluded  to  is  on 
the  fine  estate  of  Graf  von  Sfhlieffen,  who  for  some  time  past 
has  devoted  much  energy,  money,  and  intelligence  to  the 
improvement  of  agriculture,  and  particularly  of  dairying,  in 
North  Germany.  The  station  has  heen  for  some  years  under 
70 


IIksse. 

The  grand-duchy  of  Hesse  contains  a  great 
number  of  small  holdings,  but  large  farms  are  also 
to  be  found.  The  dairies  are  as  yet  mostly  of  an 
inferior  kind.  The  milk  is  kept  in  low  cellars  with 
deficient  ventilation  ;  in  the  winter  it  is  put  in  the 
general  living-room,  sometimes  the  bedroom,  and 
is  set  in  earthenware  pots  containing  two  to  three 
quarts.  Some  of  the  larger  dairies  have,  however, 
better  appliances.  Butter  is  made  from  soured 
cream,  and  is  well  washed  with  water.  The  thick, 
sour  milk  is  eaten  in  towns  and  in  the  country, 
but  mostly  it  is  fed  to  pigs  or  young  stock,  or 
hand-cheese  is  made  from  it.  Some  time  ago 
factories  were  established ;  these  buy  the  curd 
from  the  peasants  and  make  the  cheese  from  it. 
The  sale  of  all  dairy  products  is  very  easy  and 
remunerative,  because  of  the  many  large  towns  in 
the  neighliourhood,  all  united  by  railway's. 

ILniil-mitile  Cheese. — This  kind  of  cheese  is 
made  in  Hesse  in  the  following  way  : — When  the 
milk  is  coagulated,  which  may  be  accelerated  by 
wanning  it,  the  curd  is  poured  into  a  piece  of  linen 
and  the  whey  pressed  out.  The  curd  is  then 
mixed  with  salt,  and  often  caraway-soeds,  and 
kneaded  carefully  until  it  has  become  a  tine  mass. 
The  forming  of  the  cheese  is  done  by  taking  a 
piece  of  curd  on  the  palm  of  one  hand  and  beating 
it  with  the  other;  the  cheese  are  2  to  3 
inches  in  diameter,  and  about  1  inch  thick.  The 
cheese  must  present  an  even  surface  and  have  no 
fissures,  as  otherwise  the  curing  does  not  proceed 
regularly,  and  mould  would  appear.  In  summer 
the  drying  is  done  in  the  open  air;  in  winter,  next 
to  the  stove  ;  and  occupies  five  to  ten  days.  The 
dried   cheese   are   then    laid    in   pots   or   wooden 

the  management  of  Dr.  Wilhelm  Fleischman,  whose  valuable 
and  long-continued  researches  into  milk  and  its  products  are 
highly  appreciated  in  many  countries.  In  the  month  of 
March,  1877,  it  fell  to  our  lot  to  pay  a  visit  of  two  or  three 
days'  duration  to  Schlieffcnburg,  during  which  we  were  much 
interested  in  looking  into  Dr.  Fleischnian's  dairying  arrange- 
ments. The  salient  product  of  the  Raden  Dairy  is  butter  for 
the  English  market,  and  the  Swartz  system  of  cream-raising 
is  followed  put  in  its  integrity.  This  system  we  have  described 
at  some  leugth  at  p.  293.  Besides  butter,  skim-milk  cheese 
is  made  for  local  consumption,  and  almost  the  whole  of  the 
work  in  the  dairj-  is  performed  by  students,  wlio  have  come 
to  profit  by  the  tuition  of  Dr.  Fleischman,  whose  services  are 
paid  for  by  Government,  the  remainder  of  the  expenses  of 
the  station  being  defrayed  by  the  students'  fees,  and  the 
deficiancy,  if  any,  by  the  several  noblemen  and  gentlemen  who 
were  instrumental  in  creating  the  station.  The  results  of  this 
system  are  very  satisfactory.     [En.] 


hSi 


DAIRY    FARMIXC;. 


buckets,  and  put  iu  the  cellar,  where  they  are 
washed  with  water  and  brushed  after  ten  to  twelve 
days,  and  are  put  back  into  the  pots.  This  treat- 
ment has  to  be  repeated  two  or  three  times,  when 
the  mould  is  growing  strong.  In  eight  to  twelve 
weeks  the  cheese  are  ripe,  and  cont;iin  only  in  the 
centre  a  small  nucleus  of  curd. 

Jf'eisser  Kcise  (White  Cheese). —  The  poor 
townspeople  and  the  peasants  eat  this  kind  of  curd 
in  great  quantities.  It  is  simply  curd  from  sour 
milk,  well  kneaded  and  mixed  with  salt.  It  is  eaten 
like  butter  with  bread  or  potatoes,  and  in  some  dis- 
tricts the  people  mix  it  with  milk,  cream,  or  garlic. 

Schmicrkdse. — The  salted  curd,  made  in  the 
way  just  mentioned,  is  mixed  with  a  small  quan- 
tity of  over-ripe  hand-made  cheese,  frequently 
half  a  year  or  a  year  old,  which  has  a  very  strong- 
taste  and  smell.  When  it  is  mixed  to  a  uniform 
paste  it  may  be  eaten,  which  is  done  by  all  classes 
of  the  population,  and  it  may  be  therefore  called  a 
national  dish. 

AUSTRIA. 

Austria  has  in  its  provinces  so  very  many 
varieties  of  soil  and  climate,  some  of  which  are 
almost  incompatible  with  dairying,  that  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at  if  its  general  status  of  dairy 
products  is  inferior.  This  is  still  easier  to  explain, 
when  we  consider  that  by  far  the  largest  part  of 
the  population  is  in  a  state  of  civilisation  which 
does  not  coincide  with  the  care  and  cleanliness,  as 
well  as  the  fineness  of  taste  in  eating,  which  are 
certainly  necessary  to  promote  the  production  and 
consumption  of  dairy  products  of  a  better  class. 

Austria  has  many  valued  breeds  of  cattle, 
which  not  only  suit  her  wants,  but  are  exported  in 
such  numbers,  that  we  may  say  Austrian  success- 
ful stock-breeding  is  princijjally  founded  on  the 
needs  of  the  neighbouring  countries.  The  principal 
Austrian  breeds  are  the  Hungarian  Steppe  breed 
(Ste[)pe  =  plains),  which  is  closely  related  to  the 
Russian  cattle  of  the  plains.  These  jjlains  are 
often  dried  up  f(jr  months  in  the  summer,  and 
yield  hardly  anything,  also  the  changes  of  tempera- 
ture make  themselves  felt,  and  iiuindations  often 
cover  the  land.  This  breed  is  the  hardiest  of  all 
European  cattle,  but  it  is  also  dreaded  as  the 
bearer  of  the  rinderpest,  which  seems  to  have  no 
such  deadly  effect  on  it,  however,  as  only  about 
20  per  cent,  die  of  those  attacked,  while  of  the 
other  breeds  up  to  7U  per  cent,  succumb.     These 


conditions  have  prevented  any  crossing  with  the 
Hungarian  Steppe  cattle  being  successful.  They 
are  of  grey  colour,  and  are  easily  known  by  their 
immensely  long  horns.  The  cows  give  very  little 
milk — about  lot)  gallons  per  annum,  of  very  rich 
quality — but  often  not  enough  to  nourish  their 
calves.  The  breed  does  not  possess  any  good  feed- 
ing qualities,  but  is  excellent  for  draught. 

It  is  difficult  to  give  a  short  description  of 
Austrian  dairying,  considering  the  many  different 
nationalities,  climates,  &c.;  suffice  it  to  say,  there- 


Fig.  3.53. — Austrian  Mh.k-cooler. 

fore,  that  some  parts  of  the  country  have  no 
dairying  which  may  be  classed  as  such,  as  they 
only  produce  butter  and  cheese,  which  is,  in  most 
instances,  nnmarketable.  In  the  Steppes  the  cattle 
and  food  are  of  a  kind  which  makes  dairy-farming 
impossible.  In  the  northern  and  western  pro- 
vinces dairying  may  be  well  compared  to  that 
in  south  Germany,  possessing  all  its  faults  and 
making  its  mistakes  in  the  treatment  of  milk 
and  butter.  The  small  farms  rarely  make  good 
cheese,  and  never  butter  of  first  quality,  as  the 
cream  is  generally  churned  in  a  sour  state.  Dairy 
associations  are  rare  as  yet,  but  cheese-makers 
frequently  buy  the  milk  of  villages  and  large 
farms.  On  the  latter  the  dairies  are  mostly  better 
ajipointed,  some  setting    tlieir  milk   after   Swartz 


SWISS    CIIEESE-MAKINO. 


J33 


or  otlier  approved  nu'tluids,  and  making'  good 
cheese.  The  principal  kinds  of  cheese  made  in 
Austria  are  those  described  already :  Backstein, 
of  half  new  milk  and  half  skim  milk  ;  Limbiirger, 
of  whole  milk  ;  Emmenthaler  and  Swiss  Gruyere, 
made  from  half  milk.  In  small  quantities  Ouar- 
geln  (hand-made  cheese),  Schachtel  cheese,  goats'- 
milk  cheese,  &c.,  are  also  produced. 

The  annexed  engraving  (Fig.  35-3)  shows  an 
Austrian  mode  of  cooling  milk,  which  is  very  simple 
and,  in  some  respects,  novel.  It  consists  of  a  vat 
or  tub  through  which  cold  water  is  constantly 
circulating.  On  the  surface  of  the  water  floats  a 
circular  wooden  plate,  provided  with  a  number  of 
round  holes,  into  which  are  inserted  the  vessels  con- 
taining the  milk.  These  are  made  of  sheet  zinc,  two 
feet  long,  and  each,  according  to  the  Wiener  Landw. 
Zeitung,  contains  a  little  over  a  gallon  of  milk. 

It  takes  about  fifteen  minutes  to  cool  the  milk 
down  to  a  temperature  slightly  above  that  of  the 
surrounding  water.  "When  not  in  use  the  cylin- 
ders are  turned  upside  down,  on  a  wooden  rack,  as 
shown  in  the  engraving,  to  drain  and  dry. 

SWITZERLAND. 

Tlie  cheese-making  of  Switzerland  is  already 
very  old ;  but  only  during  this  century  it  has 
developed  to  a  considerable  fame  and  importance 
in  the  markets  of  the  world.  After  1820  associa- 
tions began  to  be  founded,  with  the  object  of 
producing  better  and  more  marketable  cheese 
during  the  winter  months.  On  the  mountains 
similar  associations  had  been  in  action  for  manv 
years  during  summer-time.  From  that  period 
dates  the  development  of  Swiss  dairying.  These 
associations  exist  now  to  the  number  of  several 
thousands;  and  either  sell  their  milk  to  a  con- 
tractor who  makes  cheese,  or  work  the  factory 
themselves  with  hired  labour. 

The  milk  is  generally  set  in  the  round  wooden 
dishes,  containing  8  to  10  quarts,  which  have  been 
used  since  time  immemorial.  In  some  Swiss  dairies 
the  Swartz  system  has,  however,  been  adojited,  and 
seems  to  be  gaining  ground. 

The  best-known  kinds  of  cheese  made  in 
Switzerland  are  the  following  : — 


Emmenthaler. 

Urseren. 

Gregerzer  (Gruyere). 

Bellelay. 

Spalen. 

Vacherin. 

Saanen. 

Schabrieger. 

Formaggio  della  pagUa  (in 

Battelmatt. 

the  Valmaggia  Tessino) . 

Eiiimi'iitlml  C/ii'e>ie. — Of  all  Swiss  cheese  this 
is  the  most  important,  as  it  is  sent  to  many  parts 
of  the  world.  It  is  generally  made  of  whole 
milk;  but  in  summer,  when  the  pasturing  on 
the  Alps  has  just  commenced,  a  quarter  or  half 
the  milk  is  set,  and  the  cream  taken  off  after 
twelve  hours.  These  cheese  are  of  very  large 
size — SO,  100,  120  lbs.  on  the  average — and  they 
have  commonly  a  diameter  of  3  to  4  feet,  with 
a  depth  of  about  6  inches,  a  size  and  shape  whose 
appearance  is  striking.  In  some  very  large 
factories  a  cheese  is  made  in  the  morning  and 
in  the  evening  from  fresh  milk,  but  mostly 
only  one  in  the  morning.  For  this  purpose  the 
evening's  milk,  which  has  been  set,  is  skimmed 
in  the  morning.  The  morning's  milk  is  poured 
into  the  kettle,  the  cream  from  the  evening's 
milk  added,  and  the  whole  heated  up  to  107° 
to  1 12°  Fahr.,  during  which  time  it  is  well 
stirred  at  the  surface  until  no  more  flakes  of 
cream  can  be  seen.  When  the  above-mentioned 
temperature  has  been  arrived  at,  the  skimmed 
evening's  milk  is  added  and  the  heating  stopped, 
when  the  contents  of  the  kettle  have  a  tempera- 
ture of  86°  to  98°.  The  rennet  used  generally 
consists  of  pieces  of  calves'  stomachs,  steeped  for 
twenty-four  hours  in  whey;  the  liquid  is  poured 
into  the  milk  and  thoroughly  mixed  with  it.  In 
thirty  or  forty  minutes  the  milk  ought  to  be 
coagulated,  and  is  then  cut  up  ■n'ith  a  wooden 
sword  into  squares.  Then  a  shallow  wooden 
dish  with  a  handle  is  emploj'ed  to  break  up  the 
curd  evenly  in  pieces,  of  the  size  of  a  small  apple. 
Now  a  curd-breaker,  Fig.  354',  is  used  to  stir  the 
mass,  until  the  curd 
is  reduced  to  pieces 
the  size  of  peas, 
when  the  work  is 
stopped  and  the 
curd  allowed  to  settle  for  ten  minutes.  After  that  a 
good  fire  is  made  under  the  kettle,  and  the  contents 
stirred  until  a  temperatm-e  of  130°  to  140°  is 
reached.  Now  the  kettle  is  taken  from  the  fire 
and  the  stirring  continued  until  the  curd  is  "ripe." 
To  know  this  is  of  course  solely  a  matter  of  prac- 
tice. Some  cheese-makers  know  it  by  biting  the 
curd,  others  by  feeling  it  and  squeezing  it  between 
their  fingers,  and  it  takes  about  forty  to  sixty 
minutes  stirring  to  arrive  at  the  proper  point.  At 
the  close  the  contents  are  stirred  for  a  minute,  so 
rapidly  that  a  deep  funnel  is  formed  in  the  centre. 


354.— Swiss  Ci;rd-breaker. 


534. 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


This  makes  the  curd  settle  down  in  a  compact 
massj  which  can  be  easily  taken  out  with  a  cloth. 
For  very  larc^^e  cheese,  machinery  is  sometimes 
employed  to  lilt  out  the  curd  and  transport  it  to 
the  press;  17  to  18  lbs.  of  pressure  for  each  jx)und 
of  cheese  are  employed  for  twenty-four  hours,  and 
then  the  cheese  is  taken  out  and  put  in  the  cellar 
to  be  cured.  Under  the  press  the  cheese  is  fre- 
quently turned,  and  the  wet  cloth  ehanji^ed  for  a 
dry  one.  Mostly  two  kinds  of  cellars  are  employed, 
one  of  which  is  subterranean  and  therefore  cooler 
and  damper. 

Cheese  is  either  directly  salted  after  leaving-  the 
press,  or  it  is  commenced  with  after  one  to  three 
days.  The  saltinj?  is  done  by  rubbing  with  dry 
salt,  and  after  a  fortnight  the  cheese  is  brought 
into  the  upper  cellar.  The  salting  is  done  every 
day  at  the  b.'ginning ;  for  a  few  months  every 
second  day,  and  afterwards  less  often.  For  large 
cheese,  often  a  year,  and  even  longer  is  necessary 
for  ripening,  and  about  4  to  5  per  cent,  of  salt 
is  required.  A  good  Emmenthal  cheese  ought  to 
show  when  ripe  a  homogeneous  mass  without  cracks, 
and  contain  round  holes  of  the  size  of  j>eas,  which 
must  contain  a  little  liquid.  It  ought  to  melt  on 
the  tongue  without  leaving  any  crumbly  matter, 
and  have  a  pure,  agreeable,  rather  sweet  taste. 

Skim-miUc  Cheese. — In  some  dairies  of  Switzer- 
land skim-milk  cheese  is  made  during  the  winter, 
when  so  little  milk  is  at  disposal  that  no  large 
Eramenthaler  cheese  can  be  made.  The  Swiss 
skim-milk  cheese  is  rarely  good;  it  is  made  too 
much  after  the  same  fashion  as  Emmeuthalers, 
without  taking  into  consideration  that  all  the 
cream  has  been  taken  off;  the  curd  is  too  rapidly 
coagulated  and  worked  and  heated,  and  in  conse- 
quence  the  cheese  is  generally  hard  or  tough. 

Gruijcre  Cheese. — The  making  of  the  Gruyere 
differs  only  a  little  from  the  Emmenthal  method. 
The  rennet  is  added  at  a  lower  temperature  (8()" 
Fahr.),  and  the  curd  is  heated  up  to  iJiU*',  1:35", 
and  even  to  110"^  Fahr.  The  forms  used  are 
similar  to  those  employed  for  the  Emmanthaler--, 
but  in  this  case  they  are  concave,  so  that  the 
sides  of  the  cheese-loaves  have  a  convex  sha])e. 

BaUelmatt. — Fresh  milk  is  directly  coagulated 
with  rennet,  the  curd  broken  \\\>  and  heated  for 
forty-five  minutes,  and  stirred  for  tifteen  minutes 
afterwards.  The  curd  is  then  taken  out  and  hung 
u])  in  a  cloth.  When  most  of  the  whey  has 
driji]ieil  off'  the  curd  is  juit  in  a  wooden   form    and 


daily  salted.  This  cheese  is  only  made  for  local 
consumption. 

Sc/iii//;ieyer. — This  cheese  is  also  called  Kra'ii- 
tcrkaKc,  and  is  made  in  large  quantities  in  the 
cantons  Claris  and  Orisons ;  in  the  first-mentioned 
department  alone  about  :J,. 500, 000  lbs.  are  annually 
made.  The  milk  is  thoroughly  skimmed,  after 
having  been  set  as  long  as  possible,  and  then 
heated  in  a  kettle  up  to  the  boiling-point,  when 
cold  fresh  buttermilk  (up  to  20  per  cent.)  is 
added.  The  heating  is  continued,  but  not  so 
strongly  as  before,  and  sour  whey  atlded,  and  the 
kettle  taken  from  the  fire.  After  the  whole  mass 
is  coagulated  it  is  stirred  up  a  little  and  left  to 
cool,  when  the  curd  is  put  in  large  wooden  per- 
forated boxes,  or  in  sacks,  and  pressed  with  large 
stones.  The  Zicger  now  undergoes  a  kind  of  fer- 
mentation, which  is  most  favouitibly  conducted  at 
a  temperature  of  60"  to  6:i'^  Fahr.,  and  lasts  from 
three  to  six  weeks.  If  the  temjJerature  is  too  high 
the  Zieger  is  apt  to  be  decomposed,  while  at  a  low 
temperature  it  gets  blue  and  tough.  After  the 
fermentation  is  concluded  the  Zieger  is  ground 
in  a  mill,  and  at  the  same  time  5  per  cent, 
of  salt  and  %  to  %\  per  cent,  of  dried  Meli- 
lutm  ccerulea  Lam.  is  added.  This  kind  of 
clover  gives  the  cheese  its  peculiar  taste  and 
bluish  green  colour.  The  mass  is  now  firmly 
beaten  and  stamped  in  the  small  wooden  forms 
which  have  been  laid  out  with  a  fine  cloth.  After 
eight  days  the  cheese,  which  are  conical  in  shape, 
(5  to  6  inches  high,  and  3  inches  in  diameter),  are 
taken  out  of  the  forms  and  scraped  with  a  knife. 
In  cool,  dry  rooms  they  are  kept  for  at  least  six 
months,  but  they  are  only  ripe  after  a  year.  For 
eating,  they  are  grated  to  a  fine  powder,  and  either 
strewed  on  bread  and  butter,  or  some  butter  is 
mixed  with  the  powder  to  form  a  paste. 

Vacherln  is  a  kind  of  cream-cheese,  which,  as  a 
rule,  is  made  only  in  winter.  Saanen  is  a  skim- 
milk  cheese,  and  hard,  so  that  it  can  be  grated ;  it 
is  made  in  loaves  of  16  to  21  lbs.  Ursereii  is  made 
in  the  canton  Uri,  in  thick  loaves  of  50  to  60  lbs. 
It  is  made  of  milk,  half  of  which  has  been 
skimmed. 

'nUi    ALPS. 

Dairying  in  the  Aljis  has  an  originality  all 
its  own,  caused  by  the  peculiar  conditions  under 
which  agriculture  is  followed  there.  These  con- 
ditions are  created  by  the   natural   situalion,   the 


ALPINE    DAIRYJNCi 


5:j5 


form  of  ground,  and  tlic  climate,  and  are  con- 
sequently the  same  all  over  this  large  tract  of 
mountainous  country,  whether  it  belong  to  Franco, 
Switzerland,  Italy,  Austria,  or  Bavaria.  The  re- 
semblance is  in  all  these  countries  so  great  that 
we  may  class  them  under  one  head. 

Al})iculture  in  its  present  form  is  already  of 
very  ancient  date,  and  as  its  exclusive  object  is 
and  long  has  been  production  of  cheese  and  butter, 
the  following  ancient  mode  is  still  adhered  to  at 
the  present  day : — The  winter  is  passed  in  the 
stable  in  the  valley,  and  the  cattle  are  fed  there 
with  hay  which  has  been  miule  on  the  meadows 
which  lie  in  the  valley ;  these  meadows  are  drained 
by  open  ditches  when  necessary,  and  well  manured 
with  stable  dung.  As  soon  as  the  grass  has  grown 
a  little  in  spring,  maybe  in  April  or  at  the  be- 
ginning of  May,  the  cattle  are  grazed  on  the 
meadows,  but  not  more  than  a  fortnight  or  three 
weeks,  otherwise  the  growth  of  grass  would  be 
too  much  checked,  and  the  result  would  be  a 
small  hay  crop,  on  which  the  heitl  must  dejjend 
in  the  winter  for  its  nourishment.  Therefore  the 
cattle  are  removed  as  soon  as  possible  to  the  pastures 
situated  on  the  lower  parts  of  the  slopes  of  the 
mountains.  These  sheltered  pastures,  where  vege- 
tation is  much  more  advanced  than  on  the  higher 
ones  on  the  mountains,  are  called  "  Maisass " — 
mayseat,  from  "  Sitz  im  Mai"  seat  (residence) 
in  May — which  is  quite  appropriate,  as  they  are 
generally  first  used  in  the  month  of  May.  We 
have  once  found  such  a  pasture  called  in  an  old 
parchment  of  the  fourteenth  century  "  Apryensatz'-" 
— Aprilsass,  seat  in  April — and  this  place  is  still 
known  by  its  early  vegetation,  so  that  it  can  still 
be  sometimes  pastured  in  April.  But  this  is  an 
exceptional  ease  ;  generally  the  Maisass  is  pastured 
from  the  end  of  May  or  beginning  of  June  until  a 
fortnight  or  four  weeks  later,  as  also  here  the  crop 
of  hay  which  is  expected  from  a  Maisass  must 
not  be  imperilled   by  late  grazing  in  spring. 

By  the  end  of  June,  or  beginning  of  July, 
the  cattle  are  again  moved,  this  time  to  the 
"  Hochalpe  "  —  high  alp.  There  they  remain 
generally  four  to  six  weeks.  Even  then,  in  the 
height  of  the  summer,  not  unfrequently  a  fall  of 
snow  compels  the  herds  to  seek  warmer  quarters 
farther  down  the  hill  for  a  few  hours,  or  even 
days,  until  the  snow  has  melted  again,  as  they  can- 
not graze  on  pasture  covered  with  snow,  and  soon 
fall  ofE  in  milk  unless  better  feeding-ground  is  pro- 


vided. Sometimes  there  is  a  second  "  IIochal])e" 
situated  still  higher,  where  the  cattle  only  remain 
one  or  two  weeks.  When  the  grass  runs  short, 
or  the  weather  begins  to  get  cold,  the  cattle  are 
removed  to  the  "  Maisass,"  and  from  thence  to 
their  home  in  the  valley,  but  the  time  of  their 
arrival  hither  differs  very  .much.  Sometimes  the 
hay  collected  at  the  "Maisass"  is  fed  when  the 
cattle  return  to  it,  and  though  they  sometimes 
remain  at  this  station  until  long  after  snow  is 
on  the  ground,  they  generally  return  direct  to 
the  valley  by  the  middle  of  September  to  graze 
on  the  meadows  and  liare  fallows,  and  return  again 
to  the  "  Maisass  "  to  feed  there  on  the  hay,  when 
all  the  grass  in  the  valleys  is  done.  Sometimes, 
on  low-lying  alps,  the  cattle  remain  there  from 
the  first,  when  they  have  grazed  on  the  meadows 
in  the  sjiring,  and  return  to  their  winter  quarters 
towards  the  end  of  October.  This  is  the  ease  if 
no  "Maisass"  belongs  to  the  "alps."*  Also 
the  farmers  who  live  in  the  plains,  but  send  their 
cattle  to  an  "  alp "  for  the  summer*,  bring  them 
directly  to  the  "  Hochalpe," — of  course,  later  on 
in  the  season. 

This  description  of  the  grazing  has  been  ne- 
cessary in  order  to  explain  the  large  flow  of 
excellent  milk  obtained  in  the  Alps.  The  cows 
are  fed  iu  the  winter  on  generally  very  good  hay 
from  the  valleys ;  the  calves  are  timed  to  come, 
if  possible,  in  February  and  March,  and  the  cows 
are  turned  out  to  graze  on  the  meadows  in  spring, 
and  so  the  milk-secretion  is  very  much  increased 
by  green  food.  Later,  when  the  good  effects  of 
this  are  on  the  wane,  the  milk  production  gets 
a  fresh  stimulus  from  the  nutritious  grasses  and 
herbs  on  the  "  Maisass.'^  Further  on  there  is 
another  change  to  the  fine  short  grass  and  the 
aromatic  herbs  of  the  "  Hochalpe."  Here  the 
milk  is  richest  in  flavour,  and  contains  most  milk- 
sugar  ;  its  delightful  sweetness  and  flavour,  unat- 
tainable by  any  other  feeding  in  the  world,  are 
imparted  to  the  cheese,  which  is  then  at  its  highest 
state  of  perfection  if  well  made,  but  this  is  not 
always  the  ease.  By  this  method  of  feeding  the 
milk-secretion  is  not  only  brought  to  the  highest 
point  in  quantity  and  quality,  but  is  also  main- 
tained a  very  long  time  in  this  state.  In  this 
system  of  changing  pasture  lies  the  secret  of  Alpine 
success  ill  the  production  of  milk. 

*  Alp,  German   "  alp,"   or  "  alpc,"  is  a  pasture-ground  in 
the  Alps  grazed  by  one  licrd. 


536 


DAIRY    FAR.MIXG. 


Of  course  the  value  of  tlie  Alj)inc  pastures  is 
very  variable ;  some  arc  very  dang^erous  for  cattle, 
liecause  of  cliffs  and  precipices.  Such  "  alps  "  are 
reserved  to  goats  or  sheep.  Also  a  great  deal 
depends  on  the  state  of  cultivation  which  the 
"alp"  is  in.  With  not  many  exceptions  alpi- 
culture  is  still  in  a  crude  stage.  Drains,  though 
often  necessary  and  easily  made,  as  there  are 
plenty  of  stones  to  be  had,  are  hardly  ever  made ; 
there  are  very  few  irrigating  aiTangements,  though 
there  is  generally  plenty  of  splendid  water,  and 
manuring  is  mostly  not  practised  at  all.  Generally 
the  pure  manure — litter  is  not  to  be  had — is 
thrown  on  a  heap  beside  the  stable,  and  left  there 
to  rot.  It  is  only  very  slowly  that  some  districts, 
especially  in  Switzerland,  begin  to  utilise  the 
stable  manure  on  the  Alps. 

The  pasturing  is  conducted  in  the  following 
way '. — In  the  morning  the  cattle  are  driven  from 
the  grazing-ground  to  the  "  Alphiitte''  or  "  Senn- 
hiittc" — chalet — where  the  cows  are  milked  and 
given  a  little  salt  or  bran  boiled  in  whey,  some- 
times a  little  hay,  etc.  After  that  they  are  allowed 
to  rest  for  a  few  hours  in  the  stables,  and  then  are 
taken  ont  to  the  pasture,  where  they  remain  until 
the  evening,  when  they  are  driven  to  the  hut  and 
milked,  to  be  sent  out  again  directly  afterwards. 
On  very  hot  days  thej'  remain  in  the  stables  dur- 
ing the  hottest  part  of  the  day,  and  in  very  rainy 
or  cold  nights  they  are  kept  in  the  stables  as  well, 
especially  if  there  are  no  woods  on  the  "  alji," 
where  the  cattle  can  find  protection  from  the  sun, 
and  shelter  from  the  rain.  It  is  certainly  a  draw- 
back to  Alpine  dairy-farming  that  the  weather  is 
so  very  changeable,  for  milk-production  is  very 
uncertain,  though  large  on  the  average.  A  few 
cold  days,  or  much  rain,  or  great  heat,  when  the 
cows  do  not  feed  so  well,  bring  the  secretion  very 
low,  while  warm  nights  and  pleasant  days  with  a 
cooling  breeze  cause  a  considerable  increase.  These 
fluctuations  often  amount  to  10,  15,  and  even 
20  per  cent.,  and  always  make  themselves  felt 
within  the  next  twelve  to  twenty-four  hours,  a 
fact  which  throws  some  light  on  the  physiology  of 
milk-secretion. 

It  is  not  so  very  long,  perhaps  only  a  few 
hundred  years,  since  the  time  when  stables  were 
unknown  in  the  Alps,  so  that  the  cattle  had  to  be 
out  in  the  open  air  in  all  kinds  of  weather,  and 
even  now  calves  and  heifers  are  rarely  housed 
while    on  the  mountain — though    they    have  the 


highest  and  roughest  pastures  allotted  to  tliem. 
The  stables  are  rarely  built  alone  ;  generally  they 
are  under  the  same  roof  with  the  dairy  and  the 
lodging  for  the  herdsmen. 

The  coloured  plate  of  Alpine  dairying  represents 
two  of  these  "  Scnnhiitten,"  and  they  are  built 
with  little  variety  all  over  the  Alps;  indeed,  these 
are  drawn  from  nature  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Tegernsee,  in  the  Bavarian  Highlands.  Their 
situation  i.s  generally  on  a  plateau  or  a  soft  incline, 
where  the  best  pasture,  dry  ground,  and  a  good 
spring  of  water  may  be  found.  Also  a  sheltered 
spot  is  preferred.  The  "  Sennhiitte  "  seen  in  the 
foreground  of  the  picture  is  built  of  solid  beams  of 
l>ine-wood,  which  have  been  roughly  hewed  square, 
and  fitted  together  with  long  nails  made  of  beeeh- 
wood.  A  solid  roof  covers  the  hut.  It  consists  of 
beams  of  one  foot  and  a  half  diameter,  covereil  by 
wooden  tiles  3  feet  long,  about  1  foot  broad,  and 
1  inch  thick,  roughly  slit  from  straight-grown 
pines.  The  tiles  are  kept  fastened  down  by  several 
poles  stretching  across  them,  and  weighted  by  a 
number  of  heavy  stones  of  from  50  to  100  lbs. 
in  weight.  This  is  absolutely  necessary,  as  the 
roof  would  be  blown  off  very  often  by  the  severe 
thunderstorms  and  gales  blowing  with  incredible 
force  on  these  heights.  Fire-wood  for  cooking 
purposes  is  piled  up  against  the  wall  on  one  side  of 
the  house,  and  a  man  in  the  costume  of  the 
country  is  leaning  up  against  it.  The  door,  and  a 
bench  fastened  to  the  wall  on  the  other  side  of  it, 
are  guarded  from  inopportune  visits  of  the  cattle 
by  a  rough  bench  and  a  gate,  at  which  the  dairy- 
maid (Sonnerin)  in  her  picturesque  and  neat 
costume  is  placed.  The  roof  projects  so  far  as  to 
cover  the  whole  verandah. 

The  systems  of  dairying  vary  very  much  in  the 
Alps;  sometimes  Gruyere  cheese  is  made,  especially 
when  there  are  large  quantities  of  milk  to  dispose 
of,  when  the  "alpe"  belongs  to  an  association,  or 
when  the  milk  is  let.  On  small  "  alpes,"  or  where 
there  are  several  proprietors,  generall}''  sour  cheese 
and  butter  are  both  made.  The  milk  for  butter- 
making  is  generally  set  in  pans  of  glazed  earthen- 
ware, containing  2  or  3  quarts,  or  in  large  wooden 
dishes.  The  cream  is  often  taken  off  after  twenty- 
four  to  thirty-six  hours  and  directly  churned,  or 
left  standing  in  the  cellar  until  a  sufficient  quantity 
has  collected  for  churning. 

The  liutter  on  the  Alps  has  wonderful  kccjiing 
quiilitics.      It  may  be  kcjit  there  from  two  to  three 


THE    ALPS    AND    ITALY. 


r.;57 


months  and  yet  imt  hr  iMiK'iil,  Imt  it  will  not  keep 
in  the  plains  or  valleys.  It  is  "generally  kept  in 
the  same  room  with  the  cheese,  which  impairs  its 
otherwise  excellent  flavour;  it  is  not  salted,  but 
very  often  melted  and  kept  for  winter  use.  Gener- 
ally speakino-,  we  must  not  look  to  the  Alps  for 
perfect  methods  of  dairying. 

On  some  aljis  milk-sugar  is  still  made.  For 
this  purpose  whey  is  boikd  down  until  only  a  kind 
of  brown  syrup  remains  in  the  kettle,  which  is 
raised  so  high  above  the  fire  that  the  flames  can 
only  reach  the  bottom,  otherwise  the  sugar  woukl 
be  burnt.  This  syrup  is  poured  in  flat  dishes,  and 
after  twenty-four  hours  the  sugar  is  crystallised 
like  yellowish  sand ;  this  is  washed  in  a  little  cold 
water,  dried,  and  sold. 

Whey-cheese  is  eaten  with  great  relish  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Alps ;  it  is  therefore  most 
generally  made.  Whey  is  heated  to  about  1-10^' 
Fa'ir.,  when  the  whcy-eream  rises,  which  is  taken 
off ;  then  some  sour  whey  is  added  and  more  heat 
applied  until  the  albumen  rises,  when  near  the 
boiling-point,  in  a  compact  mass  to  the  surface. 
It  is  now  taken  off  rapidly  and  hung  up  in  a  cloth 
to  drain.  After  this  it  is  either  eaten  fresh,  or 
salted  and  eui-ed,  or  salted  and  smoked.  For  the 
two  latter  methods  it  is  j)aeked  during  one  or  two 
weeks  in  sacks,  or  wooden  boxes  perforated  with 
holes,  and  pressed  by  putting  heavy  stones  on  it. 
Buttermilk  is  often  added  to  the  whey  to  make 
this  kind  of  cheese  richer. 

The  labour  of  the  Alpe  or  Sennhiitte  is  done 
either  by  men  or  women.  Sometimes  there  is  a 
man  in  the  dairy  (Senn)  who  has  a  helpmate 
(Beisenn)  and  others  besides,  who  milk  the  cattle 
(Melker)  and  attend  to  their  pasturing  (Hiiter). 
If  the  "  alpe"  is  small  there  is  generally'  a  woman 
(Sennerin),  who  acts  as  dairymaid  and  attends  to 
all  the  other  work. 

ITALY. 

In  the  northern  provinces  of  Italy  all  the  con- 
ditions are  fulfilled  which  make  it  possible  to  feed 
milch  cows  in  a  pirofitable  way.  Extensive  irriga- 
tion works  produce,  in  combination  with  a  warm 
climate,  heavy  crops  of  succulent  grass  and  vege- 
tables. In  the  south  it  is  not  so.  The  burning 
sun  is  not  relieved  by  water,  and  generally  the 
cows  are  very  poorly  fed.  It  will  not  be  astonish- 
ing if  we  find  a  great  difference  between  the 
dairies   of  the  north   and  the    south,  which  is,  in 


fact,  the  ciise.  In  Lomliardy,  for  inslance,  the 
meadows  are  irrigated  throughout  the  winter,  and 
may  be  cut  eight  or  ten  times  in  the  summer,  or 
they  are  watered  only  in  summer  and  mamu'ed 
with  urine,  so  that  they  can  be  mowed  five  or  six 
times.  In  other  places  the  soil  is  cropped  with 
cereals,  then  laid  down  with  grass,  cut  three  or 
four  times  a  year,  and  grazed  in  the  autumn. 

When  this  has  been  done  for  two  or  three 
years  another  cereal  crop  follows.  These  artificial 
meadows  are  well  stocked  with  clover,  especially 
with  white  clover,  which  is  much  esteemed  because 
it  is  said  to  give  the  milk  a  certain  flavour,  very 
desirable  for  Parmesan  cheese,  which  is  generally 
made  in  these  districts.  In  the  south  grass  is 
rare,  and  the  cows  are  fed  mostly  on  leaves,  weeds, 
refuse  from  vegetables,  &c.,  and  the  bad  nourish- 
ment stops  not  only  the  proper  development  of  the 
cows,  but  affects  also  the  quality  of  the  milk  in  a 
degree  we  should  hardly  believe  possible,  and 
renders  the  production  of  good  cheese  an  impossi- 
bility. While  dairying  in  the  northern  provinces 
is  in  a  high  state  of  perfection,  it  is,  with  few 
exceptions,  very  bad  in  the  south,  and  there  is  no 
hope  of  a  speedy  development,  because  all  the  con- 
ditions are  very  unsatisfactory  for  dairy-farming. 

The  butter  industry  in  Italy  is  yet  in  its  in- 
fancy; the  bad  butter  everywhere  is  a  sufficient 
proof  that  it  is  not  much  eaten  in  its  fresh  state, 
and  for  cooking  purposes  only  olive  oil  is  employed. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Italian  dairy  pro- 
ducts, including  all  the  more  important  and 
famous  ones : — 

Cream — Latte-miele. 
Butter — Fresh  butter. 

,,         BxuTi  vestiti. 

,,  Mascarpom. 
Cheese— Parmesan  (Formaggio  di  grana). 

,,         ChiavarL 

,,         Cacciocavallo. 

,,         Stracchino  di  Gorgonzola. 

,,         Pecorino  dolce. 

„         Provote. 

,,         Ricotta  (fresca,  saltata,  et  affumicata). 

,,         Provolomi. 

,,         Pecorino. 

,,         Calvenzano. 

,,         Mazzolino. 

,,         Pecora  e  capra. 

„         Guincata. 

, ,         Gruyore. 

,,         Dutch. 

And  the  methods  employed  in  making  several  of 
the  more  important  and  better  known  of  the  fore- 
going are  briefly  as  follows  : — 


538 


DAIllV    FARMING. 


1.  Latle-m'tele. — Cream  is  put  in  a  vessel  sur- 
rounded by  ice,  and  then  beaten  until  it  rises, 
when  an  equal  weight  of  white  pounded  sugar 
is  added  and  beaten  in. 

2.  Burri  vestili. — A  j  aste  made  from  curd 
is  formed  in  cylinders  or  other  shapes,  and  filled 
with  butter.  The  sort  of  cheese  from  which  this 
paste  is  made  decides  the  name  of  such  butter, 
for  instance — in,  pastadi  cacciocarallo. 

3.  Miitscnrpoiii. — Cream  is  heated  over  a  slow 
fire  until  thick,  a  little  sour  whey  or  vinegar  is 
added,  and  the  mass  filled  into  a  cylindrical  form. 

Parmesan  Cfieese.—'i\\e  milk  is  set  and  the 
cream  taken  off  after  a  certain  degree  of  acidity 
in  the  milk  is  attained.  The  skim-milk  is  warmed 
in  a  kettle  to  SUO'".  to  860^  Fahr.,  and  the  rennet 
added.  The  kettle  is  then  covered  up  and  with- 
drawn from  the  fire.  After  forty-five  to  sixty 
minutes  the  milk  ought  to  be  coagulated,  when 
it  is  turned  and  cut  up  rapidly  while  a  hot  fire  of 
dry  wood  is  made  under  the  kettle.  After  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  more  wood  is  added  to  the 
fire,  and  the  curd  stirred  until  a  temperature  of 
l^S"^  to  13;J"  Fahr.  is  reached,  when  the  kettle 
is  taken  from  the  fire  and  left  untouched  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour.  Afterwards  nine-tenths  of 
the  whey  is  drained  off,  and  cold  water  care- 
fully added  until  the  hand  can  bear  the  tempe- 
rature. The  curd  is  then  balled  together  with 
the  hands,  a  cloth  slipped  under  it,  and  it  is 
lifted  into  the  wooden  form,  where  it  remains 
xintil  the  evening.  This  cheese  is  not  pi-essed. 
The  next  day  the  cloth  is  taken  off,  and  the  cheese 
put  in  a  cool  cellar,  where  it  remains  for  four 
days.  After  that  the  loaf  is  turned  and  salted 
once  daily  for  twenty  daj's,  and  the  same  treat- 
ment is  repeated  once  every  second  day  for  a 
similar  period.  After  these  forty  days  the  cheese 
is  taken  out  of  the  form,  scraped  with  a  piece 
of  iron,  washed  with  hot  whey,  and  put  in  the 
store,  a  large  high  and  dry  shady  room.  Here 
the  loaves  are  turned,  first  twice  a  day,  and  oiled 
once  a  day  with  linseed  oil ;  later  on  this  treat- 
ment is  only  repeated  every  second  day. 

Generally  the  dairies  sell  their  cheese  after 
the  salting  is  finished,  and  the  merchants  under- 
take the  curing,  which  requires  great  care,  in 
their  own  storehouses.  Parmesan  cheese  ought 
to  be  three  years  old  before  it  is  used.  In  the 
first  year  it  is  called  nniggengo,  in  the  second 
vecc/iio,  and   in  tiie  third  sirarecchio. 


Chlarar'i  Cheese. — Milk  is  heated  rather  high, 
100"  to  12U^  Fahr.,  the  curd  stirred  a  little, 
filled  into  cloths,  and  put  into  wooden  forms 
in  which  it  is  pressed  slightly.  After  a  few 
days  the  cheese  is  taken  out  of  the  form,  and 
salted  and  turned  every  few  days.  This  is  one 
of  the  simplest  and  oldest  methods  of  making 
cheese. 

Cacciocarallo  Cheese. — The  name  of  this  cheese 
seems  to  imply  that  it  is  made  from  mares'  milk, 
but  it  is  not  so,  and  though  it  may  seem  strange 
at  first,  the  name  is  most  likely  derived  from 
the  shape  of  the  cheese,  which  adapts  it  to 
be  slung  over  horses'  backs  when  carried  away. 
Cacciocavallo  may  now  be  found  having  all  ima- 
ginable shapes.  Some  resemble  vegetable  mar- 
rows, or  melons,  others  look  like  bottles,  or  fiasks, 
or  animals'  heads. 

As  the  thermometer  is  hardly  in  use  in  the 
south  Italian  dairies,  the  statements  as  to  the 
temperature  of  the  milk  before  adding  the  rennet 
are  very  different.  We  may  say,  however,  that 
it  lies  between  85*  and  llU^'  Fahr.  The  rennet 
is  emjjloyed  in  a  very  primitive  way ;  mostly 
the  stomachs  of  young  goats  and  lamlis  are  dried 
without  having  been  cleaned,  a  part  is  cut  in 
small  pieces,  wrapped  in  a  linen  rag,  and  sus- 
pended in  the  milk  until  it  is  coagulated.  The 
curd  is  then  broken  up  and  stirred  until  the 
whey  has  sufticiently  separated,  when  most  of  it 
is  drained  off,  and  a  part  put  on  the  fire  and 
poured  in  a  boiling  state  over  the  curd,  which 
has  been  put  in  a  wooden  tub.  In  this  state 
the  curd  is  allowed  to  ferment,  in  a  cool  place, 
until  it  rises  like  bread-paste.  A  great  deal 
depends  on  choosing  the  right  moment  to  stop 
this  process,  which  generally  is  arrived  at  after 
eight  to  fourteen  hours.  The  rii)eness  of  the 
paste  is  tried  by  dipping  a  piece  of  it  in  boiling 
water,  when  it  ought  to  draw  out  in  long  threads. 
If  this  can  be  done,  the  whole  curd  is  put  in  a 
wooden  vessel  filled  with  boiling  water,  cut  to 
pieces  with  a  wooden  knife,  and  the  paste  drawn 
out  in  long  tough  ribands,  which  are  formed  into 
a  kind  of  ball  afterwards  by  winding  them  round. 
^Viien  a  sort  of  nucleus  is  formed  this  way,  it 
is  easy  to  give  any  desired  shape  to  the  cheese 
by  winding  on  different  parts  of  the  ball.  By 
kneading,  turning,  and  pulling  the  shape  is 
rounded  and  finished.  Now  the  cheese  is  put 
for  two  to   fdiir  hours   in   cold  water,  and  after- 


ITALIAN    CHEESE-MAKING. 


539 


wards  for  twcnty-foui'  to  forty  hours  in  a  solu- 
tion of  salt.  After  this  it  is  hung'  in  the  smoke 
until  it  has  received  the  desired  light-yellow 
colour.  These  cheese  are  made  of  very  different 
weights,  from  half  a  pound  to  twenty  pounds ; 
they  are  considered  a  great  delicacy  with  the 
Italians,  who  not  only  eat  them  with  bread  but 
also  with  macaroni,  risotto,  and  other  favourite 
dishes.  Caecioeavalla  is  a  very  bard  cheese  of 
rather  indifferent  taste,  reminding  of  young  Par- 
mesan ;  it  dries  uj)  easily  when  once  cut,  and 
then  has  a  rancid  oily  taste.  It  contains  but 
few  and  small  holes,  and  on  breaking  it  the 
concentric  layers  show  the  way  in  which  it  was 
formed. 

Strachiiio  di  Gorgonzola. — This  cheese  is  made 
in  loaves  of  the  proportions  of  Cheddar,  and 
of  20  lbs.  to  40  lbs.  in  weight.  The  milk  is  coagu- 
lated warm  and  fresh  directly  after  milking,  so 
that  it  is  thick  in  ten  to  twenty  minutes.  Now 
the  curd  is  slightly  broken  up  and  left  alone  until 
it  has  sunk  to  the  bottom,  when  it  is  still  more 
cut  up  with  a  wooden  instrument,  always  drawn  in 
one  direction.  After  this  it  remains  untouched 
for  an  hour,  and  is  then  cut  in  squares.  When 
the  whey  has  collected  pretty  clear  over  the  curd 
it  is  drained  off,  and  the  curd  is  left  to  hang  in  a 
cloth  until  all  the  whey  has  run  off ;  after  this  it 
is  filled  in  the  wooden  forms,  which  can  be  made 
smaller.  The  filling  is  done  in  the  following 
way  : — -Curd  which  has  been  made  the  daj'  before 
is  crumbled  and  jjut  in  alternate  layers  with  the 
fresh  curd,  which  is  also  crumbled,  with  the  provi- 
sion that  the  first  and  last  layers  are  from  the 
fresh  curd.  The  forms  are  then  covered  up  and 
left  standing  for  sis  hours,  when  the  top  of  the 
cheese  is  loosened  three  or  four  inches  deep, 
covered  with  a  cloth,  and  the  loaf  turned  upside 
down.  After  twelve  hours  the  cheese  is  again 
turned,  and  after  twenty-four  hours  the  cloths  are 
taken  away,  fresh  forms  substituted,  and  the 
cheese  taken  to  a  room  whose  temperature  is  about 
65°  to  70"^  Fahr.,  where  it  is  placed  on  a  table 
thinly  covered  with  straw.  For  the  next  three  or 
four  daj's  the  loaves  are  turned  several  times  a 
day,  then  the  forms  are  taken  away  and  the  cheese 
placed  for  twenty-four  hours  on  a  table  strewed 
with  salt,  where  it  is  turned  several  times.  For 
the  next  twenty-four  hours  it  is  put  back  into 
the  forms.  This  alternate  treatment  is  repeated 
from  ten  to  twenty  times.  Afterwards  the  cheese 
71 


is  kept  six  to  eight  weeks  in  a  cellar,  where  it  is 
turned,  wiped,  and  salted  repeatedly.  These 
cheese  are  very  highly  prized,  and  are  very  deli- 
cious food  ;  when  they  are  ripe  blue  mould  per- 
meates them  throughout,  and  they  resemble,  alike 
in  flavour,  appearance,  and  consistency,  a  hue 
specimen  of  a  rich  and  ripe  old  Stilton. 

Pecoriiio  Cheese. — This  cheese  is  made  from 
sheep's  milk,  which  is  rather  abundant,  as  there 
are  a  great  many  sheep  in  Italy,  especially  in  the 
mountainous  parts,  where  they  have  cheap  feeding 
on  the  mountain  pastures  in  the  summer,  while 
they  are  grazed  in  the  plains  during  the  winter. 
The  fresh  milk  is  poured  into  a  copper  kettle,  and 
the  rennet  added  at  77'^  to  8i°  Fahr.  There  are 
different  kinds  of  rennet  in  use  :  the  stomachs  of 
lambs,  young  goats,  calves,  the  dried  flowers  of 
thistles  [Cijnara  Si/lrestris),  artichokes,  &c.  Whep 
the  coagulum  is  formed  it  is  broken  up  and  rapidly 
stirred  for  a  few  minutes ;  then  it  is  allowed  to 
settle  for  ten  to  fifteen  minutes,  and  then  stirred 
until  the  curd  is  broken  up  in  small  particles, 
while  the  kettle  is  heated  to  about  100"  to  H0° 
Fahr.  This  is  done  verj-  differentlj-  in  some  dairies. 
When  the  curd  has  been  allowed  to  settle  at  the 
bottom  of  the  kettle  il  is  taken  out  with  the  hands 
and  put  in  wooden  forms,  which  are  perforated  at 
the  bottom  and  at  the  sides  so  that  the  whey  may 
run  off.  After  twenty-four  hours  the  cheese  is 
taken  out  of  the  forms  and  put  into  a  solution  of 
salt,  where  it  remains  one  to  two  days,  when  it  is 
washed  and  dried,  and  then  put  into  a  very  dry 
room,  which  is  only  ventilated  in  summer  nights. 
In  the  beginning  the  cheese  is  washed  every  second 
day  with  water  and  salt — in  summer  with  water 
and  vinegar — and  later  on  it  is  rubbed  with  olive 
oil  twice  a  week.  The  Peeorino  is  rarely  good, 
mostly  bitter,  rancid,  and  dry,  and  its  size  not 
very  large. 

Provofe  Cheese. — Provoteis  made  from  buffaloes' 
milk,  which  is  small  in  quantity  and  very  rich,  and 
contains  no  less  than  8  per  cent,  of  butter-fat. 
The  method  of  making  Provote  is  very  simple. 
The  milk  is  coagulated  with  rennet  and  broken  up 
with  a  wooden  knife.  The  curd  is  now  put  in  hot 
water,  and  formed  there  directly  into  a  loaf  ;  this 
is  put  first  in  cold  water  and  then  in  a  salt-bath 
for  seven  to  eight  hours.  This  cheese  is  mostly 
eaten  fresh,  and  Italians  from  the  south  consider 
it  a  delicacy,  while  strangers  generally  do  not 
like  it. 


510 


DAIRY    FAllMlNd. 


liicoUa. — This  iiruduet  is  made  from  whey 
(whey  cheese),  by  heating  it  up  to  the  boiling 
point,  having  first  added  a  little  sour  whey.  The 
albumen  which  rises  to  the  surface  is  taken  off, 
and  either  eaten  fresh  {fresco),  or  salted  and 
cured  {mlata),  or  salted  and  smoked  [affumicata). 
To  make  it  more  palatable,  often  some  milk 
or  buttermilk  is  added  to  the  whey  before 
heating  it. 

BELGIUM. 

Fromage  de  Limburgis  usually  associated  with 
Belgium,  and  it  is  perhaps  the  only  noticeable 
thing  in  the  country's  dairying  wliich  has  not  been 
elsewhere  described ;  it  is,  however,  made  in  other 
countries  as  well,  to  wit  Bavaria,  Wurtemburg, 
&c.,  either  in  its  integrity  or  with  unimportant 
modifications.  In  the  Province  of  Jjiege  the 
manufacture  of  it  is  a  sjieeiality,  and,  as  in  the 
case  of  other  noted  kinds  of  cheese  which  have 
been  more  or  less  successfully  imitated  in  districts 
other  thau  those  in  which  they  originated,  and 
whose  name  they  bear,  it  is  probably  not  made  with 
equal  success  elsewhere.  It  is  a  specially  distinctive 
feature  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  town  of  Herve, 
for  which  reason  it  is  not  uncommonly  spoken  of 
as  Fromage  de  Ilerve  ou  de  Limburg.  "When 
perfect  it  is  a  light  yellow  in  colour,  and  has  much 
of  the  consistency  of  butter;  it  is,  however,  in 
many  cases  made  from  milk  from  which  a  portion 
of  the  cream  has  been  removed,  in  which  event,  as 
in  the  case  of  any  other  kind  of  cheese,  it  cannot 
be  regarded  as  a  first-rate  article.  According  to 
Pourian,  Limburg  cheese  may  be  kept  in  the  cellars 
or  vaults  eight  or  ten  months,  to  ripen  ;  the  making 
of  it  ordinarily  commences  in  August  or  Septem- 
ber, and  it  is  ready  to  be  sent  oif  at  the  end 
of  May.  The  method  of  making  it  differs  but 
little  from  that  of  Baekstein  cheese,  described  on 
page  530. 

THE  NETHERLANDS. 

The  Dutch  cattle  are  to  be  found  distributed 
almost  in  all  parts  of  the  civilised  world,  and 
before  the  shorthorns  came  in  general  use  no 
breed  of  cattle  was  so  generally  known.  The 
reason  of  this  is  principally  the  excellent  milking 
qualities  of  the  breed.  The  Dutch  cattle  are  all  of 
one  common  origin,  but  different  feeding  and 
crossing  have  caused  the  develoi)ment  of  several 
distinct   grou])s    in  the    breed.      The   two  groups 


called  Niirl/i  and  .V'k/A  Jlollmul  cattle  are  the 
most  nearly  perfect  in  shape,  and  yield  and  form 
the  beau  ideal  of  milch-cows.  The  If'eslfriesen 
is  somewhat  coarser  and  heavier;  they  used  to  be 
the  best  cattle  of  Holland,  but  by  injudicious 
crossing  and  by  disease  they  have  degenerated. 
The  Groningen  have  a  great  reputation  for  their 
milking  qualities.  They  are  conspicuous  by  their 
broad  hips  and  large  udders.  The  Zeelanders  are 
heavy  cows,  which  do  not  give  quite  as  much  milk 
as  the  other  breeds,  but  are  very  good  for  fattening 
purposes.  To  develop  the  latter  quality,  extensive 
crossing  has  been  going  on  for  some  time  with 
shorthorn  bulls,  and  this  measure  has  had  good 
effect. 

All  Dutch  cattle  are  cither  black-and-white, 
grey-and-white,  or  red-and-white. 

The  keeping  of  cattle  in  the  Netherlands  is  con- 
ducted with  jiroverbial  care  and  cleanliness.  Indeed, 
there  is  no  other  country  where  dairying  is  in  such 
a  flourishing  state;  the  populations  of  large  dis- 
tricts living  sometimes  entirely  from  its  proceeds. 
The  milk  is  of  course  of  great  value,  and  very  often 
the  calves  are  killed  directly  after  birth ;  keeping 
them  for  a  few  weeks  and  then  selling  them  to 
the  butcher,  as  is  generally  done  on  the  Continent, 
would  not  pay  for  the  milk  consumed.  Calves 
reared  for  the  herd  receive  new  milk  for  two  or 
three  weeks,  then  skim-milk  for  a  time,  and 
later  on  buttermilk,  whey,  cooked  linseed  meal, 
&c.,  are  gradually  substituted  for  milk,  and  at 
the  same  time  some  hay  is  given.  After  ten 
or  twelve  weeks  grass  feeding  begins,  but 
throughout  the  summer  some  nourishing  mash 
or  drink  is  given  w-hen  on  the  pasture.  During 
the  next  winter  the  calves  are  fed  on  hay  of 
middling  quality,  as  the  best  is  given  to  the 
cows,  and  they  are  allowed  as  much  exercise  in 
the  open  air  as  the  weather  permits.  In  the 
next  winter  the  heifers  (one  and  a  half  years 
old)  are  chained  alongside  the  cows,  and  receive 
better  food;  and  they  are  timed  to  have  their 
first  calves  when  they  are  two  and  a  half  to 
three  years  old. 

The  cows  are  kept  in  the  stables  during  the 
winter,  and  are  grazed  during  the  summer.  On 
the  pasture  a  shady  and  sheltered  spot  is  selected 
and  fenced  in,  where  the  cows  are  driven  twice  a 
day  to  be  milked.  Wooden  milk-pails,  neatly 
I)ainted,  are  used,  and  the  milk  strained  directly 
through  a  fine  horsehair  sieve  into  barrels  or  larger 


TREATMENT    OF    MILK    IN    HOLLAND. 


5-H 


pails  (Fig.  355)  painted   while   oil  the  inside,  and 
blue  or  green  on  the  outsidc;  and  containing  about 


very  often  oidy  by  pouring  the  milk  in  vats 
or  open  barrels,  where  it  can  cool.  This  cooling 
is  done,  because  it  is  thought  absolutely  necessary 
to  obtain  first-class  butter.  AVhere  the  milk  is 
cooled  with  water,  the  pails  or  vases  are  placed 
in  wells    or    troughs,    in    the  kitchen    or    in    the 


Jr-J 


Fig.  355.— JIiLK-PAiL. 


Fig.  356  -  Milk  vase. 


4  gallons,  and  to  prevent  splashing  a  round  and 
flat  disc  of  wood  swims  on  the  milk  in  the  pail. 
In  some  districts,  however,  metal  vases  (Fig.  356) 
tinned  on  the  inside  are  in  use,  of  a  shape  which 
is  quite  unsuited  for  the  purpose,  and  requires 
Dutch  cleanliness  to  keep  them  iu  a  pure  state. 
They  are  carried  in  neat  baskets,  which  secure 
them  well,  and  placed  on  a  small  hand-cart  to  take 


Fig   357  — Weli   1    I   I      LI  nl.  Milk 


them  to  the  dairy.  Sometimes  the  milk  is  cooled 
by  placing  these  vases  and  also  the  pails,  which 
are  made  of  tin  in  this  case,  in  cold  water,  but 


MILK-DISHF..S.  =■■ 

stables,  neatly  built  of  brick  ^nnd  cemented.  If 
underground  they  are  supplied  with  covers  to 
prevent  dust  or  dirt  falling  into  the  milk.  The 
annexed  engraving  (Fig.  357)  shows  the  method 
of  cooling  in  a  well,  which  is  only  used  in 
summer,  when  the  milk  cannot  be  sufhciently 
cooled  in  the  ojjen  troughs.  The  milk  remains 
in  these  cooling  baths  until  it  is  of  the  same 
temperature  as  the  water,  and  is  then  taken  to 
the  daily  and  poured  into  the  pans  or  dishes  for 
cream  rising.  Wooden  dishes  and  also  differentl}^- 
shaped  earthenware  vessels 
(Figs.  358  and  359)  are  used 
for  this  purpose. 

The  dairy  is  generally  very 
well  built,  and  all  the  precau- 
tions to  provide  for  fresh  air, 
dryness,  and  cleanliness  are 
observed.  The  milk-pans  are 
arranged  on  shelves,  and  a 
smaller  tub  is  used  for  collect- 
ing the  cream,  while  a  larger 
one  receives  the  skim-milk. 
The  cream  is  taken  off  after 
twenty-four  hours,  and  put  in 
the  above-mentioned  tub  or 
barrel,  where  it  remains  until 
it  has  soured  and  thickened. 
In  the  summer  this  process, 
if  necessary,  is  accelerated  by 
adding  some  buttermilk,  in 
the  winter  by  warming  the 
cream.  The  skim-milk  is 
poured  into  the  milk-barrel  or 
tub  for  further  use.  The  ar- 
rangement of  the  milk-room  in  a  Dutch  dairy  is 
seen  in  the  following  engraving  (Fig.  360). 

The  churns  are  generally  of  a  very  ]irimitive 


Ui 


DAIHV     FARMING. 


kind :  a  rod  witli  a  perforated  disc  attached  is 
moved  up  and  down  in  a  tub  or  barrel.  The 
motive  power  is,  however,  applied  sometimes  in  an 
original  nmnner,  as  may  be  seen  in  Fig.  361,  and 
besides  this  dog  -  wheels  and  horse  -  power  are 
cmploved.  Regularity  of  motion  is  quite  correctly 
thought  a  great  deal  of,  and  is  held  as  indispens- 
able for  rapid  churning  and  a  full  yield. 

When  the  churning  is  finished,  the  butter  is 
taken  out  of  the  churn  with  a  large  wooden  per- 
forated dish,  and  put  into  a  wooden  ]ian,  where  it 


wood,  and  are  endless  in  variety  of  shape  and 
pattern.  The  packing  of  larger  quantities  for  the 
export  trade  is  subject  to  a  very  stringent  law, 
made  with  the  object  of  maintaining  the  fame  of 
the  butter  in  the  consuming  countries.  _On!y 
oaken  barrels  of  certain  sizes  are  used,  and  these 
are  branded  by  the  authorities.  New  barrels  are 
filled  for  a  few  hours  with  a  strong  solution  of  pot- 
ash, and  afterwai-ds  with  one  of  alum.  Some 
farmers  put  the  barrels  for  several  months  in 
water    previous    to    using    them.       Used    barrels 


Interior  of  a  Dutch  Dairy. 


is  kneaded  slightly;  water  is  afterwards  added, 
and  the  working  begins  in  earnest.  After  some 
time  the  stopper  is  taken  out  of  the  bottom  of  the 
pan,  and  the  buttermilk  allowed  to  run  off 
through  a  sieve  into  the  cask  placed  under  the 
pan  (Fig.  36^).  The  butter  is  now  kneaded  with 
fresh  water,  and  the  process  is  repeated  eleven  or 
twelve  times.  In  summer,  when  the  continued 
kneading  would  make  the  butter  soft,  it  is  stopped 
after  two  or  three  times,  until  by  lying  in  cold 
water  the  butter  has  hardened  again. 

A  very  strict  law  requires  that  butter  shall  be 
sold  in  given  weights,  and  it  is  generally  brought 
in  one-pound  pieces  to  the  lotal  markets.  The 
forms  used  for  printing  llic  Imtter  are  made  of 


undergo  a  frequent  .«crubliing  and  filling  with 
water  before  they  are  used  again.  The  barrels 
are  filled  with  layers  of  butter,  which  are  strewed 
with  salt,  and  on  the  last  layer  some  brine  is 
jxmrcd. 

ClIEESE-MAKINO. 

Dutch  cheese-making  is  in  a  very  advanced 
state,  and  its  products  are  celebrated  all  over  the 
world.  Considering  the  importance  of  cleanliness 
and  accuracy,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
these  two  qualities,  which  may  be  claimed  by  the 
Dutch  nation,  tend  to  make  their  dairy  industry  a 
success.  This  cleanliness  attends  all  the  processes 
from  the  milking  to  the  sale  of  the  products,  and 
might  bo  copied  liy  all  natimis  with  profit.       In 


CHURNING    AND    WORKING    BUTTER. 


34;} 


the    south  of  Holland  sweet-milk  and  skim-niilk 
cheese  are  made  in  the  followinon  way. 

Sjj/ced    Clieese   (Komynde    Kaas)    is    made   in 
round  loaves^  about  9  inches  high  and  18  inches 


Fig.  301.— XuvEL  Method  of  Churning. 

in  diaineter,  weighing  about  20  lbs.,  and  coloured 
red  on  the  outside.  The  milk,  from  which  the 
cream  has  been  taken  off,  is  poured  in  large 
barrels  or  casks,  and  left  standing  until  the  curd 
sinks  somewhat  to  the  bottom,  which  is  generally 
the  case  in  half  a  day.  Now  the  milky  whey 
from  the  top  is  poured  through  a  sieve  into  the 
kettle  where  it  is  heated,  and  then  added  again 
to  the  remainder  of  the  milk  in  a  tub,  so  as  to 
bring  the  whole  mass  to  about  9.3"  or  99"  Fahr., 
when  rennet  is  added.  During  this  the  mass  is 
well  stirred,  and  this  is  continued  until  the  coagu- 
lation is  perfect,  so  that  the  wooden  spoon  or 
stick  used  for  stirring  stands  upright  in  it.  Now 
the  curd  is  worked  for  some  time  with  the  hands, 
and  then  put  in  a  linen  cloth,  which  is  placed  on  a 
stretcher,  under  which  a  low  tub  stands  to  receive 
the  whey  drained  off  by  kneading,  squeezing,  and 
jiressing  with  the  hands.  When  no  more  whey 
can  be  extracted  in  this  manner,  a  very  simple 
press  (Fig.  36.3)  is  used  to  complete  the  work. 
Tiie  hard  cake  of  curd  which  is  obtained  is 
now  put  in  another  tub  and  kneaded  with  the 
feet   until    transformed    into    a    stiff    paste.    The 


forms  used  are  made  of  oak  with  perforated 
bottoms  and  covers  fitting  closely.  The  curd 
is  put  in  in  layers,  the  first  being  pure  curd, 
but  the  others  being  first  well  mixed  with 
pounded  caraway-seed  and  a  little  cloves, 
while  on  the  top  of  each  layer  a  few  cloves 
are  strewed.  Every  layer  is  pressed  tightly 
into  the  form,  for  which  hands  or  feet  are 
employed.  The  cheese  is  now  pressed  in  a 
simple  cheese-press  (Fig.  -364)  for  twenty-four 
hours,  the  cloths  being  changed  at  first  every 
two  or  three  hours.  It  is  then  taken  out  of 
the  form,  placed  on  a  small  board,  and 
placed  in  another  press  for  some  time  until 
it  has  assumed  the  consistency  wished  for. 

The  salting  is  done  by  placing  the  loaves 
in  shallow  troughs  and  strewing  salt  over 
them,  adding  to  it  until  the  cheese  is  salted 
enough,  and  has  a  good  skin.  The  right 
moment  when  this  is  the  case  can  only  be 
learned  by  practice.  Now  the  cheese  is  washed 
in  cold  water,  scraped,  polished,  coloured  with 
annatto,  rubbed  with  colustrum.  The  salting 
and  curing  of  the  cheese  are  often  done 
in  the  cow-stables  during  the  svnnmer,  when 
the  cows  are  being  pastured. 

Sweet-milk  Cheene  (Zoetemelksche  Kaas). — 
This  cheese  is  more  generally  known  under  the 
name  of  Gondii.  The  milk  is  poured  in  a  wooden 
tub  or  a  copper  kettle  and  mixed  with  rennet,  coagu- 
lation being 
completed  in 
about  tliree- 
quarters  of  an 
hour.  The 

curd  is  now 
softly  broken 
up  and  left  to 
settle  for  three 
orfourminutes; 
after  that  it  is 
stirred  again, 
always  gently. 
When  the  whey 
has  mostly 
sejiarated  the 
curd  is  allowed 

to  settle,  and  the  whey  is  then  baled  out.  Now  some 
heated  whey  or  water  is  added  to  warm  the  curd, 
and  after  a  quarter  of  an  hour  it  is  drained  off 
again.     After  this  the  curd   is  thoroughl}'  worked 


Fig.  362. — Working  Butter. 


544 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


with  tlio  hands,  and  all  the  remaining  whey 
pressed  out,  when  it  is  cut  in  small  jneces,  rubbed 
still  smaller  between  the  hands,  and  filled  in  the 


Fig.  363.— Simple  Cheese-pbess. 

forms  (Fig-.  3C5),  which  are  perforated.  These  are 
put  under  a  press  which  can  accommodate  up  to 
sixteen  of  them,  and  the  pressure,  light  at  first,  is 
increased  gradually  in  the  following  twentv-four 
hours.  The  cloths  are  also  frequently  changed, 
and  the  cheese  turned,  especially  at  first.  After 
this  the  loaves  are  put  in  a  wooden  or  stone  trough 
filled  with  brine,  and  there  they  remain  three  to 
five  days,  according  to  the  proportion  of  salt  it  is 
desired  to  give.  The  upper  surface  of  the  cheese 
is  strewed  with  a  handful  of  salt  every  day  after 
the  loaves  have  been  turned  in  tlie  salt-'bath, 
where  they  swim.     When  they  are   taken   out  of 


The 


Fig.  3G4.— ■\VooDEM  Cheese-press. 

the  salt-bath  they  are  washed  with  warm  whey, 
dried  with  a  cloth,  and  put  on  shelves  in  an  airy 
and  dry  room.  They  are  turned  at  first  every  day, 
and  later  twice  or  three  times  a  week,  and  wiped 
with  a  cloth   dipped  in  warm  whey.     In  four  or 


six  weeks  the  Gonda  cheese  is  generally  sold  to 
the  dealers,  but  by  keeping  them  at  least  three  to 
four  months  they  are  much  improved  in  taste. 
Generally,  however,  this  cheese  is  eaten 
when  not  perfectly  cured.  The  whey  is 
poured  in  an  open  cask,  and  the  cream, 
which  rises  after  a  few  da\'s,  is  skimmed. 
Afterwards  the  wiiey,  as  well  as  butter- 
milk, are  used  for  pig  feeding. 

Mai)  C/icexe  (]\Iaikaas). — In  the  be- 
ginning (if  summer,  when  the  grass  is 
very  tender  and  juicy,  sweet-milk  cheese 
is  made  in  the  way  just  described,  but 
the  loaves  are  smaller.  This  cheese  is 
eaten  or  sold  as  soon  as  cured,  because 
later  on  it  loses  its  fine  flavour,  aud 
docs  ncit  keep  so  well. 

Jews'  Cheese  (Jodenkaas). — This  kind 
of  cheese  is  made  by  comparatively  few 
dairymen ;  it  is  looser  and  less  salted 
than  the  sweet-milk  cheese  described, 
and  also  flatter  in  shape. 
Privi/  Councillors'  Cheese  (Heemraads- 
kaas).  —This  absurd  name  is  given  to  a  sweet-milk 
cheese  of  a  very  small  kind,  and  coloured  extra- 
ordinary. This  cheese 
is  allowed  to  get  some- 
what old  before  using 
it,  and  it  is  employed 
generally  as  presents. 

In  North   Holland 
sweet-milk     cheese    is 
almost    exclusively 
made,   and   all   the   agricultural    energies  of  the 
population    are    concentrated    on   this   branch   of 
farming.     No  less  than  about  10,000,000  lbs. 
are  exported  annually.     The  meadows  and  pas- 
tures are  kept  in  first-rate  condition,  and  yield 
heavy  crops. 

The  North  Holland  cheese  is  best  known 
under  the  name  of  Edam,  and  its  red  or 
yellow  balls  grace  the  windows  of  every  cheese- 
monger in  many  countries.  Cheddars  also  are 
made  in  North  Holland,  as  well  as  some  other 
English  kinds  of  cheese. 

Edam  Cheese. — The  larger  sizes  of  this  cheese, 
weighing  from  10  to  20  lbs.  are  not  made  now, 
but  principally  small  ones  from  4  to  8  lbs.  Fresh 
milk  is  poured  into  a  kettle  or  tub,  and  the  rennet 
added;  should,  however,  the  milk  have  cooled 
dowm  too  much,  it  is  warmed  again  by  some  hot 


'. 

.1- 

v^f 

a 

.i\ 

\l 

w- 

a          a 

I 

Sectiox  u 

f 

a.           a 
ClIEESE-l-OllM. 

holes. 

EDAM    CIIEESK-MAKINC. 


i-Jo 


milk,  before  the  rennet  is  nsed.  The  coagulation 
ought  to  be  perfected  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 
The  breaking  up  of  the  curd  is  begun  with  even 
before  the  milk  is  fully  coagulated, 
and  conducted  very  carefully,  making 
frequent  pauses  to  allow  the  curd  to 
settle.  Now  the  whey  is  baled  out  as 
lar  as  possible,  and  the  baling-dish, 
with  some  weights  on  it,  is  used  to 
press  the  curd.  The  whey  is  again 
drained  off,  and  after  waiting  a  few 
minutes  the  curd  is  well  mixed  and  formed  into 
balls  by  hand.  These  are  rubbed  into  fine  particles, 
and  tightly  packed  into  the  forms  (Fig.  366) .  This 
is  repeated,  and  the  curd  again  filled  into  the 
forms.     When  this  has   been  done  the  curd  has 


(Fig.  308),  which  has  only  one  hole  for  the  whey 
to  run  off.  This  form  is  only  used  to  keep  the 
shape  of  the  cheese.  They  are  now  arranged  in 
boxes,  and  salted  heavily  every  day 
for  nine  to  eleven  days,  the  larger 
kinds  up  to  twenty  days.  Afterwaids 
they  are  laid  in  a  bath  of  brine  for 
twenty-four  hours,  washed,  dried,  and 
put  in  the  •cnring-room,  where  they 
are  treated  just  like  the  Gonda  cheese. 
The  brine-bath  has  now  superseded  the  above- 
mentioned  way  of  salting  in  many  dairies.  In 
the  curing-room  the  cheese  remains  four  to  five 
weeks,  being  daily  turned,  before  it  is  ready 
for  sale.  During  the  week  before  selling  it  is  laid 
in    fresh   water  for  three  to   five  hours,  brushed 


Implements  for  Edam  Cheese-making. 


The  press  with  sis  forms  under  it.     The  tub  in  which  the  cheese  is  made.    On  it  stands  a  cheese-form,  leaning  against 
it  the  baling-dish,  the  curd-cutter,  and  a  wooden  iiistrxunent  for  pressing  the  curd  in  the  tonus. 


already  assumed  the  shape  of  a  ball,  and  can  be 
taken  out,  wrapped  in  a  fine  linen  cloth,  and  put 
back  into  the  form.  These  forms  are  put  under  a 
press  (Fig.  367),  where  they  remain  five  to  twelve 
hours.  When  pressed  long  they  get  harder,  and 
can  stand  a  longer  transport,  but  take  also  longer 
to  ripen,  while  the  reverse  is  the  case  when  they 
are  pressed  a  short  time.  In  the  latter  case 
they  are  better  fitted  for  local  consumption.  After 
pressing,   the   cheese   is    put   into   auothtr     form 


off,  dried,  and  put  back  in  the  curing-room  to  be 
turned  daily.  To  improve  its  colour  sometimes 
young  beer  is  employed,  with  which  it  is  rubbed 
every  day  during  the  last  week.  Before  sending 
the  cheese  away  it  is  rubbed  with  some  linseed-oil, 
to  give  it  a  polished,  smooth  appearance.  The 
colouring  of  the  skin  is  done  by  rubbing  them 
with  Tournesol  rags,  which  are  prepared  in  France 
by  dipping  pieces  of  hempen  cloth  in  the  juice  of 
Croton  iinctorium.  H.  L.  de  K. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 
Pigs,     Goats,     and     Poultkv. 

'  Origin  of  the  Pig— White  Breeds— Berkshires— Essex— Other  English  Breeds— Poland-Chinas 
'^  —Management  of  Pigs— Goats — Poultry. 


-r^ 


,^-uOST  writers  agree  that  the 
'>-,!^  differeut  varieties  of  do- 
mesticated swine  in  this 
and  other  countries  have 
been  derived  from  the 
y  ""  ,^  ,  order  Pac/ii/derma(a,  genus 
Sus,  the  common  wild 
swine  of  the  ancient  forests.  Ages 
ago,  these  animals  roamed  at  large 
in  Britain,  where  they  formed  common, 
and  often  dangerous,  objects  of  the 
chase  for  the  nobles  of  the  land. 
Reminiscences  of  the  wild  boar  still  remain  in 
the  names  of  places  in  some  parts  of  the 
country,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  moorlands  of 
Staffordshire,  "  Boar's  Grove "  and  "  Wild-boar- 
clough"  are  to  this  day  the  names  of  farms  or 
localities  in  which,  so  far  even  as  present  aspect 
goes,  it  is  very  probable  the  wild  boar  was  com- 
mon in  the  olden  times.  The  wild  boar,  it  is 
true,  long  ago  became  extinct  in  these  islands, 
except  in  a  few  remote  localities,  yet  to  this 
day  he  is  hunted  in  the  forests  and  mountains 
of  France  and  Germany,  while  in  various  other 
countries  of  Europe  and  Asia  he  is  not  at  all  un- 
common. In  these  olden  times  a  large  portion 
of  England  was  covered  with  forests,  in  which  the 
oak  was,  it  is  said,  more  general  than  any  other 
kind  of  tree,  and  acorns  formed,  in  the  autumn 
and  early  winter,  a  sumptuous  feast,  on  which 
the  wild  boar  fattened;  the  beech -tree  flotu- 
ished,  too,  in  those  ancient  forests  on  the  lime- 
stone, as  the  oak  did  on  the  clays,  and  beech- 
masts  served  the  boar  for  food;  grasses  and  the 
roots  of  plants  he  fed  on  in  other  parts  of  the  year. 
His  keen  scent  told  him  where  the  latter  were,  and 
his  long  and  powerful  snout  soon  brought  them  up 


to  light.  The  snout  of  the  domestic  pig,  though 
still  powerful  for  mischief,  is  much  less  vigorous 
than  that  of  his  wild  progenitor;  domestication, 
removing  the  need  for  so  prominent  an  organ,  has 
already  reduced  it  much  in  length,  if  not  in  width, 
and,  along  with  the  need  for  work  in  search  of  food, 
it  has  lost  its  pristine  usefulness.  The  pig  of  to- 
day has  no  need  to  "  root "  for  food ;  he  is  fed 
regularly  in  the  yards  and  sheds,  his  rambles  at 
large  being  confined  to  the  stubbles  in  autumn 
and  to  a  pleasant  hunt  for  acorns  near  the  hedge- 
rows, so  that  in  some  of  the  more  cultivated  breeds 
the  snout  has  an  absurdly  helpless  look,  nearly 
hidden  as  it  is  by  a  prominent  forehead  and  well- 
developed  chaps,  and  it  is  next  to  impossible  to 
root  with  it. 

By  many  of  the  ancient  nations  the  pig  was 
held  in  abhoiTence,  and  to  this  day  the  feeling  pre- 
vails among  the  Brahmins  and  Buddhists  of  India, 
and  the  Alahommedans  everywhere.  The  Mosaic 
Law  declared  the  pig  to  be  an  unclean  animal,  and 
the  Jews  were  fcjrbidden  to  eat  of  it.  The  ancient 
Egyptians  had  a  still  stronger  antipathy  against  it, 
according  to  Herodotus,  who  tells  us  that  if  a  man 
touched  one,  even  by  accident,  he  presently  hastened 
to  the  river,  and  without  undressing,  plunged  him- 
self into  the  water  to  be  purified.  Unclean  him- 
self, the  pig  promotes  cleanliness  in  others.  The 
Egyptians  were  forbidden  to  sacrifice  him  to  any 
other  deity  than  Bacchus,  and  to  the  moon  when 
at  the  full,  at  which  time  they  were  permitted  to 
eat  of  his  flesh.  But  the  ancient  Greeks  and 
Romans  thought  highly  of  the  pig,  and  the 
Chinese  of  the  present  day  use  it  largely  as  an 
article  of  food.  Modern  notions  commonly  agree 
with  the  ancient  one  that  the  pig  is  an  imclean 
animal — in   his    habits   of    life,   that   is,  but   not 


BRITISH    BREEDS   OF   SWINK. 


047 


unclean  to  eat.  We  hardly  think  he  merits  all 
the  abuse  and  contempt  that  are  thrown  at  him. 
It  may  be  true  that  in  habits  he  is  scarcely  decent 
at  times,  as  in  feeding  he  has  no  delicacy,  yet  he  is 
a  very  useful  member  of  the  community,  and  he 
provides  us  with  many  a  tasty  dish.  The  truth  is, 
the  typical  pig  is  the  victim  of  conditions,  and  is 
regarded  as  a  sort  of  hereditary  scapegrace  in  the 
community  of  domesticated  animals  ;  consequently, 
self-respect  with  him  is  at  a  low  ebb,  and  though 
thinner-skinned  than  he  used  to  be,  he  still  has  a 
rebellious  disposition,  and  goes  in  for  a  good  deal 
of  unseemly  conduct.  His  propensity  to  root,  we 
suspect,  will  remain  in  force  so  long  as  he  has  a 
snout  that  is  fit  for  the  duty,  and  he  will  wallow 
in  the  mire  still  longer  when  he  gets  the  chance ; 
j'ct,  despite  all  his  delinquencies,  we  could  ill 
afford  to  do  without  him. 

In  the  British  Islands  there  are  many  varieties 
of  pigs,  and  these,  again,  are  locally  divided  into 
sub-varieties,  but  with  many  of  the  latter  the 
differences  are  so  slight  as  to  be  scarcely  worth 
notice.  As  a  rule,  the  pigs  of  Scotland  and  the 
north  of  England  are  white  in  colour ;  those  of  the 
midland  counties  and  in  Wales  black-and-white, 
red-and-black,  or  red-and-white,  commonly  enough 
white,  or  red,  or  black,  though  the  two  latter  are 
not  so  numerous  as  the  white ;  and  in  the  southern 
counties  they  are  most  commonly  black.  Of  the 
white  ones  in  the  north  there  are  three  tolerably 
distinct  varieties  :  the  large,  the  medium,  and  the 
small ;  in  the  south  the  black  pigs  may  be  similarly 
classed,  though  perhaps  the  varieties  are  somewhat 
less  distinct  as  to  size;  while  in  the  midlands  they 
are  of  the  mixed  and  indistinct  character  that 
might  be  expected  in  a  neutral  zone.  AVe  are  not 
aware  that  the  origin  of  these  differences  in  coloiu" 
has  been,  or  can  be,  determined  so  as  to  exclude  all 
doubt  on  the  matter,  but  the  positive  colours  found 
in  the  southern  and  midland  counties  are  supposed 
to  be  owing  to  foreign  blood,  while  the  wjiite 
colour  of  the  northern  ones  is  said  to  be  that  of 
the  ancient  breed  of  the  island.  There  is  no 
certainty,  we  think,  in  these  conjectures,  but  they 
are  probably  correct.  It  is,  however,  in  any  case 
true  that  Neapolitan  and  Chinese  pigs  have  been 
imported  into  this  country,  and  they  have  greatly 
helped  in  improving  the  build  and  usefulness  of 
our  native  breeds;  selection  in  breeding  and  care 
in  treatment  have  done  the  rest.  In  the  days  of 
the  Ancient  Britons  the  pig  was  a  raw-boned, 
72 


thick-skinned,  rakish-looking  animal,  weird  and 
gaunt,  with  long  legs,  light  quarters,  a  narrow 
back,  and  a  figure-head  that  was  surpassingly 
ugly ;  whereas  his  descendant  of  to-day  is  plump 
and  symmetrical,  short-legged,  iine-boned,  with 
well-developed  hams  and  shoulders,  a  broad  back, 
and  deep  thick  sides,  and  a  face  which  has  lost  its 
ferocity. 

The  white  breeds  are  known  under  the  generic 
name  of  "  Yorkshires,"  though  they  are,  and 
perhaps  always  have  been,  equally  common  in 
various  other  counties ;  the  large  white  breed,  from 
which  the  others  have  been  obtained  by  crossing 
and  by  selection,  are  specially  known  under  that 
name,  while  the  sub-varieties,  though  also  known 
as  Yorkshires,  are  sometimes  known  by  the  name 
of  other  counties  in  which  they  are  bred,  as 
Cumberland,  Leicester,  or  Lancaster. 

The  Large  White  Breed. — Up  to  the  middle  of 
the  present  century  it  was  a  common  thing  to  find 
at  our  leading  agricultural  shows  huge  specimens 
of  this  variety  (Fig.  369),  some  of  them  weighing 


I'ig.  309.— L.vBGE  White  Yoekshike  Pig. 

as  much  as  a  fair-sized  heifer,  but  in  recent  years 
they  have  been  dropped  out  of  sight  as  a  rule, 
chiefly  because  they  were  slow  to  mature  and 
large  consumers  of  food,  leaving  consequently  little 
or  no  profit  for  fattening,  though  at  the  same 
time  they  produced  bacon  of  good  quality  and 
were  pi'olifie  breeders,  the  litters  often  numbering 
sixteen  or  eighteen  ;  and  now  the  quality  of  early 
maturity  is  cultivated  in  connection  with  smaller 
size.  The  famous  Robert  Bakewell  is  said  to  have 
been  the  first  to  improve  the  white  pigs  of 
Leicestershire,  and  these  in  turn  have  improved 
the  Yorkshires  by  crossing.  Bakewell  pursued 
with  pigs  the  system  he  had  with  such  marked 
success  applied  to  Longhorn  cattle  and  Leicester 
sheep,  viz.,  selection ;  discarding  the  coarser  ones, 
he  bred  only  from  such  as  were  symmetrical  and 
compact   in    form,    and    fine   in    skin    and    bone, 


518 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


cultivating   at    the    same    time    tlie   properties  of 
early  maturity  and  aptitude  to  fatten. 

The  Small  W/iite  Breed.— This  breed  (Fig.  370) 
affords  a  striking  contrast  to  the  foregointj,  not  in 


Fig.  370.— Small  '!i  unK^riiii],  1'ig. 

size  only,  but  in  the  period  at  which  they  mature, 
in  quality,  and — if  the  expression  is  applicable  to 
pigs  at  all  —  in  delicacy  of  character.  It  is 
supposed  that  this  variety  has  been  chiefly  obtained 
from  crosses  with  Chinese  pigs,  and  it  is  commonly 
known  as  the  small  Yorkshire  breed.  Being  small 
in  size,  indifferent  breeders,  and  less  hardy  than 
most  other  kinds,  these  small  Yorkshires  are  not 
as  a  rule  profitable,  and  so  are  not  adapted  for 
practical  dairy-farmers.  There  is,  however,  a  gooil 
and  constant  demand  throughout  the  country,  and 
specially  in  Loudon,  for  these  small  and  dainty 
porkers,  and  the  price  they  fetch  is  the  highest  in 
the  market.  But  this  small  white  breed  has  a 
special  value  for  breeding  jiurposes — for  carrying 
on  the  improvement  of  the  larger  breeds,  for 
reducing  the  hugeness  and  the  coarseness  of  the 
largest  sort,  and  for  providing  a  model  which, 
differing  more  or  le.ss  so  far  as  size  is  concerned, 
breeders  everywhere  are  striving  to  copy.  Crosses 
with  other  breeds— Berkshires,  for  instance — 
have  produced  animals  that  were  excellent  for 
fattening.  One  of  the  most  striking  peculiarities 
of  the  small  white  pig  is  its  puggy,  dishy  snout, 
of  which,  when  the  animal  is  fully  fattened,  all 
that  can  be  seen  are  the  upturned  nostrils,  which 
sometimes  nearly  meet  the  projecting  forehead ; 
the  eyes  are  completely  hidden,  their  position 
being  indicated  by  creases  in  the  fat,  and  the  head 
is  set  on  much  below  the  level  of  the  shoulder. 

T/ie  Medium  W/r/fe  Breed. — This  breed  has 
hardly  yet  attained  the  dignity  of  a  distinct 
variety.  Having  been  produced  by  modern  crosses 
between  the  large  and  the  small  breeds,  the  type  is 
not  yet  fixed,  and  individuals  here  and  there  are 
found  to  lean  too  much  to  the  one  or  to  the  other 
branch  of  their  diverse  ancestry;  by  judicious 
selection  of  true  specimens  to  breed  from,  the  type 


will  soon  lose  its  nondescript  character,  and  varia- 
tions will  in  time  cease  altogether.  This  type 
promises  to  become  one  of  the  most  valuable  in 
the  country  for  tenant-farmers'  use ;  it  has  the 
early  maturity  and  the  facility  to  fatten  of  the 
small  breed,  while  avoiding  the  coarseness  and  late 
maturity  of  the  large  one,  and  it  is  moderate  in 
size,  fattening  nicely  into  twelve  to  eighteen 
stones,  yet  the  longer  it  is  kept  as  store,  within 
limits,  the  larger  weight  it  will  fatten  into.  Its 
face  resembles  that  of  the  small  breed,  but  it  is 
less  concave  on  the  snout  and  somewhat  longer, 
while  the  frame  is  longer  and  larger,  and  less 
abnormally  developed  in  the  shoulders.  It  is  one 
of  the  best  of  our  bacon  pigs. 

T//e  Berkshire  Breed. — This,  perhaps,  is  the 
most  famous  breed  we  have,  and  the  most  general 
of  any  distinct  species  in  the  British  Islands. 
Formerly  these  pigs  were  of  various  colours, 
generally  "a  tawny,  white,  or  reddish  colour, 
spotted  with  black;"  but  now  there  are  two  dis- 
tinct varieties,  the  one  wholly  white,  and  the  other 
black,  with  a  little  white  as  a  rule  on  the  nose,  on 
the  feet,  and  on  the  end  of  the  tail,  and  a  pinkish 
hue  on  the  skin.  The  Berkshires  are  understood 
to  owe  their  tj^pe  to  the  influence  of  Chinese  blood, 
of  which  breed  there  are  both  white  and  black-and- 
white  varieties  :  hence  the  two  varieties  of  Berk- 
shires ;  yet  they  have  been  less  changed  than  some 
breeds  have  by  the  infusion  of  foreign  blood,  and 
their  improvement  is  mainly  owing  to  the  care  and 
attention  that  have  been  bestowed  upon  them 
through  a  long  period. 

Mr.  John  Coleman,  formerly  Professor  of 
Agriculture  and  farm  manager  at  the  Royal 
Agricultural  College,  Cirencester,  describes  the 
black  Berkshires  in  the  following  terms  : — "  Head 
moderately  short ;  forehead  wide,  nose  slightly 
dished,  .straight  at  the  end — not  retrousse,  as  in 
the  small  breeds ;  chaps  full ;  ears  slightly  pro- 
jecting, occasionally  pendant,  and  covering  the 
eyes.  Prevailing  colour  black,  with  white  blaze 
down  the  nose  or  white  star  on  the  forehead ; 
sometimes  uniformly  dark  :  but  this  is  the  excep- 
tion, and  never  the  dead  black  of  the  Suffolk  or 
Essex.  The  pink  tinge  should  be  always  apparent. 
The  eye  is  not  sunk  and  closed  as  in  the  breeds 
remarkable  for  feeding  properties,  but  large,  intel- 
ligent, and  denoting  activity.  General  effect 
pleasing.  The  head  is  well  set ;  the  neck,  of 
moderate     length,    is    full    and     muscular;     the 


BRITISH    BHKKDS    OF    SWINK. 


>!■!) 


elioulders  well  set,  so  that  we  have  a  perfectly 
regular  outline.  There  is  not  the  extraordinary 
wealth  of  China  seen  in  Suffolk,  but  the  fore- 
quarters  are  well  proportioned.  Occasionally  we 
find  a  slight  deficiency  in  the  girth,  caused  by  the 
flatness  of  the  fore-ribs.  The  back  is  fairly  level, 
and  the  ribs,  as  a  rule,  tolerably  sprung  :  a  less 
perfect  ban-el,  however,  than  is  to  bo  found  in  the 
Essex  and  Suffolk  blacks.  Loins  wide  and  well 
covered ;  quarters  often  rather  short  and  drooping 
— this  is  probably  the  weakest  point  in  the  breed. 
The  tail  is  usually  set  lower  than  the  hips,  which 
gives  a  somewhat  common  character.  The  gammon 
full  and  deep;  under-lines  somewhat  irregular;  the 
flank  often  light.  The  carcase  stands  on  short 
legs,  and  the  bone,  whilst  stronger  than  that  of 
the  small  sorts,  is  well-proportioned,  and  by  no 
means  stronger  than  is  necessary.  The  strength 
and  character  of  the  coat  varies  according  to  se.^ 
and  management.  The  effect  of  confinement  and 
close  breeding  is  to  reduce  the  hair.  We  have  a 
great  objection  to  bristles,  which  indicate  a  thick 
skin,  coarse  offal,  and  slow  feeding;  but  we  also 
equally  dislike  the  thin,  weak,  soft  hair,  which  is  a 
sure  evidence  of  delicacy,  especially  in  the  boar ; 
here,  at  least,  should  be  plenty  of  hair,  otherwise 
the  offspring  will  be  sadly  deficient.  In  the  sow 
tine  long  hair  is  desirable;  too  much  and  too  strong 
hair  is  indicative  of  coarseness.  But  if  the  pig  is 
required  to  work  for  its  living,  and  to  officiate  as 
scavenger  of  the  farm,  there  must  be  constitution  ; 
and  we  cannot  have  this  without  hair.  The  great 
merit  of  the  Berkshire  over  most  other  breeds 
consists  in  the  larger  proportion  of  lean  meat,  and 
the  distribution  of  fat  and  lean  when  properly  fed ; 


Fig.  371. — Berkshire  Pig. 

consequently  a  given  live  weight  realises  a  larger 
proportion  of  available  meat  than  any  other  breed." 
As  Mr.  Coleman  has  said,  the  hind  quarters  are 
weak  and  drooping,  sloping  downwards  from  the 
hips  to  the  tail,  so  that  the  top  line  is  not  level, 
as  it  ought  to  be,  from  the  neck  backwards ;  this 
fault,  though  much   more   marked  than  in  other 


breeds,  is  not  by  any  means  a  feature  which  cannot 
be  removed,  or  at  all  events  greatly  reduced,  by 
careful  breeding  against  it.  In  the  anne.^ce  I 
engraving  we  give  a  Berkshire  prize-winner,  in 
which  the  fault  we  speak  of  does  not  exist,  but 
the  quarters,  instead  of  sloping,  are  nicely  rounded 
off,  while  the  top  line  is  as  level  as  anyone  can 
desire  in  a  pig.  As  their  name  implies,  the 
Berkshire  pigs  first  became  celebrated  in  one  of  the 
southern  counties,  but  they  are  now,  as  the  Short- 
horn cattle  are,  known  in  all  the  civilised  countries 
of  the  earth ;  yet,  so  far  as  England  is  concerned, 
they  are  chiefiy  found  in  the  southern  and  western 
counties,  and  are  not  at  all  common  in  the  northern 
ones.  Besides  the  Berkshires,  there  are  several 
varieties  of  black  pigs,  most  of  which  bear  the 
name  of  the  county  in  which  they  are  a  speciality, 
as  the  Essex,  the  Suffolk,  the  Dorset,  &c. ;  but  so 
far  none  of  them  have  attained  anything  like  so 
widespread  a  popularity. 

The  Essex  Breed. — The  old  Essex  pig  had  a 
"  roach  back,  long  legs,  sharp  head,  and  restless 
disposition" — four  very  undesirable  qualities;  it  is 
now  a  shapely  and  valuable  breed.  While  travel- 
ling in  Italy  some  forty  years  ago,  the  late  Lord 
Western  saw  and  admired  the  breed  of  swine 
called  Neapolitan,  which  "  found  its  greatest 
purity  in  the  beautiful  peninsula,  or  rather  tongue 
of  land,  between  the  Bay  of  Naples  and  the  Bay 
of  Salerno — a  breed  of  very  peculiar  and  valuable 
qualities,  the  flavour  of  the  meat  being  excellent, 
and  the  disposition  to  fatten  on  the  smallest 
quantity  of  food  unrivalled."  He  brought  over  a 
male  and  female  of  this  breed,  and  he  engrafted 
the  stock  on  the  Essex,  and,  it  is  said,  on  the 
Suffolk  and  Berksliire  too,  in  so  successful  a 
manner  that,  as  he  said  himself,  "  my  herd  can 
scarcely  be  distinguished  from  the  pure  blood." 
The  improved  Essex,  which  had  great  success  at 
the  agricultural  shows,  were  produced  by  a  further 
cross  of  Lord  Western's  Essex-Neapolitans  on 
Sussex  sows,  under  the  care  of  ]Mr.  Fisher  Hobbes, 
who  became  an  even  more  famous  breeder  of  pigs 
than  Lord  Western  himself;  for  though  all  the 
improvements  sprang  from  the  Western  herd,  his 
lordship  bred  in-and-in  to  such  a  degree  that  his 
breed  "  gradually  lost  size,  muscle,  constitution, 
and  consequently  fecundit}'."  After  his  lordship's 
death,  Mr.  Hobbes  bought  the  best  of  the  breeding 
sows  at  Western,  and  by  their  aid  he  continued  to 
improve    his    own   and   the    pigs    of   the  count}'. 


550 


DAIRY    FARjIIXG. 


AiKitlier  br.UK-li  ol'  llic  breed  is  suid  to  have  Ijceu 
imjiroved  by  a  ))air  of  black  sows  wliich  Mr.  Coates 
procured  from  Turkey  about  the  year  184-6;  these 
were  bred  to  a  Chiuese  boar,  and  tlie  proojeny  in 
turn  liad  the  infusion  of  Neapolitan  blood ;  lastly, 
they  were  engrafted  on  good  specimens  of  the  old 
breed  of  the  country,  and  so  the  breed  has  bjcu 
built  up. 

Early  maturity  and  excelleut  (juality  of  Hesh 
are  the  leading  merits  of  the  improved  Essex,  and, 
while  they  retain  the  symmetry  of  the  Essex- 
Neapolitans,  they  have  more  size  and  vigour,  a 
stronger  constitution,  and  an  increased  fecundity. 
Their  only  defects  are  :  a  lack  of  hardiness,  that  is 
probably  owing  to  the  climate  in  which  they  are 
bred ;  and  a  too  great  proneness  to  fatten,  on 
account  of  which  the  fertility  of  the  sows  is  often 
diminished,  unless  it  is  prevented  by  judicious  diet 
and  plenty  of  exercise.  For  crossing  with  and 
improving  inferior  breeds,  the  Essex  swine  of  to- 
day are  very  valuable,  and  in  the  United  States,  as 
well  as  in  various  countries  of  Europe,  they  have 
made  their  mark ;  while  in  our  own  country  the 
Berkshires,  the  Devonshires,  the  Oxfords,  and  the 
Dorsets  have  derived  many  of  their  merits  from 
Lord  Western's  Neapolitan  importations,  whose 
in(luen?e,  commencing   in   Essex,   is  now  seen  in 


Fig.  372. -Essex  Pig. 

every  parish  in  the  midland  and  western  counties 
where  black  jjigs  are  found.  The  old  Essex  pigs 
had  more  or  less  white  on  them,  but  now  they  are 
invariably  black;  their  heads  are  perhaps  come  as 
near  being  handsome  as  a  pig's  head  possibly  can ; 
they  are  moderately  fine  in  bone  and  short  on  the 
leg;  the  quarters  are  well-proportioned,  and  they 
arc  symmetrical  withal.  They  attain  great  weights 
at  an  early  age,  and  have  a  small  percentage  of 
oifal.  The  engraving  gives  a  good  representation 
of  an  improved  Essex  sow. 

Tke  Devon  and  Boraet  Breeih. — These  two 
counties  are  now  proud  of  their  pigs,  and  with 
reason,  for  they  have  really  excellent  varieties  of 
the  i)oreine   family.      Whatever  differences   there 


may  be  betvreen  the  pigs  of  the  two  counties  are 
to  be  attributed  to  merely  local  influences,  for  both 
have  derived  their  chief  improvements  from  one 
and  the  same  source  -^  the  im[)roved  Essex. 
Though  the  })igs  of  one  county  may  be  somewhat 
inferior  to  those  of  another,  in  the  eye  of  an 
impartial  judge,  yet  there  is  reason  enough  for 
each  one  thinking  its  own  the  best — the  best,  that 
is,  for  its  own  use.  This,  however,  is  merely  a 
question  of  climate,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  infer 
that  the  pigs  that  have  been  bred  for  generations 
in  a  given  climate  are  the  best  for  that  climate, 
providing  they  have  been  improved  equally  with 
other  pigs.  The  Devons  and  the  Dorsets  may  not 
be  so  shapely  as  the  Essex  and  Berkshires,  yet 
have  they  much  in  common,  so  far  as  quality  is 
concerned,  and  they  are  all  of  the  same  colour — 
black.  As  a  rule,  it  may  be  taken  for  granted 
that  we  can  take  the  old  stock  of  a  county,  and  so 
improve  it  by  careful  selection  and  by  judicious 
infusion  of  distant  blood,  that  it  will  become  as 
valuable  for  practical  purposes  as  any  wholly  alien 
breed  could  possibly  be  ;  yet  this  is  a  rule  to  which, 
as  in  the  case  of  horned  stock,  there  are  possibly 
one  or  two  exceptions.  The  Berkshires  and  York- 
shires among  pigs,  like  the  Shorthorns  and  Here- 
fords  among  cattle  and  the  Leicesters  and  Shrop- 
shires  among  sheep,  are  probably  better  stock  than 
most  others  which  they  could  possibly  supplant ; 
yet,  at  the  same  time,  it  would  be  better  in  the  case 
of  such  pigs  as  the  Devons  and  Dorsets  to  seek  to 
improve  them  by  crossing  rather  than  supplant 
them  altogether,  and  especially  so  when  we 
remember  that  eross-breds  are  usually  more 
vigorous  than  pure-breds,  and  generally  more 
profitable  to  feed  for  the  butcher. 

T/ie  Shropshire  Breed. — This  breed  is  not 
famous  for  symmetry  or  beauty  of  any  kind,  but 
it  is  a  good  practical  sort,  with  no  pretensions  to 
fancy.  The  colour  is  various,  but  generally  a  dark 
red-and-blaek.  These  pigs  are  extensively  sold  in 
the  markets  of  the  adjoining  counties;  bred  in 
Shropshire,  they  go  in  large  numbers  to  be  fattened 
in  other  counties.  The  Welsh  pigs  have  much  in 
common  with  the  Shropshires,  and  are  .sent  about 
the  country  for  the  same  purpose. 

The  remaining  sub-varieties  of  jiigs  in  the 
British  islands  are  mostly  of  a  nondescript 
character,  in  each  ease  more  or  less  resembling  the 
distinct  breeds  which  have  helped  to  improve  them  ; 
and  they  are  known  less  for  any  distinct  merits  or 


TIIK     I'KOI'Tr     KliO.M     SWINH. 


551 


cliaraeteristies  than  liy  the  iianio  ol'  llic  (•(Hinty  to 
which  they  happen  to  bching.  As  in  cattle  and 
sheep,  so  in  pigs,  a  great  improvement  in  breeding 
has  been  brought  about  during  the  past  half 
century,  so  that  all  our  varieties  are  now  much 
better  than  they  formerly  were,  while  between  the 
best  of  them  there  is  so  little  to  choose  on  the 
score  of  usefulness  that  it  becomes  a  mere  matter 
of  fancy  which  of  them  a  farmer  had  better  own. 
The  Yorkshires,  Berkshires,  and  Essex  are  held  in 
high  estimation  in  America,  and  in  that  country 
there  is  also  a  very  good  breed,  called  the  Poland- 
China,  of  which  we  give  an  illustration  (Fig.   37''5, 


i'.^.  :.;7:i.  -r"i.ANii-L'iiiNA  Pitt. 

Poland-China  Hog) .  This  breed  is  the  result  of  a 
cross  in  which  the  Chinese  blood  figures  promi- 
nently ;  we  are  not  aware,  however,  that  it  possesses 
merits  equal  to  those  of  the  best  English  breeds. 

Poultry  on  arable  farms  and  pigs  on  dairy-farms 
are  very  useful  to  pick  up  various  odds  and  ends 
of  food  that  would  otherwise  be  wasted.  In  this 
way  many  of  them  find  the  greater  part  of  their 
own  living,  which  is  so  far  a  clear  gain  to  the 
farmer.  Pigs  are,  in  fact,  members  of  that  humble, 
though  necessary,  fraternity  called  scavengers, 
doing  in  their  way  a  lot  of  dirty  work,  and  con- 
suming many  of  the  coarser  products  of  the  farm 
and  garden  which  could  not  else  be  made  use  of, 
except  in  the  rough-and-i"eady  way  of  using  them 
as  manure,  and  sometimes  not  even  in  that.  What 
use,  for  instance,  could  be  made  of  diseased  potatoes 
and  the  surplus  garden  stuff,  of  the  animals  that 
die  now  and  again  on  the  farm,  or  are  for  other 
reasons  unfit  for  human  food,  of  the  slops  and 
broken  victuals  of  the  house,  and  the  whey  and 
buttermilk  of  the  dairy — were  it  not  for  the  pigs? 
Where  all  the  food  they  eat  has  to  be  bought 
for  them,  it  is  doubtful  if  pigs  will  yield  a  j^rofit, 
unless  a  man  has  a  famous  breed  of  them,  is 
successful  in  his  management  of  them,  and  can 
sell  the  young  ones  at  fancy  prices.  But  when 
they  are  half  kept  on  waste  materials,  or,  rather. 


on  i'diiil  (li:it  no  other  animals  would  eat,  it  is 
possible  with  good  management  to  make  a  fair 
profit  out  of  the  breeding,  rearing,  and  even 
fattening  of  pigs  on  a  dairy-farm. 

As  a  rule,  certainly,  dairy-farmeis  in  England 
complain  that  pigs  are  not  worth  keejjing;  others, 
again,  limit  the  profit  to  the  fertilising  matter 
contained  in  the  excreta ;  while  yet  others  say  that 
breeding  only  pays,  and  that  buying  pigs  to  fatten 
seldom  results  in  anything  but  loss,  look  at  it 
which  way  we  will,  and  that  it  would  pay  the 
dairy-farmer  better,  or,  rather,  be  less  loss  to  him, 
if  he  ran  out  his  whey  on  the  land  along  with  the 
liquid  manure.  Many  dairy-farmers  keep  very 
few  pigs — just  enough  for  their  own  bacon — 
because  they  believe  there  is  no  profit  in  fattening 
them  for  sale,  and  they  rear  instead  a  number  of 
calves  to  drink  the  whey,  or  they  give  it  to  the 
dairy  cows  to  drink.  It  is  true  that  many  cows  get 
very  fond  of  whey,  and  that  when  slightly  acid 
it  is  a  capital  thing  for  the  production  of  a  large 
quantity  of  milk;  yet,  if  it  is  very  sour  we  consider 
the  milk  produced  by  its  acid  keeps  sweet  a  shorter 
time,  and  such  whey  ought  not  to  be  used  with- 
out discretion. 

It  is  true  that  the  feeding  of  pigs  for  sale  will 
not  always  jiay.  It  happens  sometimes  that  corn  is 
too  dear;  at  others  that  store  pigs  are,  while  the 
price  of  pork  and  bacon  is  low,  and  so  fattening 
cannot  pay;  yet,  when  both  corn  and  store  pigs 
are  moderate  in  price,  and  fat  pigs  are  selling 
fairly  well,  the  business  of  fattening  can  be  made 
to  pay  very  well.  A  good  deal  depends  on  the 
sort  of  pigs  we  fatten ;  we  might  as  well  try  to 
fatten  a  hurdle  as  some  of  the  sharp-backed,  lanky, 
long-legged,  and  longer-snouted  animals  we  see, 
whilst  others  fatten  readily  and  rapidly  on  a 
small  quantity  of  good  food.  We  have  had  pigs 
that  gave  us  a  clear  2s.  Gd.  a  week  for  the  whey 
and  trouble  over  and  above  the  corn  they  ate,  and 
having  the  manure  as  extra  profit;  and  we  have 
had  others  that  did  not  pay  for  the  corn,  the  whey 
and  troul)le  being  quite  thrown  away. 

Some  think  it  is  best  that  a  farmer  should 
breed  all  his  own  pigs  and  fatten  them,  and  this 
plan,  no  doubt  answers  well,  if  a  man  is  lucky;  but 
it  sometimes  happens  that  a  man  has  no  luck  at 
all  with  breeding  sows — his  buildings  are  poor,  his 
pigs  the  wrong  sort,  or  he  has  no  gift  of  manage- 
ment— and  in  this  case  he  had  better  buy  his  pigs 
as  he  wants  them  for  fattening.     In  buying  pigs 


552 


DAIRY     FAR^[LNG. 


for  this  purpose,  it  is  well  to  buy  them  lean,  so 
that  we  can  see  tlieir  faults ;  and,  indeed,  we  do 
not  want  to  buy  condition,  but  rather  make  it 
afterwards.  In  the  first  place,  the  pig's  should 
have  frame  enough  to  fatten  into  good  weights ; 
they  should  be  long-bodied,  and  not  very  short  on 
the  legs ;  the  ribs  should  be  well  sprung,  showing 
a  broad  chine,  and  giving  plenty  of  room  for  the 
commissariat  department  inside ;  the  back  should 
be  straight  and  long,  and  squarely  joined  to  the 
quarters,  which  should  not  droop ;  lastly,  the  head 
should  be  short  and  wide  instead  of  long  and 
narrow,  and  the  skin  and  hair  should  not  be  rough 
and  coarse.  A  little  experience  in  buying  and 
fattening  ])igs  will  soon  tell  anyone  the  best  sort 
to  buy,  jjartieularly  if  he  loses  money  a  time  or 
two  in  them ;  this,  indeed,  is  the  surest  way  of 
sharpening  a  man's  judgment. 

In  the  breeding  of  pigs,  we  may  take  it  for 
granted  that  it  is  just  as  easy  to  have  a  good  sort 
as  a  bad  one,  and  that  this  point  makes  all  the 
difference  between  profit  and  loss  in  the  business. 
The  best  plan  is  to  get  hold  of  a  couple  of  gilts  of 
a  downright  good  sort  for  breeding,  for  pork  or 
bacon  as  the  case  may  be,  for  early  maturity,  for 
hardiness,  and  for  ability  to  fatten  on  a  small 
([uautity  of  food ;  and  there  are  plenty  of  breeds 
answering  to  this  description.  A  boar  of  the  same 
breed,  though  haply  of  a  difi^erent  family,  should 
be  used  if  it  is  desired  to  keep  the  breed  pure,  and 
he  should  come  of  as  good,  or  even  better,  a  family 
than  the  gilts ;  but  if  it  is  desired  to  breed  pigs  for 
the  butcher  only,  purity  of  breed  being  a  matter 
to  which  no  importance  is  attached,  it  would  be 
quite  as  well  to  use  a  good  boar  of  a  different 
breed,  for  a  raw  cross  of  this  kind  often  produces 
the  most  vigorous  offspring;  and  a  similar  result 
may  be  attained  by  using  a  boar  of  the  same 
breed,  providing  the  relationship,  if  any  exists,  is 
very  distant :  and,  indeed,  in  this  case  purity  of 
breed  is  maintained  as  well. 

Early  maturity  is  seldom  found  except  in  com- 
pany with  the  other  good  points  which  all  meat- 
producing  animals  should  possess,  and  it  embraces 
as  well  the  property  of  early  fecundity,  which  is 
one  of  no  mean  value  among  domesticated  farm 
stock,  especially  among  pigs.  Gilts  that  come  of 
a  good  stock  in  one  or  other  of  the  improved 
breeds  will  usually  be  ready  to  put  to  the  boar  at 
eight  months  old,  so  that  they  will  have  their  first 
litter  at  or  before  the  time  thev  are  a  vear  old ; 


this  result  will,  however,  dejicnd  on  their  havin;:^ 
been  well  reared  on  good  food  from  the  beginning, 
for,  however  well-bred  a  pig  may  be,  its  early 
maturity  and  early  fecundity  are  both  reduced  if 
it  is  reared  on  short  commons,  or  is  expected  from 
an  early  age  to  find  its  living  in  the  lanes.  If  we 
have  good  blood  to  start  with,  the  rest  depends  on 
a  generous  diet  and  kindly  treatment.  Nor  are 
the  offspring  of  very  young  animals  at  all  inferior 
to  those  of  older  ones  after  a  time,  providing  the 
parents  are  well  reared  from  the  start,  and  are 
well  attended  to  when  they  are  giving  suck  :  it  is 
a  mere  question  of  food  and  treatment ;  and  when 
we  think  it  over,  we  see  no  good  in  developing 
superior  qualities  in  animals  by  careful  breeding 
if  they  are  afterwards  thrown  away  by  neglect.  It 
must,  however,  be  borne  in  mind  that  over-feed- 
ing, especially  with  carbonaceous  or  fat-forming 
food,  is  a  common  cause  of  barrenness,  not  in  pigs 
only,  but  in  all  other  animals. 

During  the  time  a  gilt  is  jiregnant  she  ought 
to  be  under  rather  than  over-fed,  at  all  events  in 
the  early  period  of  gestation  ;  later  on  she  may  be 
liberally  fed,  and  during  the  whole  of  the  period, 
except  the  last  week  or  so,  she  ought  to  take  a  fair 
amount  of  exercise  :  she  is,  in  fact,  all  the  better 
if  allowed  to  roam  about  almost  at  will,  and  the 
offspring  will  be  the  healthier  for  it.  It  is  also  a 
good  thing  during  this  period  that  she  should  be 
noticed  and  handled,  talked  to  and  made  familiar 
with,  an  attendant  being  near,  as  this  treatment 
makes  her  better-tempered  and  more  manageable 
when  she  farrows.  After  parturition  she  must 
receive  as  much  as  she  ■will  eat  of  food  whose 
quality  is  good,  and  this  treatment  must  last  until 
it  is  near  time  to  wean  the  litter. 

The  shed  or  stye  in  which  a  sow  farrows  should 
be  pretty  roomy,  with  a  sloping  floor  to  carry  all 
wet  away,  and  a  rail  running  round  by  the  wall, 
nine  inches  from  it,  and  nine  or  twelve  above  the 
floor;  this  latter  contrivance  is  to  prevent  the 
young  pigs  from  being  crushed  against  the  wall 
when  the  mother  lies  down — an  act  which  she 
generally  performs  without  much  warning  or 
ceremony.  A  boarded  floor  some  five  feet 
square,  that  can  be  taken  up  and  laid  down  at  will 
in  a  corner  of  the  stye,  will  be  found  useful, 
because  it  is  warmer  and  drier  than  any  other 
kind;  but  in  any  case  there  must  be  plenty  of 
straw,  which  should  be  cut  into  six-inch  lengths, 
to  prevent  the  young  pigs  getting  entangled  in  it. 


MANAGEMENT    OF    TKiS. 


553 


and  so  the  more  easily  trodJeu  on,  as  well  as  to 
make  a  tidier  bed;  and  all  cold  winds  and  draughts 
must  be  carefully  guarded  against.  In  cold  weather 
it  is  best  to  take  the  little  grunters  away  from 
their  mother  as  they  drop,  in  a  basket,  with  a  piece 
of  flannel  in  it  to  cover  them  with,  and  keep  tbem 
in  a  hamper  lined  with  flannel  of  some  sort,  and 
near  a  good  fire,  until  the  sow  has  done  farrow- 
ing ;  but  when  there  is  no  danger  from  cold,  and 
the  sow  is  fit  to  be  trusted,  the  young  ones  may  be 
left  with  her  "  to  founder  for  themselves,"  the 
attendant  looking  in  at  them  frequently  to  see 
that  all  is  right.  In  other  cases — as  with  a  siw 
whose  manners  are 
dangerous,  or  when 
the  cold  is  severe 
and  cannot  be  pro- 
perly excluded — it 
■will  be  wise  to  have 
the  young  jjigs  in 
a  hamper  in  a 
warm  room  for 
several  days,  fre- 
quently taking  them 
to  the  sow  to  suck, 
but  not  leaving 
them  with  her  until 
they  are  able  to 
take  care  of  them- 
selves. As  a  rule, 
sows  are  very  care- 
less, particularly 
young  sows  and 
old  ones  that  are 
fat  and  heavy,  and 
they  will  with  the 
grossest  supineness  trample  or  lie  down  on  the 
young  pigs  if  they  are  not  prevented,  and  the 
little  ones  are  unable  to  look  after  themselves. 

At  this  period,  and  for  some  little  time  before 
it,  the  sow's  food  should  be  such  as  will  promote 
to  a  moderate  degree  the  secretion  of  milk,  and 
nothing  is  better  for  this  purpose,  and  at  the  same 
time  as  cheap,  as  skim-milk  with  ground  wheat, 
the  latter  scalded  before  it  is  mixed  with  the  milk, 
and  the  whole  given  to  the  sow  varm,  say  at  a 
temperature  of  70"  to  80"  Fahr.,  but  never  cold. 
There  is  more  merit  in  this  simple  expedient  of 
warming  the  food  than  many  who  had  not  seen  it 
tried  would  be  dispo.sed  to  admit,  and  we  can 
recommend  it  with  confidence.     In  two  or  three 


days  the  young  pigs  will  be  well  on  their  legs  and 
the  sow  may  receive  any  kind  of  food  there  is  for 
her,  providing  it  is  both  good  and  plentiful;  skim- 
milk,  buttermilk,  or  whey,  thickened  with  a 
liberal  allowance  of  barley,  rice,  or  palm-nut  meal, 
or  a  mixture  of  these,  with  perhaps  a  little  pea  or 
beau-meal  added,  and  whatever  oatmeal  can  be 
spared.  AVe  have  heard  objections  urged  against 
maize-meal  as  food  for  sows  that  are  giving  suck, 
on  the  ground  that  the  young  ones  are  liable  to 
die ;  and,  no  doubt,  there  have  been  cases  of  this 
sort  where  the  meal  has  been  fed  to  the  sow  in  a 
raw  state,  but  we  know  it  is  perfectly  safe  to  use 
it,  providing  it  is 
well  scalded  with 
boiling  water  some 
time  previously. 
Any  kind  of  food 
for  pigs — corn,  that 
is — is  improved  by 
being  scalded,  and 
maize  specially  so ; 
the  mere  cooking 
makes  them  easier 
of  digestion  and 
more  nutritious. 
All  this  is  simple 
enough,  and  well 
worth  the  trouble, 
which  is  not  much, 
after  all.  Put  the 
meal  in  a  tub,  and 
pour  enough  boiling 
water  on  it  to  soak 
the  whole  of  it,  and 
cover  the  tub  with 
a  thick  rug,  or  a  close-fitting  cover  of  some  sort, 
and  leave  it  alone  till  the  food   is  wanted. 

It  is  seldom  worth  while  to  try  to  rear  more 
young  pigs  than  the  sow  has  teats  for,  and  it 
happens  sometimes  that  she  will  have  one  or  two 
more ;  in  these  cases  the  weakest  go  to  the  wall, 
and  it  is  better  to  kill  one  or  two  of  them  at  the 
onset,  or  else  rear  them  by  hand.  There  are, 
however,  patented  contrivances,  consisting  of  a 
vessel  from  whose  side  india-ruLber  teats  project, 
by  means  of  which  it  is  not  very  difficult  to  rear 
j'oung  pigs  without  any  help  from  the  mother;  the 
food  is  placed  in  the  vessel,  and  the  pigs  suck  from 
the  teats,  after  a  little  w^hile,  almost  as  freely  as 
from    the   sow's    teats.       Lambs  and   calves,  and 


Fig.  376. 
Pig  Troughs. 


T>-A 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


even  i)uppies,  may  also  be  reared  in  this  way.  In 
the  section  on  Rearing  of  Calves,  at  page  61,  we 
have  given  an  illustration  of  Tucker's  feeding-pail ; 


llluN   PlliGEEV. 

the  artificial  mothers  for  young  pigs  are  different 
in  form,  but  the  same  in  principle.  They  are,  of 
course,  only  necessary  for  about  three  weeks,  at  the 
end  of  which  time  the  pigs  will  be  able  to  eat  their 
milk,  thickened  with  a  little  cooked  corn,  from  an 
open  trough.  From  the  real  mother  they  will 
continue  to  suck  for  some  time  after  they  are  able 
to  eat  from  a  trough,  and  the  trough  for  them 
should  be  placed  inside  a  partition,  through  which 
they  have  access  to  and  fro,  while  the  sow  is  kept 
to  her  own  part  of  the  stye.  A  circular  trough,  as 
in  Fig.  37-1,  is  very  suitable  for  young  pigs;  or  it 
may  be  a  straight  one,  similarly  divided  into 
intervals  by  iron  rods,  as  in  Figs.  375  and  376. 
These  troughs  are  of 
cast-iron,  and  are  made 
in  different  sizes,  suitable 
for  young  or  old  pigs, 
and  for  few  or  many. 

Very  neat  piggeries, 
consisting  to  a  great 
extent  of  iron,  are  made 
by  the  ISt.  Pancras  Iron- 
work Company.  In  Fig. 
377  is  seen  a  pair  of 
them,  suitable  for  fatten- 
ing pigs,  for  sows  with 
litters,    or   for   stores   of 

any  kind.  It  will  be  noticed  that  the  feeding- 
troughs  are  fitted  with  flaps,  which,  suspended 
from  above  over  the  centre  of  the  trough,  fasten 
to  either  side  of  it;  this  arrangement  is  very 
useful  when  the  food  is  being  poured  into  the 
trough,  for  the  pigs  can  be  kept  out  of  it  the  while. 


and  there  is  no  risk  of  spilling  the  food.  The 
floors  are  of  grooved  bricks,  non-absorbent,  which 
carry  off  all  wet  and  prevent  slipping.  The  yards 
may  have  a  light  roof 
thrown  over  them  if  it 
is  desired,  as  seen  in 
lig.  378,  and  the  whole 
.--tructure  is  strong,  light, 
rigid,  and  easily  taken 
td  pieces  for  removal. 

At  the  Hartington 
(;!heese-factory,  in  Derby- 
shire, is  a  very  useful  set 
of  piggeries,  well  suited 
to  lai'ge  establishments. 
There  is  a  row  of  them, 
twelve  or  fifteen  in 
number,  and  similar  in  form  to  those  seen  in 
Fig.  377,  except  that  the  communication  from 
yard  to  yard  in  each  case  is  close  to  the  door- 
way under  the  shedded  roof,  and  the  door  fits 
both  openings,  so  that  the  -pigs  can  be  confined 
under  the  roofs  and  all  the  yards  thrown  open  to 
each  other,  or,  when  the  pigs  have  access  to  the 
sheds  and  yards  both,  the  yards  are  closed  each  one 
from  the  other.  The  pigs  of  any  particular  pen 
can  be  got  out  in  this  manner  by  simply  confining 
the  intervening  ones  in  their  sheds  for  the  time 
being.  But  the  method  of  distributing  the  food 
to  the  troughs  of  each  yard  separately  is  what  is 
chiefly  remarkable.      An  iron  pipe,  some  four  or 


i:i;v  WITH  L'i>v£i;i;d 


five  inches  in  diameter  inside,  runs  the  whole 
length  of  the  sheds,  along  the  front  of  the  wall 
outside,  and  a  little  higher  than  the  troughs  inside; 
an  endless  chain  runs  down  the  inside  and  up  the 
outside  of  the  pipe,  and  is  worked  by  a  windlass;  a 
sponge  or  mop  is  on  the  chain,  fastened  to  it  in  a 


FATTEXIXG    PIGS. 


555 


given  place,  and  going  down  the  inside  of  the  pipe; 
from  the  upper  side  of  the  pipe  is  a  branch-pipe 
leading  to  each  trough,  and  by  stopping  the  sponge 
each  time  just  beyond  the  branch-pipe,  the  food  is 
made  to  flow  into  the  troughs,  each  in  its  turn,  so 
that  a  man  can  feed  all  the  pigs  by  simply  turning 
the  windlass.  At  the  upper  end  of  the  pipe  is  a 
tub  containing  the  whey,  which  runs  down  the 
pijie  freely  till  it  comes  to  the  sponge,  when  it  is 
diverted  into  the  trough.  When  the  feeding  is 
about  to  commence,  all  the  pigs  are  shut  up  in  the 
sheds,  and  the  corn  is  distributed  in  the  troughs  by 
the  attendant,  who  afterwards  fills  the  troughs 
with  whey  in  the  manner  described,  and  when  all 
are  full  the  pigs  are  let  out  of  the  sheds  into  the 
yards.  It  is  a  labour-saving  plan,  very  effective 
and  very  simple,  and  the  credit  of  the  invention  is 
due  to  Mr.  Naden,  a  member  of  the  committee. 

In  the  fattening  of  pigs  the  kind  of  food  to  be 
used  is  a  matter  of  importance.  Whilst  a  pig  is 
growing  up  to  the  size  at  which  we  should 
commence  to  fatten  him,  it  is  advisable  to  give 
him  nitrogenous  food  in  order  to  develop  frame 
and  muscle ;  but  when  we  come  to  fatten  him,  he 
must  have  food  that  is  rich  in  fatty  matters  and 
starch.  In  the  former  case,  beans,  peas,  and 
lentils  would  be  very  suitable,  in  conjunction  with 
roots;  in  the  latter,  palm-nut,  maize,  barley,  and 
rice  meals  would  be  well  adapted.  If  the  pigs  are 
growing,  it  is  desirable  to  keep  up  the  condition 
they  had  when  weaned,  and  to  this  end  a  mixture 
of  the  two  kinds  of  food  may  be  used  with 
advantage.  There  is  plenty  of  choice,  and  the 
farmer  will  be  guided  in  a  great  measure  by 
market  values  of  different  kinds  of  food;  but  in 
any  case  a  mixture  will  be  found  to  answer  quite 
as  well  as,  if  not  better  than,  any  single  kind. 
Many  pig-feeders  recommend  that  the  food  should 
be  sour  when  fed  to  the  pigs,  and  it  is  true  that 
they  feed  well  on  food  in  this  condition.  Acidity 
is  easily  brought  on  by  boiling  or  steaming  the 
food,  and  letting  it  stand  for  some  time  before 
using  it,  stirring  it  occasionally.  In  this  way 
potatoes,  turnips,  or  cabbage  may  be  boiled  and  then 
have  a  quantity  of  corn  stirred  among  them,  and 
left  for  a  few  days  or  a  week;  the  corn  would  receive 
the  cooking  and  softening  which  aid  in  its  diges- 
tion, and  it  is  probably  true  that  acidity  keeps  the 
jjigs'  digestive  organs  in  good  tone.  If  roots  are 
pulped  and  the  corn  mixed  with  them,  and  the 
mass  allowed  to  lie  for  a  few  days,  the  fermenta- 
73 


tion  that  sets  in  answers  the  purpose  of  cooking 
the  food,  but  is  longer  over  it. 

The  less  exercise  a  fattening  animal  takes  the 
quicker  it  will  fatten,  and  feeding  pigs  should  be 
confined  witliin  as  small  a  space  as  is  consistent 
with  health  and  comfort.  The  only  pigs  that 
ought  to  have  exercise  ad  lib.  are  boars  and  breed- 
ing sows,  and  the  young  ones  that  are  intended  for 
these  purposes.  Confinement  is  against  nature, 
and  not  conducive  to  health;  but  then  obesity  is 
a  form  of  disease  or  degeneration  of  the  system, 
and  in  the  fattening  of  pigs  there  must  be  agree- 
ment between  cause  and  effect;  in  addition  to 
which,  it  is  well  to  complete  the  process  in  the 
shortest  possible  time.  The  floors  on  which  fatten- 
ing pigs  lie  should  be  dry  and  clean,  and  the  styes 
should  be  warm,  though  well  ventilated.  We 
think  pigs  are  better  without  straw  or  other  litter 
to  lie  on,  particularly  if  they  lie  on  boards.  They 
always  keep  a  clean  corner  to  lie  in  when  they 
have  no  litter,  and  if  the  corner  is  boarded  they 
crowd  on  it  close  together,  and  are  dry,  clean,  and 
comfortable,  keeping  each  other  w-arm ;  but  when 
they  have  litter,  they  are  kept  clean  and  dry  only 
by  a  plentiful  and  frequent  supply  of  it.  The 
atmosphere  of  the  place  is  certainly  sweeter  with- 
out the  litter,  for  when  straw  becomes  wet  a  slow- 
ferment  sets  in  and  nauseous  odours  are  evolved ; 
in  winter  the  litter  may  be  useful  to  help  in  keep- 
ing the  pigs  warm,  but  in  summer  they  are  better 
without  it,  and  in  any  case  it  only  keeps  warm  the 
side  they  happen  to  lie  on,  which  is  always  warm 
when  the  spot  they  lie  on  is  dry  and  clean. 

Fattening  pigs  grow  all  the  faster  if  they  are 
washed  once  or  twice  a  week,  and  scrubbed  with  a 
brush  each  time,  and  they  quickly  learn  to  like  it. 
This  plan  keeps  the  skin  clean  and  its  pores  open, 
and  lice  cannot  prosper.  Some  persons  recommend 
that  they  should  be  ''  well  groomed  with  brush 
and  linseed  oil,''  which  will  cleanse  the  skin  and 
kill  the  lice;  but  we  prefer  washing  with  water 
rather  than  the  oil,  because  it  is  cleaner  and 
cheaper.  Though  commonly  dirty  when  left  to 
his  own  resources,  a  pig  really  likes  to  be  clean, 
but  he  does  not  know  hnnself  how  to  set  about  it ; 
and  as  the  leading  objects  of  pig-existence  are  to 
eat,  sleep,  and  grow  fat,  cleanliness  and  wai'mth 
are  means  to  an  end. 

For  some  time  to  come  it  will  be  found 
necessary  to  put  rings  in  pigs'  noses  to  stop  their 
rooting.      All   store    pigs   should   have  plenty  of 


556 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


exercise,  and  sliould  go  out  in  llie  fields  to  eat 
grass,  of  which  they  are  very  fond,  and  which  is 
good  food  for  them,  especially  clover ;  in  Cali- 
fornia it  is  a  not  uncommon  practice  to  grow 
large  plots  of  alfalfa,  or,  as  we  term  it,  lucerne, 
purposely  for  pigs  to  pasture  on,  and  they 
even  use  it  for  pig-food  in  winter,  as  we  use 
clover-hay  for  cattle.  But  pigs  cannot  be  allowed 
to  go  out  to  grass  without  the  nose-rings  on,  or 
they  will  soon  make  a  terrible  mess  of  the  land. 
An  effectual  method  of  ringing  pigs  is  seen  in 
Figs.  37!),  380,  381,  and  3S2.  Fig.  379  shows 
the  pincers  and  nng  when  the  latter  is  about 
to  be  inserted  in  the  snout  of  the  pig ;  the  sharp 


points  are  easily  pushed  upwards,  and  when 
through,  the  ring  is  quickly  doubled  by  closing 
the  pincers.  In  Figs.  380  and  381  the  ring  is 
seen  in  both  its  open  and  closed  form.  In  Fig. 
382  is  seen  a  pig-holder,  which  is  simply  slipped 
over  the  snout,  enclosing,  as  will  be  observed, 
both  the  upper  and  the  under  jaws ;  the  pig  is 
easily  held  in  this  way  by  the  left  hand,  whilst 
the  ring  is  inserted  by  the  right.  The  holder  is  a 
capital  thing  whatever  sort  of  rings  may  be 
employed ;  it  should  be  made  of  stout  iron,  and 
the  form  seen  in  the  engraving  should  be  preserved, 
so  that  it  may  slip  easily  over  tlip  nose,  and  be  out 
of  the  \v;iy  when  the  ring  is  inserted. 


GOATS. 

By  the  efforts  of  the  Baroness  Burdett-Coutta 
and  others,  goat-keeping  has  recently  received  a 
considerable  impetus  in  England.  But  although 
this  is  a  suliject  for  congratulation,  when  we  are 
pointed  to  the  herds  of  goats  upon  the  Continent 
as  an  example,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  cir- 
cumstances are  altogether  different.  Where  there 
are  large  expanses  of  coarse  and  scanty  herbage 
in  mountainous  districts,  while  flesh-meat  is  far 
less  in  demand  than  milk  and  its  products,  the 
goat  may  thrive  and  pay  better  than  any  other 
animal.  But  in  a  cultivated  country  highly  farmed, 
it  cannot  possibly  compete  with  the  milch-cow, 
which  can  be  fattened  and  sold  to  the  butcher  when 
she  ceases  to  be  profitable  at  the  pail.  To  be  brief, 
the  quality  of  the  flesh  is  an  insuperaljle  obstacle 
to  the  goat  ever  taking  a  place  in  England  as 
regular  dairy-stock,  while  its  destructive  propen- 
sities are  another  very  serious  objection.  The  male 
kids  must  be  eaten  very  young,  or  are  uneatable  at 
all ;  and  the  flesh  of  the  female  when  past  milking 
is  practically  of  no  value. 

Nevertheless  it  is  possible  that  in  some  cases  a 
few  goats  might  be  a  profitable  investment,  apart 
from  the  mere  cottager  and  villa  resident,  to  whom 
the  goat  would  often  be  a  great  help,  but 
with  whom  we  are  not  here  concerned.  "Whenever 
goats'  milk  is  wanted,  about  half-a-crown  per  quart 
has  generally  to  be  paid  for  it ;  and  as  it  is  becom- 
ing more  valued  than  formerly,  there  is  a  possible 
I^rofit  here.  We  do  not  of  course  mean  that  any 
one  could  in  the  least  dejjend  on  selling  milk  at 
that  price;  if  it  were  so  the  ease  would  be  clear 
enough.  But  where  there  is  likely  to  be  anydemand, 
inquiry  might  be  worth  while ;  and  it  is  needless 
to  say  that  a  far  less  price  would  yield  very  great 
profit.  Again,  while  goats'  milk  makes  bad  butter, 
it  makes  excellent  cheese  ;  and  it  is  just  possible 
that  it  might  answer  to  attempt  imitation  of  the 
Roquefort  and  some  other  of  the  choicest  kinds, 
which,  it  is  well  known,  are  made  in  part  from 
goats'  milk. 

Goats  differ  as  much  in  their  milking  powers  as 
cows,  if  not  more,  and  this  must  be  kept  especially 
in  view  in  selecting  any  of  such  stock.  A  foreign 
Nubian  variety  is  found  to  be  much  the  best  milker, 
and  its  crosses  are  also  good  at  the  pail,  giving 
occasionally  as  much  as  four  quarts  jht  day.  But 
whether  such  stock  can  be  procured  or  not,  such 
care  as  is  posf;il)le  should   lie  taken  to  -secure   satis- 


GOATS    AND    POTTLTRY. 


factory  aninials.  They  should  nut  he  iillnwcd  to 
breed  until  a  year  and  a  half  old,  or  hoth  de- 
fi^'eneracy  and  early  loss  of  milking'  power  are  apt 
to  result.  The  natural  breeding  season  is  in  the 
autumn,  when  the  kids  will  be  dropped  in  spring  ; 
but  there  is  also  a  secondary  spring-  season.  The 
period  of  beat  in  spring  is  not,  however,  so  long  or 
so  well  marked  as  in  autumn,  and  has  to  be  watched 
for  carefully  if  it  is  to  be  utilised ;  which  is  advis- 
able for  a  portion,  in  order  that  they  may  bo  in  full 
milk  through  the  winter.  The  kids  are  often 
allowed  to  suck  several  weeks ;  but  it  is  better  to 
take  them  away  very  soon,  as  with  calves,  and 
bring  them  on  as  soon  as  possible  to  skim-milk, 
meal,  and  other  food.  Long-haired  animals  are  to 
be  avoided  for  mileli  stock,  almost  as  a  general 
rule. 

Little  need  be  said  as  to  the  general  manage- 
ment of  goats.  They  will  do  upon  very  coarse 
food,  if  there  is  enough  of  it ;  but  unless  the  fences 
are  very  good,  and  there  are  no  trees  in  the  enclosure, 
must  always  be  tethered  to  prevent  their  doing 
damage.  Otherwise  they  may  be  fed  and  treated 
very  much  as  other  stock,  giving  as  far  as  milk 
goes  quite  as  much  return  for  it — ^varyiug  with 
good  animals  from  three  pints  to  over  four  quarts 
daily.  They  must,  however,  never  be  tethered  out 
permanently  in  the  open,  as  they  do  not  stand  rain 
well.  Li  a  stable  with  the  run  of  a  yard  they  will 
thrive  capitally  ;  and  it  is  very  rarely  the  milk  has 
any  hirsine  tlavour :  if  it  has,  the  breed  had  better 
be  changed. 

POULTRY. 

In  1855  the  eggs  imported  into  England  from 
France  were  only  worth  about  a  quarter  of  a  million 
sterling  ;  in  a  quarter  of  a  century  they  have  reached 
the  value  of  about  two  millions — multijslied  nearly 
eight-fold.  In  considering  this,  it  must  also  be 
remembered  that  the  French  eat  themselves  many 
times  the  average  number  of  eggs  we  do,  as  is  the 
case  in  all  Roman  Catholic  countries.  It  is  at 
least  certain  that  Paris  alone  consumes  eggs  valued 
at  a  million  and  a  half  sterling  every  year,  and 
some  one  has  calculated — we  do  not  know  how— 
that  every  Frenchman  on  an  average  eats  about 
160  eggs  per  annum.  It  is  not  wonderful  that 
such  facts  as  these  have  aroused  much  attention, 
and  that  in  the  recent  long  agricultural  depression 
wistful  eyes  have  been  turned  by  English  farmers 
towards  the  two  millions  annually  sent  out  of  the 


country  for  produce,  .some  of  which  at  least  might 
be  produceil  at  home.  We  say  some  of  it,  because 
we  have  great  doubts  whether  England  can  ever 
equal  France  in  this  branch  of  production.  Our 
climate  is  not  nearly  as  good  for  fowls  ;  and  poultry 
is  especially  a  small-farm  production.  The  fowls 
cannot  be  attended  to  wholesale,  like  sheep — and 
there  comes  the  ditRculty. 

There  is  profit,  however,  as  many  farmers  have 
foimdjin  fowls  and  eggs;  and  this  kind  of  produce 
is  sold  by  so  nearly  the  same  machinery  as  disposes 
of  the  proper  products  of  the  dairy,  that  a  few 
words  at  least  should  be  added  on  the  methods  by 
which  that  profit  may  be  gathered,  in  tins  short 
chapter,  on  secondary  or  subsidiary  stock. 

The  first  thing  to  attend  to,  as  in  the  dairy 
proper,  is  breeding,  or  what  is  equivalent  to  it.  We 
have  here  in  view  no  "  fancy  "  procedure  whatever, 
though  the  poultry-fanciers  have  produced,  or  at 
least  preserved  and  developed,  breeds  it  is  a  real 
misfortune  farmers  know  so  little  of.  But  many 
farmers  never  even  see  that  their  stock  is  young, 
whereas  no  hen  pays  as  a  layer  after  she  is  two-and- 
a-half  years  old,  except  in  a  few  cases.  We  knew 
a  case  where  a  farmer  consulted  a  poultry -breeder 
about  his  fowls,  which  "  ate  their  heads  off."  The 
breeder  found  many  birds  years  old,  and  tbe  first  step 
was  a  general  slaughter,  after  which  young  fowls 
were  introduced.  This  one  step  alone  altered  the 
balance-sheet  to  the  tune  of  £30.  Again,  hens 
vary  in  laying  powers,  even  in  the  same  breed, 
just  as  cows  do  in  their  yield  of  milk;  and  further 
still,  the  progeny  of  the  best  layers  also  make  the 
best  layers,  in  the  same  way.  A  dairyman  who 
cares  about  his  poultry  will  therefore  take  some 
pains  to  ascertain  his  best  birds,  and  set  eggs  from 
them  only ;  by  which  simjjle  procedure  he  can  soon 
gather  a  strain  which  will  lay  110  to  150  eggs  per 
year.  It  is  needless  to  point  out  what  a  revolution 
such  laying  would  work  in  the  egg-return,  on  some 
farms. 

If  eggs  alone  are  wanted,  it  will  be  best  to 
keep  only  non-sitting  breeds,  of  which  Minoreas  or 
Andalusians,  Leghorns,  Houdans,  or  Hamburghs 
will  do  well  on  the  farm.  If  necessary  the  eggs  may 
be  hatched  in  incubators,  which  have  now  been 
much  improved,  and  answer  well  in  clever  hands  ; 
or  a  few  may  also  be  kept  of  some  sitting  breed. 
If  table-fowls  are  important,  then  the  old  English 
Dorkings,  or  Houdans,  or  a  Brahma-Dorking  cross 
may  be  tried.    Pure-bred  fowls  useless  for  showing 


558 


DAIRi'    FARMING. 


can  now  l)e  easily  ohtainwl  at  a  Ikw  jii-ii'c ;  and 
after  all  ii?  said  ag'ainst  "  fancy  "  birds,  as  a  rule 
they  will  pay  better,  selected  with  intelligence, 
than  average  farm  mongrels.  But  any  decently  fine 
farm  stock  can  be  greatly  improved  by  jwrchasing 
every  year  merely  one  or  two  young  cocks  of  the 
breed  selected.  Thus,  if  the  cocks  are  Minorcas, 
the  farm  stock  will  gradually  be  converted  into 
hardy  black  fowls  which  seldom  or  never  sit,  near 
the  Minorca  type  ;  while  if  Dorkings  be  used,  there 
will  soon  be  a  splendid  race  of  fine  table-fowls. 
Often,  when  there  is  any  one  on  the  farm  who  cares 
about  it,  it  will  be  best  to  make  up  every  year  a 
special  breeding  lot  of  the  finest  Ijirds.  No  farmer 
would  expect  to  make  his  other  live-stock  pay 
unless  he  saw  to  such  things ;  and  he  cannot 
expect  fowls  to  pay  either,  unless  he  will  give  the 
same  ordinary  thought  and  care  to  them. 

The  next  most  important  thing  is,  that  the 
eggs  laid  be  "  realised."  In  a  case  we  shall 
never  forget,  in  which  we  were  consulted  about 
an  absence  of  eggs  which  seemed  mysterious, 
our  final  advice  was  to  put  a  lock  on  the  fowl- 
house,  and  keep  the  key.  There  was  an  ample 
supply  at  once !  and  it  was  plain  the  eggs  had 
been  sold.  This  was  in  a  suburban  garden;  but 
it  is  almost  needless  to  remark  how,  on  m;.n\' 
farms,  half  the  eggs  laid  never  reach  the  owner. 
They  are  not  often  sold,  probably  :  but  one  farm 
hand  and  another  takes  home  one  now  and  then, 
and  the  final  result  is  again  unsatisfactory.  But 
this  is  not  the  fault  of  the  fowls.  And  such 
petty  pilfering  is  far  less  likely  to  take  place, 
if  it  is  evident  the  owner  really  cares  about  his 
fowls,  than  if  they  seem  left  to  care  for  themselves, 
with  no  one  to  think  "particularly  about  them. 
As  to  poultry  "not  paying"  on  many  farms, 
what  would  pay  treated  as  they  are  ?  But  we 
have  never  known  a  farmer  yet,  with  a  carefully- 
selected  stock,  and  who  did  care  for  them  in 
the  points  we  have  mentioned,  who  did  not  con- 
sider he  made  at  least  some  money  by  them. 

The  management  of  poultry  in  detail  must 
be  sought  in  some  one  of  the  many  excellent 
works  on  the  subject ;  but  one  or  two  other 
points  need  mentioning.  To  get  a  constant  supply 
of  eggs,  a  number  of  early  pullets  must  be 
hatched  for  winter  laying;  and  a  further  number 


hrttched  in  -May  or  June,  which  will  not  lay  in 
winter,  but  come  on  later  when  the  others  have 
exhausted  themselves.  A  lot  of  March  pullets 
will  always  give  winter  eggs  if  well  reared ; 
but  they  must  have  really  good  meal  and  grain 
frequently,  and  not  be  left,  as  we  have  seen 
on  many  farms,  with  a  saucer  of  sour  bread-sops 
to  last  half  a  day.  For  table-fowls  also,  chickens 
available  from  Christmas  to  .spring  ai-e  most  re- 
munerative. In  some  localities  young  ducklings 
pay  best  of  all.  But  in  any  case,  some  thought 
should  be  taken  so  to  arrange  the  breeding  as 
to  benefit  by  the  highest  prices  of  the  year. 

In  the  case  of  fowls,  again,  this  depends 
immensely  upon  proper  (hexsiuf/,  which  appears 
unaccountably  neglected  by  I'^nglish  farmers, 
while  it  is  brought  to  perfection,  like  packing 
butter,  by  the  French.  We  have  known  similar 
fowls  in  all  respects,  sent  up  to  London,  realise 
respectively  3s.  6d.  and  6s.  per  couple,  the  nice 
preparation  (which  really  cost  no  more)  making 
the  difference.  This  is  at  the  bottom  of  a  good 
deal  of  the  uncertain  "  returns "  some  farmers 
have  complained  about :  if  they  always  sent  up 
their  birds  artistically  dressed,  there  would  often 
be  a  different  tale. 

If  a  lot  of  fowls  are  housed  next  a  green 
crop,  with  no  other  green  food  neai",  they  will 
often  eat  it  bare.  What  else  could  be  expected  ? 
They  prefer  grass,  however;  and  if  a  strip  of 
turf,  or  a  bank,  is  within  nearer  reach,  that 
will  take  the  brunt  of  the  attack  and  save  the 
rest.  Newly-sown  seeds,  again,  occasionally  want 
guarding  for  a  week  or  two;  but  if  this  is  not 
grudged  to  birds,  which  return  nothing,  it  ought 
not  to  be  grudged  to  fowls,  which  do.  ^lany 
must  not  be  allowed,  again,  upon  grazing  pastures, 
though  a  few  do  not  matter.  The  manure  in  the 
hen-houses  is  very  valuable ;  and  when  mixed  with 
twice  its  bulk  of  dry  earth,  ashes,  or  soot,  is  good 
for  almost  anything. 

Poultry  are  perhaps  best  adapted,  as  a  rule,  for 
small  occupations,  where  they  can  have  a  larger 
share  of  attention  and  get  better  looked  after. 
But  whenever  they  are  selected  with  judgment,  bred 
well,  fed  well,  and  properly  looked  after  in  other 
respects,  they  will  pay  the  farmer,  and  work  in 
well  with  the  other  practices  of  a  dairy-farm. 


5"jH 


CHAPTER     XXXVII. 

The    Commekck   of  the   Daiuy. 

OM-fftsliinned  rheese-Fairs-Fictitious  Prices  and  their  Results -The  System  of  Consigiiment-Advances-Prejudices -Hart 
Business  Habits  of  Farmers— The  Butter  Trade. 


'HE  great  bulk  of  English 
'  cheese  and  butter  is  still 
sold  after  the  manner  of 
past  generations,  with  little 
or  no  improvement  of  the 
kind  we  see  in  most  other 
branches  of  agricultural 
The  cheese  fairs  of 
ns  a  rule,  are  still  held 
where  they  have  been  held  for 
generations :  in  a  wide  street  of  the 
thief  market  towns.  To  some  of 
the  larger  fairs — as  that  of  Derby,  for  instance 
— farmers  in  some  cases  take  their  cheese  long 
distances,  say  twenty  or  thirty  miles,  carting  it  all 
the  way.  The  loaded  carts  are  started  from  home 
on  the  day  before  the  fair,  some  of  them  reach- 
ing the  town  the  same  night,  others  stopping  a 
few  miles  short  of  it ;  others,  again,  that  have  not 
so  far  to  go,  leave  home  in  the  small  hours  of  the 
morning,  and  streams  of  carts  are  seen  pouring 
into  the  streets  as  the  night  gives  way  to  dawn. 
The  carts  and  waggons  are  ranged  up  each  side  of 
a  street  that  is  wide  enough  for  the  purpose,  back- 
ing to  the  pavement  on  either  side,  and  the  shafts 
pointing  across  the  street ;  horses  that  have 
travelled  some  distance  with  the  loads  are  some- 
times taken  to  where  they  can  be  fed  and  groomed, 
leaving  the  carts  behind,  while  others  are  fed 
where  they  stand  in  the  streets. 

If  the  trade  is  dull  there  is  plenty  of  time  to 
feed  the  horses.  The  buyers  stand  here  and  there 
in  knots,  with  a  tantalising  air  of  unconcern  in  the 
business  of  the  day,  while  the  sellers  wait  and 
chat  together  with  ill-concealed  anxiety ;  the 
buyers'    policy    is    that    of   masterly  inaction,  the 


sellers'  that  of  patient  vigilance;  the  buj-ers  some- 
times saunter  carelessly  off  to  breakfast,  and  the 
sellers  in  no  good  spirits  do  the  same ;  they  return, 
and  the  armistice  continues  until  a  fresh  batch  of 
buyers  comes  in  by  train,  or  the  letters  or  tele- 
grams arrive,  or  some  not  yet  determined  wave  of 
impulse  starts  the  trade.  But  when  the  trade  is 
brisk,  when  the  demand  equals  the  supply,  and 
when  prices  are  high,  the  bulk  of  the  business  is 
over  before  the  townsfolk  awake,  and  long  strings 
of  carts  waiting  their  turn  at  the  warehouses  are 
seen  when  the  blinds  are  pulled  aside. 

The  fluctuations  in  a  cheese  fair  are  sometimes 
remarkable ;  the  trade  may  start  briskly  and  come 
to  a  sudden  stop,  or  it  may  not  start  at  all  for 
several  hours,  and  then  go  like  wildfire ;  sellers 
sometimes  refuse  prices  in  the  morning  which  they 
would  only  be  too  happy  to  get,  but  cannot,  in 
the  afternoon ;  at  other  times  they  offer  their 
cheese  at  a  given  price  to  start  with,  and  make 
several  shillings  more  at  a  later  hour ;  some  bring 
their  cheese  home  again,  and  sell  it  next  fair  at 
less  money — or  at  more,  as  the  ease  may  be. 
Much  depends  on  meeting  with  a  customer  who 
wants  your  particular  line  of  goods ;  if  you  miss 
him,  he  buys  elsewhere  and  wants  no  more.  There 
is  an  art  in  selling  cheese ;  one  man  will  make  a 
good  price  early,  and  another  cannot  get  a  bid  in 
the  day  for  the  same  quality  of  goods  ;  so  much 
depends  on  knowing  your  men  and  how  to  use 
them.  But  the  dealers  have  two  marked  advan- 
tages over  the  farmers  :  they  are  constantly  in  the 
trade,  and  know  the  tone  of  it  to  a  nicety,  which 
farmers  seldom  do,  and  there  is  a  sort  of  com- 
mercial freemasonry  among  them,  which  we  never 
find    among    farmers ;    if    the    trade    is    dull,    the 


560 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


dealers  combine  to  make  it  duller,  and  the  farmers 
never  do  to  make  it  brighter ;  if  the  markets  are 
up,  the  dealers  agree  to  hide  the  symptoms,  and 
the  farmers  find  them  out  too  late. 

But  many  farmers  sell  their  cheese  at  hunie  to 
a  regular  customer,  and  some  of  them  have  a  queer 
way  of  doing  their  business.  It  is  quite  natural 
that  a  farmer  should  like  to  talk  to  his  neighbours 
about  the  price  he  has  made  of  his  cheese — if  he 
has  made  a  good  price,  but  not  without;  and  it 
has  been  some  men's  practice  to  make  the  dealer  a 
present  of  a  five  or  a  ten  pound  note  providing  he 
gives  a  certain  figure  for  the  cheese.  They  talk 
then  to  their  neighbours,  and  the  latter,  thinking 
their  cheese  is  worth  the  same,  will  take  no  less, 
and  so  miss  a  chance  which  they  may  never  have 
again.  Some  years  ago  we  went  a  round  among 
the  farmers  with  a  Manchester  cheese  merchant; 
one  of  the  farmers  whose  cheese  he  bought 
threw  into  the  bargain  three  handsome  store  pigs> 
on  condition  that  the  price  of  the  cheese  was  so 
much — a  shilling  or  two  more  than  the  merchant 
had  intended  to  give.  Now,  this  sort  of  thing 
does  a  lot  of  mischief  at  times,  and  at  best  it 
is  very  childish.  Somehow  or  other,  farmers  are 
fond  of  throwing  dust  in  each  other's  eyes,  and 
seldom  miss  a  chance  of  doing  so ;  and  the  middle- 
men chuckle  over  it,  and  reap  a  rich  harvest 
out  of  it.  We  are  glad  to  believe,  however, 
that  farmers  are  becoming  alive  to  the  folly 
of  divided  interests,  and  to  the  expediency  of 
bringing  producer  and  consumer  into  direct 
intercourse. 

Other  farmers,  again,  who  prefer  not  to  take 
their  cheese  to  a  fair,  send  it  in  to  the  factor  with- 
out a  price  having  been  agreed  uj^on — send  it  in,  in 
fact,  half  a  ton  or  a  ton  at  a  time  as  it  gets 
ready,  or  as  the  dealer  happens  to  want  it — draw 
money  on  account,  and  balance  up  once  a  year. 
This  is  a  free  and  easy  way  of  disposing  of  one's 
cheese,  but  as  a  rule  it  answers  fairly  well,  which, 
indeed,  is  the  condition  of  its  going  on.  The 
system,  however,  if  it  merits  the  name  of  system, 
is  satisfactory,  as  a  rule,  only  under  sjsecial 
circumstances :  the  farmer  himself  must  have  a 
taste  for  wearing  leading-strings;  the  dealer 
must  have  tact  enough  to  know  how  far  he 
may  go  with  safety;  and  the  cheese  must  be  of 
good  and  uniform  quality,  in  which  case  the 
dealer  can  always  place  it  to  advantage :  he  has, 
in  fact,  regular  customers  for  it,  and  have  it  he 


must.  The  system  answers  best  of  all  when  the 
cheese  is  consigned  in  this  way  to  a  cutter-up, 
without  the  help  of  a  wholesale  dealer ;  in  this 
case  the  shopkeeper  has  his  regular  customers 
who  like  the  cheese,  and  it  is  to  his  interest  to 
supply  them  with  it,  as  it  is  to  the  farmer's 
that  it  should  continue  to  give  satisfaction. 

In  recent  years  a  practice  has  grown  up  in 
some  places  for  farmers  to  consign  their  cheese 
to  some  firm  or  other  who  sell  it  on  commission, 
and  warehouses  have  been  started  to  carry  out 
the  system.  It  has  not,  as  yet,  become  very 
general,  nor  do  we  think  it  ever  will.  The  chief 
drawback  to  it  in  the  case  of  dealers  who  act  as 
commission  salesmen  is  this :  the  farmer  is  never 
certain  that  his  own  cheese  will  be  j)ushed  as  it 
ought  to  be  into  the  notice  of  the  best  customers 
the  salesman  has;  the  salesman,  in  fact,  having 
cheese  of  his  own  to  sell,  cheese  that  he  has 
bought  out  and  out,  will  naturally,  however 
strictly  honest  a  man  he  may  be,  wish  to  sell 
his  own  cheese  to  the  best  advantage,  and  it  is 
requiring  too  much  of  human  nature  to  expect 
him  to  push  commission  cheese  while  he  has 
similar  cheese  of  his  own  to  sell.  And,  again,  it  is 
not  by  any  means  impossible  that  the  commission 
cheese  should  be  employed  as  a  bait  to  push  off 
some  inferior  cheese  of  the  salesman's  own  at  a 
better  price  than  it  would  command  alone.  Further, 
it  is  unreasonable  to  expect  a  man  to  take  as 
much  pains  in  selling  commission  cheese  as  he 
would  in  selling  his  own,  even  though  he  sold 
them  independently  of  each  other ;  and  it  is 
straining  the  princijjle  and  instinct  of  honesty 
too  far  to  ex23ect  a  man  to  push  commission  cheese 
with  vigour  while  he  had  cheese  of  his  own  that 
wants  selling.  The  system,  no  doubt,  will  answer 
better  in  warehouses  in  which  there  is  no  other 
than  commission  cheese,  and  even  here  the  sales- 
man may  have  his  favourites  among  those  who 
send  it  in.  It  may  be  said  that  a  farmer  who  sends 
in  his  cheese  to  a  dealer  without  a  price,  and  a 
dealer  who  receives  the  cheese  on  those  terms, 
place  themselves  in  the  position  of  consigner  and 
consignee  in  a  commission  warehouse ;  but  there  is 
this  difference :  the  dealer  gives  no  account  to  the 
farmer  of  the  sale  of  the  cheese,  yet  it  is  to  his 
interest  to  sell  it  as  favourably  as  if  he  had  bought 
it  out  and  out,  so  that  he  may  be  in  a  position  to 
give  the  farmer  a  fair  price  for  it  and  keep  a 
good  profit  for  himself. 


COMMISSION    FACTORS. 


561 


The  commissioa  warehouses  will  do  well,  and 
be  a  great  boon  to  the  country,  providin<i;  strict 
fairness  between  consigners  is  observed  by  the 
salesmen.  No  men,  as  a  rule,  are  better  qualitied 
than  farmers  to  make  careful  bargains,  but  in 
cheese-selling  they  are  nearly  always  at  fault, 
through  not  knowing  the  exact  state  of  the  trade, 
and  it  follows  that  a  good  salesman  in  a  ware- 
house is  in  a  position  to  sell  ordinaiy  farmers' 
cheese  to  greater  advantage  than  they  can  sell  it 
themselves.  Yet  we  are  not  hard  and  fast  in  hive 
with  the  system  of  farmers  putting  the  sale  of 
their  produce  wholly  into  the  hands  of  other  men, 
and  we  should  like  to  see  cheese  exchanges  in 
every  county  town  in  the  dairying  districts,  where 
farmers  and  shojskeepers  could  meet  on  a  stated 
day  in  each  week  to  buy  and  sell  cheese  from 
sample,  as  wheat  is  sold.  We  think  this  system, 
which  answers  so  well  with  cereals,  would  be  a 
boon  to  the  consumers  as  well  as  the  producers  of 
dairy  goods.  It  may  be  objected  that  it  is  easy 
for  a  man  to  pick  out  a  cheese  or  two  that  do  not 
fairly  represent  the  bulk,  and  that  the  s3-stem  would 
lead  to  endless  disputes  ;  to  this  we  woiild  say, 
first,  that  it  is  easy  to  pick  out  a  sample  of  almost 
anything  that  does  not  represent  the  bulk,  and 
second,  that  if  a  man  were  to  once  become  known 
in  this  character,  it  would  be  far  more  to  his 
loss  than  any  picking  of  samples  could  be  to 
his  gain. 

Old-established  firms  of  cheese  factors  have 
long  had  a  hold  on  the  goodwill  of  a  large  propor- 
tion of  the  farmers  by  giving  them  advances  of 
money  on  the  unripe,  or  even  unmade,  cheese.  No 
doubt  it  is  a  temporary  relief  to  a  farmer  to  be  able 
to  get  an  advance  of  cash  when  he  wants  it,  but 
there  is  more  loss  than  gain  about  it,  for  he  loses 
the  control  of  his  cheese,  and  is  no  longer  in  a 
position  to  make  the  most  he  can  of  it;  so  the 
factor  gets  it  at  a  price  which  leaves  him  a  very 
substantial  profit :  he  must  be  paid  somehow  for 
his  cash  advances.  The  factory  system  of  cheese- 
making  is  calculated  to  relieve  the  farmer  from  the 
need  of  prejudicing  the  sale  of  his  cheese  in  order 
to  obtain  an  advance  of  cash;  it  is  one  of  the 
benevolent  functions  of  the  system  to  make 
advances  to  those  who  need  them,  free  from 
discount,  and  without  debiting  the  market  value  of 
the  cheese  :  aud,  indeed,  this  is  the  best  way  of 
lifting  farmers  above  the  need  of  borrowing  at  all. 
And  yet  many  of  them  will  prefer  to  borrow  at  a 


loss,  rather  than  that  any  neighbour  should  get  to 
know  how  they  stand  at  the  factory  ;  they  prefer 
to  get  it  from  a  factor  on  the  sly,  and  ])ay  dearly 
for  it,  than  from  an  association  for  nothing.  In 
this  there  is  a  good  deal  of  false  pride,  and,  as  Mr. 
H.  M.  Jenkins  has  well  said  : — "  It  is  better  for  a 
farmer  to  have  a  factory  for  his  bank  than  a  factor 
for  his  banker."  But  it  is  difficult  to  uproot  an 
iild  prejudice,  however  stupid  aud  injurious  it  may 
be ;  and  farmers  pay  dearly  for  the  jealousy  they 
only  too  commonly  cherish  against  each  other — a 
jealousy  we  should  much  like  to  see  the  end  of. 

If  there  has  been  but  little  change  in  the 
methods  of  selling  cheese  in  England,  there  has 
been  even  less  change  in  the  selling  of  butter.  It 
is  true  that  in  many  towns  market-halLs  have  been 
built,  and  that  butter  is  now  sold  in  them  where 
erstwhile  it  was  sold  in  the  open  market-place, 
yet  the  selling  itself  is  conducted  as  it  ever  was. 
But  there  are  still  important  market  towns  where 
the  butter  is  still  sold  out  in  the  open,  because  no 
hall  has  been  provided ;  the  wives  and  daughters 
of  the  smaller  farmers  trudge  long  distances  to  the 
market,  carrying  their  baskets  of  butter  and  eggs 
on  their  arms,  and  they  hold  them  sometimes 
almost  for  hours  in  their  hands,  just  resting  on  the 
thigh,  and  now  and  again  setting  them  down  on 
the  bare  stones  of  the  street.  In  some  eases  wooden 
benches  are  provided,  and  all  who  can  find  room 
make  use  of  them ;  but  we  have  often  seen,  aud 
still  do  see,  the  country  women  holding  their 
baskets  before  them,. with  no  support  provided,  and 
the  snowy  cloths  are  gently  thrown  aside,  disclos- 
ing a  sight  of  the  half-pounds  of  golden  butter 
neatly  arranged,  and  perhaps  a  dozen  or  two  of 
choice  eggs  in  a  corner  of  the  basket.  In  the 
market-halls — as  in  the  fine  hall  at  Derby,  for 
instance — are  long  rows  of  narrow  benches,  on  wliich 
the  baskets  of  butter  rest,  the  saleswomen  standing 
behind,  while  the  buyers  walk  in  front  of  the 
benches ;  aud  a  very  interesting  scene  it  is. 

We  do  not  know  that  the  mode  of  selling  needs 
altering  in  a  country  like  England,  where  local 
consumption  of  butter  in  very  many  places  equals 
the  supply,  but  market-halls  should  be  built 
wherever  they  are  needed,  for  it  is  no  pleasant 
thing,  on  a  cold  winter's  day,  or  in  drenching  rain, 
or  when  the  dust  is  blowing  about,  to  stand  out  in 
the  open  street,  and  on  a  hot  summer's  day  the 
butter  melts  in  the  sun.  In  the  northern  counties 
the  half-pounds  of  butter  are  usually  moulded  with 


56;J 


DAIRY    FAinilXG. 


a  special  device — a  cow,  a  thistle,  a  fox's  head,  or 
anything  we  like,  on  the  top ;  by  this  device  each 
jierson's  butter  is  commonly  known,  and  in  a  sense 
it  serves  the  purpose  of  a  trade-mark;  but  in  many 
parts  of  the  country  the  butter  is  made  up  into 
plain  pound  or  half-pound  rolls,  with  no  dis- 
tinguishing mark.  Some  persons  are  strong 
advocates  for  registered  trade-marks  for  butter,  one 
for  each  farm  separately.  We  think  this  system 
would  be  confusing  in  the  extreme,  except  in  cases 
where  large  farmers  make  all  their  milk  into 
butter ;  and,  really,  butter  needs  no  mark  but  that 
of  quality. 

The  chief  butter  market  in  Ireland  is  the  city 
of  Cork,  and  its  Butter  Exchange  is  said  to  be  the 
most  extensive  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  Four 
hundred  thousand  firkins  of  butter,  of  an  aggregate 
value  of  upwards  of  a  million  and  a  half  sterling, 
pass  annually  through  the  Exchange,  which  is 
governed  by  a  body  called  the  Committee  of 
Merchants,  who  frame  and  administer  rules  which 
make  the  exchange  a  close  one,  wholly  governed 
by  the  dealers.  The  main  object  of  these  rules  is 
to  uphold  what  is  styled  the  "  quality  brand," 
which  is  awarded  by  competent  inspectors  accord- 
ing to  an  understood  standard,  which  ranges  from 
superfine  to  third  quality  in  the  mild-cured  butters, 
and  from  first  quality  to  sixth  in  the  ordinary 
ones ;  the  firkins  are  "  scratch-marked "  as  the 
inspector  decides  on  the  quality  of  their  contents, 
and  are  next  weighed  and  marked  with  the  net 
tare  of  the  firkin ;  lastly,  they  are  branded  by  hot 
irons  with  the  gross  weiglit,  the  tare,  and  the 
standard  of  quality  which  has  been  accorded  to 
the  butter  inside.  Through  this  ponderous  process 
the  butter  passes  after  it  leaves  the  farmers'  hands 
until  it  is  finally  sold,  during  which  period  it  is 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  dealers,  the  farmere 
losing  at  one  and  the  same  time  the  possession  of 
the  butter  and  all  control  over  its  price  and  destina- 
tion. The  farmers,  in  fact,  make  the  butter  and 
send  it  to  market,  or  consign  it  to  a  dealer ;  and 
this  is  all  they  have  to  do  with  it,  except  to  receive 
the  money  for  it  afterwards. 

But  the  most  curious  feature  in  the  Cork 
Butter  Exchange  is  this :  at  eleven  o'clock  each 
day  a  board  of  merchants  are  specially  appointed 
to  fix  the  prices  at  which  the  different  qualities  of 
butter  shall  be  sold  to  the  shippers  and  others 
during  that  day ;  these  jirices  are  determined  on 
the  simple  bases  of  supply  and  demand,  according 


to  the  judgment  of  the  board,  and  no  butter  is 
sold  during  the  day  either  under  or  over  the  price 
which  has  been  placed  on  the  quality  or  class  to 
which  it  belongs ;  in  this  arrangement  of  qualities 
and  prices  the  farmers  have  no  voice,  and  they 
must  either  accept  both  decisions  or  take  the  butter 
away.  The  ojjtion  of  taking  it  away,  however,  as 
we  shall  proceed  to  explain,  is  denied  to  many  of 
the  farmers  whose  butter  passes  through  the  Cork 
Exchange. 

In  the  south  of  Ireland  exists  a  system  known  as 
"  butter  banking,"  the  origin  of  which  is  chiefly 
traceable  to  the  impecuniosity  of  the  small  farmers. 
At  the  period — now  many  years  ago — when 
the  production  of  butter  began  to  increase  and  its 
price  to  improve  in  the  country,  and  when  Cork 
began  to  rise  in  importance  as  a  butter  market, 
certain  dealers  had  almost  exclusive  control  over 
the  butter  of  certain  localities ;  their  commerce  lay 
in  these  districts,  and  they  had.  cultivated  the 
connection,  as  is  commonly  done,  so  that  other 
brokers  and  dealers  were  kept  out  and  confined  to 
other  localities,  where  in  turn  they  had  similar 
influence.  The  butter  industry  was  looking  up,  and 
farmers  were  anxious  to  produce  as  much  of  it  as 
possible,  in  order  to  which  the  cash  to  laj'  in  a  few 
cows  in  the  spring  time  of  the  year  was  an 
important  factor;  and  as  this  was  the  period  when 
one  half-yeai-'s  rent  was  due,  following  at  the  end 
of  the  comparatively  unproductive  winter  season, 
farmers  found  ready  relief  in  obtaining  from  the 
dealer  an  advance  of  cash,  which  was  to  be  repaid 
later  on  in  butter.  In  this  way  the  dealer  did  the 
farmer,  as  it  would  seem,  a  compound  service  :  he 
enabled  him  to  pay  his  rent  when  it  was  due,  to 
buy  a  dairy  cow  or  two,  and  to  hold  on  for  fatten- 
ing such  barren  cows  as  he  might  have  been 
milking  through  the  winter,  instead  of  sacrificing 
at  a  mere  store  price.  It  was  not  to  be  expected 
that  the  dealer  would  help  the  farmer  wthout 
helping  himself  at  the  same  time,  and  he  commonly 
stipulated  to  receive  the  season's  butter  at  a  price 
considerably  below  what  it  would  have  made  had 
the  farmer  retained  independent  control  over  it. 
No  doubt  the  farmer  saw  the  disparity,  and  strove 
to  balance  it  by  increased  production,  and  by 
freeing  himself  as  soon  as  he  could  from  the  need 
of  mortgaging  his  butter  in  the  future.  But  the 
dealers  encouraged  the  banking  sj'stem,  because  it 
gave  them  command  over  their  clients'  butter, 
though  they  too,  unless  they  were  large  capitalists, 


THE  BUTTER  TRADE  IN  IRELAND. 


3G3 


had  in  their  turn  to  horrow  from  their  bankers  a 
large  portion  of  what  they  advanced  to  the  farmers. 
The  system  is  still  common,  but  keen  competition 
among  buyers  has  diminished  the  profits  which 
were  obtainable  in  the  early  days  of  butter  bank- 
ing, benefiting  both  producer  and  consumer. 

A  curious  method  of  dealing  iu  butter  is 
carried  out  in  some  parts  of  Ireland.  Dealers 
attend  the  maidcets  in  the  smaller  towns,  where 
they  buy  butter  fresh  in  lumps  from  the  farmers, 
who  prefer  to  sell  it  weekly  rather  than  pack  it 
away  in  a  firkin  until  the  firkin  is  full.  These 
dealers  are  known  by  the  name  of  "  slashers,'' 
because  they  attend  the  markets  with  a  cart  on 
which  is  a  large  square  tub,  into  which  they 
slash  the  lumps  of  butter  they  buy.  They  take 
the  butter  home,  where  they  wash  it,  first  in  cold 
water,  to  complete  what  has  been  imperfectly  done 
by  the  farmer,  and  next  in  warm  water,  which 
enables  them  to  mix  up  the  different  qualities 
into  a  mass  of  one  uniform  texture,  colour,  and 
quality ;  it  is  then  salted,  put  into  firkins,  and  left 
to  harden  as  it  cools.  The  effect  of  this  manipula- 
tion is  to  do  away  with  the  granular  appearance 
which  good  butter  has  when  a  piece  of  it  is  torn 
asunder,  and  to  make  it  greasy  to  the  touch,  and 
of  third-rate  quality.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine 
a  more  grossly  improper  way  of  treating  so  delicate 
a  product  as  butter,  and  it  has  the  effect  of  mak- 
ing the  farmers  themselves  careless  about  pro- 
ducing an  article  of  more  than  third-rate  quality, 
for  however  good  they  may  make  it,  they  only 
receive  a  third-rate  price  for  it ;  consequently  they 
leave  as  much  buttermilk  in  it  as  they  can,  to 
increase  the  weight,  and  this  must  be  washed  out 
by  the  dealers  at  home.  Such  butter,  though 
wholesome  and  clean  when  the  dealers  sell  it  out 
again,  is  only  fit  for  cooking  uses,  or  for  sale 
among  the  lowest  oixlers  of  the  people,  and  the 
system  from  beginning  to  end  deserves  no  other 
than  unqualified  condemnation. 

Formerly  the  chief  markets  for  Cork  butter 
were  in  foreign  countries  and  our  own  colonies, 
and  the  butter  for  this  trade  required  to  be 
heavily  salted  to  preserve  it.  But  the  high 
prices  paid  for  butter  in  England  have  of  late 
years  diverted  the  trade  to  English  markets,  and 
now  little  or  no  Irish  butter  is  sent  to  the  colonies, 
and  very  little  to  foreign  countries.  The  foreign 
trade,  however,  the  little  of  it  that  remains,  is 
profitable  to  the  dealer  of  capital.  His  system  is 
74 


to  fill  his  stores  as  early  as  he  can  in  summer, 
when  prices  are  at  the  lowest,  and  as  autumn 
comes  on  he  begins  to  sell  out  his  summer  butter, 
filling  up  all  the  time  with  autumn  butter,  as  the 
buying  and  selling  prices  then  nearly  balance  each 
other,  and  winter  finds  him  with  a  large  store  of 
butter,  not  too  long  kept,  for  which  he  has  paid 
only  summer  prices,  but  which  he  sells  out  at 
winter  prices,  when  butter  is  scarce,  which  are 
some  20s.  per  cwt.  above  the  summer  ones,  and 
when  the  low  prices  of  spring  again  comes  round, 
his  stores  are  empty,  and  he  is  prepared  to  repeat 
the  process.  In  a  trade  of  this  kind,  however, 
there  is  the  risk  of  the  butter  turning  rancid  on  the 
dealer's  hands — a  point  he  watches  closely ;  yet  if 
the  butter  is  well-made  by  the  farmer,  the  butter- 
milk properly  got  out  of  it,  and  the  proper 
quantity  of  salt  well  got  into  it,  if  it  is  packed 
nicely  in  good  casks  and  stored  in  a  suitable 
temperature,  the  danger  of  its  "  going  off  "  is  very 
small. 

In  many  parts  of  Ireland  it  is  the  custom  of 
small  farmers  as  well  as  large  ones,  even  of  those 
who  milk  only  one  cow,  to  put  their  butter  in 
a  firkin.  It  will  be  easily  understood  that  the 
small  farmers  are  some  time  in  filling  a  firkin 
of  70  lbs.,  that  there  may  be  some  difference  of 
quality  between  the  layers  which  represent  each 
week's  churning,  and  that  the  first  layers  require 
heavy  salting  to  make  them  keep  througli  several 
weeks  in  the  heat  of  the  summer.  When  the 
cask  is  full,  Paddy,  or  his  wife,  or  the  two  of  them 
most  commonly,  jog  off  to  the  next  market  with 
the  cask  of  butter  in  a  donkey  cart ;  and  an  lyish 
butter  market  of  this  description  is  one  of  the 
quaintest  commercial  sights  in  the  British  Islands. 
But  the  system  is  bad,  the  butter  inferior,  and  the 
people  poor;  they  can  hardly  be  otherwise.  The 
butter  is  bought  by  small  dealers,  who  sell  it  to,  or 
by  local  agents  who  act  for  the  large  dealers,  and 
these  have  the  trouble,  which  a  better  system  of 
production  and  sale  would  avoid,  of  sorting  out  the 
different  qualities,  so  as  to  present  it  uniform  for 
sale  to  the  shippers.  Great  efforts  are  now  being 
made  to  induce  the  Irish  cottiers  to  improve  their 
methods,  but  the  task  is  one  which  will  require 
a  generation  or  two  to  complete;  and,  as  the 
matter  stands,  the  number  of  cottiers  is  so  great 
that  local  consumption  does  not  help  them  as 
it  does  the  small  farmers  in  England,  Scotland, 
and  Wales. 


GENERAL     INDEX. 


Abekdeenshihe  or  Polled  Asans  Cattle,  36 

Abortion,  or  slippinsr,  65 

Acid  in  cbeese-niaking,  210;  cheese  improved 
by,  210  ;  wlien  to  be  imparted,  210  ;  over-acidi- 
fied cheese,  211  :  will  not  ripen,  211;  lactic 
acid  counteracts  taint  in  milk.  211 ;  acid  must 
not  be  allowed  to  form  when  whey  is  on  curd, 
211;  should  be  developed  in  curd,  212;  de- 
stroys or  curtails  action  of  rennet,  212;  bow 
serviceable  when  in  moderation,  213;  em- 
ployed by  Cheddar  cheese- makers,  213 

Action  cf  lime,  wlien  beneficial  and  when  pre- 
judicial, 140 

Adulterations  of  seeds,  174 

Advantages  of  g:ivin2:  cake  to  beasts.  113;  im- 
provement of  arass  landi  thereby,  144 

A«^ration  of  soil  by  draining,  118 

Albumen  of  milk,  182 

"  Alloy,'"  the  meaning  and  application  of  term,  14 

Alluvium  and  alluvial  deposits,  107 

Alps,  I  he  daii-ying  in.  534 ;  pasture  lands  on, 
535;  secret  of  success  in  production  of  milk, 
535 ;  management  of  cattle,  53o ;  butter- 
making,  536;  milk-sugar,  537;  whey-cheese,  537 

Americ.ius,  careful  in  manufacture  of  cheese,  xi. 

American  cheese,  quantities  sent  to  England,  sx. 

American  cheese-making,  recent  chan.,'es  in,  487 

American  daiiy-cattle,  value  of,  411  ;  prices 
fetched  by  cattle  of  various  breeds,  412 

American  dairy  products,  413;  gross  produc- 
tion, 413;  statistical  returns  of,  413;  local 
butter  markets  and  domestic  trade,  414;  pre- 
paring and  packing  butter  for  homo  con- 
Biimption,  414 

American  factory  cheese,  defects  in,  209 

American  factory  system,  465;  co-operation  in 
dairying,  465  ;  co-operative  cheese- makins", 
by  J.  G.  Pickett,  of  Wisconsin,  465 ;  Norton's 
cheese-factory  at  Goshen.  Connecticut,  465 ; 
Jesse  Williams,  iuaugurator  of  system  in  New 
Tork,  466  ;  history  and  progress  of  the  enter- 
prise, 466  ;  extension  of  the  system,  453 

American  milk  trade  and  city  supply,  424 ;  rail- 
way trans jiortation  cans,  424  ;  delivery  cans, 
425  ;  Aldemey  dairy,  42b 

American  systems  of  creaming,  295;  "cream- 
eries,'' 295;  milk-pajis  for  large  farm-dairies, 
295;  cooler,  296;  bench  for  running  off  mi.k, 
297  ;  rapid  cooling  of  milk  a  safeguard,  298 

Americans  eat  much  butter,  but  little  cheese, 
::C5 

Analyses  of  feeding- stuffs,  explanation  of,  176 

of  products  of  Graminse,  172 

of  Viixious  samples  of  niilk,  vi. 

Anderson  on  eshau-tion  of  the  soil,  129 
Animals  can  be  bred  up  to  certain  results,  2 
Annual  meadow-trass,  1Ij8 

Annual  value  of  exports  of  condensed  milk  from 
United  States.  18^9—1879.  339 
,  Anti-sucking  devices,  nose-piece,  &c.,  64 
Applying  lime  to  soils,  time  and  mode  of.  141 
Arable  dairy-farminL;,  47  ;  succession  of  crops,  48 
Aroma  (tf  butter,  how  produced.  314 
Articles  for  equipment  of  creamery,  with  prices, 

49  i 
Artificial  butter,  as  an  article  of  commerce,  sx, 

feed'  ug,  things  necessary  to  remember  in,  46 

manures,  question  about  use  of,  130 

Artificial  or  oleomargarme  butter,  323  ;  its 
manufactuTP,  3.3  ;  washing  process,  323;  dis- 
integrating process.  32  i :  melting  process,  324  ; 
pre  sing  process  324 ;  churning  process,  325 ; 
comparison  of  constituents  of  oleomargarine 
an  I  butter,  325  ;  will  supersede  inferior  kinds 
of  butter,  326;  "bntterine,"  326;  used  in 
adulterating  real  butter,  326  ;  sale  should  be 
c<)ntrolled  by  Act  of  Parliament,  326  ;  how  to 
detect  pi-esence  of,  in  butter,  327 


Ash  of  some  cultivated  plants,  128 

"  Austin  "  ogitiitor,  219 

Austria,  dairy- fanning  in,  532 ;  cooling  milk  in 
Austria,  532 

Aylesbury  Dairy  Company,  349 

Ayrshire  breed  popular  everywhere,  8  ;  breed  of 
cattle,  18 ;  Buchanan's  remarks  on,  18 ;  sup- 
posed origin  of  breed,  18;  pugnacious  and 
spiteful  in  disposition,  18 ;  extension  of  the 
breed,  18:  recent  improvements  in.  19;  action 
of  Cork  and  Kerry  Agricultural  Societies  in 
favour  of.  19 

AjTshires  and  C^'armel  Islanders  bred  for  milk,  2 

as  butchers*  beasts,  19 


Bacon  and  Hams,  importations  of,  xxi. 
Badness  of  English  cheese,  to  what  due,  xiii. 
B.ikewell,  Robert,  of  Dishley,  as  a  breeder,  13,  29 
Barley  grasses,  171 

Barn,  American  octagon,  87  ;  basement,  88,  89 
Barter.  Richard,  of  St-  Anne's  Hill,  near  Cork, 
record  of  dairy  operations  by,  360 ;  hints  on 
dairy  management  by,  363 ;  cows,  management 
of.  362;  milk,  363;  dairies,  363;  cream.  363; 
churning,  363  ;  firkins,  sweetening  of,  363 
Bavaria,  dair>  -farming  in,  529  ;  breeds  of  c  ^ttle, 
52y  ;  butter-making,  629;  chemical  researches 
on  d;iirying,  530  ;  Bacbstein  Kase,  530  ;  Roma- 
donr  Kase,  530  ;  Schachtel  Kase,  530 
Belgium.  d.arying  in,  540 
Best  times  and  ages  to  buy  Ayrshires,  22 
Black  medick,  or  nonsuch,  157 
Black  peaty  soils  bad  for  pasture,  147 
'*  Black  leg ''  in  calves,  treatment  of,  63,  73 
Bleeding  fat  calves  b^-fore  killing,  63 
Bone  earth  in  forty  gallons  of  milk,  133 
BoriiginaceEB,  plants  mcluded  in  order,  160 
Botanical  description  of  plants,  154 
Borden,  Gail,  and  condensed  milk,  329 ;  his  in- 
quiry into  its  production,  329 ;  first  application 
for  patent,  330 ;    conclusion  axrived  at,  3J0 ; 
requirements  for  successful  manufacture,  331 ; 
his  rules  for  suppliers,  333 ;  method  adopted 
by,  334 ;  factory  at  Brewster,  334 ;  process  of 
manufacture  followed  there,  335 ;    soldering 
cans,  335  ;  construction  of  building,  336  ;  can- 
washing  room,    336  ;    receiving,  condensing, 
and  delivering  room,  336 ;  vacuum-pan,  33> ; 
vacuum-pump,  336 ;    application  of    beat  to 
vacuum-pan,  338;  success  in  milk-coudensing 
not  uniform,  338  ;  Willard  on  reasons  for  this, 
338 


429 
Biailsford  cheese- factory  near  Derby,  279,  280 
Breed  of  cows  selected,  on  what  depending,  6 
Breeding  among  members  of  one  family,  5, 
Breeding  and  gestation,  normal.  65 
Breeding  and  management  of  American  cattle, 
396;  various  crosses  attempted,  396;   cross- 
bred   buffrtloes,    396;     "  Jamestowns,"    397; 
Cheever's  herd,  397;    Fitch's,  Mr.   Thomas, 
experience,  398;    Jersey  Ayrsliires   bred  by 
Mr.   Fitch,  399;    cross  between  Jersey  and 
Swiss,  399;  advice  to  dairymen  in  prize  es.my 
on  daii'ying,  399  ;  cost  of  raising  a  heifer,  4fXJ ; 
management  of   milch-cows,   400;    American 
dairy-cows  well    housed,  400;    fodder,  400; 
roots  in  winter  diet,  401 ;  grain-feeding,  401 ; 
systems    of    feeding,    401 ;     Stewart's,    4ul ; 
Cheever's,  491;  BurnettV,  4J3;  management 
in     Eastern    States,     493 ;     management     in 
Western  States.  404 
Breeding  and  selection  of  dairy-cattle,  1 
Breeding  for  milk  neglected  in  some  families  of 
pedigree  Shorthorns,  17 


Breeding  of  pedigree  stock  an  art,  3 

theory  of,  3 

Breeds  of  cattle,  i. ;  important  in  dairy-farm- 
ing, i.  ;  improved  by  man's  judgm-'ut,  iv. 

Brewster  milk-coudensing  factory,  334 

British  strata,  succession  of,  95 

stratified  formations,  table  of,  97 

Brittany  cattle  smaller  than  Jerseys,  26 

Brome-grasses,  170;  rough,  170;  upright,  170; 
barren,  170  ;  soft,  170 

Bronchial  filaria  in  young  cattle,  77 

Brookland  Dairy  Farm,  Stoke  Newington,  350 

Broom  rape,  174 

Built,  brand,  or  pepper-brand.  173 

Bureau  creamery  and  refri iterator,  301 

Burnetts  manugement  of  butter-making  Jer- 
si^ys  in  Massachusetts,  4f'3 

Butter,  esteemed  by  civilised  nations,  xviii. ; 
biiw  obtained  from  milk,  xviii. ;  demand  for, 
always  great  and  might  be  greater,  xviii. ; 
bow  made  by  the  ancients,  xix-  ;  how  used 
by  the  an  -ients,  xix.  ;  used  in  lamps  instead 
of  oil  by  ancient  Christians,  xix. 

Butter,  its  composition,  192;  becomes  rancid 
by  keeping,  192 

Butter  importations  from  1863  to  1878,  xxi. 

Butter-m.iking,  284;  production  of  milk,  284; 
structure  of  mammal-gland  of  cow,  284  ;  for- 
mation of  milk,  285;  cream  globules,  285; 
average  sizes  of  globules,  286;  raiding  of 
cream,  286 ;  average  specific  gravity  of  milk, 
287 ;  why  cream  separates  from  milk,  287 ; 
essential  points  in  separation  of  cream  aud 
milk,  287  ;  expansion  and  contraction  of  fats, 
287 ;  depth  of  pan,  268 ;  deep  and  shallow 
Betting,  288 ;  growth  of  organic  germs  in 
milk,  289;  ice-water  system,  290;  butter- 
makmg  in  England,  primitive,  291 ;  milk- 
pans  for  setting  milk,  291 ;  tinned  pans, 
291 ;  glass  pans,  291 ;  milk-rooms  should  be 
kept  clean,  292  ;  mdk  soon  tainted  by  odours, 
293  ;  butter-workers,  310 ;  selling  butter.  312  ; 
glacialine,  313  ;  butter-preservers  of  viirious 
kinds,  314  ;  aroma  of  butter,  314 ;  marketing, 
319  ;  judginif  butter,  321 ;  points  for  judging 
butter,  scale  of,  321. 

Butter-making  in  America,  436 

in  Cauada,  499 

in  private    dairies.    America,  413;   Buell, 

C.C,  of  RoL'k  Falls,  Illinois,  statement  of, 
413;  John  S.  Murray,  Dellii,  New  York, 
statement  of,  443 

Butter-markets  in  Ireland,  562;  Cork  Butter 
Exchange,  5'j2  ;  rules  of,  562;  "butter-bank- 
ing," 5u2 ;  "  slashers"  and  their  practices, 
563  :  supply  of  butter  to  colonies,  563  ;  filling 
firkins.  563 

Butter,  methods  of  selling  in  England,  561 ; 
market  halls  desirable,  501 ;  trade  mar  s  for 
butter,  562 

Butter  packages  in  United  States,  458  ;  *'  Opti- 
mus  "  butter-tub.  458;  Halsted's  air-tight 
glass  butter-jar,  458;  Perkins'  refrigoiating 
butter  packa«;e,  458 ;  Koehler's  improved 
butter-tub,  458 ;  Perrin's  butter  package,  459  ; 
Waterbury's  1-lb.  butter-box,  459 

Butter  trade  at  Cork,  359 

Butter- workers,  American,  455 ;  triangular 
butter-worker,  455 ;  Howe  butter  worker, 
455;  Emvka  butter- worker,  456;  Cunning- 
ham's butter-worker,  45  > ;  Lilly's  rot  iry 
butter- worker.  453 ;  Blanohard's  butter- 
worker,  457 ;  Sands'  perforated  worker  and 
washer,  457;  Nesbitt's  butter-moulder.  457 

Butter-workers  used  in  churning,  3lu,  311 

Butter-yielding  capacity  diflerent  in  different 
kinds  of  creaui,  307 

"  Bntterine,"  or  oleomargarine,  'SZH 


5GG 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


t^ABBAOF,    RKQAKPED   AS   CaTTLE    FoOD,  155 

CaMwell    on    'Composition    of    Fodder   and 

Milk,"  4-t 

on  Ferments,"  332 

Calf-hoiisea,  construction  and  manaijement  of ,  62 

California,  dairying  in.  378;  statistics  of  'lairy 
development,  378;  natural  divisions  of  State, 
378;  Sierra  Neviida  district,  379;  interior 
district.  :J80;  North-Coast  district,  380; 
cheese-factories  in,  381 ;  milk  farm  at  Bruno 
Station,  380 :  curious  instance  of  prohts  of 
dairying  in,  381 

Calve-f  growing,  treatment  of,  63 

- —  the  rearing  of,  59 ;  rearinjj  pays  well,  59  ; 
fe*''Unvr-paii  for,  61 

Cambr  an  rocks,  clmraotcr  and  localities  of,  100 

Camden,  the  historian,  on  Cheddar  cheese,  ^15 

Clovers,  156 

Canada  as  a  dairy  district,  382 ;  development 
of  cheese-making  in,  3'*2 ;  dairymen's  a'sso- 
ciitions,  382 ;  St.  Lawrence  Eiver  outlet  for 
Cana'lian  produce,  3S3 ;  shipments  to  Port- 
land, Maine,  38i  ;  direct  shipments  to  Great 
Britain,  383 

Canalian  diirying,  497;  climate  of  Ccnada, 
497;  advantages  over  United  States,  497; 
Quebec,  498;  Montreal,  498;  Ontario,  498; 
fomge  crops,  49>S ;  rout  crops,  499 ;  cheese- 
factories  in  Canada,  499  ;  He' tie  and  Inglis's 
cream t  ry,  499;  syst'''u  of  management  fol- 
lowed, 500  ;  cheese-making  in  Canada.  50J 

Cans,  &c.,  for  ti-ansport  of  nnlk  in  America, 
427;  ''Lester"  can,  427;  crystal  jar,  4^7; 
"Warren"  milk-bottle,  427;  packing-box  for 
bottles  427 

Capabihty  of  bull  to  transmit  peculiar  proper- 
ties. 4 

Carbon  and  nitrogen  in  milk  and  beef,  vii. 

Carboniferons  limestone,  iMl 

Care  shown  by  French  in  making  butter,  xi. 

*'  Careful  breeding,''  in  what  it  consists,  4 

Carrots  and  parsnips,  159 

Cat' s-tail  or  Timothy  grass,  165 

Centrifugal  cream -extractors,  ::03 

Chalk,  upper  and  lower,  localities  of,  105 

Characteristics  of  good  dairy  district,  ill 

Characters  of  soils  from  various  formations,  100 

Charges  on  exports  of  American  cheese,  423. 

Charleston,  S.  Carolina,  daii*y  exports  from,  419 

Cheddar,  situation  of,  215  ;  long  famous  f.  r 
cheese-making,  215 

Cheddar  system  of  cheese-making,  215  ;  theory 
of,  216  :  brought  into  definite  shape  by  Hard- 
ing, 216  :  I  onsiderati'^n  of  method,  217  ;  essen- 
tial and  non-essentials,  217  ;  size  and  shnpe, 
217  ;  distinguishing  characteristics  of  system, 
218;  process  employed  at  Marksbuiy,  218; 
Cocker's  cheese-tub,  212;  press,  219;  ecrew- 
openiupr  vat,  219;  h'eaking  the  curd,  220.  curd- 
knife,  221  ;  skimming-dish.  221 ;  breaker,  221  ; 
Cheddar  ^hovel  l-r.  aker,  222;  srahling,  •.;22 ; 
drawing  off  whey.  22;i  ;  cutting cunl,  2ij ;  salt- 
in^,223  ;  cheese  in  pn.-ss,224;  curing  cheese,  224 

Cheese  a  luxury  in  Ireland,  359 

Chet-ee- factories,  how  managed  in  America,  439 ; 
co-operative  plan.  4j9  ;  associated  dairying,  439; 
individual  or  lorporate  enterprise,  439 

Cheese-f victories  in  England.  252 ;  origin  of, 
252  :  society  lomiedin  Derbyshire  to  promote, 
252;  sca^-me  of  niHuanement  proposed,  2.53; 
fii-st  factory  in  Derby,  253  ;  mauA^er  fbtaiued 
from  America,  253  ;  opposition  to  the  new 
venture,  253  ;  Jenkins*,  H.  M.,  remarks  on  and 
early  experiences  of,  256  ;  present  position  of, 
267 ;  causes  of  ncu-success,  267 ;  first  efforts  not 
sustained,  267;  estrangements  of  managers,  268; 
hurrying  process,  268;  want  of  esprit  de  corp-*, 
268;  cheese  injured  in  factories,  268;  milk- 
suppliers  in  fault,  268 ;  ill  effect  of  artificial 
manures,  &.C.,  on  milk,  269;  want  of  care  in 
couliiig  milk,  269  j  carelessness  fatal  to  pro- 
gress, 270 

Chee^e-fa<;tory  system  in  United  States,  xxi. 

Cheese  fairs  oE  Kngland,  559  ;  scene  at,  559 ; 
fluctuations  in  trale  at,  559  ;  practices  of 
dealers  nnd  farmer:^,  559;  sending  cheese  to 
fad  or,  560  ;  consignments  to  dealers  on  com- 
mission, 560;  commission  warehouses,  5i>l ; 
che*-8e -factors,  why  popularamong  farmers,  561 

Cheese,  h"w  properly  iJescribed,  xiv. 

Cheese  longest  making,  when,  211 

Cheese  made  yearly  in  Biitish  Islands,  x.  ; 
truest  etiiudard  of  human  food,  xiv.;    ho* 

firoperly  des^-nbed,  xiv.  ;  a  most  concentrate  1 
ood,  XV.  ;  valuable  in  assisting  digestion,  xvi. 
Cncese-making,  196  ;  cheese  in  the  olden  time*, 
196 ;  art,  of,  not  perfect  in  modern  iimes,  1£;6  ; 
differences  in,  237 
Choese-makin'/'npparatus,  Travis's,  2J6  ;  Pugh's, 
236;  Keevila.239 


Cheese-making  appliances  in  America.  459  : 
Chiids  and  June/  w.igh-can,  459  ;  Fairbanks' 
factory  scalt*,  430;  '*  Union  dairyman"  cheefe- 
vat,  460;  Baluh's  ''Oneida"  cheese-vat,  460  ; 
agitators  and  curd-knives  by  Whitman  and 
Burrell,  460;  Jones,  Faulkner,*  Co.'scnrd- 
drainer,  4'Jl  ;  curd-miU.  4J1 ;  Hubbell  gang 
pre-^s,  461  ;  Wilson  self-bandaging  cheese- 
hoops,  461 ;  Freeman  hoop,  462;  Naylorpres", 
432:  Miller  A;  Sons  upright  gang  press,  463; 
Millar's  i)atent  cheese-hoops,  44>J ;  seamless 
cheeae  bandage,  463 ;  pelf-bandaging  cheese- 
hoop,  463  ;  Harris's  cheese-box  machine,  464 

Cheese- making,  faults  in,  201 ;  decomposition, 
201;  coobugand  aeration. 201;  cleanliness.  2j2  ; 
temperature,  2o3 ;  rennet,  204 

Cheese-mflkincr  in  America,  415;  conditions 
goTemmg,  415;  "  comer"  in  cheese  traie.  415; 
home  consumption  on  the  increase,  415 

Cheese-making  in  Britain,whj  unsatisfactory,  xii. 

in  fanada.  500 

Cheese-making  in  'actories.  270  ;  requisites,  "270  ; 
constant  supply  of  cold  water,  270  ;  manager's 
duly,  270 ;  purity  and  quality  of  milk,  lirst 
considerati -ns.  273;  cleanliness,  273  ;  cooling 
an-l  aerating  milk,  273  ;  factory  milk-can,  274; 
weighing-can,  274;  making  cheese,  time  for, 
274;  factory  milk-vat,  274;  agiiators,  274; 
aeration,  275  ;  treatment  of  moruim;  milk,  275  ; 
rennet.  275;  coagulati'-n  of  milk.  275 ;  test  of 
coagulation.  276;  cutting  the  curd,  276;  steam- 
ing curd,  276  ;  sour  whey,  why  used  in  coagu- 
lation, 276;  borrowed  acidity  assists  renne', 

277  ;  acidity  prominent  feature  in  Cheddar 
cheese-making,  277 ;  cooking  process  perhaps 
carried  too  fai-,  277;  straining  off  the  wht;y, 

278  ;  placing  curd  in  vats,  278  ;  press  f<ir  fac- 
toiy  use,  278  ;  sloring  for  ripening,  278  ;  self- 
turning  cheese-shelves,  279 

Cheese-making,  must  not  be  hurried,  211 

Cheese- ma  king,  special  room  for,  78,  79;  when 
done  at  home,  requirements  for.  79 

Chemical  relations  of  beef  and  milk,  vi. 

Chemistry,  a  few  important  facts  in,  135 

ChenopodiaceiE,  plants  included  in  order,  161 

Cherokee  ludians,  butter-making  among,  443 

Cheshire  cheese,  225;  excellent  as  food,  226; 
shape  and  weight,  226 ;  mode  of  making 
usually  followed,  226  ;  milk-vats,  226  ;  cooling 
milk,  227  ;  heating  evening's  milk,  227  ;  coagu- 
lating milk,  227 ;  curd-breaker,  228 ;  curd- 
drainer,  223  ;  curd-mill,  229  ;  cheese-vat,  229  ; 
cheese-oven,  229;  cheese-press,  23  J;  cheese- 
stand,  230;  lift,  230;  drying-room,  230;  ripen- 
ing cheese,  232  ;  sending  to  m  rket,  232 

Chicago  city,  miifc  supply  in.  42s 

Chillingham  cattle  and  Shorthorns,  no  affinity 
or  resemblance  b 'tween,  16 

Cliimney  in  hny-stack,  &c.,  182 

Churu,  Thomas  &  Taylor's  patent  eccentric,  454 

Cii-.rning  by  mechanical  power,  3i7 

cream  in  making  butter,  308 

Chums,  American,  of  various  kinds,  450 

Churns,  dirterent  kinds  of,  315;  HoUtein  vertical 
churn,  315 ;  plunge  dash  churn,  316 ;  churn- 
dash.  317;  rev. -Iving  barr.l  churn,  317;  Vic- 
toria churn,  317  ;  streamlet  churn,  317  ;  Davis 
oscillating  churn,  451 ;  pendulum  churn, 
451 ;  Whipple's  rectangular  clairu,  452  ;  Bul- 
lard's  oscillating  chum.  452;  B  ancbard 
dash  chum,  4^5 ;  Blan<-hard  cylindrical 
factory  churn,  45:J ;  horizontal  barrel  chum, 
453;  "Queen  of  the  Dairy"  box  chum,  453; 
Carver  s  churn,  4'>4 

Cincinnati,  Ohio,  Chamber  of  Commerce  of,  423 

Clay,  properties  and  character  of.  96 

CLiy  soils,  etVect  of  draining  on,  117 

Cleansing  or  after- birth  in  cows,  67 

Climate,  soils,  and  rainfall  in  American  dairy 
districts,  3.S3 

Climates  best  adapted  for  dairying,  110 

Close  in-and-in  breeding,  results  of,  13 

Clover  dodder,  173 

Clover,  mixed  top  dressing  good  for,  146 

occasionally  grown,  157 

or  trefoils  (genus  Tri'olium),  156 

Cluett's  improve-i  milk-vat,  226 

Ooal-measure<,  localities  of,  102 

Cold  irr.i';--]  mhI  witli  few  rushes,  good  for 
cln"''-->    II  !•    I  '   -  tl  :  spoiled  by  drainage,  241 

Cold  li.i     <  ■■  M       m  butter-m.iker,  310 

Collin-.  I,  .  :  .1  !  I'liarles, successful  breeders 
of  till":  Ll:"iii;.lJ  ,  j;ystem  pursued  by  them,  12 

Colourmn  for  cheese,  220  ;  aunatto,  220 ; 
Nicholls'  liquid  preparation,  220 

Colustrum,  195 ;  composition  of,  195 ;  purgjitive 
influence  on  young  calf,  195 

Comfrey,  prickly  and  common,  160 

Commerce  of  the  l>airy,  559 

Common  bird's-foot  trefoil,  153 


Common  or  creeping  rooted  bent  grass,  166 
Common  red,  purple,  or  broad-b  ave'l  clover,  156 
Compurison  of  cheese,  bread,  and  flesh-meat,  xvi. 

of  EtigliBh,Iri».h. and  Continental  butters, 361 

Conipositse,    plants    included    in   order,     159 ; 

characteristics  of  blossoms,  159 
Composite  breeds,  examples  of,  ni. 
Comi)osition  and  formation  of  soils,  99 
of  fodder  and  milt,  rebition  between.  44 

of  milk,  190  ;   casein,  191 ;   lactic  aci.l,  191 ; 

milk  globules,  192 

Compost-beaps,  152 ;  management  of,  153; 
valiialde  as  supplementary  manure,  useful  in 
certain  castas  f>r  mea/low  and  pasture  lands, 
153  ;  injnreil  by  being  placed  under  cover,  153 ; 
reasons  for  this.  153 

C<mcentration  of  farm  buildings,  desirable,  80 

Condensed  milk,  important  element  in  dairy- 
farming,  first  produced  by  Mr.  Borden,  i. ; 
how  produced,  x.  ;  sngar,  why  ad<led.  xi. 

Condensed  milk,  328 :  wide  demand  for  in 
Certain  cases,  328;  valuable  adjunct  t>  food 
supply,  328;  difference  between  condensed 
milk  and  cheese,  328;  where  an'i  by  whom 
first  manufactured,  3;i9 ;  good  conden-*ed  milk 
wholesome,  331;  cau^e-i  of  decomposition  and 
decay  of  milk,  331,  333  ;  various  methods  and 
recipes  for  makiu<;,  334 

Condimental  foods  for  calves,  61;  formula  for, 
by  Pringle,  62 

Connecticut  Hoard  of  A^culture  on  winter 
feeding  for  nilk,  403 

Consequences  of  continual  and  vigorous  in- 
breeding, 5 

Construction  of  cattle-sheds  in  America,  87 — 91 

Consumption  of  fooil  by  Ayrshires  23 

Consumption  of  milk  in  British  Islands,  ix. 

Continental  dairying,  503 

Cooley  syst^-m  of  creim-raising,  290,  296 

Cooley's  milk-can,  296;  portub'e  creamer,  297; 
his  experiments  in  setting  milk,  "..'97  ;  creamer 
useful  and  simple,  298;  system  desirable  for 
British  dairy-farmers,  298 

Corn-meal  aud  wheat-bran,  experiments  on 
value  of,  as  milk-producers,  404 

Cother stone  cheese,  248 

Couch-grass,  171 

Covered  sheds  for  manure  desinble,  152 

yards  for  young  .^tock,  81  ;   prime  factora 

in  consideration  of,  fcl ;  shelter,  bl ;  litter,  84  ; 

Cow-sheds  in  London  and  large  towns,  344 

octa-OHal,   why    not   likely   to    commend 

themselves  to  English  farmers,  90 

Cow's  teats,  treatment  of,  when  sore,  57 

Cream-globules  of  milk.  27 

*'  Cream  Hill  Farm  "  (T.  Sedewick  Gold).  Litch- 
field, Co.  Connecticut,  431;  stock  kept  on 
farm,  435  ;  transport  of  product,  435 

Cream  in  milk,  how  ascertained,  271, 272  ;  cream- 
gautie,  272;  testing'  relative  jMirceuta^es,  272; 
least  percentage,  when  found,  272  ;  variations 
in  cream,  273 

Cream,  raisimr  of.  2-6 

treatment    of,    for   butter  -  making.    307; 

churning,  30iS ;  washing  and  working.  '105 

Creameries,  when  first  established,  474 ;   quau* 
tity  of  butter  made  at,  4S2;  "  Sprint  "  system 
of  coolingand setting,  4S2  ;  GarduerB  Weeks* 
factory,  48:1 ;    system   of    management,  4SS ; 
Finck's  basin  creamery,  483 ;    description  of 
premises,   483  ;    Gaddi^,    McAdam,    &    Co.'s 
cre-imery,  48i;  McAdam  Cooler,  484;    Cun- 
ningham   butter- worker,    484 ;    Cunningham 
roller,  4S5 ;  salting,  485 :  packing  butter  for 
market,  485;    "  Westcott "    return-pail,    -185; 
"Pbiladelpliia"  pail,  485;   creamery  in  Wis- 
consin,  4^ ;  skim  milk  of  creameries  mado 
into    cheese,    136 ;  introduction  of  oloomar* 
garino,  486 
Creeping  or  bearded  soft  grass,  167 
Crested  dog's-tail  grass,  170 
Crimson,  scarlet,  or  Ituliau  clover,  157 
Crop  cannot  rise  above  lowest  element  in  food- 
supply,  1 19 
Crops  suitable  for  arable  dairy  husbandry,  49 ; 
ryo,  49  ;  winter  vetches,  49  ;  rye  grass  aud  red 
clover,  50;   maize,  50  ;  turnip.s,  5.>  ;  kohl-rabi, 
51;  cabbages,  51;  lupin,  51;  prickly  comfrey, 
52 ;  lucerne,  52 
Crosses  of  shorthorns  and  Ayrshires,  20 ;  better 

for  butcher  than  pure  shoithorns,  21 
Cruciferfie,  examples  of,  154 ;  charajtoristics  of, 

154;  useil  as  food  fi.r  cattl-',  155 
Cultivated  grasses,  List  of,  172 
Curd,  treatment  of,  in  cheese  making.  204 
Curing  cheese.  Three  points  in,  20d ;  moisturo 
in  cheese  properly  cured,  209 ;    ripening  in 
darkened  room,  210  ;  cheese  should  be  turned 
daily,  210  ;  heating  cheese-room,  210 


(iKNKHAl.     INDKX. 


5(17 


Cutting  off  hoi-ns  of  cuttle,  :i5 
CyperuceEB,  characteristics  of,  16^ 


Dairy  at  Marksburt,  218 
l>ftiry  boards  in  America,  coustitntiou  of,  417 
liairy  book-keepiug  and  account  books,  231 
Dairy  c  ittle  of  America,  392  ;  early  restrictions 
on  killing  animals,  392;  origin  of  "native" 
Rtock  of  United  Scrttes,  393;  attempts  to  im- 
prove the  breed,  393 ;    American  shorthorn 
nerd -book,  393  ;  shorthorns  iu  America,  393  ; 
importation    of    Devous,    394 ;     Jerseys     in 
America,    394 ;    American  Jersey  herd-book, 
395;  Avrshires,   iutro  UicUon  of,  395;  Here- 
fords,  first  importation  of,  395 ;    Guernseys 
and  Swiss  cattle,  393 
Dairy  cow  machine  for  production  of  milk,  42 
Dairy  cows,  selection  of,  6 

Dairy  farming  in  France,  modes  of,  518 ;  treat- 
ment of  diiiry  cows,  519 
Dairy  homesteads  and  btiildings,  78 
Dairy  implements  and  machinery  in  America,  446 
Dairymaids,  rule  of  thumb  followed  by,  203 
Dairy  management  and  appliances,  xi. 

,  general  system  of,  45 

Dairy  produce,  importations  of,  xx. 

of  America,  1770-1880,  exports  and  destiua- 

tioD, 420 ;  exports  from  NewYork,  1 877-1878, 421 
Dairy  shows,  London,  Frome,  &c.,  1878,  xi. 
Dairy  work  in  American  factories,  475 ;  Whites- 
boro"  factory,  a  suital'le  example,  475 ;  de- 
livery window,  475,  milk  vats,  &c.,  475 ;  curing- 
house,  475  ;  Truxtou  factory,  476 ;  Newville 
factory,  477 ;  system  of  manufacture,  477 ; 
"  self -heater"  vat,  477;  milk  vat  and  heater, 
478 ;  steam  generator  and  engine,  479  ;  veils 
for  rennet,  479 ;  cutting  the  curd,  479 ;  curd 
knife,  480  ;  curd  lump,  480  :  drawing  off  whey, 
480;  saltiug,  480;  Gang  press,  480  ;  marking, 
480;  ripening,  480;  weighing,  480;  packing, 
480 ;  dealers'  visits  and  inspection,  481 ;  "  hot- 
weather"  cheese,  481 ;  "floatmg  curds,"  4S1 ; 
whey,  bow  utilised,  481 ;  whey  cream  butter,  4S1 
Dairying  in  the  North,  2t8 

Dairying  of  America,  3G5 ;  increase  in  popula- 
tion, milch  cows,  &c.,  since  lS3a,  365  ;    growth 
of   foreign    tr.ide    iu    dairy    products,  365 ; 
statistics  of,  365 ;    growth   and   advance  of 
American  dairying,  366 ;  location  of  dairy  in- 
dustry, 366 ;    map  of   dairy    products,    366 ; 
growth  of  United  States  in  area,  population, 
aud  milch  cows,  367;  milch  cows,  ratio  of,  to 
population,  367;   growth  of  agricultiure  and 
value  of  products,  337 
Dairying,  soils  and  climates  suitable  for,  108 
Darnel,  or  poison  or  branded  darnel,  171 
Darwin  on  mtrodnction  of  fresh  blooi,  5 
Decomposition  of  milk,  agents  producing,  331 
Deep  alluvial  lands  require  little  manure,  145 
Deep  setting  of  tnilk  in  America,  435 ;  cellars, 

ice-houses,  aud  springs  for,  436 
Deerfoot  farm,  Worcester  Co.,  Massachusetts, 
4i0;     herds,    440;     dairy    management,   440; 
butter-making,  441 ;  tran-^port  of  butter,  441 ; 
butter-milk    t-nd    skim-milk,    441;      clotted 
cream,    442 ;    Burnett's    centrifugal    crejm- 
separator,  442 
Deltas  of  rivers,  formation  of,  94 
Denmark,  dairv  farming  in,  522;  butter  for  ex- 
portation, 522 ;   packing  butter  for  espurta- 
tion,  523  ;  skim-milk  cheese,  524 
Derby   cheese  factory,   256 ;    early   experience, 
256 ;  balance  sheet,  lirst  season,  257  :  report  oi 
committee,  258 ;  early  difficulties,  258;  chauges 
in  the  system,  2  0;  progressof  the  system,  2  j1 
Derby,  first  English  cheese  factory  estabHshed 

in,  253 
Darbysh-re  Cheese  Factory  Association,  Eules 

of.  255 
Derbyshire  cheosp -making,  233  ;  method  simple, 
233 ;  "  sweet  curd  "  system,  233  ;  old-fashioned 
cheese-kettle,  2;}4  ;  curd,  how  formerly  broken, 
231 ;  pole  press,  234  ;  screw  press,  234 ;  stone 
press,    235 ;    curd  breaker,    235 ;    compound 
Ipver  press,  235 ;  treatment  of  evening  milk. 
237 ;  time  to  add  rennet.  237 ;  cutting  curd, 
237;  salting  the  cheese,  238;  simple  expedient, 
238;  cheese-room,  23S;  cheese-room  stove,  238 
Descendants  of  grandson  vt  Bolingbroke,  15 
Development  of  mammal  gland,  1^ 
Devon  cattle,  33;  characteristics,  howacqnired, 
33;  self-colour,  proof  of  antiquity  of  breed, 
33;  at  the  Smithtield  Show.  33;  "  Southam- 
mer  breed  "  of,  34;  milk,  rich  quality,  34;  as 
beef-makers,  34 
Devonshire  cream  known  far  and  wide,  34 
Devonshire  cream,  320;  butter,  how  made  from. 


321 
D.'w.  depositi( 


1  of,  hn 


used,  12.i 


Diarrhoea,  or  white  scorn*,  75  ;  treatment  of,  77 
Ditt'erenco  between  good  and  ill-bred  animals  as 

feeders  and  producers  of  milk  and  flesh,  1 
Differences  between  cattle,  how  produced,  ii 
Discharge  of  drains  compared  with  rainfall,  121 
Diseases  and  accidents  of  calves,  74 

of  cattle.  Books  relating  to.  77 

of    grasses  and    cereals,   172  ;    arise   from 

parasitic  fungi,  172  ;  how  caused,  172 
Distinctions    between    eafs-tail    aud   fox-toil 

grass.  165 
Distinctness  of  type,  how  secured,  4 
Dividends  of  cheese  factories,  482  ■ 
Docks  and  Sorrels,  161 
Dog-power,  as  used  in  churning,  318 
Dorset  butter,   320;    liow  ma<le,   320;    butter- 
mould,  320  ;  popular  in  London,  320 
Dorset  cheeses  and  cheese-making,  245 
Drain,  Fall  of  the,  12  { 
Drainage,  Computation  of  taMe  for,  122 
Draining,  113  ;  necessary  for  water-logged  Innd, 
113  ;  arran;ements  for,  between  landlord  aud 
tenant,  113 ;  systems  of  draining,  113  ;  ancient 
systems,   113;   modern    systems,    U3 ;    laud- 
ditching,   114;  "slug-draining,"  114;  "  mol^. 
draining,"  114 ;  sheep-drains,   115  ;  bog-drain, 
115;   draioing-tools,  115;  draining-tiles,  115; 
depth  of  drain-pipes,  116;   stone  drain,  116; 
time  practical  object  of,   117;   requirements 
in   commencing,   118;  pipe-bed,  management 
of,  119;  cost  of,  121;  why  necessary,  124 
Draining  of  wet  land  foundation  of  good  hus- 
bandry, 112 
Drains,  arrangement  of  on  land,  120 

the  location'of,  123  ;  titles  of,  123  ;  sources 

of  injury  to,  125  ;  action  of,  125 
Drift,  what  the  term  denotes,  107 
Droppings  of  cattle,  effect  of  on  grass,  143 
Duncumb  on  cattle  of  Herefordshire,  31 
Dung,  relative  value  of,  149 
Durham  cattle,  ancient  record  on,  11 
Dutch  cattle  iu  Metropolitan  dairies.  344 
Dutch  cheese-making,  542;  spiced  cheese,  543  ; 
sweet-milk    cheese,    543 ;    May    cheese.    544 ; 
Jews' cheese,  544;  Privy  Councillors'  cheese, 
544;  Edam  cheese,  514 
DutiesofGovernment  respecting  food 8upply,Tiii, 


Early  breedbbs  of  Durham  Shorthorns,  U 
Earth's     surface,    original    condition     of,    92 ; 

gradual  cooling  of,  92 
Economical  manuring,  main  point  in,  139 
Effects  of  food  and  exercise  on  dairy  cows,  43  ; 

Sturtevant's  conclusions  on,  43 

of  introduction  of  fresh  bloud,  5 

Eggs  and  poultry,  importations    of,  1862  and 

IS78,  xxi. 
Elements  of  fertility  most  required  on  land,  132 

of  plant-food,  134 

Elgin,  Illmoi^,  and  Nor!h-West  dairy  market,  418 
fnglish  do  not  excel  as  butter-makers,  320 
Enstilage,  or  storing  gi-een  fodder.  185 
Kocene,  characteristics  and  localities  of,  106 
Ergot,   or  Ergot  of  Rye,  173;    its  dangerous 

effects  and  qualities,  173 
Escutcheon,  the,  6 

"  Escutcheon,"  remarks  on  and  explanation  of,  6 
Estimates  and  costs  of  creamery,  4&6 
Exemplification  of  drainage  by  plans,  120,  121 
Exhaustion  of  soils,  128  ;  causes  of,  128 
Exports  of  cheese  from  Cana  la,  502 

of  dairy  pro  luce  from  America,  419 

Extremes  of  heat  and  cold  bad  for  milch  cows,  110 


Factory  system  of  chfese-making.  i. 

cheese-making,  extension  of  in  England,  26 1 

False  oat-grass,  or  common  oat-like  grass,  167 

Familiar  crucifers,  examples  of,  155 

Farm-buildings,  need  of  good,  78 

Farm  dairying,  American,  methods  and  pro- 
cesses, 433;  milking,  how  done,  433;  cow 
stables,  433  ;  carrying  milk  to  dairy,  434 ;  farm 
butter-making,  436 

Farm-house  cheese-making.  202 

Farm-yard  manure,  how  to  improve,  132  ;  quan- 
tity and  quality,  how  regulated,  148 :  collec- 
tion of  drainings  from.  148;  best  system  for 
protecting,  149;  collection  of  in  box-feeding, 
149 ;  American  system  of  collecting,  140  ;  ma- 
nagement of,  an  important  department  of 
farm  practice,  143 ;  protection  of  manure 
heap  from  rainfall ;  contains  everything  need- 
ful for  plant  lite,  150  ;  manure  heap  in  comer 
of  field,  152 

Farmer  should  seek  to  augment  quantity,  and 
conserve  quality  of  n-anure  produced,  15^ 

Farmstead  of  Tattenhall  Hall,  b6 

Faults  in  cheese-makinif.  201 


Feeding  and  treatment  of  daii-y  cattle,  4:; 

cattle :  system  adopted  by  W.  V.  S.  Beek- 

mon,  ot  Saugerties,  New  York,  443 

pail  for  calves.  61 

on  straw  or  hay  during  gestation,  46 

stuffs,    comi)osition    o',  including    roots, 

green  fodder,  hayi*.  seeds,  and  cereals.  175 
Fertile  nnd  barren  soils,  composition  of,  128 
Fertilisation  of  plants  grown  in  sand,  138 ;  result 

of  omission  of  certain  fertilisers,  139 
Fertilising  elements  removed  from  land  per  acre 
in  six-course  rotation,  132;  contained  in  twelve 
tons  of  farm-yard  manure  per  acre,  132 
Fertility  of  laud.  Iiow  kept  up,  144 
F- ..■■.,.  -m-.--^.  M9 
Fii.   -I    iir>  IiihI,  where  found,  142 
-    iM'ni,;|  I     ur.s,  where  found.  10^ 
Fir-i  .  iii—  ._'r,i-^  Imd,  how  deHucd,  143 
Flat-stalked  me-idow  grass,  168 
Flavour  of  ripe  cheese  due  to  decomposition,  213 
Fleischman.  Dr.  Wilhelm,  531 
Flesh  and  fat-formers  in  various  kinds  of  food,  XV. 
Flesh-forming  aud  li.nt  pi-,,  lunn-  .  lementH,  re- 
lationship of  in  :i!t  iti.  ,;il  I.  r.iin_'.  4) 
Floating  foxtail  un-l  li.'hi  IwnmiI,  l<>.5 
Floating  sweet  gra-is  <•]•  wuti-r  -ru^s.  16S 
Folklore  of  cattle  of  Midland  Connti.'s,  30 
Foods  for  cattle,  proportion   of  different  ele- 
ments in,  47 
Forage  plants  and  weeds,  154 
Formation  of  soils,  illustration  of,  99 
Foot  and  mouth  disease,  71 ;  treatment,  72 
France,  dairying  in,  .503 ;  Jenkins's  remarks  on 
butter  trade,  503  ;  butter,  how  sent  to  market, 
50) ;  cheese-making,  5U6  ;  soft  French  cheeses, 
507 ;    Gruyfere   and  Roquefort  cheeses,  £07  ; 
milking,  507;   transport  of  milk,  507;  milk- 
pails,  5u8  ;  hot  and  cold  water  baths  for  milk, 
503;    milk-setting,  509;   butter- making,  50J  ; 
Isigny  butter,  509,  511;  churning,  509;  Gor- 
man barrel  chum,  5i)9;  Goumay  butter,  511 ; 
butter  de  la  Prevalais,  511 ;  Finistfere  dairy 
industry,    512  ;    butter-making   in    Brittany, 
512 ;    classification    of   French    cheese,    512 ; 
cheese- making,  512  ;   Maigres,  512  ;   Fromage 
blauc,  513 ;  Fromage  h  la  Criime,  513 ;  From- 
ages  de  Neufchatel  frais,  513;    Coulommier 
fniis,  513;  Fromages  iSuisses,  Bondous,  &c., 
513 ;  Fromage  de  Camembert,  514 ;  Fromage 
de  Livarot,  514;  Fromage  de  Pont  TEveque, 
515;  Fromage  de  Neufchatel,  515;    Fromage 
de  Brie,  515 ;  Fromage  de  C^ulommiers,  517  ; 
Froma'^'e  de    Mont   d'Or,  517;    Fromage  de 
Gerome  a  pate  niolle,  517 ;  Fromage  Eoquef ort, 
517 
Franklin  Co  ,  Massachusetts,  dairying  in,  372 
Fuller,  on  *'  worst  fault  "  of  Cheddar  cheese,  215 
Fui'ze,  Whin  or  Gorse,  158 


Galloways,  35,  see  Scotch  Galloways. 

Garget,  mammitis,  or  inflammution  of  udder,  70 

Gas-lime.  &c.,  not  beneficial  to  plant  Hfe,  141 

Gases  in  milk,  193 

from  manure,  escape  of  arrested  by  gypsum, 

151 

Germans,  careful  in  making  butter,  &c.,  xi. 

Germany,  dairy  larmmg  in,  524 

Glacialine,  an  antiseptic  for  butter,  313 

Glazed  windows  best  for  diaries,  220 

Glob  lies  in  milk,  193 

Gloucester  cbeese-making,  239 ;  characteristics 
of  cheese,  240  ;  piiiuting  cheeses,  2iO 

Goats,  556;  useful  in  mountainous  district*, 
55f> ;  profitable  for  cottager  aud  villa  resident, 
556;  price  of  miUt,  556;  milk  makes  bad  butter 
but  good  cheese,  556 ;  Nubiim  variety  bjst 
milker.  556  ;  management  of  557 

Golden  Vein  Mild-Cured  Butter  ' 'ompany,  358  ; 
system  of  packing  adopted  at,  358 

Good  stock  kept  as  cheaply  as  poor  stock,  1 

Gorgonzola  and  Roquefort  cheese,  247,  5;jy 

GraminBB,  importance  of,  to  man,  161 

Grass  best  food  for  production  of  milk,  4? 

management  of,  on  strong  clays,  146 

ploughing  out  and  re-layiug,  146 

Grass  lands,  improvement  of,  141 

Grass  lands,  Sir  H.  M.Thompson's  remarks  on, 
103 

Grass-seed,  should  be  bought,  not  saved,  by 
farmer,  174 

Gra'^s'^s.  leading  characteristics  of,  162;  inflo- 
rescence of,  162 ;  culm,  162 ;  joiut,  162  ;  hiiule, 
162;  spike,  162;  spikelet,  162;  outer  glumes, 
162  ;  florets,  16J  ;  flowering  glume,  163 ;  awn, 
163;  lodicule,  163;  stamen,  163;  grain,  103; 
careopsis,  163 

Grasses  of  American  pasture  lands,  383 ;  most 
in  favour  with  American  dairymen,  383; 
Timothy,    384;     red   top    or    fine  bent,   3S4; 


508 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


orcborcl  gra^fi,  3S-t ;  sweet-Bcnted  vernal  Rrase, 
38t;  Kentucky  bene  grass,  384;  p'ain^  resrion, 
386  ;  pmssea  in«li|,'enons  to,  386 ;  Rocky  Moun- 
ta  n  retrion,  386;  sheep's  lescue  smiss,  386; 
■'  Gama"or  "  Gramma"  grasses.  387;  Buffalo 
(Fiass.  387:  pras'-e^  in  southern  states,  388; 
Bermuda  prass,  388;  Guinea  grass,  389;  tall 
in<^adowoat  grass,  Z<9 ;  grasses  of  northern 
and  eastern  states.  389;  wliite  clover,  389; 
red  clover.  389  ;  alsike  clover.  390 ;  alfalfa  or 
lucerne,  390  ;  hay  crop  of  United  States,  390; 
Indian  com  in  United  Slates.  39) 

**  Grasses,"  term  as  under^itood  by  fanner,  164 

"  Great  American  Desert,"  at  present  a  beef- 
producing  district,  376 

Great  points  of  an  Ayrshire  cow,  2ri 

Greater  birds-foot  trefoil,  15S 

Gre>  n  cliaff,  proportion  of.  with  straw  chaff,  53 

Green  sand  and  gault.  localities,  etc.,  of,  lOj 

<f rowing  calves,  treatment  of,  63 

Guenon  theory,  the,  6 

Guiding  ideas  in  the  use  of  fertilisers,  133 

Gypsum  as  a  ftrrtiliser,  131 


HaIKT   or   downy   0\T  GRA.SS,  166 

•  Half  cream  "or  "  skim"  cheese,  221 
Hall's,  Collinson.  dairy  farm  at  Brentwood,  350 
Hanover,  i^airy  faroiini?  in.  525  ;  Harz  cheese,  626 
Hardin  system  of  milk-settin?.  299;  milk-rooler, 

2y9;  inventor's  description  of  system,  299 
Harding,  Joseph,  of  Marksbury,  216  ;  pamphlets 

on  cheese-making  by,  216 
Hav-bams,  181 ;  made  of  ii-on,  182 
HaV-loaders.  180 

Hay-mnkers  (machines),  179  ;  artificial,  184 
Hay -making,  177;  artitieial,  18i 
**  Hay-tea  "  for  calves.  61 
Hemlock  and  fool's  parsley,  159 
Herefords,  S) ;  early  history  of,  SO  :  origin  of 

white  faces,  31 ;  characteristics  of  breed,  32; 

steers   used   for  farm  work,  32 ;    not   good 

milkers,  32  ;  Duckham's  opinion  of,  32  ;  fatten 

on  little  food,  33  ;  favourites  abroad,  33 
Hesse,  Dairy  fiirmingin,5^1 ;  haui-made  cheese, 

531;  Weisser  Kase,  5:i2 ;  Sihmierkase,  5;J2 
High  milking  and  quick  fattening,  v. 

situation  forfarm  buildings,  ad  vantages  of,  79 

•'Holms,"  the,  cheese  factory  association,  2->t; 

bye-laws  of,  265  ;  b:ilance  sheet,  267 
Holstein,  vertical  churn,  315 
Home-made  cheese  in  America.  445 
Horen  tynnmnites,  its  causes  and  treatment.  71 
Horse-forks  for  lifting  hay,  183  ;  on  framework, 

183;  onpl^s.  183 
H^rse-power  churning,  318 
Horse-rakes,  180 
Hor  'ford,  Professor,  inventor  of  condensed  milk, 

329 
Hoskins,  Dr.,  on  scalding  milk,  293 
HosUyns,  Chandos  Wren,  on  ilmining,  119 
Humus,  what  it  is,  98 
"Hyant,"  'quarter  evil,"   or  "black   le?,"  in 

calves,  63.  73 
Hybrid  or  alsike  clover,  156 


IcELAvn  ANo  Imsn  Mos<5.  174 

Ice-water  system  of  setttiug  milk,  by  Swartz, 
293 ;  cans  for  setting  milk,  294 ;  process  in 
summer,  294 ;  temperature  of  cooling-room, 
294 ;  great  merit  of  the  system,  295 

ligneous  rocks,  composition  and  localities  of,  10 ) 

lU  consequences  <-f  not  manuiing  grass  lands,  145 

Hlinois,  dairying  in,  374;  piimping  windmills 
in,  374 

Illustration  of  difference  between  good  and  poor 
dairy  cow,  2 

Imports  of  i-heese  from  America  and  Europe, 
xxi.;  quantityandvalueof  froml863tol878,  xxi. 

Improved  Americ  lu  dairy  b;irns,  149 — 151 

farm  house,  diiry  and  piggeries.  232 

Improvement  of  laud  and  its  products,  how 
effected,  111 

Improving  influence  of  shorthorns  in  all 
countries,  17 

"In-breeding"  attended  with  mischievous  re- 
sults, 4 

Indiana,  dairying  in,  373 

Indications  of  good  constitution  in  cows,  &c.,  G 

■  of  richness  of  milk  in  cows,  7 

Indigestion  in  young  calves,  75 

Inflorescence  of  grasses,  how  des  ribed,  1G4 

Influence  <>f  first  male  on  herd.  6 

of  wind,  and  rain  on  bay,  shown  by  analyses 

by  Voelcker,  178 

Influences  bemng  on  milk  secretion.  19t-  in- 
dividua  ity,  194  ;  breed.  194  ;  period  of  lacta- 
tion, 194 

luheritunce  of  prajicrties  of  anp.?Bto;H,  * 


Introduction  of  fresh  blood  necessary,  5 
Iowa,  chief  north-western  dairy  state,  375 
Ircbind,  dairy  furming  in,  356  ;  dairying  in  small 
farms,  356 ;  primitive  character  of  manag**- 
mont,  356 ;  housing  cows  in  winter  considered 
xmlucky,356;  house-feeding  rare.  357  ;  letting 
cows  to  dairymen.  357;  annual  yield  of  milk 
per  cow,  357;  churning  in  north  and  south, 
357;  salting,  357;  defects  in  Irish  dairy 
firming,  357  ;  improvements  required  in  farm 
buildings,  358;  fraudulent  niani,  ulation  of 
butter.  358;  "cocks''  in  Cork  trade,  358; 
co-operation  in  butter-making,  358 ;  dairy 
farming  in  connection  with  large  towns,  35£) ; 
improvement  in  manufacture  des  rixble,  359 ; 
improved  utensils,  and  more  careful  treat- 
ment of  milk,  cream,  and  butter,  wauted,  361 
Irish  butter,  makers  of  should  stride  to  improve 

quality,  359;  how  to  effect  this,  359 
Irish  dairy  cattle,  the  Kerry  breed,  38 
Italy,  dairying  in,  537  ;  Italian  davry  products, 
537 ;  methods  of  cheese  making,  538  ;  Chiavari 
cheese,  53S ;  Cacciocavallo  cheese,  518 ; 
Stracluno  di  Goi^onzola,  539 ;  Pecorino 
cheese,  539 ;  Provote  cheese,  539 ;  Eicotta,  540 


Jersey  and  Goernsey  Cattle,  25;   difference 
between  cattle  of  these  respective  islands,  25 
Jersey,  its  cattle,  climate,  and  soil,  26  ;  its  agri- 
culture. 26 
Joaas's  fermented  straw  chaff,  5t 
Ji>ne3,  W.  Bruce,  on  dair>ini;  in  Ireland,  360 
Judge  French  on  "  farm  draiuag.^,  '  126 
Judging  cheese.  283  ;  scale  of  points  for.  283 
Juucaceee.  reacmblance  of  to  grasses,  164 


Kaksas,  Nebraska,  and  Missouri,  dairying 

IN,  376 
Keeping  cows  indoors  constantly,  results  of,  9 
Keevil'd  cheese-making  apparatus,  239 
Kerry  breed  of  cattle,  38  ;  "  Dester  "  variety,  38  ; 

yield  of  milk,  39  ;  fatten  rapidly,  39  ;  effects  of 

crossing  with  other  breeds,  39 ;   essentially  a 

cottier's  cow,  40 
Kilbum,  trials  of  cream  separators  at,  303 
Kuehn's    iuvestigaiions    on  influence   of  food 

on  milk,  45 
Kyloes,  or  West  Highland  cattle,  37 


LABOnR-SAVIliTO  APPLIANCES  IN   CHEESE-MAKING, 


Labiu-num,  seeds  of,  poisonous,  159 
Lactic  acid,  191 ;  its  composition,  193 
Lactometer,  270;  may  be  easily  cheated,  27'; 
how  to  be  made  useful  in  cheese-factory,  271 ; 
test  by,  not  absolute,  272  ;  must  be  used  with 
great  nicety,  272 
Ladders  in  bams,  examples  of,  60,  81 
Lancaster  cheese-makiug,  250 
J^and,  influence  of,  on  qnaUty  of  milk,  272 
Laval's  centrifiigil    cream -separator,  303 — 305; 

construction  and  action  of,  304 
Lawrence's  refrigerator  for  milk,  311 
La;^'umiuo3a3,  or  le;<uminou3  plants,  155  ;  plants 
included  among,  155;  papilionaceo  is  corolla 
of ,  155  ;  structure  of  corolla,  155  ;  pod  contain- 
ing seed,  155  ;  characteristics  of  leaves,  15G 
Leicester    cheese-m:»king,    241 ;    excellent    in 
quality,  241 ;  method  of  making,  241 ;  ripen- 
ing, 242  ;  colouring,  242  ;  quality,  242 
Leicestershire  cheese  commands  a  bigh  price,  xii. 
Letter  from  Sebright  to  Banks  on    breeding 

cattle.  3 
Lewis's,  Hon.  Harris,  dairy  farm  at  Frankfort, 
Herkimer  Co.,  New   York,  412;   diury-baru, 
442;  dairy -house  and  management,  442 
Lias,  its  formation  and  localities,   103 ;   lower 

lias,  lOt;  middle  lias,  lOt 
Lice  or  pediculi  in  cattle,  74;  dressing  for,  7i 
Light  thin  dry  soils  un<»uitable  for  dairying,  lOD 
Lime  in  agriculture,  use  and  abuse  of,  139  ;  part 
played   by,  in    a-rr;c\iltural    operations,    I'iii; 
lequired  by  all  plants  as  food,  HO;  action  ot 
lime  oii  soil  twofold,  140 
Limestone,  properties  and  chara'^ter  of,  96 
Limits  placed  on  dairying,  and  by  what,  110,  111 
Linseed-cake  will  prevent  "  bla^k  le,i^,"  03 

or  cotton-cake  for  cattle,  14  J 

Liquid  mauiu-e  not  sulficieutly  valued,  151 

tanks  in  farm-yards,  84 

Little    Falls,    Herkimer    Co.,  New    York,    an 

example  of  American  cheese  markets,  416 ; 

sampling  cheese,  416;  qunntity  annually  sold, 

417  ;  shipments  by  railroad,  417 

Loamy,  marly,  and  alluvinl  soils  best  for  dairy. 

iug,  108 
Localities  held  in  repute  for  Shorthorns,  11 


Locality,  its  iufluence  on  cattle,  iiL 

London  dair>'men,cowkeepiniras  practised  by,  344 

modem  cow-shed,  description  of.  345 

Longford  cheese  factory,  25 1;  early  experience, 
256 ;  balance-sheet  first  season,  257 ;  changes 
in  the  system,  260;  progress  of  the  system, 
261;  third  season.  261;   fourth  Bcason,  262; 
success,  to  what  due.  262 ;  objects  of  promo- 
ters,   262;    declaration    of    opponents,    262; 
balance-sheet,  1873,  263 
Lon>;hom  cattle,  28;  their  origin.  28{  attempt 
to  improve,  28 ;  crossed  with  Shorthorns.  29: 
account  of  the  breed  by  Lythall,  30;  yield  of 
milk  remarkable  for  quantity,  30 
Loose  boxes  for  cows  at  cilving-t'mc.  GO 
Lord  ToUemache's  farmstead  at  Peckfortou,  86 
Lotus,  plants  of  genus,  158 
Low   situation    of   farm-buildiugs,  advantages 

of,  80 
Lucerne  or  purple  medick,  157 
Lupin  s^eds,  analysis  of  composition,  52 
Lupins,  158 ;  sometimes  poisonous,  158 


M' Adah's  experience   of    Shobthobks   ahd 

Ayrshires.  23 
M'Laren's  experiences  in  fattening  Ayrshires, 20 
M  agnesian  limestone,   characteristics    of,    and 

where  found,  102 
Main  drains  and  minor  drains,  direction  of,  119 
Making  cheese  without  aci  1,  487;   sweet-curd 
process,  487;  scalding  curds,  foimd  desirable, 
4S8;   acid  chee^^e,  short-lived,  4S8;   Cheddar 
process.  4S8;  lactic  acid,  a  strong  auti-eptic, 
489;   reaction  of  whey  on  curd  ns-ertel  by 
Voelcker,  4^;  heating  milk  fned.tates  cheese- 
making,    4&d ;     Arnold's    system    of   chees&- 
making,  490 ;  heat,  4^:0;  setting  the  milk,  49U ; 
cutting  the  curd,  491 ;   stirring  the  curd,  491 ; 
drawing  the  whey,  491 ;    the  rark,  492 ;  oxi- 
dation. 492;  salting,  493;   paints,  493;   sour- 
milk  curd,  494;  cunng.  4^4  ,  colouring,  494 
Mammal-gland  of  cow,  wnatomy  of,  lt?7;  struc- 
ture of,  285;  capillary  network  of  milk-gland, 
285 ;  arrangement  of  lobules  and  ducts,  285  ; 
lobule  of  milk--land.  2r^ 
Management  of  grass  lauds  for  milk,  the  same 

as  for  beef,  148 
Mangold  or  mangel  wiirzel,  161 
Marketing  of  butter,  318;    butter-scales,  319; 
gi\-ing    overweight,    319 ;    American    butter- 
carrier,  319  ;  return  butter  tubs  and  jars,  319  ; 
crate  for  butter  pails,  319;  butter  best  sent  to 
market  in  rolls,  320 
Marsh  bent-grass  or  creeping  florin,  X^G 
Maryland,  Virginia,  West  Virginia,  and  Ken- 

tucky,  dairying  in.  376 
Massachusetts  Charitable  Institution,  402 
iViassachusetts,  statistics  of  State  of,  371 
Meadow  fox-tail  grass,  165 
Meadow  hay,  analysis  of,  by  Voelcker,  54 
Measure  of  goodness  and  permanence  oi  drain, 119 
Mechanical  power  in  churning,  317 
Mecbi,  Mr.,  of  Tiptree  Hall,  on  draining,  124 
M  eck  leu  burg- Schwerin,  dairy -farming  in,  531 
Medicago,  plants  of  genus.  157 
Melilot,  gives  sweetness  to  hay.  158 
Menti  >n    of     cheese    and     milk     in     ancient 

writings,  xvii. 
"Meres"  or  artificial  ponds  for  water,  199 
Memam's  dairy-barn,  149 
Mesozoic  and  cainozoic  rocks,  soils  on,  103 
Metritis,  or  inflammation  of  the  womb,  69 
Michigan,  best  dairy  counties  in,  373 
Middlemen  in  the  milk  trade,  353 
Milch-cows,  management  of,  during  gestation,  45 
Milfoil  or  yarrow,  160 
Milk  adulteration,  a  short-sighted  policy,  viii, 

and  butter  produced  I'y  good  cows,  2 

Milk-caus,  coolers,  and  a'-rators,  447 ;    More's 
pyramidal  str.iiuer,   447  ;    milk    aarator    and 
cooler.  417;  milk-cans,  448  ;  milk-setting,  448; 
Whitman  and  BurrcU's  rif  rigeratingcreamery- 
vat,  449;  Ancut  cooler  and  creaui-rats«-r,  45U  ; 
Fairlamb  milk-can,    450 ;     Baker's    excelsior 
cream-strainer,  4-50 
Milk-cellar  in  North  Carolina,  440 
Mdk-condensing  factories  in  United  States,  338 
Milk-fever  or  parturient  apoplexy,  68 
Milk,  matters  influencing  prol-iction  of,  197; 
land,  197 ;   herbagn,  197 ;   food  eaten  by  cows, 
l;»8  ;  effect  of.  on  flavour  of  butter  and  cheese, 
198;   water,  198;   cows  yiebliug  milk  I'equire 
pure  water,  199 ;  shelter,  200 
"Milk  mirror "  or  "  escutcheon  '*  theory.  6 
Mi'k  produced  on  poor  land,  character  of,  4^1 
Milk  production,  estimate  of  in  British  Islands, 

Milk  secretion,  physiology  of,  189 
Milk-shelves,  revolving,  for  dair>,  201 


GENERAL    INDEX. 


JC9 


Mi)t,  special  commercial  element  in  dairy 
farming,  v. ;  the  cheapest  kiud  of  food,  vi.  ; 
defiuition  and  description  of.  viii. ;  matter  of 
first  impurtance  with  dairy-farmers,  9  ;  large 
flow  the  result  of  domestication,  9 

Milk-sugar  or  lactiue.  103 

Milk  supply,  sheet-anchor  (rf  dairy -farmers,  v. 

Milk  siphon,  5S 

Milk  trade,  development  of  factory  system,  ix. 

Milk  trade,  the,  3W;  con'^equent  changes  iu 
dairy-farming,  3H  ;  railway  milk-cau,  S12: 
demand  for  milk  in  London  fluctuating,  342  ; 
wholesale  price  of  milk,  343 ;  the  "  bai'ii 
eallon."  313 

Milk,  varying  qualities  of,  186  ;  shown  in  diff'er- 
eut  breeds  of  cattle,  186  ;  quantity  yielded  bv 
Ayrshires,  IS7 ;  quality  of,  yielded  by  Alder- 
neys,  187 

Milking,  calving,  and  calf-rearing,  15 

Milking  cows  before  calving,  46 

Milking  cows.  55 ;  when  done  out  of  doors,  55  ; 
better  done  under  cover,  55  ;  routine  to  be 
observed,  especially  in  winter,  55 ;  twice  a 
day  often  enough,  56  ;  should  be  done  quietly, 
56  ;  hind-legs  should  be  tied,  56 

Milkiig-machines,  58,  446 

Milking-pai;s,  57 

Milking  property  sacrificed  too  much  to  beauty 
and  symmetry  in  Shortbonas.  2 

Milking-macliiues  in  America,  416 

Millstone  grit,  localities  and  character  of,  102 

Miller  system  of  meal-feeding,  40t 

Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  dairy  trade  in,  418 

Mineral  or  inorganic  plant-food  from  lime,  140  ; 
vegetable  or  inorganic  plant-food  prepared  by 
lime,  140 

Mineral  substances  in  milk,  193 

Minnesota,  dairving  prospects  in.  375 

Miocene,  scarcely  existent  in  Great  Britain,  106 

Mixed  diet,  why  dtsirable  iu  all  cases,  xv. 

system  of  dairy  and  arable  farming,  108 

top-dressing  for  grass  lands.  147 

Mode  of  treatment  recommended  for  grass 
lands,  145 

Modern  farm-house,  construction  of,  78 

Montana,  dairying  in,  37S 

Morton,  J.  C.  on  frequency  of  drains,  119 

Mowing-machines,  178 

Mowing  tbistles  and  weeds  on  grass  lands,  142 

Munster  model  farm  and  dairy  school,  instruc- 
tion at,  362 


NiTtTRAL  ORDER  IS  BOTANY,  MEANING  OP,  154 

Naturally  dry  soils  suffer  less  in  summer,  117 

Navel-ill  or  omphalitis  in  calves,  74 

Netherlands,  the,  dairy-farming  in,  540;  Dutch 
cattle.  510 ;  how  kept,  540  ;  milk  pails,  vases, 
and  dishes,  541 ;  cooling  milk,  541 ;  Dutch 
dairy,  541  ;  law  regulating  sale  of  butter,  542 

New  Jersey  and  Delaware,  dairying  in,  371 

New  York  as  wholesale  market  of  dairy  products, 
419  ;  tabular  statements  of  market,  &c.,  419 

New  York  chief  dairy  State  of  America,  368  ; 
Herkimer,  cheese- producing  county ,  368  ; 
Orange,  butter-producing  county,  368 ;  cha- 
racter of  soil,  368;  dairy  statistics  of  New 
York  and  Ohio,  369 

New  York  City  milk  supply,  426  ;  transportation 
of  milk  by  rail,  426  ;  prices  paid  by  consumer 
and  obtained  by  producer,  427 

Nicholson's  portable  engine  and  boiler,  318 

iiitrogen  intheatmosphere,  133;  costly  element 
of  fertilisers,  133 ;  when  soil  must  be  enriched 
by,  133  ;  whence  it  enters  soil,  133  ;  most  valua- 
ble ingredient  of  plant-food,  134 

Nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid,  potash  and  chlorine, 
prevalent  in  what  manures,  132 

Norfolk  and  Suffolk  polls,  36  ;  derived  from  Gal- 
loways, 37  ;  Norfolk  branch  of  race,  37  ;  their 
characteristics,  37 

Nonnal  solutions,  meaning  of  tei-m,  135 

North-western  states,  development  of,  as  dairy 
district-s.  373 

Nouel's,  M.  Malnigie,  ingenious  theory,  15 

Nova  Scotia  and  maritime  provinces,  dairying 
industry  of,  502 


Objections  sometimes  urged  against  Short- 
horns, 17 

urged  against  Avrshires,  23 

O'Callaghan's  polled  Galloway,  15 

Octagon  basement  in  cattle  shed,  90 

Ohio,  dairying  in,  369 

Old  red  sandstone  and  Devom'an  rocks,  101 

Old  Stilton,  why  desirable  after  dinner,  xvii 

Oleomargarine  butter,  six ;  manufacture  of,  by 
whom  invented,  six  ;  progress  of  manufacture 
in  Europe  and    America,   xx;  keeps    better 


than  genuine  butter,  xx  ;  dangerous  rival  for 
genuine  butter,  xx  ;  useful  iu  making  pastry, 
sc.;  process  of  manufacture,  323 

cheese,  mode   of  manufacture,  xvii. ;    by 

whom  devised,  xvii.  ;  discussion  and  contro- 
versy OS  to  merit^s,  xviii. ;  ])erfecily  wholesome 
article  of  food,  xviii. ;  legitimate  addition  to 
our  food  supply,  xviii. 

Ououdasa  Coxmty  Milk  Association,  430 

Oolite,  formation  and  localities  of,  101 

Orange  County  milk  pan,  296 

Ordinances  regulating  American  milk  ti*ade,  429 

Oregon,  dairying  iu,  382 

Organisations  Oi  dairymen  in  United  States,  373 

Origin  of  soils,  the,  92—99 

inquiry  into,  interesting,  xxi 

Outcrops  of  beds  of  rocks,  94  ;  dip  of  strata,  94  ; 
synclinal  and  anticlinal  curves,  94  ;  exemplifi- 
cation of,  94 

Over-lining  of  soil,  140 


Pacific  Railway  promoting  transit  Op 
butter,  378 

Palseozoic  strata,  102 

Palmatin  and  stearine  chief  constituents  of 
butter,  xviii 

Parasites  attacking  dairy  stock,  73 

Parasitic  plants  ou  forage  crops,  173 

Parsley  and  hedge  and  cow  parsley,  159 

Parturition  and  diseases  or  dangers  incidental 
to  calves  and  dairy  stock.  65 

Approaching  signs  of,  66;    treatment   of 

cow  at  this  period,  Q6 ;  delivery  of  calf,  66 ; 
assistance  to  be  rendered,  67 

Pastures  on  rich  alluvial  soil.  110 

Paulet,  Mrs.,  first  maker  of  Stilton  cheese,  342 

Pea  {Fiscine  sativiim)  and  lentil,  159 

Pennsylvania,  butter- making  in,  436;  Sharpless's 
Dairy,  Chester  Co.,  Penn.,  436;  cows,  how 
housed,  436  ;  storing  milk,  436 ;  churning,  salt- 
ing and  irinting,  437;  Darlington  butter, 
437;  Reeder's  dairy,  Bucks  Co.,  Penn.,  4)7; 
ice-house,  milk-room,  &c..  437 

Pennsylvania,  dairying  in,  .370 

Philadelphia,  milk  supply  in,  428 

Phosphoric  acid  and  iime,  chief  ingredients  in 
bones,  135 

Physical  fitness  of  Ayrshires  for  wet,  heavy,  or 
clayey  soils,  24 

Physical  properties  of  milk,  190 

Pigs,  546;  origin  of  domestic  swine,  546;  es- 
timation of,  by  ancient  nations,  546  ;  varieties 
in  British  Islands,  547 ;  white  breeds,  or 
"Yorkshires,"  547;  large  white  breed,  547: 
small  white  breed,  548  ;  medium  white  breed, 
548  ;  Berkshire  breed,  548  ;  Essex  breed,  549  ; 
Devon  and  Dorset  breeds,  550 ;  Shropshire 
breed,  550 ;  Poland  China  hog,  551 ;  use  of 
pigs  on  dairy  farms,  551 ;  breeding  and  feeding 
pigs,  f  51 ;  gilts,  552  ;  shed  or  stye  for  sow,  552 ; 
treatment  of  young  ones,  553  :  sow's  food,  553  ; 
rearing  young  pigs  by  hand,  553 ;  piggeries 
and  troughs  for  pigs,  554  ;  fattening  pigs,  555  ; 
exercise  prejudicial  to  fattening,  555 ;  washing 
and  grooming  pigs,  555  ;  ringing  pigs,  appli- 
ances f-  r,  556 

Pilgrim,  f'f  Hinckley,  on,  Leicester  cheese- 
making,  241 

Pitt,  William,  on  longbom  cattle.  29 

"  Plain"  condensed  milk  in  New  York,  428 

Plant  growth  under  sand  culture,  137 

Plantaginse,  plants  included  iu  order,  161 

Plantain,  common  or  rib-grass,  161 

Plants  grown  in  barren  land,  dry  weight  of,  138 

Pleuro-pneumonia  or  lung  complaint,  72 

Pliocene,  Crags  and  Bagshot  sands,  106 

Poa-genus,  or  meadow  grasses,  167 ;  distin- 
guished by  panicles,  167 

Points  desirable  in  animals  selected  for  breed- 
ing, 6 

of  shorthorns,  according  to  Thornton,  14 

of  Ayrshire  catt!e,  21  ;  udder,  the  mark  of 

milking  capabilities,  21 ;  treatment  prior  to 
calving,  21 

Polled  Angus  or  Aberdeenshire  cattle,  36 

breeds,  35 ;  chief  merit  of,  35 

Polygonacete,  plants  included  in  order,  161 

Poor  land  and  good  cheese,  truism  about,  xii. 

Pork  and  lard,  importations  of,  1862  and  1878, 
xxi. 

Poultry,  557  ;  importation  of  eggs  from  France. 
557 ;  poultry  keeping,  subsidiary  to  dairy 
farming,  557  ;  breeding,  557 ;  non-sittiuij 
breeds  for  eggs,  557  ;  table  fowls,  breeds  for, 
557;  "realising"  eggs.  558;  management  of 
poultry,  558  ;  dressing  fowls  for  market,  558  ; 
fowls  on  grass  lands,  558 ;  manure  valuable,  55  s 

Prepotency,  property  of,  iv. 

Prices  of  dairy  products  in  United  States,  421 


Principles  involved  in  breeding  ]>cdigrco 
cattle,  3 

of  breeding  applicable  to  dairy  cows,  5 

of  plaut  growth,  137;  application  to  offico 

of  fertilisorp,  how  stated,  137 

"  Prints."  Philadelphia.  437 

Process  by  which  milk  is  produced  in  cow,  vii. 

Produce  of  American  cows,  iO-i  -,  comparison  of 
produccof  Ayrshires  and  Shorthorns,  403 ;  com- 
parison of  produce  from  various  breeds,  411 

Profit  from  dairy  cow,  whence  derived,  42 

Properties  of  well-made  Cnoddar  cheese.  217 

to  be  secured  in  breeding,  iv. 

Proportion  of  elements  in  djSerent  foods,  47 

Protnicted  labour,  ca^ises  of,  67 

Prussia,  dairy  farmiug  in.  526;  Ost-preussi^che 
Geumse,  526;  Posen,  526  ;  Silesia,  5J7  ;  Schle- 
sischer  Weich<juarg,  527  ;  Sehlesischer  Sa  ler- 
milchkiise,  527;  Brandenburg.  527;  Markis- 
cher  Presskiise,  527  ;  Kochkase,  527 

Pugh's  cheese-makin?  apparatus,  236 

Pure  blood,  only  method  of  obtaining,  5 


Quaking  Grass,  or  Maiden's  Hair.  169 
Quality  of  milk  yielded  by  Ayrshires,  23 
Qualities  of  Ayrshire  cattle,  23 

of  Shorthorns,  16 

Quantities  of  milk  yielded  and  butter  produced 

by  Ayrshires,  22 
Quantity  of  milk  to  pound  of  cheese,  482 


Raden,  experimental  dairy  station  at,  531 

Railway  milk-can,  342 

Rain  on  retentive  soils.  126 

Rainfall  per  acre,  and  dischai^e  of  drains,  122 

Rape,  its  value  as  fodder  and  manure,  155 

"  Raw  crossiu!?,"  consequences  of,  5 

Rearing  young  stock   causes  a  diminution  of 

phosphates,  133 
Records  of  cattle,  &:c.,  imperfect  in  Britain,  ii. 
of    dairy    produce    to    be   kept    by   dairy 

farmers,  suggestions  for,  280 
Reasonable  exercise  desirable  for  dairy  cows,  9 
Refrigerator  for  milk,  Lawrence's,  341 
Relative  values  of  beef  and  milk,  vii. 
Remarkable  shorthorn  sales,  13  ;  Collings*  (1810), 

13;  Campbell's  (1873),  13;  Tbomtons  (1877), 

13  ;  Duke  of  Devonshire's  (1878).  14 
Rennet  as  made  at  Marksbury,  220 

preparation  of  in  cheese-making,  2*H 

Results  of  placing  drains  too  far  apart,  or  not 

deep  enough,  127 

of  experiments  in  water  culture,  137 

Rhine  Province,  dairy-farming  in,  528;  Rhein- 

ischer  kase,  528  ;  Mainzer  Hand-kase,  528 
Rick  cloth  for  stack,  181 
Rinderpest  iu  metropolitan  district,  344 
Ringworm  in  calves  and  young  cattl**,  73 
Ripening  of  cheese,  how  prevented,  214 

,  faults  in,  208 

Kocks,  formation  of,  94;  aqueous,  igneous,  and. 

metamorphic  rocks,  94 ;  how  to  distinguish, 

94 ;  stratified  and  unstratified,  94 
Rocky  mountain  region,  good  dairy  district,  377 
Rotating  butter-worker,  312 
Rothliegende,  marls  and  sandstones  of,  103 
Rough  cock's-foot  grass,  167 
Rough-stalked  meadow-grass,  168 
Rushes  and  sedges,  164 
Russia,  dairy  farming  in.  520 ;  breeds  of  cattle, 

521;   butter-making,  521;  Paris  butter,  521; 

Tworog,  521 ;  Koumiss,  521 
Rust  and  mildew.  173 
Rye-grass,  171 ;  common  and  Itahan,  171 


414 


i  American  dairy  market. 


Salt,  action  of,  on  acid  and  rennet,  214 

for  dairy  use.  224 

Salting  cheese,  207;  howsovemed,  2)7;  injury 

from  improper  salting,  208 
Sand,  properties  and  character  of,  95 
Sand-culture,  experiments  in,  136—138 
Saxony,  dairy-farming  m,  530 
Schleswig-  Holstein,     dairy-farming    in,    524  ; 

butter.  525  ;  sklm-milk  cheese.  .525 
Scotch  Galloways,  35;  why  liked  in  England,  35; 

distinguishing  feature  of  race,  36 
Scotland,  cheese-making  in,  250 ;  Dunlop  cheese, 

251 ;  Cheddar  system  introduced  V-y  Harding, 

251 ;  letting  cows  to  "  bowt rs,"  251 
Scour  in  cajves,  fruitful  source  of,  63 

Professor  James  Law  on,  76 

Second  class  grass  land,  how  estimated,  143 
Secret  in  makii^  well-fiavoured  butter,  xix. 
Secretion  of  milk,  189;  in  males,  189 


370 


DAIRY    FARMING. 


Selection  of  animals  from  which  to  breed,  6 
S-lfturning  cheese  shelves,  279 
Shallow  drain'n.',  only  argument  for,  120 
Stiorthorn  crosses  on  longhom  stock,  good,  8 
Shorthorns,  a  noble  breed  of  cattle,  iii. ;  why 

cosmopolitan  and  Englishman's  shaiow,  iii.  ; 

adapt  themselves  to  any  soil  and  climate.  8; 

origin  and  early  history,  10;   formerly  called 

"Durham  cattle,"  10;  new  era  in  history  of, 

11 ;  purity  of  their  blood,  16 
Silurian  rocks,  character  and  localities  of,  100 
Similarity  ol  processes  of  coagulation  and  diges- 

Situation  desirable  for  farm  buil  'ings,  79 
Size  of  escutcheon,  how  regarded,  6 
— ~  of  t Je  of  main  drain,  table  for,  122 
Skill  in  selecting  stock  necessary  to  success.  1 
Skim-milk    cheese,    new    method    of    making, 

4Jr4 
Skimming    milk,    methods    adopted    for,    305 ; 

vanous  kinds  of  skimojing  dishes,  306 
Slender  fox-tail  or  black  bent,  165 
Slipcote  cheese,  bow  made,  247 
Smithson,  Sir  Hugh,  the  "  Yorkshire  grazier,"  U 
Smooth  stalked  meadow  grass.  168 
Smut,  its  indications  and  characteristics,  173 
Snow  and  ice  for  cooling  milk,  302 ;  consttructiou 

of  ice-house,  302 
Soft  grass,  or  meadow  soft  trass,  167 
Soil,  perfect  for a^rricultural  purposes,  where,  93 
Soiling  system,  '1  he,  48 
Soils,    sandy,  sandy  loam,    loamy,   clay  loam, 

strong  clay,  99 ;  meant  to  be  exhausted,  139 
Solids  in  milk,  proportion  of,  282 
Southern  and  southern-central  states  of  Ame- 
rica, an  undeveloped  winter  dairying  region. 

Southern  counties'  dairying,  245 
Specialities  of  dairy  farming,  v. 
Specific  gravity,  average,  of  milk,  287 
Spring  Hill,  Faii-fax  Co. .Virginia,  butter-makine 
at.  438  ^ 

Spiings,  how  to  deal  with  in  drawing,  118 
Statistics  and  reports  of  cheese  factories.  470 ; 
New  York,  returns  from,  470;   King  Settle- 
ment cheese-factory,  471 ;  Schuyler's  factory, 

471  ;  Wisconsin  factories,  472;  Massachusetts 
factories,  472 ;  factory  at  Winthrop,  Maine, 

472  ;  Gwillem"s  factory,  Colorado,  472 
in  fattening  Ayrsbires,  20 

of  dairy  interests  in  America,  365 

of  population,  agriculture,  and  dairying  in 

Canada,  501 

Stilton  cheese,  highly  prized.  242 ;  comparative- 
ly modem,  242 ;  remarks  on  in  Men- 
shall's  "  Rural  Economy'*  and  Pitt's  "Agri- 
culture of  the  County  of  Leicester,"  242 ; 
Paulet's  receipt  for  making.  213;  method  as 
described  by  Webb,  243 ;  supposed  secret  in 
making,  214;  rennet  for,  how  prepared,  244; 
hoop  for  Stilton  cheese.  244  ;  price,  214 ;  imi- 
tations, 245;  characteristics  of  true  Stilton, 
245 

Stock  on  grass  lauds  in  England  and  America, 

Stomachs,  first  and  third,  impaction  of,  with 

food,  71 ;  treatment.  71 
Straining,  cooling,  and  aerating  milk,  417 
Straining,  or  after-pains,  how  caused,  67 
Straw,  the  right  use  of,  53 ;  how  to  prepare  as 

cattle-food,  53 
Streamlet  chnm,  317 
Subjects  to  be  treated  in  the  work.  sxii. 
Substances,  besides  water,  requisite  for  growth 

of  plant,  135 

in  soils,  composition  of,  95 

— —  that  will  augment  manure  heap,  152 
Suburban  dairyman,  advantages  of  343 
Success  in  dairy  farming,  how  attained,  liii. 
Supply  of  food,  a  limitation  to  dairying,  iii. 
Support,  how  gained  by  plants,  128 


Sussex  cattle,  34 ;  probably  offshoot  of  Devon- 
breed,  »4;  better  for  beef  than  milk,  34; 
breed  showing  progress,  35 

SwHrtz  system  of  setting  milk,  290,  293 

Sweden,  dairv-farming  in,  520 ;  loug  milk,  520  • 
Mysosti,  520 

Sweet-scented  vernal  grass,  166 

Switzerland,  dairying  and  cheese-making  in, 
533;  Emmenthal  chetse,  533 ;  Skim-milk 
cheese,  534;  Gruyfere  cheese,  534;  Battelmatt, 
5W  ;  Scbabzieger,  534 ;  Vacherin,  5:J4 

Syracuse,  New  York,  its  organisation  for  milk- 
supply,  430 

System  of  manufacture,  chief  element  of 
success  in  cheese-making,  216 

Tables  for  calculating  bihadstion  op  soils 
By  caovs  and  enrichuent  bt  uanlthes.  etc.. 
131 

Taint  developed  by  carrying  milk  in  closely- 
lidded  cans,  214 

Tainted  and  sour  milk,  treatment  of,  225 

milk,  mischief  arising  from  in  cheese- 
making,  213 

Task  of  breeder,  why  rendered  difficidt,  4 

Tattenhall  HjUI,  farmstead  of,  8.5 

Teats  and  udders  of  Ayrshire  and  Aldemey 
cows,  difi'erence  in,  187 

congenital  closing  of,  71  ;  cracks  and  sores 

on,  71 

Teeswater  cattle,  why  celebrated,  11 

Temperature  for  curing  cheese,  22 1 

Tether-pegs  for  cattle.  26 

Texas  and  New  Mexico,  butter-making  in,  445 

not  a  district  for  dairy-farming,  376 

Theory  of  cream-raising,  Arnold's.  289 

Thistle  pest  in  gra^s,  how  to  eradicate,  142 

Thompson.  Sir  H.  M.,  on  manigement  of  grass 
lands,  142 

Tilton's  experiments  on  milk  and  cream  products 
of  Dutch  cattle,  grades,  and  Jerseys,  27 

Time  for  cows  to  calve,  45 

Town  dairies  and  the  milk  trade  ;  313;  Holland 
Park  Farm.  346 

Travis's  apparatus  for  cheese-making,  236 

Treatment  of  Ayrshire  cattle  in  England,  20 

of  cattle  by  President  of  American  Jersey 

Cattle  Club,  403 

Trias,  or  new  red  sandstone,  103 

Triticum,  plants  included  in  genus,  170;  allied 
to  genus  lolium,  170 

Trochar  and  canula,  71 

Trustworthy  niap  of  soils  desirable,  107 

Tufted  hair  grass,  166 

Tunks  and  Tisdall's  Farm  at  Holland  Park, 
346  ;  farms  at  Epsom,  349 

Turnips  of  various  kinds,  155 

Types  oi  dairy  cattle,  whence  obtained,  ii. 

Udder,  inflammation  of.  how  cadsed.  70; 
treatment  iu  such  cases,  70 ;  fineness  of  skin 
on,  188 ;  position  of  teats  on.  188  ;  milk  ducts 
iu,  189  ;  arteries  and  veins  of,  189 

Umbelhferro,  plants  of  order,  159 

Umbilicus,  chronic  swellings  of,  75 

Uuderdraining,  theory  of,  116 

Upward  action  of  water  from  drains,  126 

Urea  in  milk,  194 

Uterus,  inversion  of  the,  6S 

Utioa,  New  York,  as  a  dairy  market,  417 


Vagina,  protrusion  or  inversion  of,  68 
Value  of,  and  dependence  on,  escutcheon  theory, 

6 
Variety  iu  American  factories  for  cheese-making, 

how  explained,  473 
Vetch  or  tare,  and  kidney  vetch,  158 
Villa-dairying,  351 ;   ideal  picture  of  villa-dairy 

farmer,  351;  villa-famiing  and  dairying,  with 


what  view  undertaken,  3^1 ;  cows  bf^st  eait«d 
for,  352 ;  large  cows  not  desirable,  352  ;  Jersey 
cow  profitable,  352  ;  Ayrshire  and  Kerry  cows 
when  euifable,  352  ;  Norfolk  polled  cow.  353  \ 
good  milker  necessary,  353  ;  cows  should  be 
kept  apart  from  horses.  353;  construction  of 
cow-house,  353 ;  stall  for  two  cows,  354 ;  iron 
fittings  for  stalls,  35* ;  liquid  manure  tank, 
355;  quantity  of  land  required,  355;  winter 
feeding,  355 ;  good  churn  for,  355  ;  June  grass 
best  for  butter-making,  355;  change  of  diet 
good  for  cow,  355 ;   taint  in  milk  and  butter, 

Voelcker's  analyses  of  milk  and  cheese,  liv. 
de8crii)tion  of  butter,  xviii. 


Waide's  butter-worker,  311 

revolving  barrel  churn,  317 

Victoria  churn,  317 

Warmth  aud  acidity  allied  in  cheese-making,  212 

Washing  and  working  in  chu-  niug,  30J 

Water,  how  it  enters  into  drams,  127  ;  action  of 

on  earth's  crust,  92  ;  denudation  and  disinte- 
gration. 93 

meadow  grass,  169 

culture,  experiments  in,  131;  with  what 

made,  134;   statemt-nts  respictiog.  by  Prof. 

S.   W.  Johnston.   135;    in  what  they   consist, 

135  ;  how  carried  out,  135 ;  by  Wolfe,  Nobbe, 

and  Knot,  136 
Watering-places  for  cattle,  200 
Watf-r-level  in  wet  lauds,  effect  of  lowering,  124 
Weakly  or  dehcate  animals,  mistake  to  breed 

from,  4 
Wtalden  and  Purbeck  beds,  lOt 
Weldon's  cream-rai.siiig  apparatus,  300 
Welsh  cattle,  40 ;  Glamorgans  nearly  extinct,  40 ; 

Pembroke  or  Castlemartin  cattle',  40;  Angle 

sea  cattle,  breed  worth  preserving,  41 
Wensleydale,  dairying  of,  248  ;  mode  adopted  iu 

making  cheese.  248  ;  rennet  or  "prezzur,"249; 

new  mode  of  making,  249 
West  Highland  cattle,  or  kyloes,  37 
West  Virginia  as  a  butter-mak  ug  district]  370 
Westplialia,  dairy  farming  m,  528 ;  Westfilia- 

cher  kase,  529  ;  Nieheimer  cheese,  529 
Wet  soil  exposed  iu  sun  and  wind,  evils  result- 
ing to,  126 
Wet  soils,  how  classed,  116 ;  method  of  drainage 

appropriate  to  each  class,  117 
Wetness  of  soils,  how  caused,  116 
Wheat-sbraw  chaff,  analyses  of  by  Voelcker,  54 
Whey,  sour,  use  of,  220 
White,  Dutch,  or  honr-ysuckle  clover,  156 

mustard,  &o.,  and  charlock,  155 

Why    covered-yard    feedmg    produces    richer 

manure,  150 

people  do  not  relish  milk  now,  viii. 

wheaten    bread     should    bo    eaten    with 

chee^^e,  xv. 
Wild  chicory  or  succory,  160 
Wil.i  oats,  167 
Willard,  X.  A.,  on  cheese  factory  practice,  473 

on  condensed  milk,  331 

Wiltshire    cheeses    and    cheese -making,    245 ; 

method    of     making,    2W;      curd-mill,    246; 

cheese-turner,  240;    Wilts   "truckles,"  246; 

mode  of  making  in  moderu  dairies,  247 
Windley  cheese  factory,  265;  balance  sheet.  266 
Wintering  calves,  system  of,  64 
Wisconsin,  dairymg  in,  374 
Wood  meadow-grass,  168 
Worst    kinds   of    pasture    lands,  light   sandfi, 

strong  clays,  black  peaiy  soils,  146 
Wurtembersf,   dairy  lorming  in,  530;    Hohen- 

heimer  kase,  530 


Yellow  or  golden  oat-orass,  106 
Tellow  rattle  or  horse-penny,  174 


Ca53Ell,  Petter,  Galpin  &  Co.,  Belle  Sz-uvaqb  Works,  London,  E.C. 


/ 


.-♦*-?ii 


